Master No (Masters and Mercenaries, #9)(64)

“He was tortured?” She’d suspected it, but couldn’t stand the thought of that man being vulnerable and hurt. He was so big and strong, and the idea of someone taking it from him…well, she knew what it meant to feel helpless.

“I heard it was bad,” Erin said quietly. “He’s a strong guy, but I think it’s the strong ones who take it the worst. I always knew I could be hurt, you know. It wouldn’t be a shock to my system.”

Phoebe’s eyes hooded. “Ten knew he could be hurt. I don’t know the whole of it, but his childhood pretty much sucked ass.”

“Which is why he got strong,” Erin replied, her eyes grim. “He got stronger than everyone around him, and more powerful, and it still didn’t work. I was never stronger. No matter how much I worked out or how good I got at my job. Welcome to being female in the military.”

Something about the cocky grin on Erin’s face made Faith wonder if she was really talking about the military—or her family. She’d caught some behaviors that made her wonder about Erin’s home life as a child.

Phoebe shook her head as though shaking off bad thoughts. “Anyway, Ten doesn’t like to show off the scars.”

“I’ve seen them. They don’t make him any less beautiful,” Faith said quietly.

“Which is precisely why I like you,” Phoebe replied. “You make him relax in a way I haven’t seen in forever. I know he can be difficult.”

“He’s not. He’s damn near perfect. He’s treated me like a princess.” She wasn’t going to have Ten’s sister think he wasn’t a great guy.

“All right. I’ll put it a different way,” Phoebe began. “He can be an emotionally closed off bastard when he wants to be.”

Shit. Were they going to have this talk? Was she even ready to have this talk? “We’re just getting to know each other. He doesn’t have to open up about everything. He says all the right things actually. I’m enjoying my time with him.”

“But?” Phoebe was like a dog with a bone.

“But nothing. It’s going well.”

“It’s probably really hard for Ten to be open to anyone.” Erin sat back, a blank look on her face that didn’t fool Faith for a moment. “Sometimes what it takes is a whole lot of patience to get through to a guy like Ten. Not that I would want to. I’m really better at punching things than being patient.”

Phoebe’s lips curled up slightly. “Lucky for you Theo’s patient.”

“He is not. He’s a manipulative bastard who uses every given opportunity to force me closer to him even when I don’t want to be.” She sipped on her margarita before begrudgingly continuing. “Didn’t want to be. Guys are bad news. You think you can have a little taste and it’ll be okay. You’ll be able to walk away all whole and shit. A Venus flytrap. That’s what Theo is. I’m this fly and I’m flying and happy to be single and then he baited his trap with a pretty smile and really nice abs, and now I’m stuck and he’s closing his man jaws on me and I can’t get out because it’s nice in there, you know.”

Phoebe was staring Erin’s way, her jaw slightly open. “That is the most words I’ve ever heard you say.”

Erin’s eyes rolled. “It’s not my fault I’m not good at this shit. I never planned to be part of some icky couple thing. He bought us matching coffee mugs. They say Theo and Erin on them. I’m not kidding. I kind of want to break them, but then he would get the feels and…I don’t get guys.”

“You’ve never been in love before.” Poor Erin. She was so confused and scared and Theo wasn’t about to let her get away.

“I never wanted to be.”

“But then you kind of miss the point of life, don’t you?” Faith asked. How did she make her friend understand? “One day when I was working in Ghana, this man was walking up the road. It was obvious he was from one of the outlying villages. He was dressed in traditional wear and he was carrying something. I rushed out to help him and I found out he was carrying his wife. He’d carried her over thirty miles wearing no shoes. I have no idea how he was walking. His feet were so torn up and infected. She had a terrible case of pneumonia.” She could still remember the elderly woman and the way she’d clutched her husband’s hand even as she’d died. “I couldn’t save her. But he wasn’t mad. He cried and held her and he told me he had to try because she was precious. He stayed with us while his feet healed. I put him on suicide watch but he laughed at me. He told me why would he die when he could still walk where they walked. He told me he had so many good memories and he could live on those.”

“That sounds awful,” Erin said with a frown. “That’s a really good reason to not do the marriage thing.”

She didn’t understand. “No. That wasn’t what I thought. I thought he was so lucky. He was feeling that pain because he’d loved someone with his whole heart. The rest of his life he would know that he’d done what he was supposed to do. He’d loved. He’d been loved. Wouldn’t it be empty if we didn’t feel the loss? It would mean we’d never felt the love.”

Phoebe reached for her hand and there were tears in her eyes. “At some point my brother is going to f*ck up and I’m going to beg and plead with you in advance to give him a chance that you don’t think he deserves. He’s had it so rough, but he smiles around you in a way I haven’t seen in years.”