I turned around.
Damn.
In taking him from his place of captivity, it appeared that he had lost twenty pounds, and his face had taken on a rather gaunt appearance. Freshly showered, shaven and dressed in one of my suits, he looked much better.
Presentable.
I raised my glass. “Think nothing of it. And just keep the suit. It fits you well.”
“I still don’t understand.”
“Understand what?” I asked.
“Why?”
“Same as I told you in the car,” I said. “I made a mistake. I righted my wrong.”
He shook his head. “I owe you my fuckin’ life.”
I finished my scotch and sighed. “You owe me nothing.”
“Same as I told you in the car,” he said mockingly. “My father will reward you well.”
I hadn’t told him of any arrangements I had made with his father, or that he had participated with the organization of his release. I didn’t feel it was my place.
“All I care about is getting you home safely. You’re sure you don’t want anything to eat?”
“I’m sure.”
I raised my glass. “Drink?”
His eyes lit up. “One shot, just to take off the edge.”
I poured two glasses of scotch, neat, and we sat down at the bar. I studied him as he drank the whiskey, and came to realize three things.
One, he wasn’t much different than me. Although his involvement might be more criminal than mine throughout the course of a typical day, our work didn’t differ much. He was simply on one side of the line, and I the other.
Two, I missed the war. It was one place I truly felt I had a family of my own, a connection and a purpose. Rescuing Peter reminded me of war. For the brief time I was involved in his rescue, the three men at my side were my family. My brothers. I had no doubt that I would have forfeited my life for them if need be.
And, three, the union of family is a greater bond than any other, with the exception of one.
Love.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Terra
I would have expected a little more sympathy and considerably less criticism, but Michelle had always been an opinionated bitch.
“A fuckin’ day ago, everything was fine. Now, all of a sudden, he’s an asshole. Get over yourself,” she hissed.
“It’s not that easy.”
“It is that easy.”
“You just want to meet Cap,” I said. “And there’s no way I’m doing that now.”
“You’re a fuckin’ brat, Tee. A brat.” She shook her head and took a bite of her sandwich. Over her mouthful of food, she continued. “I just want you to be happy.”
The thought of permanently being without Michael hadn’t settled in yet. I ached from head to toe, and had no reason to believe it would ever stop. “It’s going to be a long time before I’m happy again.”
She took another bite of sandwich. “You gotta tell me what happened.”
“It really doesn’t matter.”
She finished chewing and swallowed. “Right now, it’s all that matters.”
I stared at my untouched sandwich. All I had done since I broke up with Michael was drink. Eating seemed out of the question. I wondered if talking about it would make me feel better. After a few seconds of contemplation, I realized the only person I could really be truthful with was Michelle.
“Okay, I’ll tell you.”
She bit into the sandwich, widened her brown eyes, and shrugged.
“When we met, he told me he was an investor. He said he invested in opportunities.”
She was chewing her food, but didn’t wait to respond. “You told me that.”
I wanted to tell her everything and have her agree that I was right and he was wrong. In the end, I hoped her acceptance of my actions would somehow provide me comfort. “Well, after I left here the other night, I drove by some random building, and his car was there. So I pulled in.”
She grabbed her glass of tea and washed down her sandwich. “Oh my God. He was fucking some skank.”
“No,” I snapped. “Just let me finish. So, I went in, and him and three other guys had guns, and they were dressed up like bank robbers.”
Her mouth fell open. “What?”
It seemed strange talking about it. It confirmed my actions were justified. “Yeah.”
She took a drink of tea. “What the fuck?”
“Exactly. What the fuck. So I asked him just that. What the fuck? He said ‘it’s complicated, I can’t tell you, but all I can say is that it isn’t bad.’ So, I looked around and said ‘do you work here?’ and he said he did. So I asked about the guns, and then we got into this whole other conversation...”