Page 17 of Keeping Her Secrets

His gaze flittered over to her again. “What choices do you regret?”

Mustique sat back in her seat and pondered how to answer that. “There are too many to count.” She saw the disappointment cross his face and hated it. “My mother was half Indian, half Spanish, and my father was Dutch.” She felt his eyes on her and looked out the passenger window as she let memories of her family flood her.

“I was ten years old when we moved to Cape Town in South Africa. I was attending the local school and not happy about it. I missed my friends back in the Netherlands, so I ran away from school.”

“Shit,” Ash interjected, and she could hear the smile in his voice; the fact she’d put it there made her continue.

“Yeah, shit. My father went nuts. I only made it as far as the park before they found me, but he’d lost his mind. He was very protective, and I was his baby girl, their only child. So he switched me to a private school with better security.”

“I don’t blame him, but surely it all worked out?”

Mustique didn’t know how to answer that without telling him more. Thankfully, she didn’t have to as they arrived at Moody’s motel. “We’re here.”

Ash peered at her for a breath and then nodded, but she could see sharing even that small detail with him had been a good thing.

Exiting the vehicle, she made sure her weapons were tucked away but within reach. They knew Moody was in room 317, so they moved that way. It was on the third floor, and Jake and Nick had taken the stairs while she and Ash rode up in the elevator.

“You wanna try calling him?” she asked.

Ash shook his head. “Nah, if he is guilty, it might tip him off.”

They stepped off the lift as Jake and Nick came through the door to the stairs. She surveyed their surroundings and noticed the wires to the security cameras had been cut. Instantly, her guard went up as she motioned toward them. Everyone reached for a weapon as they approached the door numbered 317.

Nick stood to the side of the door as he knocked, in case Moody fired a shot at them through the door. “Moody, it’s Ash, I need to speak to you.”

They were met with silence, and Mustique felt the cold hand of unease grip her stomach. Something wasn’t right, and she could see they were all thinking the same thing. Ash nodded at Jake, stepped forward, and kicked out his leg, breaching the door in seconds. The cheap hinges had no defense against a 190-pound mass of muscle. Mustique followed Ash, with her .45 at the ready, into the small entry leading to a bedroom that was in disarray.

“Clear,” Ash called as she moved toward the open bathroom door.

“Shit.” Mustique holstered her weapon and fell to her knees, feeling for a pulse on the man covered in blood on the floor.

“Moody.” Ash dropped awkwardly next to her in the tight space, and his hands went to the bullet wound in Moody’s chest that was still pumping blood.

“He needs an ambulance and fast, his pulse is weak but there,” Mustique shouted to Nick who was already on the phone with 9-1-1.

“Go see if you can find the shooter, we must have just missed him,” Ash said to Jake and Nick, who were already moving to do just that.

“Come on, brother, don’t give up on me now.”

“He’s lost a lot of blood.” Mustique felt she should somehow warn Ash as his friend became paler with each beat of his heart.

“He’ll make it.”

Jake and Nick re-entered the hotel room. “No sign of anyone. We’ll have a better look around after, but one thing is clear, they’re not a professional. A pro wouldn’t have missed at this close range and would’ve double-tapped him to make sure.” Jake’s tone said it all.

What Jake said made sense to her, and she wasn’t sure what to make of it all. This didn’t feel like a professional job to her either.

“You two should go; the cops will be here soon, and we don’t want eyes on you. We can say we arranged to go fishing with Moody and when he didn’t show we got worried. Ian will fix it; he always does.” Nick said.

Mustique gave Ash the once over. He was covered in Moody’s blood from attempting to stop it from pouring from his friend’s body. “Ash, he’s right. We need to go.”

“Fine.” He blew out a breath as Jake switched places with him and took over compressing the wound. “Call me as soon as you know anything.”

“Copy that.”

They were back in the car and driving away from the scene, by the time the cops and ambulance came screaming into the parking lot.

“He’ll make it, he’s strong.” She tried to sound upbeat.