Page 20 of The Hero's Bride
“I told her I want her to have it, whether we’re together or not. It’s a gift. She hasn’t had comfortable things. Items that belong to her alone. Makes me want to give them to her.” He took a few gulps of the water.
“If I hadn’t seen the way you’ve interreacted the past two days, I would’ve said you’re making a huge fucking mistake. Warned you not to get caught up with a mission. Maybe you want to do right by her because of the dysfunction your parents laid out in front of you, but it’s more than that. Don’t get stuck in your own head and fuck it up.”
“Can’t explain it. I just know she’s different from anyone I’ve ever met. When she pulled me from where I was cornered in that alley, chose to help me instead of protecting herself, she was just a child. One who called a dilapidated, abandoned building home. She was filthy, clothes torn, hair matted. I don’t know how she survived like that into her teens, let alone still be so brave and selfless. Even now, she was more worried about us than herself when we rescued her.” He paused to drink down the rest of his water and tossed the empty bottle into the recycling bin from across the room. “She’s been let down so many times, and I’m not going to be another person who fails her. It’s going to be hard as hell to do the right thing and let her go.”
Sully jerked his head back. “Wait…what? Why would you let her walk away if she’s different? It’s clear you have feelings for her.”
“I have no intention of letting her know how I feel about her. We’re friends who have a deep connection. I won’t be a man she feels indebted to. There’s so much out there for her to see and do. Her first taste of freedom. I’m not an asshole. I’m not going to tie her to me in any way.”
A frown marred Sully’s face. “What the fuck, man? There’s being honorable and then there’s being a dumbass. If you have feelings for each other, hiding yours is only going to hurt you both. Anyone can see she’s looking at you the same way you’re looking at her.” His teammate put his empty bottle on the nightstand. “My dad was a forest ranger when he met my mother. A strong storm blew in and he noticed a lone camper. Let her stay in his cabin and she never left. He said the second he laid eyes on her, he knew she was it. So, I guess what I’m trying to say is don’t question what you’re feeling. When you live like we do, always on the edge, seeing depravity and violence at a level some might imagine doesn’t exist, we know something good when we see it. You’re not doing her any favors by pretending your heart’s not involved.”
It would be so easy to agree with Sully. So easy to start examining what he was feeling for Thalia and give it a name. He wasn’t going to do that, though. “She hasn’t even had a chance to think about what she wants out of life. I want her to make those choices on her own, not because she’s trying to fit me into her world.”
“Jesus.” Sully looked up at the ceiling. “Your parents.”
“This has nothing to do with them,” Red bit out. Irritation swamped him when Sully raised one brow. “It doesn’t.”
“It wasn’t that they couldn’t fit you in their world, Red. They didn’t want to. They never took on the role of parents. That’s the responsibility they laid on your shoulders.” His friend’s voice was hard, and while he appreciated the defensiveness on his behalf he was done with this conversation. “Thalia might want you in her world and you making that decision for her is its own kind of control,” Sully added and blew out a breath.
Mason lay on the bed and rolled to his side, considering Sully’s words. His parents had been irresponsible people. They had talent and were well known to their many heavy metal music fans, but he saw another side to their fame. Money fueled their addictions, which in turn spurred turbulent fights, often violent on both sides. When the bender was over, they’d make up and do it all again. It was an ongoing carousel he’d been more than happy to exit.
He knew he needed to get a few hours of sleep, but his thoughts kept coming back to Sully’s words about taking a choice away from Thalia. He only wanted to protect her. Her life had never been her own, and what happened going forward needed to be Thalia’s decision.
Red blinked open his eyes, trying to pinpoint the sound that had woken him. He reached beneath his pillow, closing his fingers around the grip of his SIG Sauer. Even through the dark, he noticed Sully shift, too. Nothing seemed amiss, but the tiny hairs on the back of his neck rose. He slipped soundlessly from the bed, just before the fire alarms began to scream.
“Could be an ambush,” Sully growled.
Red bolted through the connecting door where Thalia was already standing by the bed. The lamp on the nightstand cast a glow over her eyes, wide with fear. For a moment, she appeared frozen in place, but then began to move swiftly, toeing on her shoes. She grabbed the bag he’d given her earlier that contained the dress.
“Smart,” he murmured, approval expanding in his chest. She’d thought ahead, putting the sandals and the dress back into the bag.
Sully joined them inside Thalia’s room. “We’re going to treat this like the worst-case scenario. Maybe it’s just a fire alarm, but if it’s not and has something to do with Estrada, there could be people watching the front of the building.”
“What should we do?” Thalia nodded, and once again, pride hit him square in the chest. She was tough as hell. When she turned her trusting gaze to him and waited, something else expanded beneath his rib cage and he straightened his shoulders. He vowed to protect her, and he wouldn’t fail.
“If I was trying to draw someone from a building, I’d want eyes on the front and back. Most will exit directly through the lobby, so we’re going to find another way. When I did a walk-through of the building yesterday, I found the employee stairwell, which leads to the offices, housekeeping department, and laundry facilities. We’ll go out through a staff exit,” he said.
They walked quickly to the door and Sully motioned to them after looking through the one-sided glass. He disengaged the dead bolt and opened the door. Swarms of people were moving toward the stairwell leading to the lobby, while they moved against the current in the opposite direction. He and Sully were bracketed on either side of Thalia as they walked quickly through the halls, keeping their heads down in case someone had tapped into the hotel cameras.
“Right there,” he whispered under his breath when he spotted theEmployees Onlysign. The three of them stepped into the stairwell. Gone was the brightly colored carpeting that graced the guest area, leaving gray concrete in its place. They strode down the stairs, passing several employees who were rushing by. One called out that they were going the wrong way, but didn’t stop to ensure they changed course. He was mulling over the staff’s hasty ascent up the stairs, wondering if this was standard operating procedure to evacuate guests, when he caught the bitter tinge of smoke in the air, laced with something slightly sweet. Marzipan. Sully’s gaze whipped to him as he scented the explosive, too.
If someone had set off a device toward the back of the building to push everyone out through the front, they were taking the safest path, so long as there wasn’t too much destruction when they got to the bottom floor. Not to mention the potential risk for other explosives. Once they reached the ground level, they cautiously entered the employee hallway. Smoke was billowing at the end of the long corridor. Red squeezed Thalia’s hand tightly, and her quick double squeeze back made him smile despite the circumstances.
“At the Day home, we were constantly doing laundry with an industrial machine. There was a special door to let some of the steam out.”
Immediately trusting her assessment, he nodded. “That way.” Red pointed down the hall where several bins full of soiled linen were abandoned outside a double door. They jogged to the laundry room, and Red breathed a sigh of relief when the handle turned easily. Once they were all inside the humid space, they shut the door behind them. Toward the back of room was a louvered door just as Thalia had described. The slats in the wood would let out steam but wasn’t exactly a moniker for security. The door was closed with a simple overhead latch.
“Nice work, Thalia,” Sully stated, reaching overhead to flip open the half-assed attempt at security. Red moved first, exiting the building while taking stock of the surroundings, and when everything appeared safe, he ushered them out.
“We’re going to stay along the side of the building. If we keep to the shadows, we should be able to slip out of here,” he whispered into Thalia’s ear. He couldn’t stop himself from pressing a quick kiss to her temple before they began to move in the shadows. Sirens echoed in the distance and police and fire personnel drew closer to the hotel. There didn’t seem to be anyone lingering near the side of the building and using that to their advantage, they skirted around the dumpsters and into an alley, putting as much distance between themselves and the hotel as possible. They made it a few blocks away when his cellphone began vibrating in his pocket. He glanced around, making sure they were truly alone before pulling it out and checking the screen.
“Jude,” he said in a low tone that only Thalia and Sully would be able to hear.
“Answer it.” Sully stopped and scanned the area. “He might be able to set up an extraction.”
He pressed the button to answer the call and before he could get a word out Jude’s clipped tone filled his ear.
“We got intel that the cartel’s located the hotel you’re staying at.”
