Page 11 of Redemption

Joining her on the next cushion over, he considered how to tone his lecture down, not wanting to scare the poor woman. Lord knew what kind of hell she had been through, but the idea of her saying that and not being able to comfort her was more than he could handle. He closed the distance, inching closer. “Look, they’re good people. Winters doesn’t mind, and Mia would love it. You’re not ready for whatever your next step is. I thought it was a good idea.”

“It was your idea?”

He nodded. “I mean, hell, you can walk out if you want. We’re packing up, and you can’t stay here. I can’t stop you from splitting, but I’d like to try.”

“Why?” she whispered.

Good question.“Because you’ve earned so much more help than you realize.”

What felt like an eternity passed. What was going through her mind? It wasn’t as if he could make her go to Winters’s place. And if she wanted to walk out the door—no ID, no money, no plan—he couldn’t really stop her, and he would keep an eye on her on his own time.

“Okay. Thanks, John.”

Ryder hesitated then put his hand on the blanketed mass. “If we’re going to do this, there’s something that I need to tell you. My name’s not John. It’s Ryder… Ryder Hall.”

Her lips parted as though surprised, but no words came out, and her eyes squinted like he had stolen the small amount of trust that she managed to have in the only person she had interacted with since her run in with Ivan. “What? Why?”

“Generally, we keep a level of distance between ourselves and the unknown,” he tried to explain, “with the people we interact with in these situations. But not telling you who I really am feels… like a violation. And you have had enough…”

“Violations,”she spat out, her voice rasping.

He nodded. “I wasn’t trying to hurt you but rather protect the people I know and myself, to a certain extent. We don’t know who we interact with, who is on the other side of these jobs. So that wasn’t my name. But I’m Ryder.”

She looked away, as if sensing the irony of her reaction and the fact that she wasn’t explaining who she was. “Nice to meet you, Ryder.”

“Nice to meet you too. And you’re still just Victoria?” He hoped maybe she would give a last name.

“That’s my name.”

“It is, love.” His fingers flexed into the blanket as though a strong grip could offer any reassurance after the hell that she’d been through. “Want to blow this place, yeah? We’re not that far from where we need to be, and you can go back to sleep and stay there until you’re ready to wake up and deal with the real world.”

Victoria turned back and leaned the slightest bit closer. “What if I’m never ready? What if that bastard destroyed me?”

“No. You just need to recoup. Real food, not safe-house-pantry shit. You need to sleep in a real bed, not where people are wandering in and out.”

She seemed to agree that the parade of Delta team in and out hadn’t made snoozing easy.

“But more than that, you probably have to talk to somebody. I’m not that person, but I know who is.”

“Someone who lives at Winters’splace?”

“I promise you Mia’s the best person I know. One day, it’ll be okay. Real food and real sleep aren’t a cure, but they help—and now I sound like her.”

“Mia?”

“My go-to girl on all things I don’t know how to handle. She’s rock steady. Knows her shit and bonus, loves having people stay.”

“Promise?” Victoria sounded as though she felt like the world’s biggest burden.

He lifted his hand from the pile of blankets, tucking her to his side. He put his chin on top of her head. “Yeah, I promise, love. I promise. Mia will take good care of you.”

CHAPTER FIVE

Winters walked into the side door of the safe house and threw his truck keys down on the kitchen counter. All night long, Ryder had checked on Victoria, and she was sleeping. Now, posted in the kitchen, he was handing her off. Damn if he didn’t want to do that.

“How’s it going?” Winters beelined for the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water. “How’s she doing?”

“Same. Sleeping.”

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