“You heard right.” Her monotone voice dug underneath my tight grasp on control. Not only did I want to take a belt to her ass to work off this anger, but I wanted to demolish that listless void in her.

I wanted to kill Zach more than ever because he’d done this to her. Again. The fucker had played with her emotions.

“And you believe him?”

“I guess so.” She shrugged. “Maybe. He could’ve been feeding me a line. But I know him, Rafe.” With a hard swallow, she peeked at me from beneath her lashes. “He also said Shelton was behind his escape. He orchestrated the fight as revenge. Guess you’re not the only one who wants Zach dead.”

A persistent throb started in my temples. I rose to my feet, propping both arms on the opposite wall. Giving her my back. “Guess you’re the only one who wants him alive.”

“That’s not why I did it!” The boat swayed with her movement. She gripped my shoulder and yanked until I turned around. “What happened to loving me, huh? Deep down you knew that fight was a no-win situation.”

“That fight is still happening, sweetheart. We’re stuck, so unless you have an idea on how to get past the goons with the guns out there,” I said, words blasting through the dim space like a vicious bullet, “I’m out of ideas.” I swung my arms outward. “We could’ve been on our way outta here, but you had to let him go.”

“How do you know Shelton is gonna let you walk away from this?” She jabbed a finger into my chest. “You’re too valuable. I don’t know much about this world of yours, but I know that much.”

“Then you know that getting out of here is gonna be dangerous.”

“We made it out of that tunnel,” she pointed out.

“Barely. We got lucky.”

A shrill ring sounded, accompanying the vibration in my pocket. I welcomed the intrusion because we were going in circles. I strode into the galley, needing to put some distance between us, and barked a hello.

“Why the fuck is Nate camped outside your boat?” Jax’s voice sounded strained as if he’d inhaled a drag of nicotine before speaking. The subsequent exhale hinted that I was spot on.

“Thought you’d be in Mexico by now.”

“I was headed that way.”

“What happened?”

“Couldn’t leave things like this. So how’d it go?”

I glanced over my shoulder and caught Alex digging into her left wrist. I snapped my fingers to get her attention. Her startled eyes veered my way, and I gave her a look. The look.

Stop fucking hurting yourself.