Roar (Military Bad Boy Billionaire Romance) (Soldiers of Fortune Book 4) (9 page)

And then she’s gone, like a tornado leaving a path of destruction as she blows back out the door.

“Well,
she’s
just
wonderful
isn’t she?” Peyton’s smiling thinly at me across the table, her arms crossed and her brow raised.

“
That
is not what you think it-”

“Hey, none of my business and not my problem, Bryce. None of your dirty little secrets are my problem anymore, remember?”

I grind my teeth together, carefully eyeing her; “You’re not doing this.”

“The fuck I’m not. Got a better idea to save my brother?”

I’m working on it.

But I’m silent, staring her down as if the scowl on my face alone is going to change her mind. As if this girl was
ever
that easy.

“Peyton, this-”

“This is what it takes, Bryce; end of discussion.” She stands abruptly and storms out, leaving me alone with the lingering curls of smoke from Sasha’s cigarette and the fury bubbling under my skin about this plan.

I yank the cotton shawl I've got draped over my shoulders tighter around myself, covering my face against prying eyes and the layered exotic smells of the marketplace as I push my way through the people to get back to the hotel. I can feel my blood simmering just beneath the surface after watching that whole exchange back there between Bryce and
her
. And I'm also furious at myself for feeling that way. Jealousy is a petty emotion anyways, and certainly not one that I'm going to let
him
illicit in me.

"Peyton!"

I ignore the sound of Bryce's voice behind me as I push my way through the throngs of people threading their way through the crowded spice market.

"Goddamnit,
stop
."

I can feel his hand close around my arm, and the only reason I don't shake it off and turn around to smack him is that we're in a crowd. I ignore it anyways though and continue to push my way through.

"Jealousy doesn't suit you very well, you know.”

I whirl, my temper rising even higher as I see the smirk teasing his lips. My eyes pierce wildly into his; "I just don't like
liars
, Bryce. I thought I’d made that crystal fucking clear before."

The smirk drops from his lips and he narrows his eyes; he knows what I'm talking about; "And what
exactly
did I lie about," He growls.

"About what’s none of my business." I say quickly, trying to push down the rising jealousy inside and hating every second of it.

Bryce laughs; "What,
her?
"

I say nothing, because I don't trust what I might say to that.

"Jesus you're something else sometimes, you know that?" He snorts and shakes his head; "There's nothing there, you know."

I shrug as casually as I can; "None of my business if it-"

He growls and yanks me away from the crowds onto a side street off the market; "Well I'm
making
it your business, and I'm telling you there's nothing and never
was
anything there."

I shrug again, still saying nothing since I don't trust my words, and I can see him roll his eyes exasperatedly at me; "We were addicts together, that’s it. We used to shoot together. There was no romance there, no fucking spark or passion or whatever." His hand tightens on my arm, his eyes flashing as they bore into mine; "She sold me heroin, sometimes I let her use some with me;
that's it
."

He looks angrier than I thought he'd be, and for a moment, I feel a pang of guilt for even having brought this up. Honestly, it isn't my business. Whatever is in his past that I don't already know is in
his
past. It belongs to him, and I've got no right to accuse him of anything or insinuate dishonesty for not sharing something.

Yeah, this is what being around him does to me. It's been a long freaking year working down the hall from him, by the way.

"That's a part of my life I left a long fucking time ago."

Except for the needle I found; the last straw on an already strained relationship if you can even call it that.

But that's not a conversation for here or for now.

"Fine," I mumble; "Sorry."

He looks away, looking conflicted; "Listen, since we're coming clean…”

I narrow my eyes at him; “
Now
what.”

"You need to know something about Blackriver and why they're doing all this; what Benson's goal is."

I can feel my pulse quicken; "What?"

"I know why Benson went after Chelsea and Javier, and I know why he took Logan."

I can feel my pulse thudding in my chest as I swallow heavily, thinking of my brother and wherever he may be; "Revenge?"

Bryce shakes head; "No." He looks away, raking his fingers through his dark brown hair; "He's after something; something valuable that I found and hid from him," He says quietly.

"What?" I shake my head; "Hang on, Javier said Benson was adamant that it wasn't about money; that it was about tying up loose end-"

He barks out a laugh; "Peyton, it's
always
about money. The whole world is about money."

"Easy to say when you have it."

Bryce shoots me a look; "I don't remember your paychecks from Archer being exactly light either, babe. And we both know what both of us had before all that."

He knows about me and about my past, and in ways no one else does, not even Logan. Just like I know about his.

"So, what's so valuable?"

Bryce nods slowly before he turns, his eyes looking right into mine; "Diamonds."

I can feel my body tense up; "Diamonds? What diam-"

He turns and looks out towards the sea again; "The diamonds we found out in the jungle in Africa. The ones that I buried."

P A S T

“What exactly are you fucking telling us?”

Rafe is looking at me with that dark, icy stare he gets that pierces through the heavy brows and the thick beard covering his face. I swallow thickly, wincing at the lancing pain of the cracked rib in my side as I try and match his look right back at him; “Jacob’s dead, Rafe; I’m sorry.”
 

The muscles in his neck clench tight, and he holds my gaze a second longer before he swears and rips out of his seat, knocking the chair to the ground as he roars. He whirls and puts his fist through the drywall behind him as he howls.

Rory looks up at me, shaking his head; “What the
fuck
happened up there in Seattle?”

Others from the table are getting up trying to calm Rafe down, trying to collect him and let him know they’re all there for him. Because that’s what brothers-in-ink - men of the reaper - do.

Especially when you find out your son’s dead.

“We were ambushed; Carter knew we were coming for him and coming for the money. There had to be fifteen guys waiting for us when we kicked in that fuckin door.” Rory’s holding my gaze, and I can feel the hard shell we all wear start to crack around the edges of myself. I can feel myself start to doubt it all, and start to doubt
their
trust in me.

After all,
I’m
not dead.

“Hey, c’mere brother.” Rory stands and puts his arm around me, clapping me hard on the back. It’s a comfort, even if it hurts like a motherfucker; “You did OK-”

“Jacob, man-” I’m fighting back emotion and clenching my jaw as he pulls back; “Jacob, he-”

“Did you abandon him?”

“Not a fucking chance.”

Rory nods grimly; “Then you did what you did, and this is how it shook out.” He shakes his head; “That’s life under the eye of the reaper, brother. You know it, I know, Jacob sure fuckin knew it,  and you better believe Rafe
damn well
knows it.”

“I got
some
of the money-”

“
Fuck
the money, man. You’re whole; you’re here. A brother is worth more than a bag of cash, Bryce.”

Tell that to Jacob.

He looks back at the other men in the room, paying their respects to a now quieter, grieving Rafe before he looks back at me; “You talk to that recruiter again?” He says quietly.

I nod.

“Shit, man; the Marines, huh?” He shakes his head; “Rafe’s gonna fuckin
hate
that.”

“The code makes provisions for active duty, even voluntarily joining.”

“
The code
was written during Viet-fucking-nam, Bryce.”

I look at him grimly; “If I leave the cloth for any other reason, my life is forfeit; I know that. But I gotta get out, Rory; I gotta-”

“Long as you
come the fuck home
afterwards, I’ll back you.” Rory shoots me a hard look; “Just come home, brother; after you see the world and clear your head.”

Right, after I clear my head fighting a war of ideals in the Goddamn desert on the other side of the world.

And of course,
that
Bryce never does come home. That Bryce dies out there in the desert along with that
other
Hudson, and that
other
Logan. Because the men who come out the other side of that? Yeah, no one knows who they are.
 

Least of all them.

*****

P R E S E N T

"I don't want you doing this."

I'm leaning against the doorframe of the hotel bathroom watching her finish putting makeup under her eyes, batting her lashes at her own reflection as she puts the finishing touches on. She looks fucking incredible, of course, which is putting me on edge; on edge because she's looking like this ready to go out with another man.