Chapter 18 #2
“No, thank you. I don’t think we’ll be here long.”
“All right. You let me know if you need anything.” Pearl looked at Ghost, her expression softening even more. “Everyone’s in the back. If it’s Rami you want to see, he’s in his office.”
“Thanks.”
He motioned for Mila to precede him, and they made their way down the hall.
Voices sounded behind a closed door. The nameplate on the wall beside it read Taschen McAvery. They passed a few others on their way to the partially open door at the end of the hall.
She stopped a few feet short of entering and Ghost weaved around her and knocked.
“Hey, come in.”
Ghost caught her elbow and pulled her inside next to him. Three sets of eyes landed on her, making her cheeks tingle with embarrassment.
All of these men were likely Ghost’s friends, which meant they all knew she’d tried to kill him. Yet none of their gazes held contempt.
The man closest to them straightened away from the desk in the room and extended his hand. “You must be Mila. I’m Brick. Thanks for sparing this fucker’s life.”
“Idiot,” Ghost grumbled.
Brick laughed as Mila slipped her hand into his, a tentative smile warming her lips. “Nice to meet you.”
“This here’s Rami.” He gestured to the man rising to his feet behind the desk. “And August.” The third man turned to face her. His green eyes were piercing and intense. “They argue worse than a pair of toddlers on a good day.”
Rami’s blue eyes rolled to the ceiling. “Yet somehow we get so much more work done when you’re not around.”
Brick laughed again. “You can’t run this business without my expertise.”
Rami extended his hand across the desk. Mila walked further into the room to accept it. His mouth softened into a smile, making the vertical tattoo over his right eye crinkle.
“Sorry you had to put up with this prick the last couple of days,” August said.
“What the fuck is with you guys?” Ghost snapped.
Brick clapped him on the back and leaned his hip against Rami’s desk. “Just like harassing you. It’s not every day we see you with a lady.” He winked at Mila. “Sorry, he razzes us every chance he gets.”
“You’re gonna eat my fist in a minute,” Ghost retorted with venom. “Didn’t come here for your commentary anyway. Mila needs the shit you took from her car.”
“It’s in the security room. I’ll grab it.” August steered himself between Ghost and her and left the room.
“Where are the other asshats?” Ghost asked.
“Zain and Taschen are working on a detail. Might have work for you at the end of the week—” Rami stopped abruptly and glanced at Mila before looking at Ghost again. He cleared his throat. “Uh, that is, if you’re free.”
Mila’s cheeks couldn’t have burned more if someone had lit them on fire. She inched her gaze to Ghost, who was glowering at Rami.
“Send me the details.”
Brick leaned in, a smirk as wide as the Grand Canyon on his face. “There’s something I gotta know.”
Mila hiked up an eyebrow. “What’s that?”
“How close did you get to whacking this guy?” he asked, jerking his head toward Ghost.
“How about I fucking whack you ?” Ghost retorted.
Brick kept his attention on Mila, clearly wanting an answer.
She leaned in and cupped her hand around the edge of her mouth, pretending she didn’t want Ghost to hear. “As close as he is to breaking your neck.”
Brick’s smile fell. Rami chortled and threw down his pen. Ghost belted out a laugh and swept his arm around Mila.
“What’d I miss?” August asked, as he walked back into the room.
“Just Brick getting his ass handed to him by Mila,” Ghost said.
“I like her,” Rami added.
Mila let her body relax against Ghost’s. It was as if she’d passed some unspoken test on whether she could be trusted.
August held out her laptop bag and purse. “Sorry we had to go through your things. Everything’s exactly how you had it.”
She slid the strap over her shoulder. “Thank you.”
“No problem.” He crossed his arms and shifted his weight, then directed his stare at Ghost. “When are we moving on Hunter?”
Ghost’s expression darkened, and his hand twitched on her side. “As soon as possible. Let me take Mila to her car. Then I’ll swing by my place. I’ll call you in a couple hours.”
“We’re ready to move when you are,” Rami said. “Taschen has a good lead on where he’s hiding. But we’ll talk more later. I’m sure Mila wants to get home.”
Mila shrunk a little, and her stomach tied itself in knots.
Part of her wondered if Ghost didn’t want to divulge information in front of her.
These men were obviously tight, macho, and protective of their own.
They might be polite, but since she’d tried to kill Ghost, her loyalty might always be questioned.
Not that it mattered, because she and Ghost didn’t have a future past today. His flippant remark about Mexico lingered in her mind, teasing her with possibilities.
The guys said goodbye to her, and Ghost promised again to reach out to them soon. They made their way down the hall. Micha lifted her head from the dog bed, her eyes filled with excitement.
“Bye, girl,” Ghost called.
She lay down her head as if disappointed.
After everything she’d been through with Ghost, she was free to go. She should be elated. Relieved to put distance between her and the eventful moments that had pivoted her career.
But as Backcountry fell away behind her, she felt nothing but sadness.
“You good?” Ghost asked, as they entered the garage. He stowed her laptop bag and purse in the back seat with the bag of new clothes, then opened the passenger door for her.
She fought a smile and a retort about chivalry, instead reveling in these final moments with this strong, guarded alpha.
He shut the door after she got in, and she clicked her seatbelt in place while he rounded the truck and got into the driver’s seat. When they reached the street, she directed him to where she’d left her vehicle, and a few minutes later he pulled to the side of the road behind her Mazda and parked.
“I’m shocked it’s here.” She flung off her seatbelt.
Ghost stretched his arm over the back of her seat. His dark gaze searched her face as his fingertips brushed over her braid. “Look, Mila. I—”
She patted his shoulder and flashed him a reassuring smile despite the weight pulling down her stomach.
He was about to give her the “This has been fun but I can’t see you again” spiel, and she didn’t want that to be their last interaction.
“It’s okay. You don’t need to make things awkward.
Here for a good time not a long time, right? ”
He frowned.
She leaned forward and gave him a light peck on his lips. “Take care.”
Tears burned the corners of her eyes as she turned and nearly dove out the door.
Ghost’s fingers hooked around her bicep. “You’re blowing me off? What the fuck, Mila?”
She froze. Her heartbeat rapped against the side of her neck. Slowly, she turned toward him and met his frown, furrowing her brow. “You were about to tell me you couldn’t see me again.”
His scowl deepened. “I was about to tell you I want to see you again if you’re down for it.”
She blinked, shock freezing her to the spot.
“I need to give you my number,” he added. “Is your phone in your bag?”
Disbelief numbed her brain cells. He wanted to see her again.
So maybe the remark about Mexico hadn’t been flippant?
Excitement blossomed in her belly. She wanted more time with him, whether that involved mind-numbing sex, a cup of coffee, or even just a phone call confirming he was still alive after taking care of Hunter.
Absently, she dug in her bag, her fingers shaking as though this was their first date and she hadn’t just slept with him three times. “It might be dead,” she said, as she pulled out her device and woke the screen.
The battery was at 20 percent. A missed-call notification lit the screen. She quickly noted the time. Neo had called ten minutes ago. Her phone had been on silent. She switched on the ringer. She’d call him as soon as she made it back to her place.
“Go ahead,” she said to Ghost.
He rattled off his number. She entered it into a new text message and sent him Hi .
His phone beeped and he smiled. “Good. I’ll call you later.”
He swept his hand around the back of her neck and pulled her lips to his. His warm, invasive scent of musk and cedarwood tickled her senses. His tongue slipped between her teeth and she melted into him.
A moan rolled at the base of her throat.
God, he was intoxicating. Dangerous. Capable of stealing all her self-preservation instincts with just one kiss. His thumb tipped up her chin.
“I have to see you again, Mila. This doesn’t end here.”
She stared into his deep, possessive eyes and chills raced over her skin. The good kind. The kind that told her he meant every word. “Okay,” she whispered.
“I’ll follow you home.”
“No, it’s fine.” She forced a smile. “The sooner you finish what you need to do, the sooner we can see each other again.”
He sighed with reluctance and pecked her one more time before easing away. “Call me if you need anything—for any reason at all.”
“Okay.” Her mouth tingled from the warmth of his tongue.
She wanted to invite him back to her place, to lock them in her rented apartment for days... but she couldn’t. He had people to kill and she had a past to resolve.
She slipped out of the vehicle, grabbed her bags from the back of his truck, and then dropped them into the passenger seat of her car. He watched as she got into the driver’s seat. Once her car started, he waved and pulled a U-turn.
Her stomach bunched in knots as she watched him leave, her heart in her throat.
I might never see him again.
Forcing that thought from her mind, she drove to her apartment building. Doubt crawled around her heart. She had to prepare herself for the very real possibility this was the end of Ghost and her.
And dammit, that hurt.
She parked on the street, got out, and swung her bags over her shoulders. In the lobby, she got into the elevator and rode up to the third floor.
When she reached the hallway, her phone rang. Hoping it was Ghost, she fished it out of her purse. Neo. She tucked it under her ear.
“Hello?”
She entered her code in the keypad. It flashed green.
There was a muffled sound on the other end of the line. “Neo? Are you there?”
She bumped open the door and dropped her bags on the floor.
“Mila, run!”
A rush of movement from behind the door summoned a scream into her throat. A masked man wearing all black slammed his fist into her face, cutting off the scream before it escaped.