Chapter 56
The small smile Camile offers as she walks up shoots straight to my heart. My voice comes out sounding different. Deeper. Pleased. “Hey, babe.”
“We were just coming to fight for some food before it all disappears.”
I grunt.
Nyx smacks me on the shoulder as she walks by, but I don’t take my eyes off Camile. “Everything okay?”
“More than okay.”
I reach for her, wrapping my hand around to rest at the small of her back. “Are you going to tell me what you talked about?”
She leans against my chest and melts into me. God, how I love the way she fits against me. The way she makes my pulse stutter.
“We were just getting to know each other.”
I can’t resist, I rub my hand up and down Camile’s back. “Nyx is a sweet girl…” My words get choked off before I can finish.
Camile leans back and stares at my face with her brows drawn together. “She told me.”
I press my mouth tight and look away. Fixing my gaze beyond Camile to the jungle, as if some magical cure for the pain inside me lies there in that green foliage.
Two slender, warm arms slide around my waist.
When I can finally talk, I’m raspy. “I fucked up. I let her get hurt. We lost another teammate the night after that when we were looking for Nyx.”
She just holds me. It feels so damned good. She doesn’t argue, doesn’t try to convince me otherwise.
“You’re a good man, Lucas Calder.”
I drop my head to hers.
“You love your team,” she says quietly.
I nod against her hair.
“You would never let them get hurt intentionally.”
The rusty, dented organ behind my ribcage clenches. She’s right.
Camile squeezes me tighter. “Every single one of them knows that. Nyx included.”
I exhale hard, the shuddering breath rolling out of me.
She leans back again and looks up at me.
This beautiful, special woman sees me.
All of me.
As I look down at her beautiful hazel eyes, she studies my face.
Then she rocks forward, standing on her tiptoes and brushes a kiss over my cheek. “I’m going to stay back tonight while you and Scout go get the files.”
I feel my own eyes go wide. “Fuck, you will?”
She nods and presses her lips tight. For a beat, she just touches me, her fingertips gliding over the hair at my nape. “I want you safe. I know you’d be worried about me, and I don’t want you to be distracted.”
I don’t want to argue. Hell, I want her to stay back, somewhere safe, but I know it’s her mission. “Are you sure? Scout and I can protect you.”
“I’m sure. It’s better this way. Now we should go. Because I’m seriously hungry for whatever that is they have in there. You made me work up a beastly appetite earlier.”
A warm glow fills me. It’s the bright feeling I had earlier. The one I wondered if I’d ever feel again. I drag her to me and kiss her hard.
When I finally let her go, she laughs. “Oh, my god. Whatever you ate must be spicy. Your lips are on fire!”
“Honey, my lips are always on fire.”
She’s laughing when I drag her down the path toward the noisy bunch.
Maybe… just maybe the madness is over. About fucking time. Scout and I can run the op, then Camile and I together will be free to make our decisions about the future.
* * *
Carollia’s lights cast a dull gray glow on the underside of the cloud cover. Shit night for an op. It’s never good when the whole damned city is glowing like a lightning bug.
Scout shifts in the passenger seat of the truck. “How’d you convince her to stay behind?”
I lower my binoculars from where I’ve been looking at the rear entrance of the building. “You won’t believe this, but she just volunteered. She didn’t want my head fucked up. She said that after Nyx talked to her.”
There’s a beat of heavy silence. I blow out a breath. “I still don’t know what that conversation included, but Camile was different after.”
Evan tosses a balled-up gum wrapper at me. “Well, I can tell you what they talked about.”
“Oh, yeah, all knowing one? Please enlighten me.”
He leans between the seats, his mint-heavy breath hitting me in the face. “Nyx told her about the op, the night she was taken.”
Scout holds up his hand and Evan drops a piece of unopened gum in it. “I agree. So, she felt like you didn’t need that responsibility tonight. Not after what happened.”
My entire team knows I’ve been dealing with the aftermath of the failed op that cost our friend his life and Nyx her innocence. I have to force myself to breathe. “You’re right. I’m sure Nyx did. I have to admit, I feel like an ass for not telling Camile about that before tonight.”
I lean my head back. I’ve got a lot of shit going on inside me right now. It’s like some kind of fucked up circus where the two sides of me are at war.
Scout sighs heavily. “Take it easy on yourself, man. We all share the responsibility for that night.”
“It doesn’t make it any easier. Every time I look at Nyx?—”
Evan interrupts me. “Did you see how good she looks now?”
I nod.
“She’s going to be okay.”
But we all know she’s forever changed. And Alex… he’s never going to get to do all the things he always daydreamed about.
“Guys, we can’t be going down this road before we go in that building.”
I glance in the mirror and exchange a nod with Evan. “You’re right. And Nyx did look good. She might even be able to make friends with Camile.”
“Good, they both seem like they could use some girlfriend time.”
I pivot my head and look at Scout. “What do you know about women?”
“I’m just speculating.” He pops his gum as he stares at the office we’re about to raid.
I finally relent and hold up my hand. I’m not going to be the only one with dragon breath, because whatever the hell I ate was hot enough to leave me breathing fire.
Evan passes over a small stick of gum to me. He’s grinning, I can feel the heat radiating off his smile. Then the man chuckles for a solid minute. “Dude, she took you out at the knees the first time you laid eyes on her.”
I groan. “Not the first time.”
Scout coughs, “Bullshit!”
Evan leans back in the rear passenger area. “So, what’s next?”
“I don’t know… but I know this is the end of me distracting you from the mission of finding MZ. I appreciate you guys coming tonight. It means a lot.”
“Great. Now that he’s getting pussy, he’s all touchy feely.”
I shove Scout and he bumps against the door as he flips me off.
“You’re not distracting us,” Evan says from the back seat. “Given that the guy from the earthquake rubble is still in a coma, and that we haven’t had any other sightings, we’re—” He makes a choking sound as he leaps toward the passenger side rear window. “Guys! What the fuck am I seeing?”
I swing my head around to the side, peering through the window and make a sound of my own. “Is that…”
Scout mutters a curse. “Our missing woman?”
There are two cars parked in a lot next to the building we’ve been scoping. A lean, fit-looking guy just got behind the wheel of one. Another man is gripping a woman’s arm. He pushes her into the passenger seat and slams the door. The car takes off. The second guy gets in his car and does the same.
“Holy alligator shit.” Evan is half out of the truck when the car with the woman screams past us, disappearing into the night.
I grab my bag and jettison myself out of the driver’s seat. “Take the truck.”
They scramble into action, Scout clambering over the center console and turning the engine on.
Before they pull away, I’ve already blended into the shadows, moving toward the building where Camile’s suspects might be conducting their business.
As much as I want to, I can’t think about my team.
I’ve got a job to do.