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Her eyes widened a fraction. He’d played his ace in the hole, the one card he still had on his side. “What?”
“If they hadn’t brought him in for you, would you have gone back for him?” He had to know the answer. The only thing to fear was failure to complete the mission, and he had only one mission—get his girl back.
“Gabriel and I don’t need your permission.”
“Nice evasion.” Pleasure unfolded inside him for the first time in an eternity.
She swallowed once, then pulled her face away, and he let his hand drop. “Gabriel and I aretogether. He gets me. Hell, I think he gets you. Maybe. I don’t know.”
Since her lover had a gun pointed at Brad, Gabriel definitely got him. They wanted the same woman. Would do anything for her. Risk anything. “Maybe so. You still haven’t answered my question.”
“What do you want to hear?” Sachi defense mechanism number one came into play.
It answered the question for him. Yes, she and Gabriel were together, but if the guys hadn’t brought him in, she wouldn’t have gone back for him. Not yet, anyway. He had a chance. A small one, maybe. But his girl was still in play.Better pull the trigger, man.
He kept those thoughts to himself, however, and said, “Hearing the sound of your voice, talking to you, being close to you? It’s almost enough.”Almost.“I never stopped loving you, Sachi. It kills me that you didn’t know I was alive. I can never apologize for it enough. But I will find a way.”A promise. An oath.He’d always believed she couldn’t love more than Merc. Merc had her heart, while Brad had everything else, and he’d been willing to settle for that. Gabriel proved him wrong. If she could care about Gabriel, then she could—maybe, she even loved Brad, too. So, he could take his lumps. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s not enough.” She withdrew and held up her hands as she backed toward her bike. Brad stayed where he was. Her focus might be dented, but she was back and in control.
One thing hadn’t changed. He still knew how to get what he wanted. Letting her go right then was the right thing to do. Her jeans pulled tight across her ass as she straddled her bike.
“I’ll see you soon,” he promised her.
She stiffened at the words, then turned the ignition on the bike and peeled out of their spot. Pivoting, he faced the glinting rifle in the distance and pulled her phone from his pocket. Dialing the most recent number, he waited for Gabriel to answer before he said, “Game on.”
Chapter 2
The ride back to base cleared her head. Well, arguably, it left her head more fucked than it had been before, but she wasn’t really keeping score. Parking the bike, she avoided the main hangar and went straight for Chrome’s office. Odd how empty and alien their compound felt. In the last year, she’d made the mistake of making it home.
Chrome leaned against his desk with a drink in his hand when she pushed the door open. His gaze landed on her, and she didn’t bother with her jaunty salute or good Marine greeting. Anger, confusion, grief, rage, and a thousand other emotions vied for her attention, and it took everything she had to keep them bottled. “Did you know?”
His eyes narrowed, and he frowned. “Did I know?”
“Did you know he was alive?”Not them. Just him. She could only deal with so much at the moment, and Brad floated right to the top. “I don’t think you would do that to me, sir. You’ve never been that kind of commander. But I need to hear it from you—did you know he was alive? Did you know what they were doing? Did you know he washerethis whole past year?”
Setting his drink down, he straightened, and his expression went from frown to foreboding. “No. I would never have kept that a secret from you. Not ever.” Ice frosted his every word. She’d insulted the fuck out of him, but she didn’t care. “Even if it meant my life, I’d have told you he was here. I didn’t know.” Maybe his anger was for them. The chilled rage echoed to the dark place inside her.
“Thank you, sir.” Hearing it didn’t make her feel better, not even a little. But if this cluster fuck taught her anything, it was that she wasn’t sure whom she could trust.
“Copper…”
No, she didn’t want his pity. “I need a mission, sir. An assignment.”Yes. Be somewhere else. Be someone else.“Send me somewhere, send me fucking anywhere.” Anywhere that wasn’t the dream turned nightmare she’d woken up in.
“Fuck no.” He shook his head. “Not when you’re like this. You need to get a handle on this shit, Copper.”
“No shit to handle, sir. I can do my fucking job.” It was the only thing shecoulddo. Copper got crap done. She didn’t lose her mind because a ghost she’d spent years wishing to have back suddenly appeared—only he wasn’t a ghost. He was very much alive. Her body went tight and guilt vied with anger. She’d given up on him. Let him go.
She hadn’t waited.
Hands closed on her shoulders and shook her once. She focused on the commander’s stern gaze. “No, you have shit to handle. I am not sending you out there to get yourself killed, I don’t care who came back from the dead. I have your back. You want to take leave, take it. But no missions…”
Fine. She’d do her own fucking mission.
“If you try, I will tie you up and throw your ass in a cell. Am I clear?”Not a threat. A promise.
“I already have too many men, sir, and I’m really not your type.”
A faint smile creased his lips, and he hugged her. The affection zapped her with a fresh shock.
