Page 17 of Inevitable
“Officially, they don’t,” he said evasively.
“Meaning they do know but they won’t officially acknowledge it?” I questioned.
“Something like that,” he answered. “But your friends aren’t military anymore, and we aren’t government. We don’t step on their toes, and they ignore our existence for the most part.”
“I have so many questions,” I said honestly. “But I think I need to take in all of this crazy information first.”
“It’s a lot,” he agreed. “Just know that by tomorrow night we’ll be headed back to the US. We’ll talk about the details later.I hate that this happened to you, Emma, and I really hate those bruises on your face. Why did those bastards have to rough you up?”
“I wouldn’t answer their questions. They think I’m some secret girlfriend of Nick’s, and I wouldn’t confirm or deny. I thought it was better to let them think what they wanted. If I admitted I was nothing more than a friend to Nick, I was afraid they’d kill me because I wasn’t as valuable to them. They weren’t happy with my silence. I’m fine, Colin. Nothing is broken. They just bruised me up a little.”
“Did they touch you in any other way?” he asked tersely.
“If you’re asking if they raped me, they didn’t. I’ve barely seen them since they tossed me in here. They were drugging me, but that stopped. God, I can’t believe you’re here and I’m actually going to live through this. I also can’t believe that you just gave yourself up to locate me. That’s completely insane.”
I swiped a lone tear from my cheek. Now that the shock was wearing off, I was flooded with intense relief.
Yeah, I was upset that he’d just put his own life in danger to locate me, but I wasn’t going to lie to myself and say that I wasn’t glad that he was with me right now.
The water he’d brought had probably saved my life.
For some reason, I felt safe now that Colin was here, even if he did seem a little distant.
Honestly, what did I expect? We were strangers to each other now.
Colin had always been gruff and stoic, but I sensed that he’d changed a little.
There was more of an edginess to him that hadn’t existed when I’d known him years ago.
“Are you crying?” he asked.
“Just a little,” I confessed. “I guess I’m relieved that I’m not going to die here. I’m not sure how much longer I could have held out without water. Thank you for coming for me.”
“It’s what we do,” he said casually. “We’ve been doing it for a long time.”
“You’ve been doing it forever,” I corrected. “I know we agreed not to share personal information in Virginia Beach, but I’m sure you were military, and I suspect you were probably special forces.”
“Why did you think that?” he questioned.
I shrugged. “You’re the most hypervigilant guy I’ve ever met. And you were intense. It was just a guess. Was I right?”
“Are we revealing our secrets now?” Colin asked cautiously.
“Why not?” I asked. “I already know one of your biggest secrets now about Last Hope. I promise I’ll never tell anyone. I understand why it needs to stay a secret.”
“I was a SEAL commander. I was stationed in Virginia Beach,” he said grudgingly. “And I wasn’t especially vigilant when I plowed you over on the sidewalk. I was fresh off a mission, and I was still reviewing everything we did in my head.”
“Yeah, you seemed pretty uptight that first day,” I agreed. “I’m not sure I would have accepted your invitation to have a drink if you hadn’t seemed so…troubled and serious.”
“Did you feel sorry for me?” he asked, sounding disgruntled.
Maybe it was a little weird for us to be talking about the past, but it was certainly better than worrying about dying here in Lania before we could be rescued.
Talking to Colin and discussing things we’d never talked about in Virginia Beach was a good distraction for me.
“No,” I said truthfully. “But my instincts told me that I could trust you. Those instincts were right. So when did you retire from the military?”
I wasn’t the type of woman who accepted invitations from strangers, but something about Colin had drawn me to him.
