Page 75 of Winters Heat

“Yeah, you’re so scared of him. I see that.”

“You don’t get it, honey. He’s not here, and it’s our job to make sure you’re safe. We watch out for our own, and that means you don’t move. He’d have every right to take a cheap shot at me if one good-looking hair on your head gets hurt under my watch.”

“You’re still a prick.”

“And you’re a subordinate. Sit your cute ass down.”

Cute?Jared speaking in anything other than black and white seemed a deviation. Mia rolled her eyes but didn’t respond. Cash ambled by her and winked. At least she had a friend in him. Jared was a jerk. And who knew about the others.

They filed out the shack door. Jared turned to her before leaving. “Sit down. Don’t move. Don’t leave. You may hydrate. That’s all.”

She hated him. Frustrated tears burned her raw eyes, but she wouldn’t let them fall. She hated losing control. Hated her emotions when they ran rampant. But none of that mattered as she sat alone.

Insects buzzed throughout the shack. Mia ignored the rickety chairs and packed dirt floor. In the corner of the room was a makeshift bed. Really, just a thatched mat.

Exhaustion clawed in the silence. It overpowered the nerves that tormented her stomach. The bed called to her with burden-easing promises.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Winters blinked against the reverberations. Bursts and pops sounded dull in his cinder block cage, yet not too distant. He blinked again, registering blistering pain and chorusing excitement. Titan has arrived. Thank the Lord.

And if Titan was close, Mia was safe. Somewhere, somehow, they had secured her. They wouldn’t stage an assault if she weren’t.

Sweet, sweet, Mia.

Or instead, poor, sweet, Mia.

He blew a hard sigh, strong enough to empty his desperate lungs. What the hell had he brought into her life? Nothing but danger, trauma, and brutality. He was to blame for every perilous misstep she’d had since the kidnapping at the airport.

He should have left her alone on day one. Smoky-eyed and tear-gassed. She was a smart girl. She could have talked her way out of that motel room when Louisville’s finest arrived, lights gyrating.

Shit, any five-oh, assuming they were red-blooded and male, would have tripped over themselves to take her statement and offer her comfort. And all he did was toss her in the backseat of his truck.

What kind of dickhead was he? The kind who selfishly exposed her to hell.

His life was too dangerous. His judgment was inherently disjointed when it came to her. Clara, he could protect, but Mia… She was different. She had a life, a job. Maybe even a mortgage. Everything was fine before he came along. And now? Very much not fine.

She was rat-holed in a jungle safe house. A deep ache, worse than the field mended gunshot holes, festered in his stomach.

Dread. Terrible, gut-wrenching dread. He squeezed his eyes shut. The realization was a knockout punch to the temple. He needed to protect her from evil and violence. And from him.

He’d have to walk away.

His mind double-timed. A shrapnel-snarled explosion ripped his heart to pieces. He didn’t deserve a woman who sacrificed herself for his daughter. He sure as shit couldn’t handle the responsibility of chancing her life again.

Losing her would be the hardest battle he’d fight. Ever.

Nothing good ever came easy. Or some shit like that. He’d be miserable, but that wasn’t the point. She’d be safe. That was the damn point.

Winters pushed onto his elbows, cursing his fatigued muscles. His head spun. The blasts were closer. He needed to put on his cartel-surviving game face, if he was going to hobble out of this prison.

He rubbed his eyes and ran his bloodied hands through his gritty hair. He needed a few vacation days after this clusterfuck subsided.

A booming shout bled through the solid door. “Hey, Sleeping Beauty, back the fuck up.”

Had he ever been so happy to hear angry Jared? The deadbolt exploded. A thump of a boot later, and the door flung open.

“About time you showed up. Lazy asses.”

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