Ruthless (Park Avenue Kings #5)

Chapter 1 Shep

SHEP

HOURS HAD PASSED. Fucking hours. And still no sign of Theo.

“Shep, we need to get back to the house.” King’s voice was merely background noise I chose to ignore as I trudged on through the mud deeper into the rainforest. Brazil was hot and humid at the best of times, but after the brief downpour an hour ago it was downright unbearable.

With every step I took, my boots threatened to find a permanent place in the sludge and my eyes burned from the sweat pouring down my face.

We’d already come across more poisonous reptiles than I’d ever seen in my life, something that would’ve sent Theo running out of the jungle.

Fuck, I was hoping he’d come running out.

Any second now I expected to see him, pissed off from the inconvenience of someone with a death wish thinking they could grab him and go.

That they’d underestimated what he could do with his bare hands and that they’d had it coming when he fed them to a nearby anaconda.

Then he’d grumble about having to see a damn anaconda and that I should bust out mine to rid him of the terrible nightmare.

I almost smiled at the thought, until a rough hand grabbed me by the arm, jerking me to a stop. King’s serious face flooded my vision, his strong body blocking my next step.

“He’s not here.” Those three words felt like a slap in the face, and I growled and shoved him out of my way. Not an easy feat under normal circumstances, but with the way I was feeling, it wasn’t smart to fuck with me.

King should know better.

“I know you don’t want to believe it, but he’s gone. The sooner we get back to the house and figure out our next steps, the sooner we get him back.”

When I continued to ignore him, King again blocked my path, but this time he was prepared for me to fight back. I swung on him and he ducked out of the way, but then maneuvered himself so he was behind me and my arm was pinned to my back between us.

“Shep.” He gentled his voice and I squeezed my eyes shut, wishing I could block him out. There was no time for this. Theo was out here somewhere, possibly hurt, maybe even…

No. I wasn’t going to think about that. He was fine. He was capable. I would find him. And then I would make the motherfucker that took him pay.

“We’re going to get him back,” King said, his arms wrapped around me like steel. “But let’s be smart about this.”

“We’re wasting time—”

“You’re going to get yourself killed out here before you find him.

” He shifted me to face where a snake as thick as my waist slithered across the path not five feet from us.

An involuntary shudder racked my body, but if it meant getting Theo back, I would’ve strangled that fucker in a heartbeat and without hesitation.

“Let me go.”

“I’ll let you go when you start—”

Before he could finish talking, I brought my booted foot up and slammed my heel back into his shin. A loud curse rent the air and he immediately loosened his grip on me.

I spun on him and took immediate advantage of his surprise by ramming my shoulder into his torso. King’s breath left him on a whoosh as I hurled all two hundred and twenty pounds of tightly wound muscle into him.

“Shep,” he gritted out as I slammed him into one of the massive trees surrounding us, and just about the time he realized I was done listening, I’d drawn my arm back and balled my fist.

I swung first and thought about a second too late, as he dodged the blow and my hand met with the solid trunk of the tree. As my own curse echoed around us, King shoved forward, pushing me off him.

“Get a fucking hold of yourself,” he barked, as pain shot through my hand and up my arm. “What good are you going to be to Theo if you break your damn hand?”

“About as good as I would be if I tuck tail and run back to the compound.”

“It’s not tucking tail.” King’s chest heaved as he braced himself for whatever I might do next. “It’s called using your head.”

“Fuck my head. Theo is out there—”

“Without his tracker, without any weapons, without any way to communicate with us—”

“You think I don’t know that?” I shouted so loud the animals in the trees around us kicked up a fuss.

“Then start acting like it. Your running off half-cocked, hellbent on revenge, isn’t going to do Theo any good in the long run.”

I scoffed, narrowing my eyes dangerously. “Something I’m sure you care a whole lot about.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

I closed the few steps between us until I was toe to toe with the man I’d once thought was my forever, and all I could think about now was how I would have no problem laying him out flat to get to the one man who was now my everything.

“This is your fault,” I said in a voice I barely recognized but felt in my very soul.

“My fault?”

“Yes,” I hissed, baring my teeth. “If you hadn’t come to check up on us, we wouldn’t be in this fucking mess. If you hadn’t been your usual controlling self, Theo wouldn’t have been taken and I wouldn’t be out here wondering if he was dead or alive.”

I reached for King’s shirt and twisted it in my hand, hauling him in so close his eyes flared. “So if you want to talk about people who don’t use their heads, how about you take a fucking look at yourself?”

I shoved him away from me so hard he stumbled. His expression morphed from anger to shock then…acceptance.

“You’re right.” His jaw twitched as he cracked his neck from side to side. “But we don’t have time to play the blame game. With his tracker cut out and left at the house, we have nothing to go on.”

“Then how about you fuck off and let me do this my way?”

I turned, about to head deeper into the jungle, when King said, “Because I won’t be responsible for losing two of you.”

I rounded back so fast on him we almost collided. “He’s not lost. He was fucking taken, and I’m going to get him back.” I jabbed a finger between us. “You can do whatever the fuck you like.”

Fucking King. Always thinking he knew what’s best. Yeah, how’d that turn out this time?

“I think I should go back to the house.”

“Then go.”

“Shep, there’s no way they’ve stayed here. It’s been hours. If they were close by, we would’ve found them.”

“Then maybe they’re not fucking close.” I refused to believe I couldn’t get to Theo, couldn’t find him. I’d feel it if he was gone, right? I’d somehow know if he was de—

No, I wasn’t going to let myself think about that. These fuckers were hiding somewhere, lying low until nightfall so they could make their escape. I had at least an hour or two left until then. Surely I could find some sign. I was a good tracker. A hiker. I could find him.

“Then maybe I should go back to the house,” King said. “You have a radio, weapons, your tracker. I can connect with New York and—”

“They can do absolutely nothing.” I glanced over my shoulder to where King was eyeing me like I was a wild animal, which wasn’t far from the truth. “Go,” I said, dismissing him in a way no one would ever dare to. “I’d actually prefer it.”

I started off toward the thick vines, machete in hand in case that snake decided to make a second appearance—the reptile or the motherfucker who’d dared to touch my man.