Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 144571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 723(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 482(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 723(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 482(@300wpm)
So fucking kind. So reasonable for someone who’d lied. Never for him. No. She wouldn’t ever play a role for him. He loved her and this was how she treated him?
Like you’re her safe space. Like she doesn’t have to pretend with you.
He wasn’t listening to that fucking voice right now.
His whole life was a lie, and so was she. How did he fucking know that he wasn’t bait? That she and her father hadn’t used him like they’d once used Dare. They’d nearly wrecked Dare’s life. He knew what they were capable of.
And you were with them. You were there. And you know she’s right about what happened with Parker. You set the whole team back with him. This is the spy game, not some fun afternoon in the fucking park.
Was she serious? Was she picking the job over him?
Or was he being a butt hurt idiot, and she was trying to keep things together?
“I’m not going anywhere, Kala.” He was right about a few things, and they would need to sit down and discuss this whole situation when he’d calmed down. Deep inside he trusted Big Tag. He loved Kala. It was too much to process right this second. The best plan of action was to pull everyone in. If Zach was worried about his aunt, he could come to Dallas to find her. “Not without Joyce Reed. You’re not my boss in the field no matter what you seem to think. I’m calling it. We head back.”
That brow cocked, a sure sign she was getting stubborn. Getting more stubborn. She’d been born that way, and he wasn’t handling this situation properly, but then she’d done absolutely nothing to handle him properly either. Why did it always have to be him?
Joyce started to move.
That wasn’t happening. “Move again, Joyce, and I’ll have you in cuffs in a heartbeat. You can either come in willingly or I’ll drag you.”
“Or I can take you out right here and now, brother,” a deep voice said. “Hands up, Coop. Right fucking now. Don’t think I won’t take out a knee or something.”
Zach stepped out from behind a massive cedar wearing fatigues and holding a Glock on him.
“Don’t you fucking call me brother,” Cooper replied, anger surging at the sight of him. But he put his hands up. “Kala, get behind me.”
All Zach would have to do was get hold of Kala and Cooper would be forced to do whatever he wanted.
“Boys, there’s no reason to fight. Jon…Cooper, Zach loves you,” Joyce said.
Kala still hadn’t moved.
“Coop, I’m not joking,” Zach said, his eyes moving from Cooper to Kala and back again. “Do not make a move. I won’t kill you, but I can’t let you take her.”
A long sigh came from Kala. “But girls are too emotional to make big decisions. Sure.”
“I said get behind me,” Cooper reiterated between clenched teeth.
“Who the fuck do you think I am, McKay?” Kala asked. “I was right. You want some sweet thing you can protect. I don’t need protection. If I wanted to take Zach out, I would have done it. I think it would be way more productive if we all sat down and had a chat. Joyce, you got any booze? I could use a drink.”
Oh, she was fully in her Ms. Magenta, badass persona, and he didn’t think he would be getting her back anytime soon. It was time to retreat. Lucky for him, he had the sat phone and could call for reinforcements. He would walk away since she didn’t need him and call back to base. Drake, not Big Tag, who would absolutely side with his daughter no matter how she wanted to fuck up an op. Kala was Big Tag’s precious girl who could do no wrong.
He kept his hands up, moving back toward his pack. It held the blankets they’d wrapped themselves in, the meals she’d made for them. “Fine. You guys have a blast. I can see I am not needed here.”
He would walk away, throw it all in Drake’s lap, and quit. He would go back to the Navy and not come home again. Not for a long fucking time.
Zach sighed. “Don’t reach for that pack, man. Please, Coop. Don’t make me do this.”
“He’s not going to listen,” Kala said with the saddest sigh. “He thinks I betrayed him.”
“How would you know?” Zach asked.
“He’s not thinking logically,” she replied.
“Fuck you both.” They were acting like this was a nothing situation. Like it happened every day and he should chill.
“Auntie.” Zach said her name like it was an order she should know how to obey.
“I’m so sorry, Jon,” Joyce said right before picking up her rifle and firing.
A dart hit his thigh. Damn. He’d thought it was a real rifle, but then he’d also thought what he’d had with Kala was real this time, and he was wrong about that.