The Ides of Matt 2017

Chapter 4

Chapter FourHector leaned his head back against the refrigerator door and closed his eyes. Yeah, he’d abandoned her to this hell for five years. If she’d done it to him, he’d never forgive her. s**t.

Closing his eyes didn’t help.

Now he wasn’t seeing her long flow of softly curling black hair with just a hint of her grandmother’s dark gold, framing that perfect face. He couldn’t see the proud curves above her slender waist that he had so loved to bury his face in. But he could smell her: rich, dark, spicy—overlaid with drying mole sauce on her tight jeans. Like a mix of the lush bounty of the goddess Mayahuel and the fierce and deadly earth goddess Tlaltecuhtli. She had seemed that way ever since they’d sat side by side in primaria school desks and learned about the ancient Aztecs.

And she was still that even now, squatting in a darkened kitchen waiting out the stupid s**t going on outside: lush, dangerous, and so goddamn good to look at.

He’d landed his fair share of bar babes over the years. His ugly excuse for a face drew in as many as it put off. Not a one had been worth even half of Alejandra Rosa Martinez.

He shouldn’t have tracked her down; it was just messing with his head. She wasn’t essential to the mission—though it was a better angle than the one he’d thought up while planning back at Fort Bragg. His assignment was to investigate and assess, then call for what assets he needed. If he shifted his plan to include Alejandra, he had all he needed right here.

Reading the profile on cartel boss Miguel Alvarado had brought up too many memories, too much anger. He shouldn’t have taken the assignment.

Missions can never be personal. The commanders of Delta Force had beat that into his head again and again. Yet this time it was. His hometown. His family that had been destroyed. And now, in a file handed to him like a random draw, he knew why.

But he had tracked her down.

He thumped his head back against the refrigerator door.

Just walk away, Hector. You did it to her before, you can do it again. It’s safer that way. Better for her. Sucks totally for you. But since when was that anything new?

Even knowing the right course of action, Hector knew he didn’t have the strength to do it again. She was all the past he had. There was no way she could fit into his current life—she wasn’t exactly the patient housewife sort—but there was no way he could stand to pry her back out of his heart now that he’d found her. Not that he’d ever been able to.

“So, what’s Alvarado up to this time—other than gunning down my meal ticket? And why you?” Even her voice—he’d even missed the sound of her voice. He remembered it like yesterday.

Hector sighed. There was no way to resist having her by his side, so he should just give in. Even if it would only be on a mission.

“Miguel Alvarado is known for moving drugs and immigrants across the border. Pain in the a*s, but the US has had plenty of bigger fish to fry.”

He could feel her shrug as a movement through the cool metal against his back.

“He’s gone a whole lot lower—human trafficking for the s*x trade—and it’s time to shut his a*s down.”

“s**t!” Her sound of utter disgust said that was news to her. “Why you?”

That was actually a hell of a good question. What he’d seen in the file back at Fort Bragg, intel and his commanders had certainly seen as well. His hometown—giving him the best knowledge on the ground. His family—he’d told the stories to the psychologists during induction testing into Delta. That had to be in his files. It didn’t take a genius to connect Alvarado and his own family. His family had worked as Miguel’s guns until they were picked off one by one. He’d probably have been in the family trade and dead by now too, if not for Alejandra threatening to shoot his balls off. Just him left now.

There was only one thing he’d never told the psychs about, one piece that had remained for him alone.

He opened his eyes and looked at her.

“Because, I’m the best bastard for the job.”