“Could be a good indication of why you’re single.”
To his surprise, Reyes let out a bark of laughter. “You could be right. How is little Miss Eden? All right after her ordeal?”
“She’s stronger than she looks.” Nearly three weeks had passed since she’d been kidnapped by Bartolli. Sometimes he still woke with a nightmare, remembering that panic he’d felt when he’d realized that bastard had her. Both her handbag and phone had been left behind, meaning he’d had no way of tracking her. Without Reyes, things could have ended up a lot differently. Bartolli had been a fool to think Reyes wouldn’t cross him.
“I’d like to get back to her quickly, though.”
“Afraid she’d try to follow you?”
“I left her with her brother, he knows better than to take his gaze off her.”
Reyes grinned. Then the smile dropped from his face with a sigh. “I haven’t found who leaked the information about your vehicle to Bartolli and his men.”
Shit. He’d hoped for better news than that.
“Take it you’ve looked into your own people?”
Zeke narrowed his gaze. “We’ve done some investigating.” He trusted everyone he worked with at JSI.
“I shouldn’t have abandoned you like I did, after Elise died,” Reyes suddenly announced.
Zeke stiffened. He hadn’t quite expected that.
“I just. . .she tried to fucking tell me,” Reyes blurted out.
“What?” Zeke asked quietly.
Reyes wouldn’t look at him, instead he stared off to the right. “She tried to tell me something was wrong and I didn’t have time to listen. I never had time for her. If I’d just stopped and listened to her. . .”
The agony in his voice had Zeke stepping forward and laying his hand on the other man’s shoulder. “You weren’t to blame, man. I could have made an effort with her as well. But we were both selfish, stupid kids.”
“I was so fucking mad at myself, I just wanted to forget,” Reyes said.
“Me too.”
“I thought joining the gang would help, but it made everything fucking worse.” He shook his head. “Just wanted you to know, I regret what happened. I thought about you all the time, man. How I lost my brother that night.”
They could probably never be what they once had been, but at least they had some closure now between them. Zeke gave him a whack on the back. They were silent for a long minute. Then Zeke took a step back. “Best get back to Eden.”
“Got your hands full there.”
“Yep.” Zeke grinned. “Wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Glad life worked out for you, bro.”
“Is it good for you?” Zeke asked Reyes.
“Yeah. Except for this shit with Bartolli, it is.”
“It a coincidence you ended up living so close to me?” Zeke asked the question he’d been pondering for a while.
Reyes smiled. “Would you believe it fucking is? Came to Montana for a girl, stayed when I found the Iron Shadows and worked my way up in rank. Life works in strange ways sometimes. I will admit, that once I pulled my head out of my ass, I looked you up. It was a surprise to discover you lived so close. I kind of liked knowing we were close even if our lives took very different courses.”
He might never see Reyes again. But yeah, he kind of liked knowing he was close by too.
“Clint, what are we doing?”
She followed him down the passage to one of the empty bedrooms at the end of the hall. He turned at the closed door and turned to look back at her. A low hum of anxiety had settled in her gut. She couldn’t believe Zeke had gone to meet Reyes without her. Not that she thought Reyes was dangerous. Maybe that was naïve of her, but she didn’t believe he’d hurt Zeke. Still, she’d wanted to go as well. She’d argued that she needed to thank him in person for the tiara he’d sent her. She loved it.