CHAPTER FORTY
The car crunched on the stone driveway in front of a secluded cabin somewhere in Virginia where Interstate 66 turned from a commuter headache into rolling hills.
“Home sweet home.” Camden parked and glanced at Amelia in her hospital gown.
“You don’t have shoes… Don’t move.” He jumped out and rounded the hood, grabbing her door before she could protest and pretend that hobbling across the stones and mulch wouldn’t bother her feet.
Gingerly, she stepped out.
He swept her into his arms.
“Camden, my butt is hanging in the wind.”
“Good thing there’s no one around to see it.” He set her on the small porch and unlocked the doors.
She pointed toward the roofline.
“ This safe house has cameras.”
“Very observant.”
“Someone might’ve seen my butt.”
He snorted but made a mental note to check the security feeds.
Amelia walked in and picked up the football.
“How do you always have one of these?”
“You’d be surprised how many Wal-Marts and Targets stock sporting gear.”
She rolled her eyes and nailed him with the ball.
“Your aim’s getting better.” He tossed the ball to himself and caught it.
“You sure you don’t want an ice pack or medicine?”
“It looks really bad, and it’s real. I can’t wash it away. But it doesn’t hurt the same as if someone punched me in the face. Not like the bruises on my arms. Those I feel every time I brush against something.”
He wanted to knock a hole in the wall.
She was bruised and hurt, and he hadn’t been able to stop it.
“Oh God, I didn’t ask—” She extended her hand toward his chest. “You were hurt.”
“That was the least of our problems.”
Amelia approached him with her eyes locked on his shirt.
“That’s not true. I know what it did to me, and I was just holding on to you. What did they do to you?” She lifted the hem of his shirt and saw the bandages.
“Camden…”
“It’ll leave a scar. Nothing that won’t heal.”
Her head tipped back.
“I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t do it. Come on. Let’s find you some clothes.” He led her to the bedroom.
The closet and drawers held an assortment of sizes.
“Sweats. Jeans. Whatever you want.”
“Do you care if I use the shower first?”
“Of course not.” He returned to the living room and decided that was as good a time as any to call Jared.
The phone rang once.
“Are you a goddamn idiot?” Jared shouted.
“I thought you were over your impulsive shithead era.”
“Eh.” Camden dropped onto the couch and kicked his feet onto the coffee table.
“We had to get out of there.”
“Knocking out a security guard and mowing down the parking gate was the best way?”
“When you put it like that—”
“ That’s what you did, Camden . Fuck, you’re a headache.”
“I think Esme’s a triple agent.”
Boss Man paused.
“Why’s that?”
“How’d we get Amelia’s picture?” he asked again.
“Parker figure that out yet?”
“No.”
“Does the CIA think Esme worked Amelia over?”
“No idea. Did she? Because rumor has it Amelia wouldn’t say shit to anyone—which was why they were holding her.”
“Or getting ready to arrest her for espionage.” Camden couldn’t fathom the mental gymnastics they were doing to pull that logic together.
“Esme might’ve made her look like that, but it wasn’t done the way we think.” He jumped up and paced.
“You know what everyone keeps asking Amelia?”
“What?”
“They want to know what Hailey and Jonathan told her before she ran to get help.”
“What was it?”
Camden pursed his lips.
He trusted Jared Westin with his life.
“It wasn’t what they said. They gave her something to leave at the other house. Something stupid. So trivial that she forgot.”
“Huh…”
“Yeah. I kinda want to get my hands on it and know what it was.”
“Camden—”
“Don’t you?”
“Curiosity killed the cat. Ever heard of that one, genius?”
“Fortune favors the bold, Boss Man.”
Jared didn’t answer for a long moment.
Then he asked, “What are you going to do about it?”
Good question.
Camden hadn’t had time to game out the situation.
Amelia would never get any peace if that book wasn’t located and turned over.
He wasn’t sure who needed it, and considering he trusted no one outside Titan, he wasn’t sure how to handle it without seeing what it was.
“Nothing right now. Lie low and wait until her shiners disappear.”
Jared let out a long breath.
“What do you need from me?”
“Can you patch things over with Beth and her people?”
“Like hell.” Jared snorted.
“Clean up your own mess.”
Camden grinned.
“Worth a shot.”
“She doing okay?” Jared asked, his tone less prickly.
“I don’t know. She might be putting up a brave front. She heard details about her sister and knows she’s not coming back.”
“Shit, man. I’m sorry.”
“Yeah. Think we all knew it. She just had to get there.”
“This whole thing was needlessly avoidable,” Jared muttered.
“All right. Well, you’re not fired. You’re not even on my shit list, if you can believe that. Make up with the spooks, and keep your mouth shut about what Amelia remembered. Let’s touch base in twenty-four to forty-eight hours.”
It was a plan.
He tossed the phone aside and scooped up the football.
They would play house for a few days and figure out what the Dumonts had Amelia stash at the other house.
Then what? He spun the ball in his hands.
He would follow her anywhere in the world.
Or they could stay there.
Camden might be able to sweet-talk his way into a job with the feds if they forgot about the guard he’d knocked out.
But government assignments weren’t all that interesting.
He would be miserable.
But he would be with Amelia.
A better idea was Titan.
Their US headquarters wasn’t far from this safe house.
He could run that by Jared.
But leaving his teammates would be hard.
Still, he had options that worked with his single priority: Amelia Stone.
He turned toward her approaching footsteps.
“What’s wrong?” She wore an oversized sweatshirt and leggings and had blow-dried her hair.
“You look comfortable.”
“Don’t change the subject.” She crossed the room and tipped her head back.
“You have a thousand questions running through your mind.”
“I called Jared and let him chew my ear off.”
“Oh… Is he going to make you return me to the hospital?”
Camden laughed.
“No, but I have to make sure Beth doesn’t hate me. The security guard too. Though that guy’s never going to forgive that sucker punch.”
“It was for a good cause.”
He placed his hands on her hips.
“You have no idea what went through my mind when you were gone.” His grip tightened.
“Fuck, I was scared, and I don’t think I’ve been scared a day in my life.” Camden leaned over and rested his forehead to hers.
“Losing you like that.” His eyes shut.
He let out a long breath and met her eyes again.
“It could have gone wrong in a hundred different ways. I don’t want to let you go again.”
“I’m right here, and I’m not going anywhere.”
Camden led her to the couch, sank down, and pulled her onto his lap.
He kissed her temple and rested his lips against her hair.
“I’ve never met anyone strong enough to handle what you’ve been through and smart enough to stay alive.”
“I’m not. It’s been blind luck.”
“Yeah, you are, babe. Starting on that first night.” He kissed her forehead and thought of everything she’d become to him.
“And when you called back, I was done for. I didn’t know it yet. But damn, Amelia. You became my favorite person, and I hadn’t even met you.”
A blush rose to her cheeks.
“I don’t know what next week or next month looks like, but it’ll kill me if you’re not in it somehow.” He touched her chin and directed her face up.
“Eyes on me, sweetheart.” Their eyes locked.
His heart squeezed. “I love you.”