Duty Bound (Blackthorn Security Book 1)

Chapter 22

While Blade and Stitch plotted their escape, Lily helped Soraya warm up two enormous buckets of water in the stone washroom adjoining the house.

“You can wash here. I’ve laid out some clothes for you to wear afterward. You won’t want to get back into those.” She wrinkled her nose as what Lily was wearing.

Lily laughed. She was so refreshingly genuine. “Thank you. Are you sure you don’t mind?” The simple skirt and blouse were pretty enough, but not bright or stylish enough to attracted undue attention.

“Of course not.”

“You know I can’t return them.”

Soraya waved away the words with a flick of her hand then left Lily to bathe.

God, it felt so good to be clean.

She took her time, luxuriating in the hot water and the scented homemade soap. She washed her hair then poured water over it, the stress of the last few days rinsing away with the suds.

When she’d finished, she went back to the house, where Soraya worked in the kitchen. The air carried the scent of cumin and coriander. Whatever bubbled in the pot smelled delicious.

The men were still hunched together in the living area, talking in hushed tones.

“Can I give you a hand?”

Soraya smiled, her hands skillfully patting dough into rounds for flatbreads. She gestured toward a bowl of fresh vegetables. “You could prepare the salad.”

Lily began chopping cucumbers and tomatoes. “I can”t tell you what a relief it is to be clean again.”

Soraya laughed, her unusually green eyes lighting up. With her smooth skin, raised cheekbones, and slanted cat eyes, she was gorgeous—exotic by Western standards. Even covered with an apron and several weeks pregnant, her beauty was striking.

Lily felt quite bland beside her.

“How long have you been traveling?” Soraya began cooking the flatbreads. She moved with a natural rhythm around the kitchen.

Lily stopped chopping. “I was captured four days ago on my way to the airport.” A shiver shot through her. She’d never forget the rough hands, snarling voices, confusion. “Blade rescued me from a cave, high in the mountains, and we’ve been on the run ever since.”

“Did they hurt you?” Soraya’s eyes clouded with concern.

“No, I was lucky. They didn’t have a chance before I was rescued.”

“By your hero soldier.” She gave a sly smile.

Lily felt the heat steal into her cheeks.

“He looks after you well.”

Lily wasn”t sure what she meant. “Er… Yes, he”s been very attentive.”

“Handsome, too,” she added with a mischievous smile.

“I suppose he is.” Lily stared diligently at the cutting board.

“I think he cares for you. I see it when he looks at you.”

Lily’s heart did a strange flip-flop. She glanced up at Soraya. “Do you think so?”

She nodded while flipping the flatbreads. “How do you feel about him?”

Okay, now her face was on fire.

“I’m sorry,” Soraya said, “My English is not so good, so I am quite direct. I hope I haven’t offended you?”

Lily got the impression her English was much better than she made out.

“Not at all, and your English is outstanding. It”s definitely better than my Pashto or Dari.” She chuckled ruefully at her shortcomings. Ten months in Kabul, and she couldn’t utter more than a few basic sentences. Languages were not her thing.

Soraya smiled modestly at the compliment. “I was fortunate to attend the International School in Kabul. My father, being an elder in our village, placed great value on education.” Her smile faded slightly, her gaze lowering. “But that was before the Taliban”s resurgence. Now, females are barred from continuing their education past a certain grade.”

“That”s incredibly sad.” Lily had read about the potential rollback of women”s rights, including the proposed closure of schools for girls and restrictions on women”s public participation. “It will be a huge loss, not just for the women and girls but for the entire country.”

“Yes, it will be a setback.” She slid the breads out of the pan onto a rack to cool. “But we will find ways to keep learning. Our thirst for knowledge hasn”t diminished.”

Lily turned her attention to the tomato. “I’m relieved to hear it. Education is a right, not a privilege to be taken away.”

“Let’s talk about happier things,” Soraya said, now simmering lamb with onions and a melody of spices. It smelled glorious. “Are you in love with your American soldier?”

Holy shit.

The woman sure as hell didn’t mince her words, language barrier or not.

“Of course not. I’ve only known him for three days.”

“But you know Stitch?” Her eyes filled with confusion. “How come you don’t know his friend?”

Lily sighed. “It’s complicated. I knew about Blade but didn’t know him.”

“Ah,” she smiled and nodded. “He was your boyfriend’s friend, yes?”

“Best friend, yeah.”

“But you didn’t know him?” She furrowed her brow.

Lily stared at her. What the hell. Why not tell Soraya the story? It wasn’t like she was going to see her again, anyway, and it felt good to talk to someone about the mash-up of emotions she’d been experiencing.

“I met him once, a long time ago.”

Soraya stirred the stew, nodding encouragingly.

“I didn’t much like him. I thought he was cocky, self-assured, and one of the most arrogant men I’d ever met.”

Soraya laughed. “But you were mistaken?”

“Very. He’s not like that at all.”

“I understand. He has made a strong impression on you, yes?”

Lily nodded miserably. Strong was an understatement. Heart-racing, heat-provoking, leg-weakening. Any—or all—of those would be more appropriate. Not to mention the effect he had on other areas of her anatomy.

Soraya shrugged. “The past is the past, we cannot change it. It’s the present that’s important. You still have control over that. You can decide what happens next with you and this handsome, arrogant man.”

Lily’s heart twisted painfully. “There can be no future for us. Spade was his best friend. Blade won’t betray his memory.”

“That’s a shame.” Soraya pursed her lips. “You two look good together.”

She shrugged. It was what it was. “I feel so safe around him. Maybe I’m mistaking that for attraction.”

“Having a man capable of protecting you is very attractive.” Soraya nodded knowingly. “That”s what attracted me to Stitch when he first came to my village. He was here asking questions about the Taliban and seemed so powerful. So… how do you say? Macho?”

Lily nodded.

Yeah. Macho was a good way to describe him.

Them.

Blade.

She felt a surge of longing so strong it almost made her wince, but Soraya hadn’t noticed. “Yet he wasn’t aggressive like the other soldiers I’d met. He was kind. I could see it in his eyes.”

“Blade said that’s how you two met.” An odd match, but at the same time, they were so perfect for each other.

“My father was ill, and Stitch treated him with an antibiotic. I thanked him by cooking a meal for him and his friends. After that, I knew he was the man for me.”

“But he went away again?” Lily had thought they’d only gotten together when Stitch had gone AWOL.

Soraya looked up. “He was in a bad way when he came back. The Taliban killed his friends. He’d witnessed it and had been unable to help them. You can imagine how a doctor might feel after that. Badly in need of a break, he left his unit. He needed time to emotionally heal and didn’t want anyone to know where he was. My father, who is a very important man in the village, took him in. We hid him for weeks, until he recovered.”

“That was very brave of your father.”

“He is a brave man.”

“What happened then?”

“Stitch became part of the family. It helped that he spoke Pashto. He helped my father, treated people in the village—everybody fell in love with him.”

Lily could see that happening. Stitch, with his good looks, wide smile, and easy charm would easily have integrated himself into the community.

“Including you?” It was a romantic story.

“My father was against the union, at first.” Soraya checked the stew. “But eventually he came around.”

“I”m glad it worked out for you,” Lily said wistfully. She dumped the chopped tomatoes into the bowl.

“Maybe it will work out for you and your soldier man too.”

“I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

Soraya gave one of her enigmatic smiles. “Don’t lose hope. Perhaps he just needs to get used to the idea.”

Lily didn’t knowwhen last she’d had such a nice time. It seemed surreal, considering their situation, but Blade and Stitch’s joking comradery made her forget, just for a moment, her life was in danger.

“I first met Blade when I joined the army,” Stitch told them at lunch. “I’d come straight from med school and didn’t know the first thing about soldiering.”

“You weren’t so bad.” Blade smiled.

“I was a complete rookie.” He rolled his eyes.

Blade chuckled. “Luckily for you, you were a fast learner.”

“Still, I always preferred patching guys up to killing them.” Soraya put her hand over her husband’s.

Not only was Stitch as gorgeous as Blade, but he was a decent guy too. Moralistic and kind. It was hard to imagine him killing people.

“When we lost Spade,” his voice dropped. “I was messed up. He bled out on that mountain pass, and I was powerless to save him.”

“That makes two of us,” Blade murmured.

“I knew I had to get out of there,” he said. “Away from the stench of death. So I came here. To the village. To Soraya.”

She flushed, but her eyes were shining. “You were lost, and we took you in.”

He nodded, his gaze dropping to her baby bump. “And now we’re starting a family. Strange how life works out. If it hadn’t been for the ambush?—”

“I’m glad something good came out of it.” Lily glanced at Blade. The look of utter devastation in his eyes made her heart skip a beat. An urge to make him see it wasn’t his fault swept over her. He wasn’t responsible for what happened. Wasn’t to blame for the guide selling them out.

She wanted to eradicate his guilt and unhappiness. Replace it with something else. Something good and wholesome and pure.

He met her gaze. The pain in his eyes vanished, exchanged for a brief flash of longing. But then it was gone, so quickly she’d wondered if she’d imagined it. He looked down at his plate and went back to eating his meal.