to imagine how deeply that kind of betrayal hurt. All her life, she’d never had that close of a relationship with anyone. Well, maybe her uncle, but she didn’t think that counted because he was family. Over the years she’d had friends, colleagues, the occasional boyfriend, but nobody she’d ever felt close enough to trust with her secrets, much less her life. It made her feel oddly jealous of Wade, and that struck her as wildly inappropriate.
Feeling the need to comfort him, she skimmed her palm up his back and rested her hand between his shoulder blades. It wasn’t much, but it was the only thing she could think of that wouldn’t piss him off. Perhaps she should have left the consoling to Austin; healing emotional pain wasn’t in her wheelhouse. “Some people are better than others at concealing their true nature.”
He shook his head. “That doesn’t matter. I should have seen it coming. It was my job to see that shit coming.”
“He was protecting his children. He didn’t have a choice.”
“There’s always a choice.” Wade bit the words out through gritted teeth. “He should have told me. Hell, he should have told Whitey. Together, we would have moved heaven and earth to protect his family.”
“I’m sorry. I wish I knew what to say to take your pain away.” When he didn’t respond, she continued. “There’s no way to change the past, but we can do everything in our power to make sure Aranza’s brought to justice.”
His eyes turned cold and fierce. “The only justice that fucker deserves is a bullet between his eyes. You okay with that, Bones?”
The knot in her stomach tightened. “No, not really, but if that’s what it takes to bring you peace, I’ll find a way to live with it.”
Chapter 15
Wade barely slept that night. For hours, he’d stared at the ceiling of his tent, scrutinizing every second he’d ever spent with Hector while searching for signs he might have missed that could have warned him of the coming shit show.
Either Hector had been amazingly good at hiding his deception, or Wade had been amazingly stupid. At the moment, he was leaning toward stupid, with a side order of gullible. He hated himself for having trusted Hector. He felt like a goddamn fool. If he hadn’t been so trusting, Guadalajara might not have happened. Carmen might still be alive.
Shoulda-coulda-woulda. He was an expert at the game.
By daybreak, his head throbbed, his knuckles ached, and his eyes felt as though they’d been rubbed raw with sandpaper. Yawning, he pushed up to a seated position and rubbed a hand over the rough stubble along his jaw.
He peered to his right, where Hope still slept, looking soft and vulnerable. Her face was relaxed, her lips slightly parted. She really was quite beautiful. The sight stirred something inside him that he was in no mood to acknowledge. Those kinds of feelings muddied the mind, and he couldn’t afford to get sloppy.
With a frown, he unzipped the tent to allow fresh air in. The veil of night had lifted, allowing the first tendrils of light to filter down to the forest floor. A few birds had begun to chirp, while the sound of movement off to the right indicated at least one of the guys was up and about.
Hope made a soft noise. Seconds later, her eyes fluttered open. As she looked over at him, her forehead crinkled. “You look like hell.”
Sick as it sounded, he appreciated the blunt honesty, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t give her shit about it. “Good morning to you too.”
A blush tinged her cheeks. “Sorry, that came out wrong. Did you sleep last night?”
“A little.” He vaguely remembered jolting awake from a nightmare, so he must have dozed off at some point.
The sound of voices carried from outside, as did the smell of food, something with cinnamon. Oatmeal, perhaps. It made his stomach gurgle.
Wade scratched an itch on the side of his neck, and when he heard Hope gasp, he tensed. “What’s wrong?”
She stared at him as though he was the dumb kid who kept trying to jam a fork into a light socket. “Your hand. That’s got to hurt.”
He glanced at his hand and didn’t see what all the fuss was about. Yeah, the skin was scraped and swollen, but he’d seen a lot worse. “It’s nothing.”
“No, it’s not.” She gripped his hand and tugged it into the light near the tent’s opening, where she gave it a closer inspection. “No wonder the