Page 3 of Wicked Obsession

“Pienkowski! You okay, man?”

Ryder shook his head and brought his thoughts back to the now. “Yeah, why?”

Stony released the bag and stepped to the side. “Because you were standing there, looking blank.”

“I was thinking about something. Hold the bag—I want to get in a few more rounds.”

“No.” Rowland crossed his arms across his chest. “You’ve been at this since the captain dismissed us. Let’s call it a night and find some food. Mako texted that everyone’s headed over to Big Joe’s for ribs.”

“You go ahead.” Ryder looked around until he spotted the small, red bag hanging from its platform. “I’ll use the timing bag.”

Instead of moving, his teammate stood there and stared at him, his face expressionless. That was how he’d earned the nickname Stone Man, Stony for short.

Rowland could be fucking annoying. He was chameleon-like—he could conceal his emotionscompletely, shut down whenever he wanted, and he could morph into any role in an instant. Which was why he was brilliant when the team went undercover. His dark blond hair was already shoulder-length for their delayed mission where he was supposed to play the part of a mercenary and gunrunner. Ryder was a supporting player. Not that he wanted to do what Stony did. Hanging out with the scum of the earth and lying to them convincingly? His acting wasn’t that good.

“Go eat barbecue,” Ryder said.

“I will, but first let’s talk about what the fuck is wrong with you.”

Ryder opened his mouth and then shut it without saying anything. It took too much energy to lie, and maybe he did want to talk about it. Stony was quiet, but he saw a lot, and he had his head screwed on straight. “Langley broke things off when I took her to the airport.”

Rowland didn’t react. “What happened?”

Grabbing the Velcro on his left boxing glove with his right glove, Ryder pulled it open. “Damned if I know.” He kept his voice flat and tried to sound careless, as if the breakup hadn’t shredded his insides. “One minute she’s inviting me to all this shit, including parties at her parents’ house, and the next minute she’s telling me we’re finished.”

He couldn’t read Stony’s expression. “What?”

“I didn’t realize I was friends with a fucking moron.”

Ryder was too surprised to be offended. “What does that mean?”

Instead of answering directly, Rowland said, “Tonight, most of the team will be at Big Joe’s with their wives and girlfriends. Let’s say Langley wasn’t in San Diego. Let’s say she was in town and hadn’t ended things. Would you have brought her to dinner or would you have shown up alone, had a quick bite, and then taken off to spend time with her somewhere else?”

“She wouldn’t have been comfortable.”

“How do you know? Have you ever invited her to any of our team gatherings and had her tell you that? Or is it thatyou’remore comfortable keeping her away from us?” Stony shook his head, forestalling what Ryder had been about to say. “Would you have asked her to join us at Big Joe’s if she were here?”

Pivoting without a word, Ryder went and stowed his boxing gloves.

“Half the team doesn’t realize you’re involved with someone. That’s why their wives keep trying to set you up,” Rowland called from across the room.

“It isn’t half the team,” Ryder disagreed.

“Close enough. Lurch is bringing Hannahtonight. He’s been going out with her for six weeks. How long have you been dating Langley?”

Stony damn well knew Ryder had been seeing Langley for more than a year. “That isn’t why she called it quits. Langley doesn’t realize that our team is big on get-togethers.”

“Maybe not, but I’ve run into you guys around Tampa three times, and she sure as hell noticed the way you cut the conversation short and hustled her away from me. Griff and Mako said you did the same thing with them. The surprising thingisn’tthat she had enough. What surprises me is how long she put up with it. That woman is no pushover.”

True, his hellcat wasn’t a doormat—princesses usually weren’t—but he had a hard time believing that she’d ended things over a few invitations. Rowland was smart, but he didn’t know everything. Before Ryder could figure out how to respond, his phone went off and he retrieved it to check messages.

Report to General Richard Wolfe’s office.

Looking up from the text, he asked Stony, “You didn’t get a message?”

Rowland unclipped the phone from his belt and looked. He shook his head.

This wasn’t about the assignment to Puerto Jardin being back on then. The entire team wouldhave had their phones blow up at the same time if that was the case. Ryder frowned. He’d kept his mouth shut when the mission had been postponed, so there was no fucking way this was a reprimand. “Tell me that there are two generals named Richard Wolfe assigned here.”

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