ARI
THIRTY-FOUR
“I’m going to tell you three words. Can you repeat them for me?” I asked.
It had been plain torture, being so close yet so far away, not knowing if he was dead or alive. Not knowing if he needed me.
Looking back at him now as he nodded, all bloodied and beaten up, I felt my entire body seize up, but I couldn’t break down. Not now. Not in front of him. Not when he needed me.
“Eyes, van, sunset,” I said the first three random words that came to mind and narrowed my eyes, waiting for him to say them back.
He blinked, staring back at me.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
He blinked again.
“Do you remember the words I just said?”
His head tilted down slowly, and I sucked in a big breath.
“List them for me.”
Dread grew in the pit of my stomach like poison, and it threatened to knock me off my feet.
He opened his mouth and with a croaky stutter, he said, “Eyes. Erm…van. Sunset.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. That’s great.” He was still not out of the woods, but it was a start. “How did it go in there?” I continued.
“A…a mess,” he replied.
“What the hell happened, Wyatt? Why was Mitchell there?” Slade asked from the passenger seat, and Wyatt turned to look at him.
I took the opportunity to assess the rest of his injuries and made sure there was nothing else that needed urgent care, but one thing was for certain. He was going to bruise like a motherfucker.
“He’s in Wilson’s pocket. That’s why,” Wyatt said.
Slade sighed.
“Fucker!” Asher cursed under his breath from behind the steering wheel.
I ignored them all and focused on Wyatt, on his beautiful blue eyes, bloodshot like the rest of his face.
His pupils didn’t look dilated and he didn’t seem to drift, only to glance at me as if he was checking I was still there, watching over him.
“You think we got him?” Slade asked, and I watched as Wyatt looked down at his shirt and fiddled with the button in the patch pocket.
“You tell me,” he replied.
It looked just like any button. Black, like all the others on that shirt, but it was more than a button. It was our saving grace.
Wyatt tried to move his hand down to his jeans, but he let out a groan so loud even Ash faltered from the road for a second.
“Here. Let me help,” I said and looked him in the eyes.
His gaze lingered for a second. His lips parted as if he wanted to say something but couldn’t. Not here. Not yet.
But he didn’t need to say anything. He wrapped his hand around my fingers, and it was enough to know it was his way of telling me he was glad I was here.
“What do you need?” I asked, and my voice caught in my throat.
This was probably too intimate to be in public, even if said public was the company of his two teammates. I knew I should probably let go of him, but I couldn’t find the strength to do so.
“Back pocket,” he said and lifted his butt so I could reach out and retrieve the items there. A wallet and a packet of Wrigley’s.
When he settled back against the van wall, he winced and touched his chest.
“You okay?”
“My ribs,” was all he said, and as he passed the packet of gum to Slade, I glanced at him and pressed my lips together before I asked permission to unbutton him.
He nodded with a gentle but strained smile, and I could feel him watching me as I undressed him.
I could feel his breath slow down as my fingers danced along his skin.
I could feel his heartbeat as if it was under my very fingertips.
He never looked away. Not once. Not even when Slade ripped the packet of gum and plugged it into his laptop and said, “Let’s see. ”
I blinked.
“You scared the hell out of me,” I said in my head as if he could read my mind.
He blinked back as if saying, “I’m sorry.”
“Image is good. We got Wilson and Mitchell on camera. I just need to clear up the pixelation a little,” Slade said, and I felt his stare through the rearview mirror.
I pulled away on instinct and turned to face him, only to find Asher staring at me instead.
It was only a moment, but I could see something in his eyes. Recognition? Appreciation? Something.
Then he turned to Slade, and I turned to my bag so I could start cleaning Wyatt’s wounds.
“I can’t believe you came up with that. And that it worked,” Ash said.
“Did you ever doubt me?” I could hear the cockiness in his tone, and I didn’t even need to see his face to know he was being all smug about it.
And he had every right to be smug. Not only had he managed to create a discreet camera that didn’t need to be wired through a shirt, he had created a sort of remote battery for the camera button using radio frequency airwaves so it could record for longer.
But the battery also served as storage for the recording.
I couldn’t even begin to understand how he’d made that work, but if I knew one thing, that was how much advanced tech the military had access to that we were none the wiser to, so it shouldn’t surprise me that things like that existed or that Slade could build them.
“Let’s check the sound,” he said, and I helped Wyatt take his shoe off.
I passed the shoe to Slade, and he peeled the sole back to remove the microphone and plug that into the laptop too.
“I just can’t believe you came up with that in such a short amount of time,” I said.
That shoe had also saved Wyatt’s life by emitting a distress signal to Slade’s monitors so that when Wyatt was ready, they’d know to go in and rescue him. I could kiss the damn thing, but I saved myself the embarrassment.
Slade shrugged. “I’ve been working on these patents for a while. I knew we’d need something like this one day,” he answered and put his earpiece on, focusing on the laptop.
As we waited for his second verdict, I focused on Wyatt. “Do you remember those words I gave you?”
He nodded.
“What were they?”
Wyatt sighed and slumped back. “Eyes, van, sunset,” he said.
I smiled at him. That was a good sign. A very good sign. I still couldn’t be sure he didn’t have a concussion, but the fact his memory wasn’t affected was a good thing.
I took his hand in mine, using the dark back end of the van as cover so that if Ash did check the rearview again, he wouldn’t be able to see anything and mouthed “Are you okay?” to Wyatt.
He used his free hand to cup my face, and my eyes widened. What was he doing? Ash could definitely see that if he looked. Maybe he did have a concussion.
“I’m better now,” he said and smiled, and his hand slipped away back down by his side before he turned to the front and said, “I just hope angering him was worth it.”
As we reached Checkmate Road and Ash turned toward Duke’s sanctuary, Slade took the earpiece off and turned around to face us with a huge smile on his face.
“We got him,” he said.
I should have felt relieved. I should have felt lighter, but my chest tightened even more.
“Now what?” I asked.
Ash put the van in park and he turned around too, his expression all business.
“Now we go underground,” he said.
My chest tightened even more as I looked out the windshield, full to the brim with cars. The whole team, family, and friends, had come here where we had safety in numbers. Where the whole team could protect us if Wilson came for us.
I knew it was only for a night, but it was going to be the longest night ever, and I didn’t know if any of us would sleep.
“This is the endgame, folks. Let’s go,” Slade said and got out of the car.
Ash got out too, and Wyatt and I were left alone in the van, and for a minute I felt safe, but then the whole world and our situation came crashing down in my mind and I forgot how to even breathe.
“If this doesn’t work…” I said and had to stop to refill my lungs.
Wyatt put his hand under my chin and lifted my head so I could meet his gaze, and even though he looked bloodied and swollen already, I couldn’t look away.
“It will work,” he said with a confidence I didn’t feel.
“What if it doesn’t?” I whispered.
“You’re forgetting something.” He smirked.
“What is that?”
“This was your idea. It’s going to work, and you know why?”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because you’re the smartest person I know.”
I shook my head and sighed. “I think tech-whiz Slade would beg to differ.”
Wyatt cupped my face again, and his expression steeled as we looked at each other. “I’m sorry,” he said.
“What for?” I frowned.
“I know it must have been hell not knowing if I was okay. I’m sorry I put you through that after…after what happened to Evan. I…I promise I won’t ever do it again.”
I swallowed a knot that formed in my throat at the mention of my husband’s name and covered his hand with mine over the side of my face.
“I love you,” I said.
It felt right. It felt like it had to be said. I should have said it to him before he went on this suicide mission, and it had been circling my mind all the time I was sitting in this van holding my breath and waiting for the signal. I couldn’t hold it in any longer.
Wyatt leaned forward and touched his forehead to mine. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he kissed me between the eyes and said, “I love you too, Ari. I love you like I’ve never loved anyone before.”
His words were almost electric around me.
They charged my skin and gave me goosebumps, but it was his kiss, the one on the mouth that set me on fire.
A fire that had to be put out because we were about to share a house with twenty-odd people and there could be no slip-ups, when all I wanted to do was kiss him and hug him and make love to him.
“Maybe we shouldn’t sleep here tonight,” I said.
Wyatt chuckled, but it turned into a cough, and I apologized.
“I think that’d be more suspicious than holding hands in front of them,” he said.
“Maybe.” I shrugged.
He held my gaze for a moment longer then said, “Come on. Let’s go. Before I do something we’ll regret.”
I nodded, and we let go of each other. As Wyatt opened the side door, I called his name and he turned to look at me.
“What were those words again?” I asked.
He smiled softly and repeated them one by one as if they had more meaning behind them than as a simple assessment for concussion.
“Eyes, beautiful like yours,” he said. “Van, like the one we’re in. And sunset, like the thousand ones I wish to see with you in my arms.”
I lost my balance again, but this time not from worry but from knowing it was going to be fine. As long as we were together, it was all going to turn out okay.