Accidental Shield (Marriage Mistake #6)(42)

Jesus, is it that bad?I wonder.

I’m not even sure I want to sit down and find out more, but I have to. So I plop down on the edge of the bed. He sits beside me, keeping an arm snug around my shoulders that’s pure agony because it still feels like it belongs there.

“Let’s get the obvious out of the way. First, you’re gonna hate my guts, and I don’t blame you. It started as Cash’s idea. I told the fuck this wouldn’t work, you were too smart to fall for it, but...hell, it just got away from me and snowballed.”

“What snowballed?”

He draws in a sharp breath. “Cash saw some men throw you off your family’s yacht, not far from some little islands off the north point. They threw you into the yacht’s runabout, and you took off, but they also tossed a bomb or launched some kind of explosive in pursuit. You jumped out a few seconds before the ship blew to kingdom come. Cash went out there with his boat, found you in the water, and dragged you back to shore. Because of what he saw, he brought you here. We couldn’t take you to a hospital, knowing those men would keep looking when your body didn’t turn up.”

I nod numbly. It feels like there’s an electric current running through my blood.

“Then when you woke up the next morning and couldn’t remember anything...Cash—fucking Cash—told you we were married. He thought it’d help so you wouldn’t be scared to stay here with me. Don’t ask me what kind of idiot jackass he is, still trying to figure that one out myself.”

I’d closed my eyes when he started talking. My head keeps pounding about as fast as my heart.

I can feel the memories.

I can’t remember them, no, but I can feel the blast, the heat, the roaring waves. The fire, flames everywhere, hissing debris. Trying to swim away.

“Savanny?” I whisper.

“He was with you. Think you pushed him overboard in time, and I hear he’s a born swimmer. Cash saved him, too.”

Pressing a hand to my forehead, I say, “I can’t remember all the details, but I think it happened, just like you say. I feel it.”

He rubs my back, his nimble fingers arcing down. “You’re safe here, Val. That’s the only reason I ever lied, and I feel like a huge damn asshole for doing it.”

“I know,” I say, my eyes drifting down. “I knew you weren’t trying to hurt me ever since I woke up. But...but why didn’t you tell me the truth then? Even if Cash thought it’d help, why go through all this?”

He’s silent for a moment, his face dark, but then he takes my hand. “You’ve still got men looking for you, Val. Dangerous men who want to make sure you died in that blast.”

Oh. It hadn’t dawned on me, and when it does, I get my second shock of the day.

My heart hits the back of my throat, causing me to choke.

I cough, and Flint pats my back, but it doesn’t seem to help. It’s like I’m being strangled.

“I-I...can’t. Can’t br-brea—”

“You can and you will,” Flint says, patting my back hard while pushing my head down between my knees. “Focus. One breath at a time. You’ve made it this far.”

I listen. I’m not sure how he makes it happen, but it works.

The air flows in and out of my mouth, my nostrils, my lungs again. Every breath eases the panic swell threatening to crush me like this ruthless wave.

I stay like that with my head hanging down, trying to decipher everything he said.

But I don’t need to decipher anything. He’s telling me the truth about my life.

I’ve known it for some time, but I still don’t know what it is. I only feel bits and pieces. It’s so weird, so fragmentary, so many little gaps I’m missing, but I’m sure of one thing.

There are men after me. I don’t know them, I don’t know why, but they’re coming. I truly believe they want me dead, just like he said.

Who knows, maybe they’ve been after me for some time.

“To clear shit up, I only lied about us being hitched,” Flint says, drawing slow, winding circles over my back. “Cash and I were special forces. Navy SEALs, once, then we specialized in security services. He’s truly a doctor, I sold a patent, and we owned a security and rescue company together after our time with Uncle Sam. We know what we’re doing.”

“SEALs?” I shake my head, even though it’s still hanging between my knees. “You never told me that.”

“Sorry. It’s not something I fling around. Until Cash found you, we’d bowed out of the cloak and dagger shit, thought we’d left it all behind.” He turns briefly to stare out the window at all the pure, golden light falling down on another perfect island day. “It’s not paradise out there, even if it looks like it. Not yet. Our work’s not done. Not till you’re safe.”

This is so different from not remembering anything. It makes my head hurt, but in a different way. “So is Bryce really your son, or just a kid you’ve got under your protection?”

“No, he’s mine.”

“What does he know about me?” I ask him.

Flint’s hand goes still on my back. “Nothing much beyond the pointers I gave him an hour ago. You’re a friend of mine, you’re in trouble, and I’m helping you out. Keeping you safe until we catch the bad guys.”