Sour Cherry(32)

I froze, my lungs burning from holding my breath. I tried to understand exactly what he’d said, running the words through my mind over and over. The package. The exchange. It’d all been a cover up for my dad’s murder?

He placed the tip of the machete on my cheek, tracing a line from my left eye to my lips. “So now you know.” Treja nodded, a smile pulling at the corner of his lips as his free hand wandered lower. Disgust rippled through me when his fingertips slipped beneath the collar of my shirt. “Shame Cooper picked you out of so many. I would have liked to meet you under different circumstances.” His accent did nothing to calm my racing heartbeat and my instincts told me he’d finished his revelations for the day.

The machete left my face, but reappeared at my throat.

“Descanse en paz, chica.” Treja swung the blade back, his eyes on me.

But then a hand reached up and wrapped around Treja’s wrist from behind, spinning him to face Cooper. He’d freed himself somehow, but only after Cooper wrenched the machete out of Treja’s hand and laid the Mexican onto the floor did I realize Blondie had been knocked out cold, too.

Treja lay motionless on the concrete, his breathing even.

Cooper stood over him, trying to catch his breath. His mouth hung open slightly as he stared down at the man he’d believed to be dead for so long. I sympathized with him. Betrayal by your brothers resonated in your bones for life.

He’d saved my life yet again and my heart flooded with gratitude. I wished I could put my arms around him. “I know you have a lot to deal with right now, but can you please untie me?”

“Oh, God.” Cooper came back to his senses, circling behind me. A few tugs on my wrists granted my freedom and he moved back in front of me to work on my ankles.

“Thank you.” I rubbed at my wrists absently, running my fingertips over the indentations from the ropes. It felt so good to have feeling in my fingers again, even if they were needles of pain. Testing the nicks on my throat, I stared at the top of Cooper’s head as he freed the last rope, but was suddenly wrenched to my feet.

Cooper gripped my shoulders like he’d never let me go. “Did he hurt you? Let me see your neck.” He stared at me, hard. “God, I’m so sorry.”

I’d never seen this particular combination of concern and sincerity—almost possession, actually—in real life before, and I honestly didn’t know how to react. “I’m fine. I just—”

His lips found mine, warm, eager. I practically melted into his embrace, my shoulders sinking in relief as he pulled me in closer. My tongue tangled with his and for a moment, everything disappeared. Treja, Blondie, Ryder, even Amelia never existed in the world his kisses took me to. Fantasies chased through my mind. The club didn’t exist, my old man hadn’t been murdered by a psychopath and Cooper and I had a future together.

I never wanted to leave.

Butterflies swarmed in my belly as his teeth nicked my bottom lip and I was left breathless when he pulled away. I forced myself to focus. “Wow. It’s almost as if you like me or something.”

I threw his words back at him, waiting to see his reaction. What did he really want from me? In my book, actions spoke louder than words and Cooper’s actions contradicted everything he’d said to me a couple hours ago. Hope that he’d changed his mind blossomed in my chest, but I quickly locked it out. The brand new wall I’d constructed from his rejection helped, but began to crumble when his brown eyes caught mine.

Cooper brushed his thumb over my bottom lip, taking a few more stones out of my wall and warming my ladyparts. “I was an idiot to think I could push you away,” he whispered.

I didn’t know what to say.

A rumbling noise left Treja’s throat, effectively ending the hopeful moment between us. I couldn’t hold back the laugh building from the tension. “Did he just snore?”

The edges of Cooper’s mouth pulled upward and I fell for him all over again, sucked in just by his smile. “I hit him pretty hard.”

“So what now?” I wondered if he’d get my double meaning. Not only did I want to know what would happen to Treja and Blondie, I wanted to know what would happen to us. In so many words he’d told me his job was more important than me, but despite my curiosity, I didn’t want to hear it again.

Cooper inhaled deeply, glancing down to Treja then over to Blondie. “I have to call this in, tell my superiors what happened.”

I nodded in agreement then crossed my arms over my chest, suddenly cold when he stepped away to pull out his phone. So many things crossed my mind as I listened to his conversation. Everything that had happened in the past week, Ryder setting me up, Treja nearly killing me and Cooper. Now Ryder would go to jail, and Treja would return to the CIA to be debriefed. I shuddered. Wouldn’t that be fun? But it all led to one simple conclusion: I was finally free.