Page 82
“You can’t stay when you were never really here,” I cried.
“It was always real with you, Ryan. I promise I’m here. I promise I love you, and I’m staying with you forever,” he pleaded. “Will you let me stay, Ryan? Will you let me love you, Brujita?”
Santa Muerte, I wanted to say no. I couldn’t be hurt if I didn’t let him in, but he was already there. He’d already carved out my heart and held it in his hands.
My lips clamped shut, but I nodded my head because I loved him, regardless of all the shit that had happened. I loved him.
“Words, Ryan. I need your words,” he whispered, his voice thick with vulnerability. His finger gently raised my chin so our eyes met.
“Yes, Gunner. I’ll let you love me because I can’t help but fucking love you too,” I whispered against his lips.
Epilogue: Gunner
A week later
I hated that we had to be here, but it was a necessary evil if we wanted to move forward. My gaze drifted over to Ryan, who was lounged in her chair, looking entirely at ease—powerful. Fuckable.
I adjusted the crotch of my pants, catching her eye. A smirk spread across her face as she winked at me.
Tease.
But our attention was drawn to the door as someone finally walked in to meet with us. Fucking government time worked slower.
“Agent McGregor.” I received a curt nod before his focus drifted to Ryan. “Ms. Hernandez, I’m disappointed you’re not in cuffs considering who you are and your record,” Stewart said, leering.
My chair crashed behind me as I stood up, shoving my finger in Stewart’s face. “Don’t you fucking think about it, Stewart, and keep your eyes off my girl. Read the fucking orders again. This assignment was highly classified, and a green fucking light was given to me,” I seethed. “Agent McGregor is free to take any actions necessary to obtain or dispose of Mario Jimenez,” I recited back from memory, watching as Agent Stewart’s jaw ticked. The asshole and I had never gotten along. He was pissed his cock sucking hadn’t gotten him farther up the ladder at the FBI.
“Babe.” Ryan’s sensual voice cut through the haze of anger as her fingers curled around my bicep. I was supposed to keep my cool during this meeting.
“Yeah, babe, listen to your bitch and settle down,” Stewart sneered, a cocky grin slapped on his face.
“If it’s small, just say that, Stewart,” Ryan responded, crossing a tanned leg over her knee. The movement drew his attention. And I balled my fists to avoid tearing his eyes out of his head.
“If you read my record, you know what I do, Stewart. I break bitch-ass men like you in minutes.” She inspected her nails, utterly unfazed by Stewart trying to intimidate her. Her eyes finally met his. “So before you try me, really think about if you want to play this game,” she said coolly.
Stewart’s face turned beet red, looking like he was ready to have a conniption. But the door to the interrogation room opened, and steely gray eyes met mine.
Head of the snake had arrived.
“Agent Stewart, please leave. Go do something you were actually asked to do.” The new man called out, not bothering to look at Stewart as he slinked out.
“It seems we are at a crossroads here,” he stated as he sat in the chair across from us. “Ms. Hernandez, I trust that Agent McGregor has filled you in on the nature of his assignment,” he said, barely masking his condescending tone. He didn’t feel she was worth his time.
The corner of her mouth tipped up. “Oh, Gunner filled me all right,” she replied. Her innuendo caused the newcomer to clear his throat and me to smirk.
She wasn’t wrong. After we left the hospital, I filled her. Again and again. And then she verbally tore me a new one, demanding I tell her everything.
Which I did.
I told her how Dex and I were childhood friends and served two tours together—scout snipers. Dex was my brother through spilled blood. My spotter. But when we got out, life took us in two different directions. He didn’t like all the red tape, said it slowed down justice. So he joined the Skeletons of Society MC. Asked me to join with him. But I was naive and thought I could somehow change the system, so I went the route of the FBI, and I became a rising star. Doing long stints undercover.
Ryan’s voice pulled me back to the present.
“Twenty-four months ago, Dex used his one phone call on Gunner. Excuse me, Agent McGregor.” She glared at me. I would be groveling for the rest of my life. A punishment I would happily accept as long as I got to grovel between her thighs. “He’d beaten a man within an inch of his life for trafficking his little sister. And he called Gunner because you assholes wanted to throw him in jail for it,” she seethed.
“Ms. Hernandez, citizens can’t go around taking justice into their own hands. And it wasn’t the FBI who wanted to send him to jail,” he said, speaking to her as if she were dense.
She quirked an eyebrow but didn’t comment, continuing with the rundown of what I’d told her. “Gunner pulled strings for his brother, getting him a deal. No jail time if the Skeletons agreed to take in Gunner as an undercover agent. The only people who knew about it were Dex and Pres. His assignment was to gather enough evidence to prove Mario Jimenez was involved in the skin trade. Gunner got the green light to use any means necessary. Disposal was sanctioned if there was no alternative. Have I gotten it correct so far?” she asked.
