Page 14 of Extracted

She was so not committing it to memory.

Yet her blasted brain refused to stop staring at his writing.

Dropping the pad to the nightstand, she clicked off the light and then went back to bed and pulled the covers to her chin.

She was too stubborn. Maybe even self-destructive. She’d been scared to go with Dallas for more than the reasons she’d outlined. When he’d offered to take her with him, her heart had soared. Allowing herself to fall for Dallas more than she already had would be reckless.

Besides. If she was anywhere near him, there was a greater chance of the CIA catching him. No. It was best this way.

She rolled onto her side and brought the memory of Dallas’s scent to the forefront of her mind—woodsy cedar, and the faint hint of cigars on his breath, which should have grossed her out but on him tasted sweet. She envisioned his rock-hard abdomen pressed to her back, his arm loose around her waist, cuddling her in a way no one ever had.

The image had allowed her to fall asleep for the last five years.

And she’d just let him walk out the door.

* * *

“All right,” Dallas said into the phone as he sat in his rental car outside Gemma’s hotel. Occasionally, headlights whizzed by, but other than that, the street was quiet. “Text me the coordinates and I’ll be there at 9:00 a.m.”

“You sure you don’t want to come here for the night? The airstrip is about a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Cali.” Lorenzo’s offer was filled with hesitancy. A baby cried in the background, and a ripple of revulsion hit Dallas.

Kids were great. At a distance. Not when he needed a good night’s rest. He didn’t have the capacity to deal with that tonight.

“I appreciate the offer. Sounds like you’ve got your hands full.” He said goodbye and hung up, dropping his head back to the seat and closing his eyes.

He should go back to his motel room. Forget about Gemma and stop hoping she’d change her mind. He needed sleep, but part of him didn’t want to shut his eyes. He had his passport and wallet on him, and once he’d gathered his wits after the explosion, he’d gone to the nearest drugstore and bought the necessities.

He swung his gaze to the soaring hotel across the street. He needed to leave already. To forget Gemma like she’d already forgotten him.

But nearly an hour later, he couldn’t bring himself to pull away from the curb. He still had six hours to go before his flight.

He reread the text messages he’d received earlier that day but hadn’t replied to. One was from Nash, the youngest of his three brothers. He rarely called any of them when he was on a job, but since he’d already told Dare what had happened, it’d be just a matter of time before all the boys called him.

Well, maybe not Cole. But Dallas’s twin rarely worried about anyone but himself.

He tapped Nash’s contact icon and the line rang over the speaker.

“Hey.” His brother’s groggy voice filled his ears.

As the baby of the family, Nash had been lucky enough to have a less-brutal childhood than Dallas, Dare, and Cole. After their parents dumped all of them at a group home when Dallas was ten, it didn’t take long for them to run. They’d spent years in and out of foster care, bolting from the system each fucking time they got caught.

But it got harder and harder to stay together.

A few years later, Nash was adopted by Conrad Hornick, a mentor with Lionsgate Group Home. Dallas was grateful at least one of them wouldn’t have to worry about school, clothes, or food. But Conrad’s influence ensured that Nash was operating as an enforcer with Lionsgate Kinship by the time he was a teenager, the brotherhood society that, as Nash discovered, trafficked children.

If it weren’t for Lexi Ivanov, the woman who’d stolen Nash’s ledger after drugging him, Nash never would have discovered what Lionsgate was up to. Lexi was tough as nails and had an ax to grind with Conrad after Lionsgate murdered her family and sold her brother to be a living science experiment.

Now, almost a year later, the brotherhood was being investigated by the FBI and many of the head honchos were facing prison.

But they were still just beginning to grasp how deep Lionsgate’s roots ran.

“You sleeping?” Dallas asked.

“Most adults are at this time.” Nash’s whisper was followed by the sound of a door closing. “Sorry, didn’t want to wake Lex.” A beat passed. “Dare said you were in an explosion.”

As expected, word had traveled quickly. “Yeah. I’m fine. Lost my hearing for a bit, but it came back.”

“You know you don’t have to do this.” Tension laced his brother’s voice.

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