Page 64 of Provoke You

“Intuition.” She shrugged. “Am I wrong?”

“No, you’re not.” I ran a hand through my hair. “Her name is Rebecca. She was a civilian in my last mission.” I swallowed because I still could not get over that even though I’d be a marine forever, I no longer had missions to go on.

“So who is she? Were you in love with her?”

“No. Why would you ask that?”

“Because you look so guilty.”

“That’s because she lost everything because of us. I thought she had found refuge somewhere safe. But she showed up here. Somehow, she tracked me down, and that’s so impossible.”

“Wow. And she’s here right now?”

“Yeah.”

“Then why the hell are you talking to me and not her? Go.”

Why was I babbling about Rebecca to Ela? Right. Because I didn’t want her presence here to ruin what Ela and I had going on. I wanted to be honest. I wanted her to know I had a past and that past could very easily come back to bite me in the ass.

“Good question. You’re okay meeting her?”

“Are you kidding me? I’m dying to meet her.” She bolted down the stairs. I followed her, hoping Rebecca was in better shape than she was yesterday.

In the kitchen, Kitt sat on the counter eating four fried eggs. “Morning,” he greeted us.

“Good morning.” Ela took the barstool across from him. “We’re here to talk to Rebecca.”

Kitt’s eyes went big. “Boss?”

“I had to tell her. Where is she? We need to get her on her way today.”

“About that. She ran away last night.”

“That can’t be good.” Ela looked over to me.

“What? Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked.

“You were busy.”

Why would she leave? She came asking for help. She was terrified when we found her in the graveyard. “What happened?”

“I got her here. We talked for a bit. She drank some water, even had some of Ela’s scones. She fell asleep on the couch after a while. I put a blanket over her and sat with her.” He shook his head as if trying to work out the details. “I went to take a piss, and when I came back, she was gone.”

“Fuck.”

“I don’t know why she took off. From what she said before she fell asleep, she was in deep shit. She needed us. I’m sorry. That’s on me. I was waiting for you to come down so I could go look for her. She couldn’t have gone far.”

This was my brother Wesley’s mess. He was going to get an earful next week when I went home. He brought Rebecca into this. If it hadn’t been for him, she’d still be home with her family. Her cartel family, but a family nonetheless. Now she was going all over the country looking for a safe place. I grabbed a clump of my hair, looking up. I should’ve been here for her.

“Will she be okay?” Ela touched my shoulder. “What’s she on the run for?”

“For helping my brother. It’s not fair.”

All I could do now was hope that Rebecca knew what she was doing when she ran away. If her old boss was looking for her, the US was a good place to be. Dammit. If I knew where to look for her, I would.

“Kitt, do you know where to find her?”

“No, but I can start tracking her. I’m sure she showed her face in a few places around here. I mean, a face like that is hard to forget. Want me to check it out?”

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