Chapter Forty-Nine Reed
Chapter Forty-Nine
Reed
Charleston, South Carolina; six days later
Wyatt should’ve been the one leading Echo, but he was still in England with Gwen, staying close to her even though she was out of danger.
But Echo Team needed an assist on a quick op, so Secretary Chandler spun us up and plugged Delta in alongside the rest of the team.
Our boots had barely hit the ground after coming home before we’d had to leave, bringing Trevor with us this time.
We’d deployed to the Balkans, mountains sharp as broken glass, pine air heavy and wet.
Insert, clear, snatch the HVT, exfil. Nothing fancy.
I’d covered Alex’s flank and cleared buildings with Echo Four, but my head had stayed back in Charleston, mentally awaiting a text from Julian to give me the green light to reach out to Hollis’s new number.
Every op break, every comms lull, I’d checked for Julian’s go-ahead. Every minute of silence had been a betrayal of my promise to her that I’d fight for her. For us.
By the time we returned Stateside, mission complete without complication, I was exhausted, stinking of cordite and sweat and in need of a shower, when finally his message hit my phone.
Julian: You’re good to text her now.
I stared at his words, thumb hovering and heart racing. In a daze, I shoved my phone into my pocket and went inside.
Chase had already dropped Ranger off, so my Maligator was there to greet me by the door, tail wagging hard and clearly searching for Hollis.
“Not here,” I told him while flicking on the light. I tossed my bag on the floor, locked up, then made my way to my room for a shower.
I stripped, turned on the water, and went still at the memory of her being in there with me last week.
I managed to pull myself together, then hurried to my bedroom to grab my phone from the pocket of my jeans.
Naked, with a dog next to me and my phone in hand, I probably looked like a guy about to lose it, but I sent the text anyway.
Me: It’s Jason. Julian gave me your new number. How are you?
I tossed the phone on the bed and showered in under sixty seconds. Towel wrapped around my hips, water still dripping down my body, I went back into my room, praying for a response.
Hollis: I thought you hated being called by your first name.
I cracked an honest-to-God smile, the first one I’d had in a long damn time, and brought my hand to my rib and over the tattoo.
Me: I do. Unless it’s by you.
Bubbles. Then gone. Then back.
After a few minutes and no answer, I set the phone aside and wandered into my closet in search of clothes. At the sight of the present she’d left there for Audrey’s baby shower, I abandoned my mission for clothes, about to go for the blue box mocking me, but Ranger’s barking stopped me.
He was in my doorway, up on his hind legs. “What is it?”
I tightened the towel and followed Ranger to see what was wrong, anxious to get back to my conversation with Hollis, hoping she’d text soon.
Once in the living room, Ranger barreled past me and jumped straight at her standing by my couch.
The her. My her. A woman who’d quickly become my everything.
Hollis took a knee and nuzzled his nose with her face, and I may have died, because was this real? Did she break in and was now petting my dog?
She slowly lifted her head, her green eyes lighting a match inside me as they locked on to my face.
“Hi,” she mouthed. “Figured I’d just answer you this way instead, if that’s okay?
” Her gaze worked slowly up my naked torso before finding my face.
“I fondly remember the last time I broke in to find you in only a towel.” Her lips twitched into a slight smile.
She stood, and Ranger ran happy circles around her as my heart exploded.
“I have something outside I need your help with, do you mind?”
Her dark hair was down and wavy over her shoulders, and it only just now registered that she had on my old PT shirt, loosely tucked into her jeans.
A shy blush worked up her neck and into her cheeks; I’d never witnessed Hollis shy in the past before her memories were stolen, and this was the “real” her, so I wasn’t sure what to make of it.
Still remaining quiet, I stepped forward, arm falling to my side. I wasn’t prepared to get my hopes up. Not yet. But she was here, so . . .
I ordered Ranger to stay put, and I quietly followed her outside to an SUV parked in the driveway.
Hollis popped open the back, and I rounded the Escalade to see what she had to show me. “How handy are you? Chair-building handy? It’s from IKEA, so it might—”
“Hollis,” I rasped, my heart battling against my rib cage.
She turned to face me, eyes glossy. “I remember,” she blurted out as if unable to hide the secret any longer.
She opened her palm and held it between us, and I hesitantly rested mine on top of hers. A tear fell down her cheek, disappearing beneath her jawline.
“I remembered my place of peace. You. Our kids.”
I froze, worried I’d passed out in the shower and was dreaming.
She sniffled, swiping away tears with her free hand. “Then it all came back to me,” she cried. “And, I, um, heard you were operating, so I wanted to wait until you’d be back and surprise you.”
I about keeled over. Instead, I snatched her in my arms and hauled her against me, crushing my lips over hers.
She tangled her hands in my hair, then ran her nails over my back as I made love to her with my mouth. I was fully aware I was on my driveway in only a towel, and couldn’t give two shits about it because she’d found her way back to me.
Ranger howled with excitement as I continued to ravish this woman, my heart stitching back together in real time as my world tilted.
“Your towel,” she said against my mouth, her fast reflexes saving me from exposing myself in public.
“Maybe we continue this inside,” I said, my voice husky, as I stepped back and fixed the towel.
I shut the back door, then took her hand in mine.
Once in my kitchen, she went still the second she peered at the table. “You already got the fifth chair.” She whirled around toward me, her hands landing on my chest.
“Of course I did. I knew you’d be back.”
“Guess we’ll have to amend that dream to four kids to fill the other seat.”
I pulled her back into my arms, and this time, when the towel slipped, she didn’t save it from falling as we kissed.
A few dog howls later, her lips broke from mine, and she dipped her chin between us, catching her lip at the side of her mouth as she took in the size of me. “How, um, long until we make my dream a reality?”
“Is the courthouse open now?” I was only partially joking. I curled my mouth back to hers, laughing against the kiss, and she melted into me.
My hands slid over her hips, lifting her tight to my erection. I pressed her back against the closest wall, and she hooked one leg around me. “We’ll wait until we’re married. I want that for both of us,” she whispered, shaky but certain.
“Whatever you want,” I promised, resting my forehead against hers.
“There is something else I want, though.” Shit, that sounded heavy.
She slung her arms over my shoulders, clasping her hands at the base of my neck.
“I’m still processing everything. Lyra. People we trusted betraying us for power to claw out of the shadows.
” Her long, dark lashes fluttered shut. “And Lyra, she needs a lot of help. I visited her before I came here and forgave her, but those are just words. I still need time to actually feel the weight of forgiveness, if that makes sense.”
I understood that a little too much. Though I’d yet to do the actual words part of that equation when it came to forgiving my parents.
“My family has to reevaluate everything and reorganize. No more protectors, only teammates. Stuff like that. Gideon will take over when Dad and Mum step aside. I’ve made up my mind that I don’t want to be in charge. In fact . . . I don’t want to be part of it at all. No ring. No power. None of it.”
My heart thundered wildly against my ribs as I absorbed what she was saying.
“I want to be a mother. A wife. Not a human weapon. I—I want some peace. I’m going to have my tattoo removed, too.
No more tracking me.” She pointed her green eyes at me, and they shimmered with resolve.
“That vision when I was drugged came to me for a reason, and it’s because it’s what my heart wants.
My soul. I’m allowed to change my mind. I made a choice once, and now I’m making the choice to do something different,” she whispered, her voice catching from emotion.
“I want to be here with you. This is where I’m most myself and happy. ”
“Are you sure? I mean, nothing is set in stone. If you change your mind again, you—”
“I’m certain. Gideon is more than capable of leading everything, and if I get the operator itch, I can convince POTUS to let me spin up with you here and there like Trevor does. Heck, I can be part of the attachment unit, even. You know, maybe later, if I want to be.”
“I support you, whatever you want. Always,” I said firmly, meaning every word.
“I should apologize for violating your privacy. I promise I didn’t mean to find that letter from the hospital about your dad. I was checking out your books, and it fell out.”
“I could never be mad at you. Only fake hate, remember?” I smirked. “And as for a cure . . . maybe one day there will be one.”
For the first time in weeks, my chest became light.
She was here. She chose me. Us. And I’d never be letting go.
I guess people really could change and happily-ever-afters existed even for people like me after all.
“Now.” I cleared my throat, and she lowered her eyes between us down to my cock that’d yet to behave. “Back to the whole marrying thing . . .”
She slid her tongue along the seam of her mouth. “How soon is too soon? We talking years or months? Four kids to have and all, so.”
“Fuck years,” I choked out. “Maybe months.” I kissed her. “But if you really want to make a guy happy, how about weeks?”