Nick smiles at me and a small flutter forms in my stomach against my better judgment. I’m not immune to his charm. And he is charming. Harper is very beautiful in a striking model kind of way. Nick is her twin, and his beauty is more surfer than model, but nonetheless, it’s a bit overwhelming. So a stomach flutter is in order. “I missed you, ya know.”

I give him a smirk and a head tilt to show him I’m playing. “I would’ve never known by the way you disappeared. How come you left me?”

“Hey,” he says, putting his hands up like he’s surrendering. “I told you we had to lie low. I was in hiding.”

“That makes no sense, Nick. Harper was under surveillance, so the Admiral always knew where she was. How come he didn’t just come take her?”

“He was waiting for the file. Believe me, they looked for that fucker all year and couldn’t find it. I suppose that’s why they sent Tet in. And look what happened? That fucker got it.”

“One got it.”

“Yeah, but Tet would’ve had it if One hadn’t taken it. Harper walked right into his trap.”

“You don’t like James, do you?”

“It’s got nothing to do with liking him, Sash. It’s got everything to do with trusting him. And now we gotta go back and get that fucking file. And Harper. And don’t you think they know I’m coming now? I mean fuck, our birthday is only a few days away.”

“What’s that got to do with it?” My mind is spinning. There is so much going on.

“Never mind,” he says as he tries to lace our fingers together, but I pull my hand away before he can take it. “What the fuck?”

“It’s not worth it,” I say.

“What’s not worth it?”

I nod my head in the direction of the cabin up the hill. “The fight you’ll have with Tet if you hold my hand.”

Nick’s eyes shoot up to the top of the hill where Tet is standing with his arms crossed. “Fucking freak,” Nick says, blowing out a long puff of smoke.

“Hey,” I say, nodding at his cigarette. “Can I bum one of those?”

His eyes dart back to Tet, just a fraction of a second. But I see it. “You’re too young to smoke, kid.”

That’s all I needed to know. “I was just messing with you.” I reach over and ruffle up his hair and he automatically dodges. I smile at him and he shoots me an uneasy one back. “Well, I’m going back in and see if Merc will teach me how to play Kumbaya on the guitar. Wanna come?”

He glances up at Tet again and shakes his head. “When I’m done here.”

“OK.” I hop down and swat the dirt off my butt as I walk back to the top of the hill. Tet turns and walks with me as we head back to the cabin together.

“You hungry, Smurf?” James asks.

“Starved.”

“Me too.” And then he opens the back door and lets me walk through.

Like I said. James is a dream in the partner department.

It’s Tet you gotta worry about.

Chapter Eight

Sasha

We go back inside and Merc is sitting at the kitchen table smoking. That seems to be the thing to do when shit goes down. And now I really do want to learn to smoke but I have to settle for pulling out a butterscotch sucker from my pocket.

The screen door in back slams and Nick follows us in.

“Sasha,” he says. I turn reluctantly. I know that tone and it says I’m about to be in the middle of something.

“What?”

“Get your shit. We’re leaving.”

“She’s not leaving with you,” Tet says. He grabs my hand in case I make a break for it.

“Why, Tet? So you can keep using her the way you did Harper? So you can drag her into your insane revenge scheme? This shit is between you and One, man. Or you and my father. But I’m gonna say this one time. We’re leaving. I’m gonna go finish the job you didn’t, and then you’re gonna stay the fuck out of my life. You stay away from my sister and you stay away from my promise.” Nick points his finger at me and then his gaze follows. “Go get your stuff.” And then he pulls out a gun and points it at James. “Try and stop her.”

“Nick,” I say.

“I’m not gonna say it again, Sash. Now get what you need.”

I look over at James but he’s got nothing to say to me. Not even a nod. So I do what I’m told. I got to the last bedroom, grab the pack I set on the floor earlier, and shrug it onto my back as I walk back out to the living room.

“I’m going back to get her, Nick,” James is saying as I enter the room. He’s sitting down at the table next to Merc now, like those two haven’t a care in the world. Like Nick isn’t standing here in the living room with a gun. And I’m sure if they really wanted to fuck Nick up, he and Merc could do it. But Nick, no matter what he does, is part of the plan.

“Look, asshole. You have no idea what you’re doing.”

James nods with a smirk. “Right. I didn’t get this far by not understanding the game.”

“Dude, they’re using you. And every time I hear about it, I think to myself, ‘Nah, Six is so much smarter than that.’ And then every time you fall for it. But this time, asshole—this time I’m all out of faith. I asked you to do one thing for me. Keep her out of it. And what do you do? You deliver her to the one person who will bring her into it.”

“Bring her into it how?” Merc asks. “I mean, look, Nick, I’m the first to admit I have no clue what you people are doing. But we’ve been on the same side all year. So it’s better to work through the team problems than split up.”

Nick points to me but he’s looking at Merc. “She’s not on the team, Merc. Yet here she is, fully planning on participating. And you know why?” He looks at James now. “Because this asshole wants to use her. Just like he uses all the people he drags into his schemes. And now Harper’s in it. Didn’t your father ever teach you anything, Tet? Women and children stay home.”

“Yeah, so they can be sold. They’re commodities.”

Nick actually nods at that. “Yeah, maybe that’s how I see them then. Investments. The future. So shoot me.”

“We’ll meet you at the yacht,” James says casually.