Page 88 of A Light in the Darkness
I help myself to the coffee Claire made, enticed to try again by the heavenly aroma. When it touches my tongue, I decide thateven if it weren’t for the rest of it, I’d have to keep her for her coffee-making skills alone.
“Don’t worry, Rich,” I assure him with a clap on the shoulder before I head out the door, the mug clutched in one hand. “Maybe one day you’ll find someone who you love. And, more unlikely,” I smirk, “someone who will love you back.”
Chapter fifty-one
Claire
I didn’t know what to wear to a rescue raid or whatever they’re calling this, so I’m in jeans and a black top, boots that look like Kent’s, and I’ve pulled my hair back into a ponytail. I’m not sure why I have to wear boots since Remy has assured me a dozen times that I will not be getting off the jet, but I’m ready for combat anyway. At least, I would be if I was Lara Croft in Tomb Raider.
The truth is, I’m woefully under qualified to be here. There are therapists set up in the hotel back in Costa Rica, who are far more knowledgeable about how to handle victims of abuse than me. But I suppose there’s something to be said for lived experience. I’ll just treat Kent’s wife the way I’d want to be treated—not like an infant, and not like she’s made of glass.
I’ve somehow desensitized myself to flying what with all the back and forth I’ve been doing, so I don’t sleep on the plane. Instead, I sit neatly at Remy’s side on the couch, wanting so badly to lean against him, to curl into his chest and just let him warm me. But I don’t, because I’m afraid to touch him. And what’s worse, is that I think he’s afraid to touch me.
Rook, who looked familiar as he was being introduced, it turns out, is the bouncer from the nightclub where we went dancing our first night in Costa Rica. The club, which I just found out, Remy owns. It’s a shock, but I guess it isn’t as weird as him owning a whole ass hotel in the middle of the jungle. He explained it away as something about diversifying his income and I suspect owning multiple businesses probably makes it easier to move assets around.
And then I guess they decide if I’m in it, I’m going to bein it, because they tell me things I never would have imagined.
Rich regales me with war stories, Michael comes up with a few anecdotes from his time running security for some random billionaire, and as the mood starts to deteriorate, Kent decides to bring things down even more by telling me all about their last mission…
When he mentions the senator and his wife, my stomach twists uncomfortably. I’m guessing that they don’t know what I do—that the man who came to their aid with the plane they needed is my father, and his dead wife, who I killed, is the reason my whole life has been a series of struggles.
Sensing my discomfort, Remy grazes his fingertips over my arm, and my heart accelerates. “That’s where they all came from? The people in the hotel?”
“Yep.” Kent says, his voice flat as if he’s bored, even though he’s the one who decided to tell this story in the first place. “We saved them… all, but one.”
Remy stills for a minute, and when I turn to him, he looks likehe’s swallowing glass. “One in… what? Sixty?” I shake my head. “That’s amazing.”
“Amazing?” Kent laughs. “It’s not amazing. That one woman could be someone’s whole world.”
“Come on, man.” Rich says, glancing at me apologetically. “We don’t need to talk about this here.”
“We do, actually.” Kent assures him, his eyes on mine. “Remington here thinks that he can just walk away and abandon the people who need him. He thinks that he just gets to forget all of the people who are still waiting in the dark for someone to save them.”
“Knock it off,” Remy warns him, flexing his neck to one side to ease some of the tension in him. It does nothing to alleviate the tension in the plane, though.
“What’s the matter?” He laughs. “Don’t want your girl knowing that you’re a fucking coward?”
“What the fuck?” Rich mutters, running his hands through his hair, exasperated. “That’s wrong, man.”
“What’swrongis running off into the sunset with his little obsession over there and ignoring the world bleeding at his feet.”
Remy scoffs, seeming more annoyed than insulted. “We’re going to rescueyourwife, Kent. What more do you want from me?”
“I want you to not turn your back on them.”
“Jesus, Kent.” Michael groans, standing and rolling his shoulders, too. “I need a drink.”
“What’s he talking about?” I ask, looking among their faces to try and glean a little bit of context.
“Kent doesn’t want me to retire,” Remy rolls his eyes as I turn to take him in. “So, he’s acting like a petulant child.”
“Retire?” I clear my throat, not even sure what that is supposed to mean.
“Yeah, as in leave it all behind. You know, ignore the fact that his enemy is still out there, and the empire of other people’s bodies that he’s sitting on top of has barely begun to crumble.”
I’m not sure what I’m supposed to say. I didn’t realize the extent of what Remy was doing these days, and it’s got to be exhausting. But then I think about Taissa and all the people like her… my sister.
“What do you suggest?” I ask.
