Forsaken Duty (Red Team #9)(32)

Owen smiled. Sometimes her voice reminded him of her child self, the kid he’d played imaginary games with. He gave a slight bow. “Goodnight, my Laidy.”

She held absolutely still for a moment, then placed her hand on the center of his chest. Owen went on alert.

“Sometimes, you remind me of the Owen I once knew.”

He smiled when he realized they’d both been thinking the same thing. “I am that Owen.”

“Are you?”

He closed his eyes, so briefly, but when he opened them, she was gone. The doors to the dressing room were still open, but the light they admitted was meager. Owen walked around the space, which was smaller than the bedrooms in this house but bigger than several regular-sized walk-in closets. He wondered if there wasn’t a hidden room in here like there was in Jax’s bedroom. It would have been easy to carve out a little space between this dressing room and the bathroom behind it. Ten feet was all that was needed for a panic room.

He wondered if Addy and Troy did drills in preparation for a fast bug-out. Maybe that was something he should work on with them.

He went over to the air mattress, but his gut rebelled at the setup. It would be easy to be blocked in here, away from Addy, if the home was invaded. He didn’t like it. He turned the mattress on its side and dragged it into her room, setting it near the foot of her bed then adjusting the covers.

“What are you doing?” she hissed.

“Fixing the layout.” He went back for the pillows.

“You can’t do that. I want it where I put it.”

“No can do, princess.”

“You won’t get any sleep here.”

“Why not?”

“I snore.”

Owen laughed, then sobered. “I never knew that. We only had one night together…and we didn’t spend much of it sleeping.”

“Right. So now you know. Put it back in the other room.”

Owen sat on the low mattress and removed his boots. “I’ve been bunking with men the better part of the last decade. A few of your snores will be nothing in comparison.” While he hated air mattresses, he was actually looking forward to a little sleep. He slipped under the covers and folded his hands beneath his head. “Goodnight, Laidy. Don’t let the bed bugs bite.”

“Owen. Tremaine.”

He smiled at the frustration in her voice and the way she’d used his full name as if he were a child she was fed up with. “Adelaide. Jacobs.”

“Fine.”

“Yes. Fine.” He stared at her ceiling, though he couldn’t see much of it in her dark room. It was gaudy as hell with its elaborate Victorian scrolling woodwork that had been covered in silver leaf. He listened for a long time for her promised snores, which never came.

“It’s a game, you know.” Her whisper startled him.

“What is?”

“What the Omnis are doing. I don’t understand it. How can stealing children, torturing women, killing people indiscriminately, and all the other crimes the Omnis commit be a game? But to them, it is.”

Torturing women? Had she been tortured? “Who told you it was a game?”

“Wendell.”

Owen sat up and looked at Addy. Though he couldn’t see her eyes, he knew she was looking at him. She moved to the edge of the bed and settled on her belly, her legs folded at the knees. She propped herself up by her elbows.

“What exactly did Jax tell you?” he asked.

“He said that I didn’t see the whole picture, which is true. But given what happened to me, and even supposing I was just one of many whose lives were hijacked, I still can’t see it as a game. A club where demented men get their jollies satisfied, maybe.”

“Not sure any of us sees the whole picture. I’ll tell you what I know, if you’re interested.”

“I am.”

Owen spent the next hour telling her about the history of the Omnis, the apparent schism the secret org had suffered. He told her about the documentation they got from Blade’s mom and Val’s dad that talked about drastically reducing the world population. They talked about the dark faction’s fascination with genetics and seeding a perfect race. They covered the fact that the unit he was in was formed by her dad and Greer’s granddad as a response to the international threat caused by Omni allies. Jax’s belief that Owen’s dad was alive, and how that wasn’t exactly far-fetched, given the fact that Blade’s dad wasn’t dead and Addy obviously wasn’t dead.

“I can’t honestly see how it’s a game,” he said. “It’s more a bunch of organized anarchists who want to tear the world apart.” Something he and Jax had had many a debate about in their early days in the Army. Another checkmark against him. “They’ve infiltrated governments. Absorbed various anti-government groups. Bought secrets and paid off officials in exchange for lucrative info. The Omnis are organized, powerful, and far-reaching. They seem too intent to have done all they’ve done since the middle of the last century just for whimsy.”

“I almost rather your view of the Omnis than mine,” she said.

“How so?”

“I can understand the logic of an organization—even an evil one—that wants to change the world. Whether I agree with it or not, it makes sense. But to be destroying people’s lives just for fun? I can’t grasp that.” She reached over to him. He hooked his thumb around hers. “I’ve missed talking to you, Owen. You’re the only one in my entire life who talks to me, not at me. Ever.”