You know when you fucked up so bad, and you realize it as soon as you commit your own heinous crime? And then you’re desperate to right your wrongs? It doesn’t matter that it’s nearing midnight or the freezing temperature is biting my skin.
Or that the military ball is still thriving, and the night has just begun.
I have to apologize to Ari. And I need to apologize now. This can’t wait. Even if she doesn’t want me, I owe her an apology face-to-face for being an asshole. It isn’t like me, and it’d be easier for me to blame it on liquor, but that’s an easy out and I won’t give her that excuse.
I love Ari. I’m so in love with her, but after what I did tonight, after I got my shit kicked in and broke Meredith’s heart, I know I’m in the wrong.
I bit her lip because I knew that’s what she liked. But that’s not who I am. It isn’t like me to overstep, and I had vowed to protect her. And if that means I’ll be friend-zoned for the rest of my life, I’ll gladly take it because if I’m still in her life still, that’s a privilege I don’t want to risk letting go.
A part of me will always be in love with her.
I think I just lost my best friend for good, too. I pushed him too far this time.
I’m not drunk, but I’m acting like an insensitive ass.
I’m well under the driving limit. I can go to Ari’s house, and even if Grim is there, I’m sure he wouldn’t fight me if I apologized for disrespecting their relationship and Ari’s boundaries.
It fucking hurt for her to tell me,
“It’ll always be Danny.”
But that was the closure I needed to move on finally.
There’s just one more thing I need to do, and that’s apologize.
My phone starts to ring, and I pull it out with one hand still on the steering wheel.
“Fucker, where the hell did you go?”
“I’m on my way to Ari’s.”
Lopez exhales, frustrated over the phone.
“Pinche pendejo. You really do have a death wish. She doesn’t want you. Ella no quiere tus ojos azules, quiero los de Grim.”
“First, I don’t know what the fuck you just said, but fuck you, too. And I’m going there to apologize.”
“Well, say less because I’m headed there too. Rooker’s going home with his wife right now, and someone’s gotta pull you guys apart.”
“Not necessary.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he mocks me. “I’ll meet you there.”
Click.
I stop by the gas station to fill up the car. I’m standing there, holding the handle. The smell of fuel fills my nose, and I can see my reflection in the car door mirror.
My dark brown hair is a complete mess. My nose is bruised, and the black eye I received when I got into the bike accident is shockingly less dark and now lighter shades of purple and green.
I look like a fucking zombie.
This is what happens when you piss people off.
And the Grim Reaper.
My face is evidence of pissing off the wrong people.
After filling up a full gas tank at the closest gas station to Ari’s place, I’m down her street in the next twenty minutes.
I’ve only been here three times, and I know it by memory.
I take a deep breath when I start driving onto the path leading to her home.
As soon as I enter her property, I know something is wrong. I see a group of people all over the front yard of Ari’s house.
When my headlights flash across the men in white masks, I know something is going down, and it’s not good. They look like the same men that tried to assassinate me, hadn’t it been for Creature.
Then I see a familiar red dress, sprawled out in someone’s arms, being dragged into a van ruthlessly.
A group of men, and I see a woman, but I can’t make out her face or features when she closes the van’s passenger door behind her.
My best friend lies unconscious on the floor with men hovering over him.
They’re kidnapping Ari. Danny might be fucking dead…why isn’t he moving?!
I reach for my pistol tucked into the center console; and going full send to hell, my foot hitting the pedal with no remorse as these men return with fire. They all shoot at my windshield, the glass shattering all over me, but I don’t stop. I duck underneath the steering wheel. I barely miss Danny, and I run over two of the masked hitmen hard with my car, their bodies making the car jump as I floored.
There’s no way they’ll survive that.
Some of the hitmen crash against the hood of the car hard.
Then I realize the van has sped away with Ari because I hear it roar away, disappearing into the shadows.
Fuck!
Motherfuckers will all die for this.
Every. Single. One. Of. Them. Will die for putting their hands on her.
But four hitmen are left behind as they try to lift Danny and make a run for it in another van.
They’re not going anywhere.
I raise my pistol, both hands on it, and shoot two in the head, granting them instant death. They drop to the ground.
The other two return fire on me, and I dodge every hit. They’ve got shit aim, thank God.
I jump out of the car on the opposite side, giving me cover to reload and reassess how to get to Grim.
He better not be fucking dead.
More gunshots ring out from another direction. My hands cover my face and I’m helplessly tensed up against the hood.
Not more of these fucking pieces of shits?!
I’m outnumbered.
I grab my cell phone, prepared to call in our team and the Admiral. My fingers tremble with adrenaline and shock as I try to unlock my phone, missing every number to my passcode, and I have to restart. But then I hear a familiar voice shout into the cruel, wintry sky.
“Pinche cabron, you alive over there?”
Operator Texas.
The cowboy from South Texas.
“Holy shit, I’ve never been happier to be called a cabron before,” I shout back with gratitude and a smirk. I peek through the car windows to see Lopez sitting in his truck a couple of feet away from Grim, aiming his pistol at the men he just shot.
Fucker saved my life.
I forgot he was meeting me here even after I told him not to.
“I couldn’t miss seeing Grim kick your ass again. Shit’s better than the UFC,” he jokes back, and I slump against the car door. The fiery tension in every single muscle of mine relaxes. And a short scoff of a laugh escapes me.
“Fuck you too.” I snort.
I hadn’t realized I was bleeding until blood splattered over my uniform. I touch my forehead and realize the shattered glass cut me.
Fucking hell, I will need a long-ass vacation after this to let my face heal. How much more can my face take?
“Is Grim alive?” I shout, still undercover.
Would if there’s more of these assholes?
“I don’t know, man, I don’t like this. How the fuck did we not get alerted by this? Doesn’t she have the best fucking security system installed? Where is she? Where’s Ari?”
“Motherfuckers took her! They dragged her into the van. I couldn’t get to her,” I groan in pain, looking at my bloody hands. “I failed her,” I murmur, knowing Lopez can’t hear me. They have her…just like I’ve been worried about.
Fuck the Admiral.
That was one of my first thoughts. Why had the security system failed her?
How do they know where she lives?
“I’m calling it in.”
Spending time in hospitals is feeling like a new normal.
I watch the black coffee pour into the coffee cup. I’m at a nurse’s station in the hallway. They granted me access to their coffee. It’s around five in the morning, and Grim is stable.
Motherfucker is immortal, and I’m starting to question how the fuck he got on God’s good side to escape death so many times. The man is anything but religious or holy.
“How’s Grim?”
A deep burden of a voice rumbles behind me, and I almost drop my coffee cup in the hallway. I’m jumpy and on edge after I engaged in a shootout, so Creature’s voice behind me made me want to return with a punch to his jaw.
I turn around to face the newest man on the team.
This man gives me the creeps. If I thought Danny held darkness, well, this guy bleeds poison, an aura that blurs the lines of what he holds morally right…if he has any.
“Damn it, Creature. Don’t fucking sneak up on me like that, asshole.” I seethe, glaring at him, seeing red. I didn’t hear him come up behind me. Motherfucker is so quiet. Even his footsteps are complete silence.
“He’s stable. That’s all I know. Bullet went through his upper chest. No surgery is needed. They sedated him when he tried to wake up in the ambulance. He was going batshit crazy on the paramedics,” I explain, sipping the burning coffee and holding the plastic rim to my mouth. “Admiral Ravenmore is on his way.” Creature looks at me through his black mask with bored, unfazed eyes.
“We need to find the girl. Or we’re all dead.” Creature blinks slowly, leaning against the wall. He reaches into his pocket, pulling out the same bullet he always plays with. Twirling it in each finger, he breaks his gaze and stares at his hand.
“And I’m not talking about our enemies killing us, no. But Grim will.” Then he looks straight into my eyes, and my stomach drops.
I know what he means. The whole world might be dead when Grim discovers Ari is gone, and we haven’t been able to find her. It’s only been a few hours, but it already feels like forever.
No leads. It’s like they disappeared into thin air. Rooker and Lopez are in Danny’s room, waiting for him to wake up.
Zeke explained to us that after he and his team did an initial investigation into the malfunctioning of the security system. He came up with the conclusion that Omar had hacked it.
We’re not the only ones with incredible assets and technology.
They’re well equipped too.
I love Ari. I’m still so fucking in love with her, but I’ll never overstep again. Time will heal the hole I have in my heart because of her rejection. But it’s not me. She told me that crystal clear, and it cut deep when she said those words.
Ari and I’s relationship will always be unique, and I think a part of me will always wait for her. But for now, I’m letting her go.
“The girl’s name is Ari Alvarez,” I correct him with a snap before stalking away from him. “And we’ll find her.”
As I’m walking away, I check on Ari’s mother with the police officer assigned to her. She’s been in protective custody by local police until we handle this situation.
The closer I get to Grim’s room, the more I hear shouting and muffled loud commotion.
I look up from the hospital floor tiles and look into the ICU room he’s staying in through the glass doors. Rooker and Lopez surround him. They’re trying to calm him down as he dresses into the uniform he was wearing when he got shot. The hospital gown is off him, torn to pieces on the floor.
Rooker’s trying to calm him down, but Danny is gone, and the Reaper takes over. He flips the hospital bed to the side, and it crashes loudly to the floor as the realization of Ari’s absence settles in.
Blood spills through his chest from where he was shot.
His IV was yanked out of his arm, and blood profusely pours down his forearm as he shouts in Rooker’s face.
“I’m fine!” he growls at Rooker, and I know this is my cue to step in.
I open the door fast.
Hospital security comes rushing in as if ready to handcuff the patient wreaking havoc on the ICU floor. They reach for their handcuffs, but once they see it’s us—SEAL Team Executioners—they stop midway. They backpedal into the hallway once they see it’s Operator Grim Reaper unleashing his wrath.
“Grim,” I call out to him, snapping him out of his thoughts. The space between his brows narrows with unforgiving intensity.
Fuck. He might kill me.
He pushes me, but I keep my ground, only stumbling one step.
“Where is she, Kane? Rooker told me you were the last to see her.” He pushes me again, and I know he’s blinded with wrath.
“Where’s Ari? Where is she?” he repeats, yelling at me. The veins in his neck and hands are swollen with vengeance. He grabs me by my vest, and I swallow.
Everyone on the hospital floor stops, and it grows quiet. Tensions were so thick you couldn’t slice through it. I look around and find the entire staff staring into the room. Lopez clears his throat with gloominess.
Rooker watches his best friend unleash his rage on me, and no one can stop Grim.
I turn back to Grim, and his chin is set high. I can see the heat that flushes his entire body. His breaths are long and cemented evenly. I can see that he’s in devastation. He’s broken. Not cool. Not collected. Not composed.
A man who has lost his reason to live.
His pain is infinite.
“I don’t know, Grim, but Zeke is on it. He’ll find her soon.” I blink with determination. Zeke is good at his job, and Grim knows that. We’ll find her quickly; I have no doubts.
He walks away from me, running his hands through his hair.
Rooker clears his throat as Creature walks in, not saying a word. He goes into a corner, crossing his arms and watching.
“They will find her, Danny. This isn’t like any other mission. They might…” Rooker tells Danny, and he watches him like he’s about to kill him just for saying it.
It’s the elephant in the room no one wants to address.
We all know that Ari might be dead already. Nobody has the balls to say it, and Danny knows he can’t disagree with him.
But I refuse to believe they’ve killed her. I don’t want to believe it because I’ll break too.
Then Grim flips his switch even more and looks at Rooker like he’s about to kill him for saying it.
“Don’t you fucking dare say anything more,” Grim snarls, baring his teeth. “What do you mean, they, huh?”
Rooker’s expression softens as he steps away from Grim until his back hits the wall. “You know this is out of our jurisdiction. It’s not our place anymore. Let the police handle it.”
Grim’s jaw ticks as Rooker reminds him of protocols.
“If this was Noel…” I start and Rooker breaks away from Grim at the mention of his wife’s name, but he needs to understand what Ari’s disappearance is doing to Grim…to me. I’ve got his full attention now, and he just might beat the shit out of me for saying it.
“Look, all I’m saying is, we don’t know that, Rooker. They might use her to lure us all,” I argue. “And they’ll leave her alive until they can draw Grim in. Isn’t that what they want? So this makes everything more complicated and rules will be broken. Admiral Ravenmore will want us in on this, and the police will, too.”
“Sir, please sit down.” A nurse enters the room quickly and pleads with Grim. She points to the hospital bed, scolding him like a child.
She’s scared and hesitant to come closer to a man whose entire world has been taken away from him. The heartache Danny is feeling is evident and crystal clear through wrath.
Her shoulders tense as she arches her brows, signaling him back to the hospital bed.
“Lori, I know you remember me,” he says.
The nurse bites the inside of her cheek nervously.
“You have to discharge me. I have to find Ari.” He walks toward her, and it looks like Lori wants to shrink away, but then quickly changes her demeanor.
“What the fuck do you mean? Where is she?! Wasn’t she at the ball with Violet?” She raises her voice, her chest rising and falling.
“I can’t disclose anything,” Grim mumbles.
“The hell you can’t!” Lori screeches at him, stomping her foot on the ground.
“Senorita hermosa, you don’t understand,” Lopez chimes in. His southern accent clips through the tension in the room and slightly switches the mood.
I roll my eyes. Is he trying to flirt in a situation like this?
Asshole.
“We have a job to do just like you do,” he finishes, flashing her a dimpled smile, crossing his arms across his chest.
Lori glares at him, narrowing her eyes with annoyance at Lopez’s flirtatious smile. “I’m gay.” She scoffs before turning back to Grim.
Then she shifts to Creature, who stands in the corner of the room, flipping the same heavy bullet in his fingers.
“And who the fuck are you?” Lori snaps. She’s unleashing hell at every single one of us, and it’s justifiable.
Creature stops twirling the bullet in his fingers. He goes frozen for a couple of seconds. His gray eyes look at Lori through his black mask, a snicker of a laugh follows.
“No one. Just a ghost on the wall. Carry on.”
What the hell. “Ignore him,” Grim snarls. “Lori, you know damn well nothing will stop me from walking out of that room in the next five minutes. She’s out there, and I can find her. I’m being courteous.”
Lori sighs in defeat.
“You lost a lot of blood, Mr. Rider.”
“And you gave me a blood transfusion, right? I’m good. I’m solid, Lori.”
She purses her lips and looks at his arms that are covered in blood from him yanking out his own IV.
“I’ll do what I can, but Doctor Reese is on shift tonight, and he’s a bit of an asshole.”
Grim eyes light up, and his eyebrows arch.
“Perfect.”
