Page 137 of Dangerous Mission

Justice has plunked his ass down on the bed—yes the bed—and is talking about something with Aria.

If he wasn’t my buddy, I’d be removing him with force, but right now, I just feel…

Satisfied.

Like I’m home.

Home in my skin.

But more importantly in my heart.

Even though I’m thousands of miles from the house I never use, I feel more grounded than ever.

The house is something else Aria doesn’t know about yet. But it doesn’t matter much. I’m hers. I’ll be where she wants to be.

Griff is camped out near his sister, stuffing his face. “Pass me that stuff,” he motions with his fork.

“You mean the pico de gallo?” Truck asks, balancing his plate in one hand to reach across the coffee table for the bowl Griff wants.

Griff nods his appreciation, and turns the conversation to business. “What’s the latest on the missing woman?”

I tune in to the team with a generous side dish of guilt weighing me down.

There’s a woman we’ve been paid to find, but more importantly, she could be in danger and the team has been fully engaged in the chaos around myself and Aria.

“Yo, man. Are you coming to sit down?” It’s Beast calling for me.

I give him a flat look. “When I’m done playing Martha Stewart, yeah.”

Camile laughs as I hand her a bottled water. “Calling room service was so hard.”

I feign an expression of insult, clutching my chest.

“Oh, I see how you are. Someone had to secure this event venue and plan the perfect seating arrangement for the rude guests,” I quip with a smirk. “Even if I didn’t invite a single one of you.”

She gives me a big smile. “Touché. And it’s good to see you smiling.”

“Ditto, teammate.”

Camile and Beast went through their own hell when our team first arrived in Vandemora to look for Allison Westerly. I thought they were crazy for falling so fast, but damn if I didn’t fall faster.

Oh well. I’m definitely in it to win it now.

Giving into the smile my face insists on wearing, I get back to my job.Jobs.

Catering to our team of tired, hungry, operatives at the moment. Which comes in below taking care of Aria. But I do still have my position with Agile and Team Falcon and the work we do is important.

“Justice, did you find anything on the mountain around the opening at the top of the cave?” I ask as I empty my armful of water bottles by passing them out to everyone.

The smile drops from his face as his hand stops midway to his mouth. For a beat the food on his overstuffed fork looks dangerously close to sliding off on my bed.

Jerk.

“There were some signs of recent activity, butnothing definitive. The rain has ruined any evidence of who it was. But the good news is we’ve got a dive set up for tomorrow at zero-six-hundred at one of the other caverns. This one isn’t as prone to flooding and the professor said it would be a good candidate for MZ’s research so she could have been there recently since her belongings were found closeby.”

“So the rain won’t make this one as dangerous?” Aria asks, concern tightening her brows together.

“Devil’s Belly, they call it,” Truck says as he smirks. “Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? And the rain doesn’t have to make it more dangerous. It’s already incredibly dangerous. It’s known for filling up with water once a year and it’s a trophy dive. Only the best of the best do it.”

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