Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Nothing. Nothing happened, but the crazy thing is, I wish it did. I wish he had curled up around me and chased my demons away.
Even if just for a single night.
But no. And now he’s furious. A very pissed off, very deadly looking SEAL.
Surely, he’s had more than a few crazy things happen to him. But the man looks so unhinged right now.
As if waking up—fully clothed—next to me is somehow the final straw that breaks his back, as if everything he's ever faced was manageable until now.
Me.
Little old me.
It hurts like I've been slapped to think I’m the reason for his extreme distress .
His eyes are filled with the chaos brewing inside of him, flicking between confusion and anger. I’m surprised the tension crackling in the air isn’t shooting off sparks.
“You collapsed,” I say carefully, with pain surfacing in my stinging eyes.
His expression tightens even more when that seems impossible. A thousand things pass behind the crystal windows he sees the world through.
“No way. No. I’ve been to hell and back, and I’ve never collapsed. No. Fucking. Way.”
Careful, Aria. He’s triggered.
We both had a bad night. The last thing I need right now is to make this situation worse. We have to work together.
“I’m sorry, Scout. I know this has to be confusing and I am sure with all your high-price training, this scenario does not add up. But I saw it with my own eyes.” Meeting his gaze, I soften my voice, "You had just eaten a Twinkie and you kind of crumpled—sort of fell. You landed face down on the carpet. It was as shocking to me then, as it is to you right now.”
He huffs and blinks rapidly, looking right through me, as if there is zero chance of that information being true.
“Right there.” I motion toward the carpeted expanse in front of the desk. “You’re too big for me to move. Not that there was anywhere to take you. No comfy accommodations here. They don’t even have a couch in their lounge. At least you didn’t land on the broken glass.”
Scout’s body has gone scary-still.
He was always impossibly big, but now he’s scary-viking size.
“Did you touch me?”
For a beat, his question confuses me .
“Of course, I was afraid you needed CPR.”
Then it hits me. I realize what he’s asking. Oh my god. “Not inappropriately. I would never.”
The angle of his jaw tenses, his cold gaze gets even icier. “Tell me exactly where you touched me.”
Heart thudding, stomach knotting, I step back. “I promise I didn’t do anything bad. I made sure you were breathing.”
I cover my mouth with my hand, trying to remember exactly where I touched him. “Your neck first to check your pulse. I put my hand on your back to make sure you were breathing steadily. Not under your shirt. I took your hat off.”
Definitely not telling him I brushed my fingers through his thick, soft, dark-blond hair.
He steps closer, making me crane my neck to match his gaze.
Voice rough, he asks, “What did I do?”
“You were just sleeping. You said one word—exhausted.”
For a while we just stand. Looking at each other as heat pushes off of him and my nerves fray.
“I passed out… I’ve never had anything like that happen.”
“You were a walking zombie, pale skin, dark circles under your eyes. When did you last sleep?”
“Days.”
I tilt my head, my heart softening as I take in his strong, handsome face. “That’s terrible. You can’t do that. It’s dangerous. What if you were driving?”
He scrubs both hands over his face. “Are you sure I was sleeping?”
I take a steadying breath. No man wants to think he’s been vulnerable and unaware. Out of control. Especially him. It doesn’t take a genius to recognize that he’s got to be in charge.
But something bad has happened to Scout before and this whole thing has been a trigger for him.
God knows I have mine.
“I know you're upset you collapsed. I would be too, if I couldn’t remember anything. But I promise you, I was worried about you. I took care of you. I only wanted to make sure you were safe.”
He looks down at the spot where we were lying as if he’s looking for a chalk outline like a coroner would make around a corpse in old movies.
But there’s hardly any evidence.
His hat is on the ground. The taser too. My discarded, wet boots are a few feet away. They leaked so much they made a ring on the carpet.
Beyond that, there’s nothing.
But I know the experience might as well have left a crater for the effect it has on him.
Feeling awkward, I take a few steps toward the hallway. “I’ll just go change.”
“What did I do?”
I raise my gaze to his face again. “I’m not sure what you mean.”
“Did I pull away when you touched me?” His body flinches as he searches my face. “Did I…look like I was in distress?”
Frown deepening, I twist my hands together. “No. You sighed. Then you dropped into a hard sleep. Didn’t move until those people woke us up.”
His pale blue gaze drops to the side. The cords of his throat work as he swallows .
He’s in so much distress, the tension around him could cause the floor to collapse with its weight.
“What is it, Scout?”
For a rough few seconds, he works through some emotion. Shallow breaths make his chest pump. His hands open and close.
My heart hurts for him. But hugging him is clearly off the table.
Finally, he rasps out a reply. “I don’t like to be touched.”
There it is.
Not the root, but the ugly vine that came from whatever experience he had.
An ache spreads in my throat, making my voice soft and strained. “I’m sorry, if I’d have known that, I would never have touched you. Truthfully, not that I’m making this about me, but I don’t like to be touched either.”
The silence that follows makes a cold chill run down my spine.
I step past him, heading for the bathroom at the back of the terminal where my clothes are hanging over the stall door. But something stops me—a resolute feeling blooms in my gut.
When I turn back, he’s frozen in place, staring at the floor. His hands are wrapped around the back of his neck.
“I take that back, Scout. If you’re ever in danger again, I’d touch you. I’d do whatever it took to make sure you were safe, and then I’d deal with your emotions after. I won’t apologize for taking care of you again, but I’ll be there for whatever wreckage is left afterwards.”