Page 78 of Operation Rescue
“Yes.”
“So she fought for you.”
Blaine nodded again. “Hard.”
Rafe leaned back in his chair, looking up at Blaine. “Sounds like she already did her part. Do you want to do the same?”
“What?”
“Fight for her. Do you want to put it back together?”
Blaine had never really put it into concrete words like that. And once Rafe had, there was only one possible answer. “I love her. I have since I was seven years old.”
“Then take it from two guys who nearly blew it,” came another voice from behind him. He spun around to see Walker Cole coming out of the office in the far corner of the building. His hair was neatly combed today, and the tats were gone. “I knew my Amy almost as long, since she’s my sister’s best friend. When we first reconnected, she hated my guts. And now, I’m drunk with happy to be with her.”
Blaine looked back at Rafe, who just sat there with a blissful, crooked grin on his face, an expression he never could have imagined the tough, gruff sniper ever wearing.
He gave them both a sour grimace, but one that his heart wasn’t in. “You two are a walking advertisement for mushy endings, y’know?”
“Yeah,” they both said simultaneously.
“Or for guys who got their heads on straight,” Walker said.
Rafe reached out and picked something up off the printer and handed it to him. “Something that might help a bit,” was all he said. “Read it before you take that next step.”
“And say yes,” Walker put in, nodding toward the printed page.
He glanced at it. His eyes widened, and he looked back at Rafe. “You’re serious? Your boss is serious?”
“Which one?” Rafe asked blandly. “I have two now.”
“Me, too,” Walker agreed. “And I’ve never been happier.”
“So,” Rafe added, wearing that grin again, “go make us a trio.”
Chapter 39
She shouldn’t feel so bad. Shouldn’t feel as if the entire earth had crumbled beneath her feet. Because she was back where she started, Ethan back but Blaine still gone.
Maybe she shouldn’t have been honest with him. Maybe she should have told him she would have left anyway, eventually. But she knew she wouldn’t have, and they’d always been honest, even when it sometimes hurt.
She heard Ethan calling out to Cutter outside, and silently thanked the brilliant dog for once again seeming to sense what was needed and handling it.
Ethan.
Just because he was back and safe didn’t mean things were fixed between them.
You coddle everyone, want everyone completely safe all the time. What kind of life is that, never taking any chances, ever?
For the first time she faced a truth she’d denied for a long time. That she had been not just protective but overprotective of Ethan, probably because she hadn’t been able to protect Blaine.
You wanted me helpless?
Another aspect hit her, hard. Had she? Had she felt she could handle it if he didn’t get any better, because at least then he wouldn’t be out flying into danger anymore?
She felt a wave of nausea sweep her, strong enough that she dashed for the bathroom. All the lovely dinner came right back up and out. When she could move again she flushed away the evidence, rinsed her mouth, and when that wasn’t enough dug into the medicine cabinet and found some toothpaste and a small stack of packaged toothbrushes. When she was done she sank back down onto the floor because she wasn’t feeling like this was over. She’d never felt this kind of…self-loathing before. She’d always thought she’d simply done what was best for her and Ethan.
And now all she could think was that there was nothing, not even perpetual safety, that was worth losing Blaine.
