“Where’s her bag?”

“Inside the house.” My hand runs down my face roughly.

“I’ll go get it so you can look through it.” He runs back in and I walk over to Elizabeth.

“What did you pack in your bag before we left?” I ask her.

“Just a few clothes, some toiletries, and my cell phone. Why?”

I look down at the ground and shake my head. I’m disappointed in myself for failing to do something that should be routine. “That’s how they found us.”

“But it’s not on.” Her eyebrows dip down in confusion.

“It doesn’t have to be. We need to ditch it before we go.” She nods in agreement, but the blank stare on her face tells me she’s still in shock. Glancing over my shoulder, I see Turner come back out of the house with Elizabeth’s bag in hand. “He has a few more questions for me, but he wanted to get your bag out of the house for you first. I’ll go through it and toss the phone.” I kiss her on the cheek and walk back over to my boss. “This is going to shit quickly, sir. What are we going to do now? We can’t exactly stay here.” My hand rakes through my hair and tugs on the ends in frustration.

“You’ve got some cash, you might have to get a hotel for a night or two while I figure out a place to put you.” I’m about to say something when he nods his head at the person behind me. His partner stands next to us. “What’d you find?”

“These are cartel guys.”

Shit. “How do you know?” If the cartel is after our asses, then we’re in deeper than I originally thought.

“They have ‘Mal’ tattooed on their necks. It’s their signature mark for all members of the Los Malvados gang.”

“Son of a bitch,” we say at the same time.

“I’ll get this cleaned up. You two get the hell out of here.” I don’t waste any time. I wave over Elizabeth, they give her some bullshit excuse about not needing her statement right now since they have mine, and we get on the road.

We’ve been driving for about an hour and she hasn’t muttered two words to me. I’ve left her alone knowing today was probably a lot to take in. “How are you doing over there?”

She turns toward me. “I’m okay, I guess.”

“I know that shit is hard to see, but you have to know that I did what was best for us. I had no ch—”

“Alex, I know. I’m thankful you stopped them. Lord knows I wouldn’t have been able to defend myself. Do you know who they were?” Even a few hours later, the fear in her voice is clear as day.

Keeping my eyes on the road, I shake my head. All she really knows about this whole fucked up situation is that Cal wants me to murder Hutchison. She has no clue about all the other shit, and I plan to keep it that way until all of this is over with.

I drive us another two hours in the opposite direction before my eyelids feel like they’re made of lead and I can’t hold them open anymore. Stopping at the first place I see, I lay down on this lumpy, dusty mattress with Elizabeth in my arms, and the day’s events come crashing down on me. Whenever bad things went down while I was deployed, this would always happen. My brain has too much time to think and process things right before I go to sleep. Maybe that’s why I get nightmares sometimes. I’m replaying everything in my mind and trying to see if it was at all avoidable. I should’ve been on my fucking game and thought to check her bag. Just like before, she clouds my mind and my only thought at the time was getting her the hell out of there. I was sloppy and can’t afford to make mistakes like that again. It almost cost us everything.

“HEY,” I SAY into the phone as I stand outside the hotel room. It’s cold as balls this early and I can see my breath as I talk. Elizabeth is still sleeping, so I want to get this over with before she wakes up and starts asking questions again.

“What’s up, Matthews?”

“Sir, I need a favor.”

“What’s that?”

“I need you to have someone leave another gun in my glove box.”

“Why?” he asks confused.

“I want Elizabeth to have one when I have to leave the motel for shit.”

He lets out a deep sigh. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“It’s not like she’s going to be carrying it and I’ll give her the run down on how to use it. I’d just feel better with all this shit going on if she had it just in case. Can you make that happen?”

There’s a long pause and I’m starting to get pissed knowing he’s about to reject my request. “Fine,” he finally says, much to my relief. “I’ll have someone dump one in there overnight. Just make sure she knows how to use it, alright?”

“You got it.”

“Hang in there, okay? We’re real close to ending all of this.”

I’m kind of tired of hearing him say that. I’m not sure how much longer Elizabeth can deal with this. Shit, it’s starting to wear on me. She’s strong as hell, but I can see the stress is starting to take its toll on her. It’s obvious in the way she worries her lip between her teeth, how she bites her nails, and when she stares off into space in deep thought. I want her to be in control of her life. Not have some asshole like Cal drag her down, drowning her in misery. As long as he’s out there, she’ll have to keep looking over her shoulder, afraid he’s found her. I have no doubts that if he ever locates her, he’ll kill her.

I’m sure the cartel is out looking for me more than her since I know what they’re trying to accomplish. Seeing how close they got to us makes me wonder if I should have left her at home and came for her when this was done. I shake my head to myself. The deadline was fast approaching and Cal told me he’d hurt her if Hutchison wasn’t killed in two weeks. I made the right decision. At least that’s what I keep telling myself.

After I hang up the phone, I walk back into the hotel room to find Elizabeth sitting up in bed, staring at the wall. “Good morning, sweetheart.” I walk over to her and plant a kiss on her lips. I can’t help it. It’s just a natural reaction now. Pulling back, I flash her a smile.

“Good morning. Where were you?” She’s guarded, waiting for me to tell her that I can’t say. I hate keeping secrets from her, but I have to right now.

“I was outside making a phone call.”

“Let me guess, you won’t—or can’t—tell me who you were talking to,” she says in a monotone voice that lets me know she’s getting sick of the same answer.

Sighing, I close my eyes and shake my head. When I open them, I see her posture sag in disappointment and I want to punch something for making her feel this way. Moving toward the bed, I sit down on it. “Come here.” I grab her arm and move her to sit in front of me between my outstretched legs. I wrap my arms around her and hold her to me. She resists at first, but soon melts back into me. Releasing my hold on her, my hands go to her shoulders and slowly kneed the muscles. She’s wound up tight and I’m hoping this provides a little bit of relaxation for her. A moment where she can close her eyes, shut off her brain, and forget about the last twelve hours.

And hopefully not be so pissed at me.

Her head lolls to the side as I work her neck, rubbing small circles with my thumbs. “Mmm, right there,” she moans. “Harder.” I apply more pressure as demanded. “Yeeeeesssss,” she drags out. I’m a bastard for having these thoughts given the timing, but damn if I don’t want to bury myself in her.

“You keep making those noises and your shoulders won’t be the only thing I’m rubbing.” Her breath hitches giving away the affect I have on her. I couldn’t stop the cocky grin that spreads across my face even if I tried. With my dick pressed firmly against the front of my pants, I continue to rub her back.

“When was the last time you talked to your mother?” I ask, wanting to know how she’s doing.

“I talked to her last Monday, same as every week. She might get worried if she doesn’t hear from me tomorrow.”