Chapter 69
Chapter Sixty-Nine
Two hours later
It’s a good thing this joint has room service. I didn’t know we were having a fucking party.
Another knock sounds at the door for the second food delivery. We’re going to need more chairs soon too. It appears operations for the team have been temporarily relocated to our room so Aria, Griff and I can be part of the planning.
And of course there’s some debriefing to be done.
Not the way we used to do in the teams. This looks more like a late night college hang-out session only it’s not late at night, and we’re not college kids.
Beast and Camile occupy one of the oversized chairs, all lovey dovey, like I want to be with Aria, but I’m busy playing damned host.
Rory and his sidekick, Gregor, are camped out on the floor, looking as tired as the rest of us as they shove tacos into their mouths.
Justice has plunked his ass down on the bed—yes the bed—and is talking about something with Aria.
If he wasn’t my buddy, I’d be removing him with force, but right now, I just feel…
Satisfied.
Like I’m home.
Home in my skin.
But more importantly in my heart.
Even though I’m thousands of miles from the house I never use, I feel more grounded than ever.
The house is something else Aria doesn’t know about yet. But it doesn’t matter much. I’m hers. I’ll be where she wants to be.
Griff is camped out near his sister, stuffing his face. “Pass me that stuff,” he motions with his fork.
“You mean the pico de gallo?” Truck asks, balancing his plate in one hand to reach across the coffee table for the bowl Griff wants.
Griff nods his appreciation, and turns the conversation to business. “What’s the latest on the missing woman?”
I tune in to the team with a generous side dish of guilt weighing me down.
There’s a woman we’ve been paid to find, but more importantly, she could be in danger and the team has been fully engaged in the chaos around myself and Aria .
“Yo, man. Are you coming to sit down?” It’s Beast calling for me.
I give him a flat look. “When I’m done playing Martha Stewart, yeah.”
Camile laughs as I hand her a bottled water. “Calling room service was so hard.”
I feign an expression of insult, clutching my chest.
“Oh, I see how you are. Someone had to secure this event venue and plan the perfect seating arrangement for the rude guests,” I quip with a smirk. “Even if I didn’t invite a single one of you.”
She gives me a big smile. “Touché. And it’s good to see you smiling.”
“Ditto, teammate.”
Camile and Beast went through their own hell when our team first arrived in Vandemora to look for Allison Westerly. I thought they were crazy for falling so fast, but damn if I didn’t fall faster.
Oh well. I’m definitely in it to win it now.
Giving into the smile my face insists on wearing, I get back to my job. Jobs.
Catering to our team of tired, hungry, operatives at the moment. Which comes in below taking care of Aria. But I do still have my position with Agile and Team Falcon and the work we do is important.
“Justice, did you find anything on the mountain around the opening at the top of the cave?” I ask as I empty my armful of water bottles by passing them out to everyone.
The smile drops from his face as his hand stops midway to his mouth. For a beat the food on his overstuffed fork looks dangerously close to sliding off on my bed.
Jerk.
“There were some signs of recent activity, but nothing definitive. The rain has ruined any evidence of who it was. But the good news is we’ve got a dive set up for tomorrow at zero-six-hundred at one of the other caverns. This one isn’t as prone to flooding and the professor said it would be a good candidate for MZ’s research so she could have been there recently since her belongings were found closeby.”
“So the rain won’t make this one as dangerous?” Aria asks, concern tightening her brows together.
“Devil’s Belly, they call it,” Truck says as he smirks. “Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? And the rain doesn’t have to make it more dangerous. It’s already incredibly dangerous. It’s known for filling up with water once a year and it’s a trophy dive. Only the best of the best do it.”
A fog of silence slides into the room. All cave dives are dangerous, but when divers come from around the world for the challenge—that’s serious.
“Are we sure it’s worth the risk?” I ask to get inside Beast’s head on this decision.
“We don’t have any other leads and until we can rule out her being in the caves, and given her research specialty…”
“What is her specialty?” Rory asks.
I reply, “Geoarcheology with a specific interest in metals.”
I get a few raised eyebrows.
“English, please.” Aria bumps me with her elbow. “What do you think she’s looking for?”
Beast rubs a hand along Camile’s back as his expression turns to frustration. “If we knew, we could probably find her more quickly.”
“So the cave has to be explored. Who’s diving?” Aria asks with a tone of caution in her voice.
Griff lifts a hand, “ Me.”
“And me,” Justice adds as Aria gives her brother a biting glare.
Beast whistles. “Down girl. You’re brother’s not diving.”
Griff flips Beast off. “And when did you become the boss of me?”
“When I hired your ass.” Beast teasingly presses his palm over his girl’s mouth and I know what’s coming. “I’ll be diving.”
Camile’s eyes flare over the edge of Beast’s big hand. He’s going to be in some serious hot water for not clueing her in on that little announcement.
I throw my own hat in the ring. “I could go. Just so you know. I’ll be good to go after a night’s sleep.”
“Just don’t give him any Twinkies,” Justice says with a snicker.
“Great. I’ll never live that down will I?”
Aria grins beside me. “It’s a pretty great story.”
“Yeah, it is.” Voice husky, I admit that I’m completely besotted. “Truth is I’d gladly do it again.”
A collective groan fills the room. “Back to business, Twinkie King,” Rory tosses out with his own smirk, but there’s something like understanding in his gaze.
Beast, taking control of the conversation again says, “No additional information on MZ has been found, except Camile ran down all the financial leads. She went underground right about the time her father hired us.”
Camile, still frowning about Beast’s announcement, twists her water bottle in her hands. “That means one of two things to me—either she’s being held against her will or she knew her father was hunting her.”
As the team bounces ideas, I fill up a plate with a criminal amount of food. No Twinkies or Oreos in sight, but I did hide the slice of chocolate three-layer cake for just me and my girl.
My eyes land on Aria. She’s smiling across the room at me, ignoring everything else going on and it makes me feel like a single ray of sunshine has burst from the sky and pinned me in the spotlight.
All else fades to black and that insane rightness inside my chest gets even bigger.
Except for seeing Justice in that damned bed even if he’s just talking. I’m going to let him know if he ever gets in bed with my fiancée again he’s going to find out just how short my temper is and how long my reach is.
I can hardly form a coherent thought beyond—she’s mine . Those long, dark locks have dried in long ringlets around her shoulders and she looks good enough to eat.
Which I plan on doing for a long damned time when we get rid of these fucking yahoos.
My stomach makes a loud rumble, snapping me out of my imagination. This week stressed about forty-thousand calories right out of me. And I need my stamina for later… for after the nap…
Aria’s eyes flash with heat as I walk toward her. Oh yeah, she knows what I’m thinking. She scoots so I can sit beside her on the bed.
She leans in, pressing a kiss to my ear before whispering, “Should we tell them?”
I chuckle, picturing how this could go. “Yeah. Go ahead.”
To get everyone’s attention, I whistle.
The room falls silent, except for a nervous laugh next to me. But she lays her hand on my thigh and the warmth of her touch goes straight to my marrow, bypassing my old wounds .
“We have news.”
Camile sits up abruptly in Beast’s arms, her eyes widening brightly. “Oh boy!”
The rest of the room looks clueless. Until…
“We’re engaged!” Aria says breathily and turns to look at me. “Scout asked me to marry him and I said yes!”
A second later, Truck’s on his feet, beating Griffon Kane on the back trying to dislodge something that went down the wrong way.