“He’s only been with Landon for a couple of weeks, at the most,” she pointed out.
“That’s more than enough,” Jem told her.
She asked the question she’d been dreading, the one she knew the answer to. “Do you think he agreed to go back because they threatened him?”
“I think he went back because they threatened you, Avery,” Mike said.
“That’s what I was afraid of. Excuse me.” She pushed away from the table, went into the next room for some space. She blinked back tears, held herself together as she looked around at the pictures scattered on the table.
They were mainly of the men and Josie. A woman who was most likely Josie’s mom. And, if she looked closely, there were a few of a younger Gunner. The fact that these men kept his pictures here after what had happened . . .
She turned away. This was like sneaking into someone’s past, uninvited.
Can’t change the past, Avery, Mom would tell her. What’s done is done. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t change the future.
“What’s going on, Avery?” Jem asked.
“Nothing.”
He stared at her and she got the distinct impression she’d be next in line for light waterboarding if she didn’t talk. “I saw him, Jem. Recently.”
“When?” Jem demanded.
“A week ago. He came to my hotel room and . . .” She trailed off. “I didn’t ask him where he’d been and he didn’t offer. I didn’t want to freak him out by asking him to stay, so . . . dammit. He made love to me and he left.”
“That doesn’t mean you suck in bed or anything,” Jem said.
She crossed her arms and stared him down. “Thanks.”
“Aw, come on, you know what the deal is with him now. The fact that he came back, even for a little while, is good news. But you have to stop holding shit back from me. I’m the king of shitty choices, Avery. I won’t judge you.” Jem put a hand on her shoulder. “You’re still the key to getting Gunner back with us.”
“Thanks for saying that.” She paused, considering. “Maybe Gunner doesn’t know Landon’s trying to kill us.”
“Or maybe Gunner sent them,” Jem said.
“I can’t believe he’d do that.”
“I don’t want to either.”
She glanced at the picture of Josie and Gunner. “They both look so young. Innocent.”
“Yeah, they do.”
The fact that Gunner might’ve done this, given up his life, his love of tattooing, and gone to work with the worst kind of criminals because of her made her ache. She wrapped her arms around herself and stared at the picture of Josie.
“I won’t let him down, Josie,” she whispered as she ran a hand along the picture like a promise. “I swear I won’t let him down again.”
“You didn’t let him down,” Jem told her, but she knew better. She hadn’t begged Gunner to stay with her out of some misguided notion that it had to be his idea to stay.
Gunner had been waiting for her to ask. When she hadn’t . . .
“Let’s go find him,” she told Jem.
“Atta girl.”
Chapter Nine
No contact, except for emergencies. That had been Avery’s rule, and Dare agreed with it, beyond his better judgment. He knew she wanted him and Grace to have time alone together. And it was much-needed time, he agreed. Their meeting had been a goddamned hurricane with a tornado thrown in for good measure.
Downtime would tell the tale . . . and so far, the tale was still damned fine.
“You’re thinking about the team again,” Grace said with a smile.
“So were you.”
She shrugged, not minding being caught. The bikini she wore should be outlawed, because it was really just string and crocheted material and he would’ve been covering her with a towel if they were anywhere but in the privacy of their own beach. The resort he’d picked was known for its share of guests who didn’t want to be bothered by anyone. Their food was cooked, left for them discreetly. They barely saw the people who cleaned their rooms while they were lounging on the beach.
“We’re supposed to think about Section 8,” she reminded him. “That’s the point of Avery’s forced vacation.”
“She’s really bossy, isn’t she?” he grumbled, but couldn’t hold back a smile.
“A family trait,” she told him.
“Aw, come on, baby. That’s not fair.”
“I’ve never fought fair.”
He stared up at the blue sky, sunglasses firmly in place. They’d all been to hell and back and none of them fought fairly when it was necessary for their survival. Typically, though, that happened when they were worried about one another’s survival more than their own.
Which was exactly why this new S8 would gel so perfectly.
“You think they’re all fine?” she asked.
He noted the concern in her voice. “You’re worried?”
“It’s just . . . a feeling,” she said. And, yes, he knew her feelings.
“Grace?”
She pressed her lips together. “I’m probably just nervous.”
He shook his head.
“Okay, look, it’s not a nervous, something horrible is happening right now feeling. But . . . maybe we should put in a call. Tomorrow. Give me another night to let this settle.”
Grace had premonitions for as far back as she could remember, until Rip, as she called her stepfather, had decided to see if she was as strong as she seemed to be.
Turned out, she had been, even though Rip had tortured her for a year, kept her locked up, let his men hurt her, but her gift of premonition had suffered, retreated so deeply inside her and refused to come out. Slowly, the premonitions were returning, but although they were unreliable as to when they would come, the feelings were spot-on.
At least she hadn’t had any that were like the ones Dare first saw. Those were painful, made her space out and lose consciousness.
Now that Rip was out of her life for good, Grace felt she was able to come to terms with it all.
Except for what Gunner had been through. She knew Gunner felt guilty about her. And she worried that that could actually be all their undoing.
It wasn’t an easy process. Avery knew that, with every week that passed, they were losing Gunner more and more.
Mike and Andy were amazing with comms. They’d made a lot of headway in tracking Landon, or rather, keeping track of him.
“Gunner must’ve been doing the same thing,” Jem surmised. “Ever get a look at his computers?”
“Sure, but there was so much going on I wouldn’t have known what to look for. Landon’s info might’ve been right in front of my face and I wouldn’t have known. My focus at that point was on Dare and Powell.”
Tracking Landon wasn’t the same as tracking Gunner at all. The men were never in the same place at the same time, and for good reason. And the reports that piled up about the jobs Gunner was doing mainly showcased him taking down notorious human traffickers and freeing the women and children who’d been captured.
“Why does Landon waste time doing this?” she asked.
“Why does a criminal do anything? Sometimes it’s less of why and more of why not,” Jem said. “But hell, this guy has to have a motive. This isn’t ordinary stuff.”
“Maybe they’re trying to horn in on his business. Smuggling’s smuggling. And the people who want to leave the country would pay good money.”
“But it’s two different skill sets. Trafficking to sell humans is different than sneaking a few away from the law and creating a new life for them. The women and children who get sold sure as hell don’t need birth certificates and credit cards.”