Into the Lair (Falcon Mercenary Group #2)(5)

Cocky and arrogant as ever. His perfect white teeth flashed in the glare of the streetlights. His smile was sinister, with the promise of retribution. If only she’d killed him instead of Paulo.

Bitterness welled in her mouth, hard to swallow.

She turned to run when a strange sound shattered the night. Her entire body jerked and went stiff as agony fired through every one of her nerves. She couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, couldn’t think. So much pain. She was on fire.

For a moment, she stood locked in the grip of hell, her body refusing to respond to her commands. As she stared into the darkness, she saw the man who’d chased her from her apartment standing in the shadows a distance away.

His expression wasn’t one of triumph, however. Concern creased his brow, and he looked angry.

Then she sagged to the ground, gasps of pain spilling from her mouth. Desperately, she sucked in air, trying to drag more into her lungs. Lungs that felt as though they’d been torched.

Rough hands hauled her up. Fingers twisted in her hair, yanking her head back. She found herself staring into Ricardo’s handsome face right before his spit hit her on the cheek.

“You will pay for killing my brother, whore.”

Chapter Four

Tyana Berezovsky awkwardly made her way down the hallway to Jonah Pearson’s office. The going was slow, thanks to the crutches and heavy cast encasing her right leg.

She faltered for a moment when she got to the door but regained her footing and shoved the door open with one crutch.

Jonah looked up as she entered. “Should you be up and around?”

She glared and hobbled forward. When she got to his desk, she leaned on one crutch and brought the other one up until she prodded his chest with the rubber tip. Jonah glanced down at the crutch then back up at her with a raised eyebrow.

“You’ve got to do something about Eli. He’s driving me insane.”

Jonah shoved the crutch away and smirked at her. “Eli is your problem. Not mine.”

Tyana sagged into a chair and dropped the crutches with a clatter. “Surely you can find something for him to do?” She frowned at the pleading note in her voice. She sounded desperate.

Hell, who was she kidding? She was desperate.

Jonah chuckled. “It was your idea to fall in love with the guy.”

She closed her eyes. No, it wasn’t her idea. If she’d had a choice, she wouldn’t have waded into all those messy emotions.

It was one thing to be accountable to herself and to her team. She could deal with that just fine. But now she was accountable to someone else. Someone she was emotionally involved with. In short, it sucked.

“He’s smothering me,” she grumbled. “I can’t take a piss without him hovering.”

Jonah put his fingers together at his chin and stared hard at her. “As much as you know I don’t love to play armchair psychologist, may I point out that A. the guy loves you, and B. he damn near lost you. He’s entitled to hover a bit.”

She closed her eyes and groaned. “Jonah, please. There has to be something you can give him to do just for a couple of days. You’re supposed to be bringing him into Falcon. Isn’t there some bullshit assignment you can throw at him? Have him go make the arrangements for the safe house for Ian and Braden. Something, anything. I just need him out of my hair for a little while or I’m going to pull it all out.”

He studied her for a long moment. She was begging, and she knew it wasn’t a pretty sight. She never begged for anything. Maybe he sensed her desperation, not that it would take much brilliance to figure out she was at the end of her rope, because he sighed and leveled a resigned eye roll in her direction.

“I’ll see what I can do, Ty. But damn it, Eli isn’t my problem. He’s yours. I’d thank you to remember that in the future.”

She grinned. “If I could get up, I’d hug you.”

He managed a look of horror. “You’ve gotten soft on me. You fell in love, and it turned your brain to mush.”

“Could we stop going on and on about the L-word?”

Jonah shrugged. “You’re going to owe me one for this, and don’t think I won’t collect from your invalid ass.”

She nodded and made a grab for her crutches only to realize she couldn’t reach to the floor from her chair. She shifted and reached again only to come up short.

“Damn it,” she muttered.

“Problem?” Jonah asked with ill-suppressed humor.

She flipped her middle finger at him as she strained with her other hand to snag her crutch.

“And you wonder why Eli is hovering,” Jonah said dryly as he walked around the desk. He bent and picked up her crutches and then handed them to her.

“Thanks,” she mumbled.

She heaved herself upward, sweat breaking out on her forehead as she bobbled. Her continued weakness bugged the hell out of her. She was ready to be a hundred percent again.

Jonah caught her arm to steady her and frowned. “Might I suggest you stay off your feet for a while longer? You’re clearly not ready to be up and around so damn much.”

Tyana sighed. “Now you sound like Eli.”

“Heaven forbid.”

She hobbled toward the door, ignoring his sarcasm. Up to now he hadn’t fussed over her much, and he hadn’t cut her any slack. Just the way she liked it.