Chapter 59
“Do you think she’s totally out?” North asked.
“Yeah, seems to be. She’s making that small snuffling noise that she makes when she’s asleep. It’s so cute.”
“You are in deep,” North told him.
“And you’re not?” Jared asked.
“I suppose so. I still don’t really know what love is.”
“It’s when you don’t want to imagine your life without the other person in it. That it would be bleak. And not worth living.”
North nodded. “I suppose I feel that way about both of you.”
“Then I suppose you must love both of us,” Jared told him.
He guessed he must. That was strange. But not unexpected. For a while now he had felt that way. Especially about Jared.
But with Angie, things felt different too. Because she was far more delicate. Vulnerable.
Protecting her had become far more important.
“We cannot allow her to be harmed,” he said.
“She won’t be.” Jared frowned. “Did Sarah say much?”
“She apologized over and over for not telling us that Antony was missing. She was . . . happy, I think. Worried he’d return.
Scared about why he wasn’t coming back. And she’s now relieved to learn of his death.
I didn’t tell her that we had just learned that he abused her.
That we’d intended to take care of him ourselves. ”
Jared nodded. “Yeah, probably a good idea. We don’t really want that getting out to the rest of the family.”
“She didn’t want the body. Didn’t care about a funeral. All she wants is to take her kids and leave.”
“We owe her that. Make it happen.”
“Already set things in motion,” North replied. “Tell me what happened with the Fox.”
Jared relayed everything. North frowned. “I’ve got men everywhere through the hospital, but I still don’t like it. We need to get her home where we can take care of her. And then I need to go hunting for Beltran.”
“And I don’t like that. I don’t want you putting yourself at risk.”
“I can do this. And if I don’t go after him, then he will just keep coming for you. Or the person he’s hired will.”
Jared stared at him for a long moment. “You’re not expendable, North. You matter. To her and to me. I don’t want you at risk.”
“And I don’t want either of you at risk. I can do this, Jared. Nothing will happen to me.”
Taking out Beltran would remove that threat and then the only one left was The Collective.
North was growing worried about why his handler wasn’t replying to him. Why wasn’t he messaging him about his mission?
North had shifted from wanting to disappear to keep Jared safe to wanting to take down every threat so he could stay with them.
“Fine. But you better come back to me alive. Or I’m going to find you and bring you kicking and screaming back into the land of the living. Do you understand me?”
“Of course. I know that you love me.”
North might not understand it. He might not always believe in it. But he knew he felt something for them. When they were around, his world was no longer bleak. No longer gray. There were lighter emotions. Hints of color.
And he had to keep that part of himself protected by protecting them.
Because that was the only part of him that still felt human.