The Long Way Home (Corps Security #6)(79)

“She…” I clear my throat. “She is.”

“Well, what do you say we get going so I can meet my soon-to-be little sister.”

Eyes round, this time I don’t sneak a glance, I gawk with my mouth wide open.

Zac, ever his pop’s son, reaches out, and with one finger under my jaw, he closes my mouth. “Don’t look so shocked.” He leans in, over Zeke, and whispers in my ear, “Bet he’s already got the ring, too.” He grunts out the last word and stands while rubbing his stomach and smiling down at Zeke. He looks at me one more time with a wink before moving to sit behind us.

“Shit,” Zeke breathes.





We’d been in the air for about an hour into our three-hour flight when I couldn’t take it any longer. The turbulent thoughts pinging around in my head were violent enough to make me sick to my stomach. Maddox was flying this plane so smoothly, I couldn’t even blame the sea of turmoil in my gut on the flight. Even the air around me seemed to be humming with an undercurrent of troubled energy. The men, for their credit, didn’t outwardly show that anything was amiss. They kept their conversations light: sports, meat, and who was paying next time they go play golf.

Zeke hadn’t left my side.

Nor has he spoken once.

Not to the men.

Not to his son.

And not to me.

He had rested his head back about a half hour ago. Something, I should note, I watched from the curtain of my hair.

So I had hit my last nerve.

The proverbial straw snapping the camel’s back in half.

I clear my throat, turn my body, and slide my hand from his. His eyes snap open instantly. I reach out, placing my hand on his cheek, and gently turn his head toward me. He hasn’t shaved, and the stubbly hair on his cheek tickles my hand, sending shivers up my spine. My thumb moves without thought, soothing the skin beneath it. When he closes his eyes and his chest shutters, I almost cry. How can I stay angry with him when my strong man is starting to split apart by his own beating?

Leaning over while gently pulling him toward me, I place my mouth close to his ear. “Is there somewhere other than a bathroom back there where we could go talk?”

His heavy pull of air as he inhales slowly sounds like a bullet going off as it breathes the silence from him. His head moves, nodding and gliding against where our faces are touching. He reaches out, unsnapping my belt before repeating the gesture on his own. He stands. Bless the men around us, they don’t pause in their conversation once. Zeke takes my hand and helps me stand. We walk past the few rows of opulent leather seats, and he leads me toward the back of the plane.

I hadn’t allowed myself to look around earlier, so the second door in the back takes me by surprise when he reaches out to take the handle. When it opens, it looks like a mini hotel in the sky.

There’s a bed in the back of the space, something I avoid looking at too long. I might be mad at him, but I’m not immune to his …. Well, everything. There’s a loveseat and recliner right inside the room, placed in front of a large TV. Mini fridge and a small table with two chairs connected to it by some windows.

It’s intimate.

Private.

In any other scenario, I would have gone right to that cozy-looking bed … instead, I lead us over to the table. The loveseat would mean we would be right on top of each other, and … I needed the space to get this all out.

He folds his huge frame into the small chair and waits for me to speak. Letting me lead. I appreciate that more than he will ever know. I know it’s not easy for a man like him to drop the lead in any situation.

“Why?” I ask, breaking the silence with one word that might as well have been a gunshot. His reaction, a flinch so strong his bulky frame jolted. “Why was our girl hurt, Zeke?”

“Ours,” he whispers, word so heartbreakingly sad it’s me that reacts with a jolt this time.

“Of course, she’s yours too, Zeke. What on earth did you think we were doing here?” I ask, pointing at each other.

I see his throat work when he swallows thickly. He holds his finger up gesturing for me to give him a second while he leans forward, elbows to the table, and drops his head into his hands. My mouth opens slightly and I know I’m seconds away from crying when I see his shoulders shake slightly.

If I live to be a hundred, I never want to see him look like this again.

Not ever again.

“Zeke,” I whisper, reaching out and placing my hand on his shoulder.

“Done a lot in my life but seeing your face when you got that call about Riley will forever be at the top of my scariest moments. I’ll never forget seeing that fear and pain on your face. I put that there.”

What?

He really believes that.

“Did you hurt her?”

He looks up, fat tears ready to fall from his eyes.

“Would you have left with me had you known there was a threat out there?”

I shake my head, confirming.

“You would have been there. Riley would have been with you and wouldn’t have been at the shop that long.”

“Do you think just by me being there it would have been different? She wasn’t there much longer than she would have been if I was home to be at the shop.”

“She wouldn’t have been there that late and you know it.”

“We could argue over this all night, Zeke. Me being here with you was a choice I do not regret. It’s also not the reason something happened to her. Something you need to explain to me.”