————
𝐇𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐬
————
"Do me a favor and bring this to Phoe on your way out?" Aspen mumbles distractedly holding out an ice pack as I rise from the chair in the living room. I look over to her muted phone that's sitting on the counter currently on a phone call with Director updating him on how the mission went.
After I shot the driver, everything became face paced so we could get out of there as soon as possible. We put the driver back in the front seat and Aziel drove the truck into a tree to set the scene. We left all the drugs except one bag of cocaine in the truck. Phoenix and Aspen set the bombs in the truck, and as we were running from the scene, Aziel detonated them, a crazed smile on his face at the orange red colors shading the sky.
"Where's Aziel? Can't he do it?" I ask.
"Sending the one bag of drugs we got to the agency for evidence?" She says in a 'duh' tone.
"Shit, I forgot about that," I sigh exasperatedly.
"Come on, just do it, it will literally take you five seconds," Aspen responds, "I've gotta get back to this call." She puts the ice pack on the counter and slides it towards me and unmutes herself from the call.
I deadpan her before I begrudgingly take the ice pack. Before I turn around I see the victorious smirk on her face. I flip her off behind my back. I turn into the hallway, leading to the bathroom where Phoenix is cleaning the wound the driver gave her.
I knock on the door and hear light curses from inside the bathroom.
"One second!" She calls.
"One," I count, suppressing the smirk on my face. I hear her curse even more under her breath at me.
Suddenly, the door flies open and an annoyed Phoenix greets me. "What?" She asks.
I raise the ice pack in my hand. She lowers her gaze to it and arches a brow. "It's from Aspen." I say.
"That makes more sense." She scoffs. "You can leave it on the counter, I'm still cleaning the wound." She turns back to the mirror and rubs a soaked cotton pad over her forehead.
But I don't put the ice pack down yet. Her words from only a couple of hours ago ringing in my head as curiosity fills me.
"Do you wanna hear how I carved out a man's heart a sixteen because he hurt me so badly?"
She looks at me sidelong obviously confused at why I'm still here. "Yes?" She mumbles.
I cross my arms as I lean on the frame of the door. "You carved out someone's heart at sixteen, huh?"
Phoenix visibly stiffens, her jaw clenching. Her breathing turns shallow like she's almost not here anymore. After a few seconds her clipped tone answers, "Mhm,"
"Can I ask why?"
"No." She mutters.
"Why did nobody ever hear about that at the agency?" I question.
She sighs exasperatedly. "Because it was kept very under wraps. The whole situation was."
The whole situation?
"Are you done now? Can I have the ice pack?" She asks as she throws away the cleaning supplies.
"I'm still curious though," I say.
God, why can't I leave this shit alone...
"Curiosity killed the cat," Phoenix replies.
"Satisfaction brought it back," I smirk as she rolls her eyes. I step into the bathroom more.
Her gaze drags down my body as I step closer to her. "Maybe I can show you how I carved his heart out?" She suggests, a sinister smile crossing her face. Her dark smile makes my smirk widen.
"You wouldn't." I chuckle darkly.
"And you underestimate me." She steps back but her back hits the counter.
I continue walking towards her and her breathing turns shallow. "Maybe I do. Maybe you should show me just how you did." We're only a few inches apart now.
"Just give me the ice pack, Hayes." Her voice comes out breathy and probably less demanding that she wishes. But the way my name sounds on her lips like that...fuck.
"Sure thing, darling," My lips tilt upward. I raise the ice pack towards her forehead and place it on the wound. Her jaw tightens, but she lets out a sigh, the ice probably relieving the pain. Her eyes close reveling in the cool feeling. Her fingers grip the edge of the counter like a life line as her heavy breath falls across my neck, making goosebumps rise there. Her breathy sigh makes heat flow to my abdomen and my thoughts go wild.
"I wonder if those scars on your back have anything to do with you carving out that man's heart..." I muse to get my mind off my dark thoughts.
Her eyes fly open and if looks could kill... I immediately regret thinking out loud but I keep my face stoic.
"Get off," She mumbles shoving me and taking the ice pack from me. She glares at me with such intensity.
Aspen calls from the other room, "Guys come here, Cole has something for us!"
Phoenix walks right past me, bumping my shoulder roughly, not even sparing me another glance.
I deserved that.
••••
𝐏𝐡𝐨𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐱
••••
I walk into the main room of our hotel with my jaw tight, but the ache throbbing in lower abdomen contradicts my façade. I hate that he can make me feel like that so easily...
"I wonder if those scars on your back have anything to with you carving out that man's heart..."
Fucking prick. He obviously put two and two together well, why did he have to taunt me with it?
Aspen notices and arches a brow, muting herself on her laptop. "Should I not have sent him in there?" She winces.
"No, you shouldn't have." I grumble. "Is Aziel back yet?"
"I'm here," Aziel walks in from the hallway. Behind him, comes Hayes and I avert my gaze from him.
I step up behind Aspen on her computer, waving to Cole on the screen, as she unmutes us.
"I thought you were on the phone with him earlier?" Hayes asks as he steps up to Aspen's other side.
"Yeah but he had something he wanted to show us," She shrugs.
"Hey Phoe-" Cole starts but stops mid sentence. His brows furrow as he looks closer at his screen. I wince already knowing what he's looking at. "What the fuck happened to your forehead?"
"Just a little mishap on the mission. I'm fine." I tell him.
"Call me later." He tells me pointedly. I nod my head in understanding. "Okay, first off, you'll be flying to Egypt, Cairo specifically, and spending about 3 days there. Afterwards you'll return to Athens. We've found out Andrey has connections with a casino and hotel owner there. They've been doing business with each other recently but we can't find out what. They're really good at keeping this shit secret."
"Who owns the place?" Aziel asks.
"Asim Salah," Cole says holding up a picture of the guy. He seems to be in his early forties with hair shaved close to his head. His skin is a dark brown, matching his eyes and has a large nose. I ingrain the picture in my memory for later.
"I've emailed you all the files on the mission as well as Asim." Cole continues. "This guy has been suspected of doing illegal shit but no one has actually caught him in the act. But obviously if he's doing business with Andrey..." He trails not needing to say the rest.
"So we find out what business he has with Andrey, thus leading us closer to Andrey and getting Celia back." Hayes sums up. Cole nods his head in response.
"I'm thinking an under cover mission," Aspen muses.
My favorite.
Cole nods his head again, "So was I. It'd be the easiest way to get his information. Asim is known to be a bachelor, even at his age. He plays in his own casino all the time and always takes a woman up to his room when he's had his fill in gambling, especially after winning."
"We'll come up with something good then," I say. "It should be easy to do." I shrug.
"Let's hope so." Cole purses his lips. A phone rings from his side of the call. "I gotta go. Call me when you've come up with a plan." We all nod in response. "And Phoenix?" I try to suppress my grin at his concern, "Call me later." He attempts to hide his smile as well.
"Yes sir," I salute him jokingly. He scoffs and ends the call.
Aspen smiles mischievously, "Let's get to thinking then."
♚♚♚
Oh my god, I'm SO sorry for the long wait for this chapter. I've honestly been swamped with work. And I still am (thanks to my english teacher) and then I went on vacation so I literally couldn't update, but I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, the next one is gonna be a fun one...
Hopefully updates will be coming faster than they have been (I know I literally say this every time but...)
I've missed writing these guys <3
And I've missed you all and thank you SO much for 100k+ reads??? That's actually insane I really didn't think this book would ever even get to this, so thank you so much I love you all, thank you for reading <3
P.S follow my twitter if you want, it's @/clemchxrry,I might start posting some sneak peaks of new chapters or other things related to Vendetta on there...