her chest. They’d shared so much, and she wanted to do it again. The sex, sure, but more than that, the intimacy.
Which meant she didn’t have a choice. She had to distance herself. Fucking was one thing—one very understandable thing—but feelings were dangerous. Knox knew that, and it was time for Nina to follow his lead.
No matter how much it hurt.
Nina’s eyes stung, and she disentangled herself from the group hug before either of her friends could notice. “Maya, do a sweep of the room, please. If we accidentally leave anything behind, it’s gone forever. And Dani?”
“Yes, ma’am?”
Nina didn’t bother stifling her sigh this time. “Please put some clothes on before the man you poisoned drops dead and we all get killed.”
Dani grinned. “You got it, boss.”
GRAY
There were a select number of things Gray knew for certain. Unassailable, incontrovertible truths that he could revisit whenever the noise in his head got too loud, and he needed the steady comfort of concrete reality.
The sun rose in the east, for example.
The perfect pull weight for a trigger was 4.7 pounds of pressure.
His captain was incapable of distraction.
That last fact was carved in stone, more cosmically sound than any of the rest of it. It had saved their entire team more times than Gray could count.
And it was falling apart.
Knox was brooding. Not thinking or planning—Gray knew how Knox looked when he’d turned inward to map out possibilities and variables. Right now, he was staring into the back of the truck with a deep furrow between his brows, even though nothing back there required such fierce contemplation.
Brooding.
“I don’t think any of it is going to bite you.” Gray flicked Knox’s collar, exposing a rising bruise on his neck that he definitely did not get in the cage at Boyd’s place. “Looks like something did, though.”
Knox’s jaw clenched. He shoved his bag on top of the supplies and slammed the truck’s cargo door. “I have the lecture coming, so bring it on.”
“Yeah, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
“Not really, to be honest.”
“Sure, you would. A little extra punishment to go along with your self-flagellation. Well, I’m not playing.”
Knox pivoted to face him. He was wearing his stone-cold captain face, but Gray had known him long enough to see the cracks in the mask. “You don’t think I deserve the punishment? After the last week?”
Gray had his opinions, but he wasn’t sure they counted for much, if anything. “Doesn’t matter what I think. Every man has to reckon with his own conscience, Knox.”
“That’s what I’m trying to do.” Knox crossed his arms over his chest, his fingers drumming against his biceps. “I’ve been running scenarios. Making plans. I want to get Luna back without sacrificing Nina or her crew.”
The hair on the back of Gray’s neck rose in warning. “Wait, you what?”
“You heard me. Luna’s my priority, but I’m making contingency plans. We’ve handled hostage situations way more dangerous than this before.”
“That’s not a contingency,” he argued. “A double cross? That’s changing the game entirely. Did you come clean with Nina last night, or something?”
“No,” Knox snapped. “And this isn’t about the fucking. I know her now, and I know what she means to that neighborhood. This is about what she and her crew do for those people. It’s all the reasons I couldn’t obey the order to kill those organizers. The Protectorate stopped protecting them, Gray. She’s what they have left.”
None of it was untrue. And none of it mattered. “No.”
Both of Knox’s eyebrows shot up. “No?”
“No,” he repeated firmly. “You don’t get to make this call. Not this time, and not like this.”
Genuine hurt tightened Knox’s eyes. “So you don’t trust me to put my squad first anymore?”
The truth was even more damning, and it would hurt far worse. “There is no squad, Knox, and you’re not our captain. Not anymore. We left, remember? The Silver Devils are gone.”
“I have to be your captain,” Knox ground out. “I have to get you out. You’re not out until you can walk away free and clear.”
“Well, I didn’t agree to that. Pretty sure Rafe and Con didn’t, either.” Gray clasped Knox’s shoulder until the other man looked at him. “I’ll still follow you—as your friend. But not if you’re making bad calls. And this is a bad call.”
Knox squeezed his eyes shut. “I know. I’m trying to find the least terrible thing to do, and I need you to tell me when I’m fucking it up.”
“You’re fucking it up right now. Ask me why.” Without waiting