Page 58 of Beyond the Rules

Aiden’s nostrils expanded with a huff. “Asecondone?”

“Affirmative,” I said. “This one promised to do some very specific, sick things to Nina if she doesn’t go to him. It included a doctored picture. It was…disgusting”

Aidan’s jaw locked at a grind as I gave him the quick rundown. When I was done, he looked like he could vaporize someone withhiseyes.

“We’ve set the trap,” I said. “We have to wait. But we need you to look at the latest message. Maybe you can tie it directly toDimayev.”

“On it.” Aiden plunked his glass on the counter and started to go, then paused and retraced his steps to lock stares with Zar. “I’ve got somethingtosay.”

Zarnodded. “Go.”

“I told her Iloveher.”

My stomach went cold, or maybe hot, I wasn’t sure, because my gut hurt, along with the restofme.

“Jesus fucking Christ.” Zar snarled. “No wonder she’s in a fuckingtailspin.”

“Telling her wasn’t in the plan.” I repressed an urge to choke Aiden. I’d been holding back so I wouldn’t scare her. And now this? “We agreed. She gets to make her own choices and we were gonna takeitslow.”

“She’s shocked, yeah, but she’ll get over it,” Aiden said. “She needed tohearit.”

“What are you now, a fucking expert?” Zar slammed his tumbler on the counter and glared at Aiden. “She’ll be packed and goneinfive.”

“She’ll stay,” Aiden said. “I know it inmygut.”

I wished I felt the same, but Nina wasn’t a simple profile, especially when she got mad. She had nothing in her background that would suggest she’d want to be in a long-term relationship with a broken trio of hardened SEALs struggling to carve a life out ofdeath.

“And if she doesn’t stay?” Zar’s question hung in the air like a missile about tostrike.

“If she leaves, it’s because you pissed her off,” Aidenmuttered.

“Or because you spooked the hell out of her,” Zarcountered.

Aiden took a step toward Zar. “Or because you’re anasshole.”

Zar rose from his stool, fists clenched. “Or because you’re a fuckingidiot.”

The air was suddenly too hot to breathe. Aiden and Zar were nose to nose, teetering at the edge of a fight. I wrestled with an urge to pound someone or something. I dug my nails in my palms and clenched my teeth. It was as if a stun grenade had gone off in the kitchen and were all staggering around with weapons cocked, deaf, blind, and pissed. When was the last time we’d been poised to tear each other’s throatslikethis?

“Stand down,” I ground out, grappling with the violence pounding to get out of me. “We need to cool it. Maybe all of us are missing the boat onthisone.”

Aiden took a step back and put the island between himself and us. Zar cussed under his breath and planted his ass back on his stool. I inhaled deeply and needed every breathing technique known to man to get a hold ofmyself.

“We need keep it together,” I finally said. “No need to snipe at each other. We’ve got to get our heads on straight and we can’t forget Dimayev and Calamity. They are theenemy.”

“Tanner’s right.” Zar exhaled a blustery breath. “We’ve got to get the fuckers out ofcommission.”

“Fine.” Aiden’s gaze shifted between Zar and me. “I’m gonna go trace that message now, but before I go, I wanna say, we can’t fuck this up. Nina belongs with us.Us. We’ve got to find a way. It’s hard, but easy wasyesterday.”

He marched out of the kitchen on his way to the bunker. I left after him, because our team had never come so close to unraveling—not even under enemy fire—and yet there was nothing lefttosay.

* * *

Nina

The hot shower did nothing to appease my rage. I was way beyond my boiling point. Who the hell did Zar think he was? I shut off the water, dried myself, and got dressed in a pair of sweats and one of Aiden’s big, comfy sweaters. Something was wrong with me. My emotions were out of control. I was steaming inside like a freaking volcano. Maybe I was PMSing. Maybe my hormones were off. Why was I feelinglikethis?

There was no way I was going to sleep tonight. If it wasn’t because I was avoiding Zar like the plague, I’d go down to the kitchen and dig into a tub of chocolate ice cream. Instead, I stalked out of my bedroom, stole into Tanner’s bed and burrowed under his duvet. Maybe I could just stay under the coversforever.