“It was a nickname—one that he chose himself. He’s lucky he only got the fucking powder.”
Trey surprised Penny by tugging her into a hug. Cocooned in his massive arms, she felt warm and comfortable, just like the time he’d hugged her when she was eight and had fallen off her bicycle for the tenth time in as many minutes. Penny burrowed closer, holding on to the back of his shirt. A few breaths later and the teasing moment started shifting.
“Shit,” he murmured into her hair. “Mom’s going to kill me for letting you do this. I’m a fucking dead man.”
“Maybe eventually.” Penny gave him a firm squeeze before pulling back. “But at first she’ll be too thankful to have us all back at home.”
“You need to be careful, okay? I’d do anything for Rachel, too, but I know you have an aversion to people telling you what to do. You have to listen to Rafe every single second that you’re out there. Every. Damn. Second. He’s the best of the best, and even more, he knows I’ll kick his ass if anything happens to you.”
Like a magnet pulled their gazes together, Penny met Rafe’s blue eyes through the sliding glass door. He’d taken a chance on her. They all had. Now that she’d convinced them all that she was up for this assignment, it was time to convince herself.
*
More holes littered their plans than the jeans of a nineties teenybopper boy band. Hours of research wasn’t enough. Hell, Rafe could spend a week reading maps and forming contingencies for every contrived scenario and it still wouldn’t be sufficient to make him feel fucking prepared.
Around one in the morning, the guys started leaving the suite one by one. Trey lagged behind, hands shoved deep in his pockets as he casually glanced around the room. He looked the most uneasy Rafe had ever seen him, and considering they’d both been sent to some hellish locations during their stint with Delta, that was saying a damn lot.
“Whatever’s on your mind, unload it. We have a big day tomorrow.” Rafe crossed his arms and waited.
Trey leaned against the doorjamb. “You know I own up to my mistakes…when I make them. Cutting Penny out of my life the way I did was one of the largest. And it’s one I’m not going to repeat.”
The sumo-sized weight that settled on Rafe’s chest was unnerving as hell, and most definitely unwelcome. Ever since the hugfest on the balcony, he’d barely been able to keep his foul mood to himself, wondering if Trey and Penny’s relationship had been as platonic as each claimed.
“What’s your point?” Rafe asked, unsure if he wanted the answer.
“My point’s that I have a lot of ass kissing to do, and I can’t do it if she’s dead. She’s important to me, man.”
“I’ll keep her safe and sound so the two of you can kiss and make up the proper way. Don’t worry.”
Rafe sounded catty even to his own ears. Trey’s also picked it up, his face blank for a moment before realization turned shock into humor and the bastard laughed so hard tears sprang to his eyes.
“Glad you find this so funny,” Rafe practically growled, his nails biting into his palms as Trey fought to take a deep breath.
“Yeah, well, when one of my best friends looks like a green volcano ready to blow his top, I can’t help it. Jesus, Rafe, you think I want her, want her? Hell no! I mean, yeah, I love her, but like a sister! Christ!” Trey wiped tears of laughter from his eyes. “My mother practically raised her from the moment her asshole father dumped her and Rachel off on our doorstep. Even during my crazed hormone years, I’ve never seen her as anything more than a sister.”
The tightness in Rafe’s chest loosened a fraction. “Then what the hell was the bit about making amends and shit?”
“I meant that I’ve been a raging jerk to Penny through the years. I took my entire family for fucking granted. It’s done. I can’t rewind back through the years and start over, but the very least I can do is start looking out for her. That begins by making sure she doesn’t get put into a bad fucking situation. You hear what I’m saying?”
“Are you talking about Fuentes now, or me?” Rafe’s voice chilled significantly.
Trey lifted his hands in mock surrender. “Look, I don’t blame you for being interested. She’s fucking amazing. All I’m saying is that the two of us are men of the same combat cloth. We constantly put ourselves in these shit storms, disappear for months at a time. Long-term for us is thinking toward the weekend, or hell, the next few hours. I don’t care if she’s with Bail Enforcement, Central Intelligence, the Federal Bureau, or any combo of the government alphabet. She doesn’t fit in this ass-backward life. She deserves better. She deserves more than the half-assed attention that Admiral Kline gave her. And that’s all I’m going to say on the subject.”