Page 69 of Broken Trust
His throat cramped. “Enough for what?”
She dropped her gaze to the bed. “For me. I realized tonight that I want more than the next job or the next city.”
“What about us?”
She grabbed a shirt and wadded it in her hands.
“Elin,” he said evenly, throat shredded from holding back emotion he couldn’t release just minutes before an op. “What…about…us?”
She lifted her gaze to him, the same cold, flat look in her eyes. “There is no us. There’s work and sex. It’s not the same. I can’t stay here and watch everyone getting their happy ending, while I’m stuck in a—a situationship. I deserve more.”
Mason felt his entire body rock with the force of her words. His hand dropped from her duffel to his side, and he stared at her.
A situationship. Like a plastic thing you threw away when you were done.
“You’re wrong about us. I may not be good at words, atfeelings. But there’s a reason you got my effects after I died on paper. Because you were all I had in the world. I grew up stuffing down all my feelings so goddamn deep— Fuck!” He couldn’t go on. There wasn’t time. He could hear the chopper landing on the lawn.
Swinging for the door, he told himself that duty called, but something inside him felt like a wounded animal. He’d taken fire and kept moving, but her words brought him to a full stop.
In long strides, he rushed through the base. When he reached the war room, he slammed his hand into the door, sending it flying open. Con turned, still strapping his gear in place.
“Can we have a dog?” The words exploded out. He didn’t even think about them.
Con’s brow pinched. “I’m missing important context.”
He waved a hand at Chase. “If they can have a baby, can we get a dog? Elin and I?”
Chase’s lips quirked in definite amusement.
Con grunted. “A trained German Shepherd?”
“No. Something cute, fluffy…little.” He realized how he sounded and his own mouth twisted in an attempt to hold back a smile.
Chase clapped him on the back. “It’s official, man. You’re pussy-whipped.”
Elin had packed her bag to leave the instant they returned. But the tight rope coiled inside Mason loosened just enough to draw a breath and say the words.
“No. I’m in love.”
Con stepped toward the door. “Then say it. Not after the op. Not someday. As soon as the job’s done. Don’t make her guess again.”
The base intercom crackled with Con’s command. “Charlie, on me. Birds are spinnin’.”
* * * * *
Elin jolted at the sound of the helicopter thudding faintly through the base walls. She twisted her head to stare at the window as if ‘d spot the craft, but visions of Liam striding out of her room looped in her brain.
He hadn’t slammed the door, but the quiet he left behind was louder than any explosion.
Time was running out, and she hadn’t finished packing. Sure, she could do it when she returned from meeting Kent, but the point of packing was to go immediately after debriefing.
If she hung around, Liam could try to talk her into staying.
And she just might let him.
Her heart wanted to believe they could have more. Like Alyssa and Chase, Sophie and Con, and the others too. But she’d been so broken after learning Liam was gone, and the danger he faced wasn’t going to go away.
She sucked in a deep breath to hold her tears at bay. The last thing she wanted was to walk out to the chopper with SEALs with tears streaming down her face.
