Chapter 8 #2
He stood in the hallway, all six foot two of him, broad shoulders, strong torso, powerful legs, dressed in a flannel shirt, jeans, and boots as if he were a lumberjack.
Yet his face was all spec ops—bloody, sweaty, sooty, so much fierceness in his deep-brown eyes it just…
rooted her. Right there. She couldn’t move, but her voice—her voice managed a soft “North.”
“Oh, thank You, God,” he said and thundered toward her.
Two steps and he had his arms around her, pulling her hard to himself, and somehow her arms went around his neck and she was crying.
“I was so scared,” he said, his voice wrecked, his embrace nearly crushing her as he lifted her off her feet. And maybe he spoke the truth, because he trembled even as he clung to her.
She clung back, smelling the fire and smoke on him and—“Wait. Were you at the house?”
His breath rose and fell, and then he set her down, cradled her face in his hands. Met her eyes. “Yes. I was at the house.”
“Alan’s in the wind,” RJ said behind her. “But he might be coming back, with reinforcements. We need to go.”
Selah glanced at her, back at North, spotted a battle on his face. “You fought him.”
“Mostly, I was trying to get to you.”
And if she hadn’t known she loved him before, this moment…this very moment, she saw the truth.
This man would stop at nothing to find her, despite his anger, despite his words. He was loyal and true and…oh, how she loved him.
“I’m sorry,” she said softly, her eyes filling again. “I’m so, so sorry, North.”
He drew in a breath, and it seemed to rattle through him. Then, “We’ll talk about it later.”
Then he bent down and kissed her. Not long, just a quick, hard, purposeful kiss that still turned her weak.
He tasted of desperation and power and safety.
Why had she ever thought otherwise?
“Now,” RJ said, and she pushed past them into the music room.
North lifted his head. “He took the SUV, but we can take Frank’s truck.”
RJ emerged with the kids, Josh on her hip.
“Or maybe not,” he said, clearly doing a head count.
He glanced at Jethro, who held up his hands. “You can use my truck.”
“Did the RV survive?” Selah asked.
“I don’t know,” North said, but he grabbed her hand. “Let’s find out.” He turned, her grip still in his.
“Where are we going?” This from Hana, behind her.
Jethro stood at the door. He met North’s hand. “Sorry about the ruckus in the yard.”
North shook it. “All good.”
The ruckus in the yard? But Selah forgot the question as she spotted the fire.
Black smoke clouded the sky, and by the time they reached the edge of the trail, the house was engulfed, full inferno.
“Oh!” Hana put her hands over her mouth, but her mother had her by the arm and dragged her across the yard.
North hadn’t released Selah’s hand, tight in his.
The RV sat in front of the truck. Wait—“Is that Frank Hendrickson’s truck?”
He glanced at her. “Yeah. Long story.”
Huh. But she let the thought drop as he opened the side door of the Winnebago. RJ and her family climbed in, but Selah hopped into the passenger seat.
RJ settled the kids onto the benches and found a couple seatbelts.
North took the driver’s side. The keys hung from the ignition.
He fired up the RV and put it into Drive, circled around the driveway, and drove away from the house.
The glow of orange flames filled the mirrors.
“Mom!” A shriek from Hana made Selah turn. “What about Vaughn?”
Vaughn?
She heard barking and spotted the golden retriever running down the drive after them.
“North, stop. The dog—the dog!”
He slowed to a stop, and RJ held open the side door.
The dog scrambled in, and Hana pounced on him, wrapping her arms around the animal, sobbing.
A glance at RJ showed her jaw tight, trying to hold herself together.
Selah, what have you done?
Selah turned back just as North glanced into his rearview mirror. “Where to, RJ?”
RJ sighed and nearly collapsed onto the sofa next to her buckled-in son. Then she pulled Josh close, put her cheek against his head, and said, “Take me to Montana.”
* * *
North’s entire body still buzzed and his eyes burned.
And he just wanted off this roller coaster and onto firm ground. The kind of ground where he could take Selah by the hand, walk her into the horizon, and unwind exactly what had happened to her.
All the way to “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry, North.”
Yeah, him too…but for what part? Because he was the one who’d lost his head. Who’d called her reckless, driven her away.
He was the one who’d promised to not come after her, like some two-year-old throwing a tantrum.
That was a promise he hadn’t given a second thought to breaking. And no regrets there either—not after he’d held her in his arms, the way she’d clung to him, sobbing, as if she’d never let go.
Yeah, one glorious broken promise he’d never regret.
Now she sat next to him in the passenger seat as the sun set behind them, the road turning hazy in the purpling twilight.
They’d stopped at the first Walmart they found, and North had purchased a car seat for Joshua. Then stopped again in Spokane for a late lunch and to walk the dog.
Selah had turned quiet, her face drawn.
While RJ walked Vaughn, North had gotten out his phone and called Ham, given him a sitrep, which included the news about York’s house and Martin being at large, and ended with his destination—Geraldine, Montana, and beyond that, the Marshall family ranch.
Then he’d given his phone to RJ and she’d called her family.
When she climbed back into the RV, she sat on the bench and gave him an update.
“I can’t get ahold of York, but my brother Reuben is expecting us.
He’s called Tate. Apparently, Tate was already in Washington State, and he’s trying to track down York.
And Ford, my other brother, is on leave, so Ham is sending him to Montana.
And my brother Knox is in town too, so it’ll be a hoopla. ”
“I know Ford,” North said, scrubbing his hands down his face. “I’m invited to his wedding later this month.”
“Right.” She sat back. “Well, Ham is also sending a couple of your teammates—Dakota and West?”
Good. “According to the map, we have about four or five hours to go.” He turned and pulled on his seatbelt.
“You look pretty tired, North,” said Selah, finally speaking. “You sure you’re okay to drive?”
He glanced at her. “I’ll sleep when you’re safe.”
And whoa, that sounded overly heroic. But truthful, because what was he going to do—go climb onto that ancient queen bed in the back and fall into a peaceful slumber?
Hardly.
Most of the time so far, he’d kept checking his side mirrors, braced for Martin to come barreling up on his tail, forcing their rig off the road. So, “I’m fine.”
He put the RV into gear.
They left the mountains for flatlands in the stretch between Spokane and Coeur d’Alene. He gassed up before they hit the road that led into Montana, a corridor through the high peaks and piney forests.
A glance at RJ suggested they couldn’t get there fast enough. But old Winnie wasn’t a fan of the high climbs, and North just prayed the brakes would hold on their descents.
“You couldn’t have picked a nice Denali for your getaway car?” He glanced at Selah as they chugged up another hill.
“Not my pick. But it was better than the ATV we were driving.”
He sighed, then, “Listen. So maybe we don’t talk about it.”
He saw understanding flicker in her eyes. It—as in what went down between them on Mariposa. “Let’s start with the train. Where were you going?”
“A summer camp in the North Cascades of Washington State. I just needed…a time-out, I guess. Just a place to…um…”
“Be away from me.” Aw, he didn’t know why he said it, especially since he’d just offered not to talk about Mariposa, but…“Sorry. Maybe that wasn’t—”
“You’re right.” She glanced over at him, wearing a pained expression. “Sorry, but yes. I needed a place without any chaos or trauma or…violence.”
He nodded. “I get that.”
She studied him for a second. “I don’t know. You seem to handle it better than I do.”
He frowned. “This from the woman who’s lived in multiple war-torn zones?”
“Yes, but always to help people. I wasn’t fighting the war.”
“But the war was being fought around you. And you can’t escape that.” Oh, maybe he was being too blunt. But, “The world isn’t safe, Selah. You know that.”
She gave a harsh laugh. “Yeah. Yeah, I do.” She shook her head. “I feel like Jonah, running away from his problems only to be swept back up…Okay, maybe this isn’t quite the same, but…I sure didn’t get far.” Her voice trembled a little.
He wanted to reach out, take her hand. Instead: “You’re safe now.”
She swallowed, put her arms around herself, nodded, although it wasn’t convincing.
“I won’t let this Alan Martin hurt you.” And now he did touch her—put his hand on her arm and squeezed. She seemed cold, and a little frail.
“I think that’s…that was the problem, North.”
He let go of her, something about her tone. “What?”
She sighed. “First, I know who you are. I’ve known it…well, since Nigeria, when you showed up and saved me.”
He frowned. “Who am I?”
“A dangerous man.”
The words hit him, ripped through him. And yes, all true, but the way she said it…
“A man who kills people.”
Oh. And now he felt slugged, the bile rising in his throat. “Selah—”
“No, I get it. I mean, I don’t think I did, but…” She looked at him then, and tears glistened in her eyes. “When you showed up in the village and you killed that kid—”
“Man. He was a man. And he was going to kill you, Selah.” And no, they should not be talking about this in front of the kids, in the quiet of the Winnebago.
A glance in his rearview mirror showed RJ sitting with her arms folded, one eyebrow arched.
“Ix-nay on the illing-kay,” he said softly. “We’ll talk about this later.”
She glanced back, then to him. “Sorry. Yeah.”