The Vargas Cartel Trilogy (Vargas Cartel #1-3)(37)

“No, I won’t,” I shot back, unwilling to relinquish his company for even a few minutes. I wasn’t going to be the stupid girl in a horror flick, hiding alone in plain sight despite common sense.

Ryker slipped the gun from his ankle holster. “You already proved you know how to use it. Don’t hesitate. Shoot anyone you see and you’ll be fine. If I’m not back in twenty minutes, don’t come looking for me. Follow the road on the right side of the bed and breakfast.”

“Where does it go?”

“To a small village.”

“Will you meet me there?”

“No. If I don’t come back, I’m dead.”

My mouth dropped open, and my stomach somersaulted…repeatedly. He was halfway to the back door of the bed and breakfast before I could think of a response, and even then it wasn’t much of one. I curled into a ball, my back to a tree, the gun resting on the top of my knees, and my hand on the trigger.

Regardless of what Ryker expected me to do, I refused to leave him here. If I heard one flicker of a struggle or a single gunshot, I was going in. I wouldn’t make it to the village or anywhere else without him. Now that he opened my eyes to the dangers of being alone, I couldn’t imagine stumbling into some random village, begging for help, shelter, food, or a phone. I didn’t speak Spanish beyond being able to ask for a beer or the bathroom.

Minute after minute ticked by, and my blinks became longer and longer. The humid heat and sultry jungle breeze acted like my personal lullaby, and before I knew it, I fell asleep.

I could scarcely open my eyes when warm, strong arms wrapped around my body. “So much for your future as a lookout,” Ryker said as he pulled my body against his chest. I should’ve objected, but I was too beaten down to do anything but bury my head next to his neck.

“The tires were slashed?” I whispered against his ear.

His muscles tensed beneath my legs. “Yes.”

“Damn…that sucks.” I lifted my head, but he didn’t look at me. He kept his eyes trained on the terrain in front of us. “What about the phone?”

“The lines were severed.”

“And Ricardo and his—”

“Wife?”

“Yeah. Are they okay?”

“No.”

“Are they,” I closed my eyes and sucked in a breath. “Dead?”

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry.” A wave of regret slammed against my chest, thick and twisted like a wall of thorns crushing me, sucking the air from my lungs. This was my fault. All of it. From the moment I decided to go to Mexico with Vera instead of staying home and licking my wounded ego. Now countless men and at least one woman were dead because I refused to wait until Ignacio and Evan’s dad finalized some stupid diplomatic prisoner swap. I whimpered as seismic shock after seismic shock rocked though my tormented body. My vision tunneled, and for an instant I thought I’d faint. It was too much to absorb.

Ryker froze mid-stride. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Don’t lie to me.” He released my body, and my knees nearly buckled under my weight when I hit the ground. My feet throbbed from two days of running in leather-soled sandals. “Tell me.”

“This is my fault.” I swallowed the nausea rumbling in my belly. “There were so many times I could’ve made a different decision and avoided this mess. I should’ve stayed home.”

“You really believe that?” Ryker raised one eyebrow and folded his arms across his chest, his muscles stretching the fabric of his shirt in thick, horizontal ribbons.

“All these people are dead because of the stupid choices I made. I should’ve never come to Mexico. Then, I didn’t want to go to that bar where I met you, but I agreed because Vera wanted me to go. Finally, I tried to escape twice, and I didn’t even do that right.” I held up finger after finger until I finished my list of misdeeds and stupid decisions.

Ryker looked away for a few excruciating beats before turning his steely gaze back to me. “What you did or didn’t do is irrelevant. Like I said, your future was sealed weeks before you made any of those decisions.”

Squinting into the glare of the late afternoon sun, I threaded my hands through my hair and tugged at the roots. “Tell me what that means. You already said that. Tell me something new. I need to understand.”

He shook his head slowly. “I can’t. Let’s go. We have to start walking.”

“No,” I yelled, my blood pressure soaring as my heart worked overtime. “Not until you tell me something…anything.” He reached for my hand and yanked me toward him, but I stiffened my body, refusing to move. Granted, he could’ve taken off down the trail, and I would have followed him eventually. I didn’t want to spend one more second alone in this jungle. I’d never tell him that, however.

He ran his hand along my cheek, and my skin tingled under the pads of his fingers. I backpedaled a few steps, but it wasn’t far enough. The intensity of his gaze and his tight grasp on my hand kept me firmly in his orbit, his magnetic gravity pulling on me, making me forget everything.

“Hattie, we were coming for you regardless of where you were. Mexico, your parents’ house, your school campus…it didn’t matter. My job was to get you here. Your trip to Mexico simplified a few things, but in the end, you’d be here.”