Chapter 25
CHAPTER 25
D amn, she was thirsty. Fleur tried to peel her tongue from the roof of her mouth. It barely moved. She blinked and looked up at a metal-shielded lightbulb. That was different. Where was she?
“Hey.” Ronan appeared over her, and she smiled. Oh, this is a nice dream. If it weren’t for her tongue being superglued and made of sandpaper, she’d have been quite happy to go back to sleep. “Babe, can you open your eyes for me?”
Had she closed them? She lifted her eyelids. Man, when did they get so heavy?
“There you are. How are you feeling?”
She blinked at him and tried to talk, but superglue … She pointed to her mouth and croaked, “Wa ter.” She hoped it was intelligible enough to understand.
When a straw appeared before her, she groaned in relief and drained the cup quickly. “More,” she begged, dropping her head back down to the soft pillow. Wait. Pillow? “Where?”
“We’re in Jordan in a hospital. We think Miller or Mathias gave you a shot of Ketamine. Your blood pressure was almost nonexistent when we found you.”
“Found me?” She frowned. “Miller …” Oh, fuck. She tried to sit upright. “He’s going to kill the staff.”
Ronan cupped her cheek with his hand. “Don’t worry. Everything is over. Both Miller and Mathias are dead.”
She slid back onto the pillow. “Dead? What happened? What about your brother, the teams? Oh, shit, Shelly?”
Ronan narrowed his eyes. “Everyone made it. Miller and Mathias were in business with Habib. No one had ordered the shutdown of your camp. Miller manufactured all of it because they wanted the land where the camp sat. They purchased it with the money they made trafficking the women.”
“Your convoy and the guys? ”
“We were attacked. Wolf has the most serious injury. A grade-three concussion. He’s next door. Adil was able to get Shelly and Rana out of the camp. When he tried to get to you, he said he saw Miller with a gun.”
“He did. Miller threatened to kill him if I didn’t cooperate. They made me go down into a ditch. I think they were planning on selling me.”
Ronan nodded. “The fuckers buried you in a crate.” He took her hand in his. “I’ve never been so fucking scared in my life.”
“Buried me? Alive?”
“Yeah.” He nodded. “They gave you a garden hose for air. Fuckers didn’t think it might collapse under the weight of the dirt. Shelly said if you’d been breathing normally instead of barely breathing because of the drug overdose, you might not have had enough air to last.”
She closed her eyes and then opened them again. “I’m kind of glad they drugged me. I don’t do well in confined spaces.”
“It was pure luck they didn’t kill you.”
She placed her hand on his and felt tape. She lifted his hand so she could see his palm. “Bandages?”
He shook his head. “It’s nothing, a few blisters. Once you show up in a hospital, everyone seems to think you need your booboos fixed.”
“Is your brother okay?”
“He’s fine. Running things at the camp until I get back.”
She froze, and at that moment, everything coalesced into reality. All the fear, hatred, and emotions that had consumed her now flooded through her, and she began to shake. “Oh, God.” She lifted her hand to her mouth. “Miller and Mathias were going to kill everyone. They were going to have the militia surround the camp and have all the IDPs sorted and trucked out with the help of the ISIL.”
“That’s what we assumed. I’ll let Guardian know they were correct.” He moved onto the bed and pulled her into him. Her shaking stopped when he held her tight against him. “You’re okay. You’re safe. I promise you’re safe.”
“I know. I don’t know why I’m shaking like this.” She pushed into him and felt as he tightened his arms around her.
“Your brain and body are trying to come to terms with what’s happened.” His chest vibrated under her ear.
She nodded. “When do you have to go back? ”
“Tomorrow.”
Okay, well, she could suck it up. “I’ll go with you.”
He laughed. “No, you won’t.”
She pulled away from him. “Why?”
“Because you’re going to Colorado.”
“I don’t know anyone in Colorado.” She shook her head. “I’ll return to the camp with you and work until you leave.”
He shook his head. “Nope. You and Shelly are on an outbound jet in two days. She’s going with you to Colorado to settle you in my house, and then she’s heading to Cincinnati. Jug will meet up with her either in Colorado or there when we’re relieved of duty.”
She frowned. “You’ve planned out everything very well, haven’t you?”
“I had to do something.” He took her hands in his. “Babe, I had zero control. The doctors weren’t sure when you’d wake up, although they were positive you would. Shelly stayed with me until she almost passed out. I’ve been sleeping by your bed for the last two days. I was terrified that night. I thought I’d lost you. Going back to that camp is the last thing I want to happen for you. I want you to go to Colorado, meet my insane sisters, learn about Guardian, about the job there for you, and be there when I finish this mission and come home. Please.”
She stared at those intense brown eyes. She didn’t like being bossed around without having any input. “ If I do go back, this is the last time you make plans for me without my input. I love you, but you don’t get to control me.”
Ronan blinked, and then a smile formed. “Say that again.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You don’t get to control me, and that isn’t a challenge. That is a fact.”
“No, I get that. I promise not to do it again, but what did you say before that?”
Fleur frowned. “That I …” Oh, shit. She dropped her eyes and stammered, “Ah … I can’t remember.”
He shook his head and leaned closer. “You said you loved me.”
She shook her head. “You’re hearing things.”
The smile got larger. “No, I’m not. You said you love me.” He leaned in and kissed her below the ear. A shiver ran through her body. “That’s good, babe,” he said as he kissed her in the same spot. “Because when I found you in that crate that night, I knew I loved you.”
She turned so she could see him. “It’s too early. ”
“It isn’t.” He shook his head. “Not for us, it isn’t.”
“What if we get back to the States, and you decide you don’t love me?”
He shook his head. “A bridge too far.”
“Huh?”
“Tactics one-oh-one. Never look to the future for problems. Deal with what’s at hand. We have these feelings for each other. That is a fact. We’ll take each day as it comes and won’t borrow problems by asking what if.”
“You’ll be gone a lot. Maybe you’ll find someone better for you.” She pulled her bottom lip in between her teeth. There were so many things that could go wrong.
He reached up to her chin and tugged her lip away from her teeth with his thumb. “I’m not made that way. You’ll see, trust me, Fleur. Trust me enough to take a chance at a life together. You said you would go to Colorado with me before. Don’t change your mind because big emotions are in play. You are mine. I am yours.”
She stared at him. All the fears, the questions, and the concerns ebbed away. He’d always had her trust, and he always would. “All right. I’ll go to Colorado, but only because I love you. ”
He smiled and pulled her back into him, kissing the top of her head as he held her. “And I love you. I’ll be there as soon as humanly possible. I promise.”