The comment set Trace the fuck off.
Shooting Derek a pleading look, he prayed he’d read the man wrong. “So we’re hoping they put Emma through that shit again? Is that really what you’re saying?”
“Derek’s right.” Trevor backed his teammate up. “I know it’s a horrifying thought, but that’s how we found my Lexi when she was taken from me. You just have to trust that this will work.”
“Trust that it works?” The chuckle huffing from Trace’s chest was anything but funny.
Having finally reached his breaking point, he grabbed the nearest folding chair and threw it against the building’s cinderblock wall.
Without bothering to give the others a parting glance, Trace stormed across the room. Shoving the door open, he ignored the calls for him to come back and ran up the flight of stairs leading outside.
The warm night air hit him in the face, and Trace sucked in as much as his lungs could hold. With his hands on his hips, he stood in the sparce gravel lot and stared up at the stars.
Their bright, white lights blurred as tears he refused to cry welled in his eyes.
Please be alive, baby. We’re trying to find you. You just have to hang in there a little longer.
For the next several minutes, he stood there like that, praying Ryker was right and Emma was still alive. When he heard the door open behind him and the footfalls of someone crossing the gravel, he wasn’t surprised.
With the exception of Coop, which he understood completely, the members of Alpha Team had treated him as one of their own. So it shocked the hell out of him when he turned and saw that Coop was the one who’d come out after him.
“I’m sorry,” Trace heard himself tell the other man. “I know that will never be enough, but—”
“It wasn’t your fault.” Coop kept his gaze forward, staring out into the night sky. “All that shit I said...I was pissed off and scared, and you were an easy target.” He turned to face him, sincerity in his hazel eyes as he added, “I know you did what you could to protect my sister.”
Trace swallowed down the knot of emotion growing in his throat. “I never should’ve left her alone.”
“You had to go after the bastard, Trace. What were you going to do, let an untrained civilian tag along while you were getting shot at?” Coop shook his head. “If I were with Emma, I’d have done the exact same thing you did.”
“She shot the bastard.” Pride mixed with the fear that had been keeping his veins cold. “She’s incredible. And brave, and...”
“Smart,” Coop finished for him. Shifting to face him directly, he slid his hands into his pockets and brought his eyes to Trace’s. “My sister is smart. So if she chose to...bewith you...it was because she trusted you.
Understanding the unspoken acceptance that he and Emma had become romantically involved, Trace and the other man shared a look.
“You’re right.” He nodded. “Emmaissmart. She’s also one of the toughest women I know. If anyone can get through this, it’s her.”
“Fuck yeah, she can,” Coop’s lips curved slightly.
A stretch of silence passed between the two men before Trace heard himself blurting, “I slept with her.”
The other man closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath. “Yeah, I sort of got that.”
You need to make him understand.
“What I meant to say is, I know it’s early, but this thing between Emma and me...it’s not just about sex.”
With a scrunched face, Coop groaned. “Dude, you do realize this is my sister we’re talking about, right?”
“I do, which is why I wanted you to know my intentions where she’s concerned.”
“Winters, I knew your intentions the minute that chair went flying across the room.”
“How?”
With a larger smirk, Coop shrugged and said, “A guy who’s just in it for a quick lay doesn’t break furniture the way you did.”
Tell him the rest.