Master of the Game (Rush Series Book 3) (13 page)

She
walked to the clearance where the vehicles were parked. Alex watched as she
made her way to the middle of the dirt road. From experience, Alex knew the
road was the only place there was any type of phone reception. From where he
stood behind the jungle’s brush, he could hear the soft cadence of her voice,
but again couldn’t make out her words. It could be nothing… it could be her
weekly call to her parents… or maybe she was calling some girlfriend to
complain about a love affair gone bad. He couldn’t afford to get any closer or
he’d be discovered.

Alex
waited until Sara finished her call and made her way back to the campsite
before returning himself. He knew his first order of business tomorrow was to
investigate the rock crevice. He’d also place a call to Jacob and see if he
could find out who the young Sara had called.

Chapter
8

The
next morning from his tent, Alex saw Devon once again seated by the
non-existent campfire. He stood for a long moment before exhaling deeply and
made his way to sit next to her just as he had the day before. He didn’t like
the crackle he felt in the air at her present. And as much as he told himself
to stay away from her - as much as human decency dictated it – like a moth to
the proverbial flame, he was drawn to her and couldn’t resist getting burned by
her. He’d noticed she hadn’t come back out of the tent once everyone had
arrived back to the site the night before. Once more he wondered which one of
the bastards had attacked her… and how far they’d actually gotten.

As he
had the morning before, he studied her features. He was happy to see most of
the swelling had gone. But under her eye, the bruising was beginning to spiral
into a plethora of colors. Anger leapt quick and hot into his belly.

“Still
don’t want to tell me who did this to you?” he asked when she glanced away from
his intense stare.

“I told
you…” she began.

“Yeah,
yeah, I remember… you fell,” he returned sharper than he intended, causing her
to flinch. Getting carried away with his irritation, he bit, “Tell me how you
will feel if another woman ‘falls’ down on her face?”

He
immediately felt contrite when he saw the stunned, hurt-filled eyes she raised
to his. She swallowed, firmed her chin, and turned her head away from him.
“I’ve already had this discussion this morning. I don’t intend to have it
again.”

“Well,
if I was your husband…” he began.

She cut
him off by jumping up from her chair and shouting, “But you’re not, so let it
alone!”

She
stood before him - eyes blazing, chest heaving, her finger pointed at him - and
all he could think of was how much he wanted to snatch her up and toss her
under him. Her quivering lips practically begged him to kiss them. His mouth
went dry as he took in her untamed beauty. God, he wanted her like he’d never
wanted a woman before.

Disgust
at himself had him looking away from her. He rubbed a hand over the back of his
neck. Quietly, he said, “You’re right. I’m sorry. It’s not my business. I… I
need to get to work.”

He rose
from his chair and turned toward his tent. He turned his head back to her to
see such an expression of loss and desolation on her face it caused his chest
to tighten. The thought of leaving her here, all alone, and left to the mercy
of God only knew what or who, made his stomach turn. He couldn’t do it. He
couldn’t just leave her here.

Clearing
his throat, he said, “You can come if you want…”

She
blinked at his words and her slender throat moved as she swallowed hard. With a
quick nod of her head and relief in her eyes, she headed toward her own tent to
grab what she needed.

They walked in companionable
silence for nearly an hour. No matter the trail he took them on, she continued
on without complaint. Without commenting on what he was doing, he kept his eyes
peeled for any disturbances in the ground they passed. He kept the metal
detector outstretched ahead of him. She took all this in silently. He wondered
if he was making a mistake in bringing her with him. He’d watched her covertly
as he’d scanned the areas, but didn’t sense any undue interest in what he was
doing. In fact, it seemed almost the opposite was
true,
she seemed oblivious to her surroundings. She followed him, but didn’t really
seem to take in anything around her. There were several times when he’d stopped
suddenly and she’d run into him before apologizing profusely.

They
came upon a steep rise and once they’d reached the top, he noticed she was
panting, but still didn’t request to stop. Not wanting to be a ‘bother’ he
assumed - she’d never admit to any discomfort. Once they’d crested the rise, he
made his way over to a wide boulder and after setting his equipment and
backpack down, he sat on the edge of the protruding rock. She blinked when she
realized he’d not only stopped but was sitting. She stood hesitantly shifting
foot to foot.

“Come
sit, it’s a little late to be shy now,” he said with a grin.

He
watched her incredible chest rise and fall as she took in deep breaths. She
blushed at his words and he regretted them immediately.

Contrite
once more, he murmured, “
Sorry, that
was uncalled for.
Come sit, please.”

She
wavered before moving to sit as close to the opposite edge as possible. She
opened her pack and removed
a bottled
water. He
watched her throat muscles contract as she swallowed the liquid. He glanced
quickly away as irritation settled low in his belly.
Irritation
at himself for wanting to touch her… wanting to hear her cries of passion once
again.
She was married and no matter what their arrangement was, he
didn’t become involved with married women.

“How
long were you in the Marines?” she asked.

“Eight
years.”

She
bent down to scoop up a small branch which she used to draw in the dirt at
their feet. “Why’d you get out?”

He looked
away from her as he answered. “I got a better offer.”

“Did
you like being a Marine?” she asked.

He
pursed his lips. “It had its moments. I learned a lot… grew up a lot.”

She
nodded as she continued to draw circles in the dirt. “Did you ever kill anyone?”

His
lips twisted wryly at the question he was most often asked. “It was war… where
there’s war, death is sure to follow,” he said with amusement.

She
darted her eyes to his, shocked at his caviler attitude about taking someone’s
life. “It… doesn’t bother you… killing someone?” she finally asked.

He
inhaled deeply before answering. “I’d be a sociopath if it didn’t bother me.
Sometimes it’s kill or be killed. When you’re on a mission, you can’t afford to
think of the enemy as people… you have to think of them as obstacles and it’s
your job to remove those obstacles.”

She
blinked several times as she took in his words. “I don’t think I’d ever be able
to do that,” she finally replied softly.

“You
could if you were trained to do so. The Marines didn’t send us to Afghanistan
to play patty-cakes. You have to keep the big picture in mind.” He was silent
for long while. A memory crossed his mind which caused his lips to twitch in
amusement. “I remember one
time,
me and my buddy went
into a small village and were walking through an alley when an old woman
motioned us over to her. She seemed harmless enough, so we went. I’d just
reached the door to her house, which was nothing more than a hut really, when
from out of nowhere, two guys got the jump on us – one ‘
Stanie
,
that was our slang for the
Afghanistans
, was just
inside the door of the hut holding a machete; and another ‘
Stanie
had a gun trained on my buddy. I have to tell you, it was a little dicey there
for a minute. My buddy, Lance Carver, hailed from the great state of Oklahoma,
and he was the biggest cowboy you’ve ever met. Well, Lance just started to
laugh and I’ll admit, I thought he’d lost his mind. He let out a whoop and said
that we were going to rock, rattle, and roll. It took me a moment, but then I
understood what he meant,” Alex paused as he took a drink of his water.

“What
did he mean,” she asked when he took too long to continue.

“It was
something he’d shown me one afternoon when we were playing football. I hate to
say that I doubted his plan would work but it actually was quite effective,” he
said with a grin.

“What
was the plan?” she asked impatiently.

“Well,
I waited until Lance took a step forward and pretended to stumble and when all
eyes were on him, I fell to the ground and rolled my body into the legs of the
‘
Stanie
behind me. He fell to the ground so of course
now the attention was switched to us which gave Lance an opportunity to get his
weapon out. The ‘
Stanies
never knew what happened,
Lance killed ‘
em
before I ever got to my feet…” Alex
voice trailed, his grin fading at the memory now of the blood and screaming
that had followed the killing. “
Ahh
, the art of war,”
he said pensively, “I haven’t thought of Lance Carver in a long time.”

“What
happened to him?” she asked.

He
sighed. “Got
himself
blown up. What a waste… a
terrible shame.
Had a wife and kid.
Sad
business.”
With a shake of his head, he turned his mind away from the
things of the past and moved to the mission at hand. Opening his bottle, he
tipped it to his lips and swiped a hand across his mouth to wipe away the
excess water. “So… how long have you and Roman been married?”

She
immediately chocked on the water at his question. He waited until she finished
coughing before asking, “Is that an unusual question?”

The
blush he was beginning to love crept back up her neck. “
Uhh
…
ummm
… we’ve been together for a while,” she finally
murmured in reply.

While
he loved the blush, he hated the evasiveness of her answer – the lie so obvious
in her eyes.
“So how long exactly?
A
week?
A month?
A year?”

She
blinked at his curtness. “Less than a year,” she finally answered.

He
cocked his head at her answer. She was lying, but he wasn’t sure why. “What was
the date… exactly?” he questioned.

She
tensed at his directness. “Why do you need to know?”

He ran
his eyes over her face which had become closed off and shrugged. “I don’t
need
to know. I’m just curious.”

She met
his eyes for a few seconds, searching for something, but then she blinked away
before rising to stand as she’d stood at the campsite with her arms crossed and
her back to him. “I’m not comfortable discussing my relationship with Roman
with you,” she said finally.

Emotions
ran wild and hot over him. Those feelings caused him to step back mentally and
rein himself in. Her non-answers made him remember why he was here… the mission
his mind needed to be on. Forcing
himself
to calm his
breathing. He took a long swallow of his water before asking, “What’s the deal
with him and Sara Daniels?”

She
swung her bruised face around to face him. “They’re friends… they’ve known each
other since college.”

He
studied her…
she knew
. “You know he’s
still banging her, don’t you?”

She
seemed to jump a little at his question. Swallowing and with a twist of her
lips, she said, “I don’t know what you mean. Of course they’re not!” she
replied hotly.

“I’m
curious why you put up with it? I’m curious why you ended up… with me?”

Her
gaze faltered at his words and she looked away, her shoulders slumping in near
defeat. “Things… are complicated,” she replied quietly.

“You’ve
only been married a short while. What could have happened to make things so
complicated so quickly?”

She
fluttered her hands as she strove to come up with an answer. Being unable to do
so, she bent to scoop up her pack. “I… I… need to get back.” On unsteady legs
she swung around and moved clumsily down the incline. Her unsteady gait caused
her to lose her footing. Before he could rise off the boulder, she was tumbling
head over heels down the embankment.

He
swore and headed down after her in a flash. She’d barely hit the bottom of the
incline when he reached her. She was trying desperately to rise up on her feet,
but the scattered leaves kept making her slip back down. He reached down and
placed his hands on her shoulders, intent on helping her up. She turned and
began to hit at him, tears streaming down her face and sobs were being wrenched
from her chest.

“You bastard.
Get away from me. How dare you
think you know
anything.
You don’t know anything about
my life. You don’t know what I’ve been through… the things I’ve done…” she
said, through her sobs.

He
easily brushed her hands aside and brought her up to him, holding her close to
his body and wrapped his arms over hers to keep her from swatting at him. She
struggled against him, but he held her firmly as she cried. He pressed his lips
against the side of her head and murmured reassuring platitudes against her
ear.
“
Sshh
.
It’s okay.
Everything will be okay. I’m sorry.”