Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE_
DECAF
As hard as it is for me to sit back and take the rest of my leave, I do it. Because if I ask Trav or any of the guys if Haz quit and it actually happened? They’ll all know I had something to do with it.
All I can hope is that when I show up for the team meeting today—that Trav only sent notice of yesterday—it’s to announce Haz’s departure.
I’m also hoping to get a new assignment so I go back to working so hard I don’t have time to think about anything else. And with Haz leaving, I might not have to take a job in fucking Siberia to put the most amount of distance between us as possible.
The talk with his mother went better than I expected. Sure, she wasn’t the most warm or welcoming, but I was half expecting her to slam the door in my face or spit on me. Subdued hatred was probably too generous of her, but I was thankful she was willing to hear me out.
I didn’t completely rat him out to his mommy.
I wasn’t going to get into what he’d been through on his first job with Mike Bravo, but I did tell her exactly what type of work Mike Bravo is contracted to do.
Every job might not be diving behind a barricade in a hail of gunfire, but even bounty hunting is unpredictable.
A target might be out on bail for a violent felony, but they hand themselves over with no issue, and then the next is a stay-at-home mom on a lower charge, and when you turn up to her house, you get shot at.
From what I’ve seen of his bounties, though, he’s had a smooth run.
That luck was bound to run out at some point, so I’m happy he’s getting out now before his luck changed.
I pull into HQ earlier than Trav said I needed to be here, but I wanted to talk to him before the meeting so I could line up my next job. Even though I’m early, there are a few cars already in the lot out front of the mansion that serves as Mike Bravo headquarters.
Saint’s car makes sense because he’s generally working in tech.
His base is HQ. Iris is probably with him.
And Atlas is Trav’s second-in-command, so of course he’s here early.
It makes sense for Zeus to be here after having recently taken on a recruitment role if we need a replacement for Haz.
But as I park my car next to a familiar brand-new Genesis G70, I have to question why Haz would be needed.
Going away party, maybe? We don’t really do that kind of thing in Mike Bravo, but traditions have to start somewhere.
I stare at his car as I head inside, remembering when he first bought it a few months ago.
Most guys when they start working for Trav go out and spend their padded paychecks on things that are flashy and expensive.
The Genesis might look flashy, but its price tag is on the lower end when it comes to luxury cars.
I don’t know what I was expecting him to buy—a Porsche, Lambo, something completely out of his price range and more of a pain in the ass to drive than it would be worth.
The Genesis was an economical and smart choice.
Not exactly something I was anticipating from Haz, considering everyone calls him Iris 2. 0.
Then again, it’s not as if I’ve taken the time to get to know him while he’s been here.
Jury’s still out on whether going to his mother was the right move or not, but if it gets him away from this life, away from danger, and away from hurting the way I’ve hurt for over twenty years, then it will all be worth it.
I key in my code to open the front door and make my way down the long hall to the Mike Bravo quarters. Trav and his fiancé, Rogue, live at the opposite end of the house, though I’m not entirely sure how much living Trav used to do at that end until Rogue came along.
To get to our war room, where team meetings are held, I have to go past Atlas’s and Trav’s offices. When Atlas’s is empty, I figure they must be in Trav’s, but that’s empty too.
I find them and everyone else who’s already here in the war room.
Iris is on a chair at the table with his sixty-pound German shepherd named Princess Smooshy Face on his lap. Saint is next to him. Zeus is opposite them but paying them no attention—his head is stuck in his phone. Probably checking up on his boyfriend or niblings.
Trav and Atlas are standing up at the front, and I’ve noticed Trav is looking more and more tired lately. Is old age finally catching up to him? Not that he’s old. He’s only two years older than me. So he can’t be old. Otherwise, that means I’m soon to be old.
The only one missing who has a car in the parking lot is Haz. Ooh, maybe he sold the car to Trav because without a job, he couldn’t afford the repayments. Maybe this is it. He’s already gone.
But as I think that, Haz wanders in behind me, his shoulder clipping me as he walks by while wiping his wet hands on his shirt and pants.
He glances up, and his lips move to speak, but all he gets out is “Sorr—” before his smile drops. His gaze narrows. Before I can tell him to watch where he’s going, his cheeks pinken like he’s embarrassed, but the color quickly turns into the deep fiery red of anger.
The next couple of moments move in slow motion in my head but still way too fast for me to see it coming or to prevent it from happening.
Haz balls his fist, and the sound of teeth grinding echoes in my ears. His or mine, I can’t be sure. His arm cocks backward, and the next sound to register is the loud crack as Haz’s fist hits my jaw.
I stumble backward in shock. “Oww, what the—” I grab at my face just as Haz tackles me to the ground.
He’s screaming something at me, but I’m too busy trying to get my bearings while lifting my arms in front of me to protect my face and head as he tries to hit me again.
He can’t, but he’s not one to give up. He lands a punch to my ribs instead.
I knew he wouldn’t take it well that I went to his mother, but this is a bit overkill, isn’t it?
When I’m finally able to hear what he’s yelling, his words make me stop fighting. They stop me cold. “I fucking hate you. I hate you! You left him to die.” His voice cracks. “You left him to die.”
He’s finally pulled off me, Trav and Atlas both having to hold him back as he tries to fight his way back to me.
Princess Smooshy Face is barking her head off, but Zeus and Saint pick up one of my arms each and help me to my feet.
My heart’s racing, I’m breathing heavily, and my face aches, but all I can hear, all I can focus on, is the words he was yelling.
You. Left. Him. To. Die.
“What the fuck is going on?” Trav yells.
“It’s okay.” I pull out of Saint’s and Zeus’s hold and nod at Haz. “Let him go. Let him get it out.”
This is more the reaction I was expecting when he started working here, but it’s obvious to me now that he had no idea what really happened on his father’s last mission. He knows now, and I’m assuming it was his mother who told him.
Trav and Atlas refuse to let Haz go, but when he shakes out of their grip, he doesn’t charge at me like I expect him to. Like I want him to.
His face is still red, but now his eyes are too. Red and watery like he’s trying to hold back tears. And then he says the words I’ve been asking myself for the last twenty-two years. “How could you do that to him?”