Remember Jamie Baker (Jamie Baker #3)(26)

It was a really sweet thought, but I was skeptical. “I’m not sure that’s possible. How could you ever separate yourself like that? You can’t just turn off your feelings, and you can’t forget the past any more than I can remember it.”

Ryan wasn’t deterred at all by my cynicism. “But I do have to get to know you again. You’re right that you aren’t the same person as you were before. Neither am I. Our experiences shape who we are. Your personality is still the same, but the things you’ve been through have changed you. It’s the same with me. The past six months have taken me so far from the guy I was before. Even if you did get your memories back, I’m sure we’d still have a lot of adjusting to do in our relationship. We’d still have to get to know each other again. You’re right that we can’t go back to the way things were. That’s impossible, so it would be a mistake to try. But that doesn’t mean we can’t start completely over.”

I bit my lip, considering his proposal. He had a point. Maybe he wouldn’t ever be able to let go of his feelings for me, and he’d always have memories that I didn’t, but if he could really start over, then maybe it was possible for us to be friends. “All right,” I agreed hesitantly. “I guess we could try it. But, if it’s okay with you, could we try to be just friends?”

“Just friends?” Ryan crinkled his nose at the thought.

I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling at the pout on his face. His antics were softening me, and I wasn’t about to let him know that he was getting under my skin. I had a feeling he was the kind of guy who, if given an inch, would take a mile.

“Yes. Just friends, please.” I gave him a look that I hoped was convincing. Hard to do when my mouth dried up every time I looked at his lips. “I just got out of a really messed up relationship. I need a break. I’m not really ready to start dating again.”

Ryan’s pout evaporated and he shrugged nonchalantly. “Okay.”

I was surprised at how easily he’d agreed to it. I’d expected more of a fight. Suspicion crept into my mind when he chuckled to himself as he settled back into his chair. “What?” I demanded.

“What do you mean, ‘what?’”

I was so not falling for the big, innocent puppy-dog face he gave me. I narrowed my eyes at him and he grinned even bigger. “It’s nothing,” he said. “I’m cool. We’re good. Just friends. Should be fun.” He snickered again.

I don’t know where the cocky attitude came from all of a sudden, but I found it so infuriating and made the cabin’s lights flicker again. Ryan glanced up at them and raised an eyebrow at me, trying his hardest not to laugh. It was so annoying, and yet it was going to make me laugh, too. I’d have rather fried the plane and sent us all plummeting to our deaths than let Ryan know he was amusing me. “Are you trying to make me crash this plane?” I hissed. “What is so funny?”

“Nothing,” Ryan insisted again. “I’m just a random guy with no memories of you, remember? I don’t find anything funny about this situation.”

I was so ready to kill him. “Just tell me,” I snapped, loud enough to earn strange looks from the rest of the ACEs.

Ryan attempted to smooth out his face. “You may not remember,” he said, “but you telling me to get lost and me completely ignoring your request is sort of our MO.”

“What?”

He shrugged. “You’ve made us try the ‘just friends’ things before, and you’re not very good at it. I give you a week at the most before you kiss me.”

My jaw hit my lap.

Ryan took in my expression as if he’d been waiting a lifetime to see whatever look was on my face. With another laugh, he leaned over and kissed my cheek. “It’s good to have you back, babe.”





After the plane ride—which I luckily fell asleep on, and was not awake to make us crash during landing—I found myself in the back of another transport truck, squished yet again between Ryan and Tyson while the rest of the ACEs stared at me.

Most of the military personnel stationed in Colorado stayed at the base in Colorado Springs, where our plane landed, but the ACEs hung their hats in the nearby nuclear bunker called NORAD. It’s this huge, heavily armed top-secret base built inside a freaking mountain. I guess because PACs are so top secret, they needed a more private place to train than the rest of the military. They needed a place where they can use their abilities without other people learning what they can do.

When we finally reached NORAD, the mountain swallowed up the road. There was a small, unflashy tunnel sticking out of the side of the mountain that just seemed to eat the road. It reminded me of a turtle missing its head. On either side of the tunnel was a high chain-link fence topped with barbed wire like the fences that surrounded prisons. Other than that, there wasn’t much to see. It gave me the creeps.

As we drove into the tunnel and were consumed by darkness, my heart started beating faster. A few hundred feet into the tunnel, the truck stopped at a set of thick metal doors made of solid steel. I shivered at the sight.

“So,” I asked, swallowing back my nerves. I didn’t want these men to see my fear. “How many of you have powers like Tyson and me?”

“Just one,” Ryan said, and all eyes shifted to the large African man.