Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The trip across the border was uneventful, which Safe was thankful for. Not every extraction went as smoothly as this one had. He hadn’t lied when he’d told Wren that story about almost being choked to death by someone he was rescuing. But they still had a very long way to go before they were back in California.
Wren was once more unsteady on her feet as she walked next to him toward the truck that would take the team to where Dallas, Archie, Oliver, and Colby were hopefully still holed up. Kevlar had word from a contact on the ground in Uganda that they’d arrived and were safe, but until they all saw them, no one would relax. Hell, they wouldn’t let down their guard until they were in the air on the way back to Riverton.
They were spending the night in Uganda before heading to the airstrip to catch a flight to Germany, where everyone would be checked out at a military hospital. Then they’d finally be on their way back to the States.
He could feel how tense Wren was as they walked, but he didn’t interrupt her thoughts. He’d sprung a lot on her as they were hoisted up to the chopper, but every single word was from his heart. He wanted a future with Wren, but they had a lot to get through before either of them could see if it was even possible.
Kevlar led them as they climbed into the back of the pickup truck and headed into the nearest town to meet up with Wren’s coworkers. She was tense as she sat in the middle of his team, but it was the safest place for her as they traveled to their destination. Everyone was on alert. Even though they were out of South Sudan, Uganda wasn’t exactly the safest place for American soldiers and civilians either.
They reached the house where Wren’s coworkers were supposed to be, and Safe breathed a sigh of relief when the door opened and Archie and Oliver stepped outside. He and his team jumped out of the bed of the truck, and Safe helped Wren climb out as well. As the truck drove off, Wren finally noticed the two men. She practically ran to them and gave first Archie, then Oliver a hard hug.
“Are you guys okay?”
“Yeah. You?” Oliver asked.
“I’m good. I’m so sorry I left you guys. Did they…were they mad?” Wren stumbled over the question.
“They were pissed,” Archie told her. “But you did the right thing. They were going to…you know…hurt you. So it’s good that you got away. ”
“Thanks, Archie. I know that I annoy you most of the time, and you were tired of me going on and on about safety. I’m just glad they didn’t take my escaping out on you guys,” Wren told him.
“That’s only because of your friends,” Oliver said. “They were totally planning on killing us. They just didn’t get a chance. When they realized you were gone, they sent six guys into the jungle to find you and bring you back. Then they argued about what to do with us. The leader guy took out a video camera. An honest-to-God camera from like the eighties, and ordered Colby to say some stuff. He refused, so a bunch of guys started beating him again. They were so busy doing that, they didn’t even see your friends slip into camp. Before anyone knew what was happening, it was over. They were all dead.”
Wren’s eyes were huge in her face. She glanced at Safe before turning back to her friends. “Holy crap!”
“Yeah. And I guess the six guys they sent after you met the same fate because they didn’t come back, and they didn’t find you either, I take it.”
“No,” Wren agreed.
“We intercepted them,” Smiley said without any emotion.
“Right,” Oliver said. “Anyway, they gave us water, wrapped my hand, helped Colby as much as they could, then we headed into the jungle to the extraction point.”
“When you didn’t show up, they sent us on while they went back for you…and here we are,” Archie finished the story.
“Where’s Colby and Dallas? Are they okay?” Wren asked .
“Colby’s hurting, they really beat him up bad. His face where he had that cut is also infected. He’s lying down inside. And Dallas is with him. He’s been watching over him,” Archie told her.
“Sucking up to him, you mean,” Oliver mumbled.
“And your hand?” Wren asked.
“Still missing two fingers, hurts like hell. But I’m alive,” Oliver said.
“Well…I’m just glad you’re okay,” Wren told them both.
“Yeah. We all should’ve taken your concerns more seriously,” Oliver said quietly.
Wren simply shrugged.
“Can we take this inside?” Safe asked.
“Are we still in danger?” Archie asked.
“No,” Safe told him. “But I’m sure Wren would like to eat and drink something. And shower.”
“Shower?” she asked breathlessly, looking up at him.
He chuckled. “Yeah, with water and everything.”
Archie and Oliver stood back as Wren practically ran them over trying to get into the house, and presumably to a shower.
“Never get between a girl and her shower,” Oliver joked.
It wasn’t until they were inside that Safe saw Wren hesitate.
“What? What’s wrong?” he asked, pulling her aside. The rest of his team was already looking in cabinets and pulling out items, he assumed to make a meal for everyone.
“I don’t have anything clean to put on.”
Safe relaxed. He took her by the hand and pulled her toward one of the four small bedrooms, where his team had stashed their things. When they’d come to Uganda from Chad, they’d stayed here while anxiously waiting for an available chopper to take them over the border into South Sudan. Safe went over to his duffle against the wall.
Unzipping the bag, he pulled out a clean T-shirt, a pair of boxers, and some sweatpants. Holding them out to her, he said, “They’ll be big, but they’re clean. There’s no washing machine here, but there’s a basin out back that the others used to wash their things. I’ll get started on yours while you’re in the shower.”
Wren stared at him without saying anything and without reaching for the clothes.
“Wren?”
“You’re going to wash my clothes?”
“Yeah,” Safe said, not sure what was wrong.
Wren closed her eyes, her brow furrowing, and she swayed slightly.
Alarmed, Safe threw the clothes onto the nearest mattress and pulled Wren into his arms. “What? Talk to me, Wren.”
Her eyes opened, and she looked up at him. “For as long as I can remember, I’ve done my own laundry. When I was five, I remember having to climb up on a chair to reach the buttons on our ancient washing machine. Even in foster care, I was responsible for my own clothes. No one has ever offered to wash my clothes before. And you’re going to do it by hand?”
“I love you,” Safe told her. “Anything you need, I’ll do my best to provide for you. Food, water, shelter, clean clothes…you name it.”
She stared up at him for the longest time. Safe could see a riot of emotions swirling in her eyes. Then she broke his heart when she whispered, “Is this what it feels like to be loved?”
He ran his hand over her head, smiling a little when his palm snagged on the snap clip in her hair. “Yeah. I guess it is.”
“It’s overwhelming,” she retorted with a small frown.
“Well, get used to it,” he told her, pulling her close and resting his cheek on the side of her head.
She held on tightly, seeming to need this moment as much as he did. Then she mumbled into his neck, “You stink.”
Safe chuckled. “You aren’t exactly a fresh, clean daisy yourself, sweetheart.”
To his relief, she pulled back with a smile on her face. “You want to shower first?”
“No. Take your time. There’s not a lot of hot water, so I’m guessing you won’t be in there long, but you always come first from now on. Hot water, the last glass of wine, the best space on the couch. It’s yours.”
“Bo?”
“Yeah, sweetheart?”
“Thanks for not saying ‘I told you so.’”
“I’d never say that,” he said firmly. “Should you have traveled to South Sudan? No. Did you have a choice? Not really.”
“I could’ve said no,” she said sadly.
“We’ve been over this. And all the arguments you had for not saying no before still stand.”
“I don’t know if I can go back to work there,” she whispered, as if scared that saying the words out loud would somehow make him think less of her .
“Then don’t,” Safe told her.
“It’s not that easy,” she protested.
“It is and it isn’t,” Safe said with a shrug. “You’re right, California is expensive. But I make a decent salary. And have decent benefits. We’ll be all right until you figure out something else. Find another job.”
She stilled in his arms and gaped at him.
“What?” he asked.
“We?”
He nodded. “Was I not clear back when we were hanging on that rope? I want you in my house. My bed. My life. I love you. You’re mine, and I take care of what’s mine. You want to quit your job and stay home and collect acorns and make art with them and sell them on the Internet, fine. Great. I’ll support you. You want to continue to work for BT Energy. That’s fine too. You want to find another PR job? No problem. I know it’ll take some time for this to sink in, but you aren’t on your own anymore, Wren. You aren’t that little girl hiding under your bed from your evil mother. You’ve got me. My team. Remi. Caroline and her friends. Wolf and his team. Things won’t always be smooth sailing, because we’ve both lived alone for quite a while, but we’ll figure it out. Together.”
“I’m scared.”
“I know.” And he did. Leaning on someone else wasn’t something she’d done much of, if at all, in her life. But that was changing. Now.
“I don’t deserve you,” she told him.
“You’re right,” Safe said without hesitation. “You deserve someone better than me. Someone who can give you all the finer things in life. Someone with a safer job. Someone you can come home to every day, without fail. I’m not that man. But I am a man who will bend over backward to make you happy. And when I’m not able to be there for you, I’ll arrange to have others at your back until I get home to you.”
Wren swallowed hard. “I love you,” she whispered.
Safe felt as if his heart was going to explode. “And I love you. Now…please go shower before you have moss growing in your hair and your stinkiness sinks into the very essence of this room.”
Wren smiled and smacked his shoulder. Then she sighed. “I have no idea how this happened.”
“Because I’m irresistible,” Safe joked.
“True.”
Then Wren went up on her toes and kissed him. Safe wanted to deepen the kiss. Wanted to throw her on the mattress behind them and strip off all her clothes and bury himself deep inside her body. But now wasn’t the time or the place. He’d wait until he had her in his house, and his bed, where they wouldn’t be interrupted, before showing her with and without words how serious he was about loving her.
He pulled back, picked up the clothes he’d grabbed for her, and held them out once more. “Put your stuff outside the door and I’ll wash it while you’re showering.”
Wren nodded then took his clothes. Safe led her back out into the hallway and into the bathroom. It had a toilet, a sink, and a shower. There was no stall, just a pipe coming out of the wall and a drain in the middle of the tiled floor.
Safe put his hand on her cheek, and she leaned into him. “Thank you for being smart, tough, and staying calm. I don’t know what I would’ve done if you’d been hurt,” he said quietly. Then he kissed her forehead and left the room, closing the door firmly behind him.
He went into the main room and announced, “Wren’s in the bathroom. If anyone disturbs her, you’ll answer to me.” He was feeling growly and protective. Just being out of her sight, even though he knew exactly where she was, made him feel off-kilter.
“No one’s gonna bother her,” MacGyver said. “Come eat something. It’ll make you less grouchy.”
Everyone laughed, but Safe wasn’t in the mood to eat. He felt itchy, unsettled. He heard the bathroom door open and shut, and turned, seeing a mound of clothes sitting in the hallway. Knowing Wren was naked on the other side of the door made his skin heat. He wanted her. But he could wait. As long as it took.
He walked back and picked up her shirt and pants, noticing her underthings weren’t with her clothes. Then he went through the main room and out onto the small back patio without a word.
“Hey, want to do mine too?” Flash called out.
Safe lifted a hand and gave his friend his middle finger. Laughter rang out in the room behind him, and for the first time in days, Safe relaxed a fraction. He was safe, Wren was safe, his friends were safe. It was only a matter of time before they were back in Riverton. He couldn’t wait.
Hours later, Wren looked around the room and had to pinch herself. Not too long ago, she was sitting on the jungle floor, her hands bound together, wondering if she and her coworkers would live through another day.
And here she was, her belly full, her body clean—well, as clean as she could be with the barely functional shower and cold water—snuggled with Bo as her coworkers and Bo’s teammates sat around talking about their favorite TV shows. It felt a little like a dream.
She hadn’t changed back into her clothes—truthfully, she was going to burn the shirt and pants the second she had a chance when she got home—because they were still damp and drying. She’d washed her bra and underwear in the shower herself, feeling too awkward to have Bo clean those for her. She was sitting on his lap, using his chest as a backrest, and his arms were holding her against him.
She was comfortable and relaxed…and feeling guilty as hell. “How’s Colby doing?” she asked Dallas during a lull in the conversation.
“Hurting, but okay,” the other man said. “And feeling like shit. It wasn’t his plan for Bob, Tom, Luke, and Aaron to run, but he said he also didn’t discourage them. He honestly thought that we’d be okay. That nothing would happen to any of us. So for them to have been…” Dallas cleared his throat before continuing. “…killed. It was a shock.”
Wren nodded and felt Bo’s arms tighten around her.
“I wonder where the project stands now,” Archie mused.
“Who the fuck cares,” Oliver said heatedly. “People died. It’s not safe for anyone to work on any kind of pipeline until things work themselves out here. If they ever do. ”
Everyone was silent, lost in their own thoughts.
Then Wren said, “For what it’s worth, I still think the pipeline can do good things for South Sudan. But until the corruption in the government is stopped, any money that’s earned will go into the pockets of the people in control, and not to the citizens who need it the most. I will never think that kidnapping and extortion is the right thing to do, but…I can understand why they did it. Desperation makes people do desperate things. None of us know hunger, not like the people here do. We don’t know thirst.”
“Agreed,” Dallas said quietly.
“Same,” Oliver said with a nod.
“Yeah,” Archie added after a moment.
“I’m going to go check on Colby. When are we leaving?” Dallas asked.
Kevlar looked at his watch. “Five hours, give or take.”
That seemed to be the sign everyone needed to get up and head off to get some sleep. It was going to be a long trip to Germany, then back to California.
Wren found herself in the room where Bo’s duffle bag had been stored. He motioned for her to climb onto a twin-size mattress on the floor, against one wall, and he immediately joined her. Wren turned onto her side, and Bo spooned her from behind.
Blink stretched out on the other mattress in the room, and Kevlar lay down near the door. She didn’t feel the least bit weird about sleeping next to Bo with his friends in the room. In fact, it was what she needed. To be surrounded by not only the man she loved, but two others he considered his brothers. No one would get to her here .
Safe. It was the name of the man whose arms held her tight, but it was also how she felt when she was anywhere near him. She’d never experienced true safety in her life until she’d run into him in that hallway at Aces Bar and Grill. Somehow, deep in her gut, she’d known even then that this man would protect her. Keep her safe.