Chapter 20
Liz prods her bruised, and still slightly swollen eye, in the bathroom mirror the next morning.
The stitches holding the split in her brow together makes her nauseous as she thinks about the feel of her skin being tugged back together.
Her entire left eye has shifted into a deep shade of purple.
A bruise covers half her jaw, paired with a split lip.
While working on making herself as presentable as possible, she tries to listen in on the conversation in the other room. She can only catch small snippets of what happened in his meeting with the general, but when her name comes up, Liz does her best to act nonchalant walking into the room.
“Come to hear the plan? It’s all on you today,” Mikey says proudly.
“Why me?” she asks, puzzled.
“Tyler has some suspicions about whatever is on Scott’s computer.
Lucky for us, he should be heading off base any minute,” Riley says, tossing her a small earpiece she quickly puts in her ear, stealing glances at the new mask he’s wearing while she does, hating he has to go back to wearing it.
Now that Scott has people watching them, Riley needs to be careful.
“Ty is across the hall, getting his shit set up. He is going to walk you through getting into the office and make sure the cameras stay off of you while you get this into his computer, it’s your time to shine, baby.
” He sets a small flash drive on the table.
She picks it up and puts it in her pocket for safekeeping, giving the men a puzzled look, hoping they will explain what she is meant to do with it.
“Don’t ask us how his nerd shit works––” A knock cuts Mikey off mid-sentence.
“That’s probably him coming to explain,” he says, pulling the door open, not revealing their friend, but the man everyone is ready to fire a round of bullets into.
Liz’s nose crinkles in disgust as he invites himself in holding a bouquet of rainbow roses.
“Why are you always around?” Liz snaps.
“I came to apologize.” Matt holds the flowers out to Liz.
“I swear I did not mean to hit you like that. My mind was ready to swing when he said stop. I fucked up, and you have every right to be pissed, but I was hoping you would let me take you out to lunch to make it up to you,” he says, eyes darting from Mikey to Riley as they approach to stand behind her.
“You think lunch is going to make up for three stitches and a split lip?” Riley asks, donning a mask of cool indifference, even though Liz can sense the tension building. “She’s busy.”
“At least I didn’t mean to hurt her, and I’m trying to make amends,” Matt stupidly snaps.
Liz drops her chin to her chest, knowing the all-out brawl he is about to start. To everyone’s surprise, Riley just laughs, not his normal, lighthearted laugh reserved for her, but one that makes every hair on the back of her neck stand up.
“Paula is waiting for you, princess. Don’t want to keep her waiting,” he says, stepping up next to her.
His voice in her ear sends chills across her neck and shoulders while Matt looks at them bewildered.
“As for you,” he says, eyes narrowing on the man in the doorway, still clinging to the gaudy flowers, “You can stay, get everything off your chest, maybe you’ll even get it all out before I put a bullet between your eyes. ”
“No murder,” Liz says whirling on him. Knowing she can’t kiss him, despite desperately needing to. She steps around the group of raging testosterone and disappears down the hall, sending one quick text to Riley to make sure he keeps Matt distracted.
As soon as Liz is gone, Mikey excuses himself, knowing this is not his battle to fight. Riley will do what he wants whether he is there or not, and he is smart enough to not get in the middle of a pissing contest over a girl.
He ducks out of the room, darting across the hall to tell Tyler everything and make sure he starts helping her get to where she needs to go. The unexpected guest may have thrown a wrench into their plans, but they still need it to be done.
Riley stalks back to the table, slumping into one of the chairs, watching to see if Matt will follow suit, or turn and run. He doesn’t bother trying to hide his shock when the man pulls out a seat on the opposite side.
“Now’s your shot, kid. You have something you want to say to me, fuckin’ say it.” His tone is pure ice despite trying to stay the composed leader he’s supposed to be.
“Why? So you can kill me? You know what will happen if you do it, right?” Matt snaps.
“Relax. If I was going to kill you, you would already be dead. I don’t give a fuck about being thrown in jail. The only reason you are still breathing is because Liz is allowing it,” Riley says, fighting the urge to wipe the smirk right off his face.
“I don’t get you two. She clearly has feelings for you. You have a pet name for her. You would kill me for her. You make it seem like you have feelings, yet you put your hands on her because she questions your relationship. You make no sense,” Matt admits.
“Well, good thing it’s not your business,” Riley snaps.
“You don’t deserve her,” Matt finally says.
“I know,” Riley replies solemnly.
“She is so hopelessly devoted to you, no matter how many times you break her. I don’t fucking understand it.
I mess up, but at least I always try to make it right.
I have done nothing but show her I can be what she needs, but she refuses to let go of whatever bullshit hope she holds onto for you.
How is she so committed to a man who beats her just because he is nice sometimes? ” he says, growing louder.
Riley almost feels for him. He knows how absolutely incredible she is, but he had no idea the man before him also held real feelings for her.
Riley goes to the cabinet, pulling a bottle of whiskey down and fills a glass, handing it to Matt.
“I told Liz I wouldn’t kill you, but if you say that shit one more fuckin’ time, I swear to whatever god you believe in, I will show you just how much the human body can take without dying,” he says, all too casually.
“Why? Can’t handle hearing it out loud? We all saw her when she came back—crying, wearing your handprint as a necklace. Your little buddies may ignore it, letting you do whatever you want, but I won’t,” Matt sneers.
“They ignore it because they know what happened over the arm of that couch.” He looks over, picturing her bent over it again. Matt slams the glass on the table, hearing the confession, staring at Riley with wide, panicked eyes. “She enjoyed every second, I promise.”
“So, she was telling the truth.” He leans back in his chair, shaking his head. “And what? You brought her over here to mark your territory?”
“No, I brought her over because you stressed me out, and I needed some relief,” Riley says, attempting to sound indifferent. “I thought she told you we have a complicated relationship.”
“I thought complicated meant she was in love with you, and you couldn’t stand her. Not that you fuck her whenever the mood strikes.”
“What can I say? She’s hot, and I’m just a man,” he says with a shrug.
“You are the reason she keeps turning me down, turning everyone down. Everytime you use her, you’re giving her false hope,” Matt yells, standing from his seat.
“What do you mean everyone?” Riley asks.
“There are plenty of men in other platoons that have been dying to talk to her, but they are too scared of you. Jesus christ, your own best friend wants to fuck her.”
“What?” Riley asks, dumbfounded.
That was the last thing he expected to hear. Mikey has no problems making it known that he finds Liz unbelievably attractive, but when it comes to sexual feelings, he had assumed his friend wouldn’t have any for her.
“He told her she had never looked hotter with the makeup running down her face before humping the air. She clearly felt the same way rubbing his damn stomach. The point is, you’re keeping her from finding any real happiness.” The words come out too fast to stop.
“Well, that’s good to know, but believe it or not, I don’t control what she does or doesn’t do.
I made my feelings clear, the rest is out of my hands.
If you think you, or anyone else for that matter, can get her to agree to a date, she’s all yours.
I will back off,” Riley says, knowing that was the last thing he expected to hear.
“God, I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but do you want to know how it happened?
Why we have the relationship we do?” Riley groans, waiting to see his choice.
Matt nods, slinking back into his chair.
Riley does exactly what Liz asked, he keeps him distracted, even if it means carefully picking and choosing what details to tell him, essentially handing him a playbook to her heart.