Page 106 of What I Should Have Done

“Yeah, um, I’ll join,” Duncan quickly stated.

Bernie rolled his eyes, and looked at Mikey and me. “We all know what you two want to do. So, go fuck someplace where we won’t see or hear it. We’ll be waiting whenever you guys get back,” he bluntly stated and shook his hand at the two of us, shooing us away.

“We’re just going to talk,” Mikey called back.

“Just talk? You’ve got one hell of a grovel ahead my man since you let her think you were dead for seven days. I’m pretty sure a good fucking would help.” Bernie winked as Mikey flipped him the bird.

“Who says I’m the only one who has to grovel?” Mikey spat.

Duncan raised his brows. “Because it’s you, Mikey. Duh.”

But the earlier words of casual confirmation from the team had me taken aback. I furrowed my brows, ignoring the last comment. “Wait, you guys are all okay with this?”

The three of them nodded. “Obviously,” Ford said, grinning.

“And I’m not going to get in trouble? Mikey won’t get in trouble?” I asked.

Bernie chuckled. “No. We’re not going to tell anyone else.”

And at least right at this moment, everything was perfect. Mikey was here. We had the Black Box. My team was fine with this. All that was left to do was take down Karim, which after everything we’d been through, that seemed like a piece of cake.

Mikey grinned and I was suddenly being dragged through the base. I’d never even walked into the motor pool, had no idea what it looked like, because Mikey and Dom always went and retrieved our vehicles. But as we rounded a corner and slipped past a gate, I recognized the landing pad and helicopter off to the left.

He guided me around another corner and rushed past a wall of sandbags. A row of vehicles lined the inner edge of the fortified location. While the inside of the motor pool was all but vacant of soldiers, there were Humvees, armored trucks, and other assortment of vehicles parked around me. On the far end was a fueling station and opposite the row of vehicles looked to be a mostly deserted maintenance bay.

All crudely constructed, all prepped for quick and easy dismantling, I furrowed my brows, wondering why it was mostly empty.

“Food and shift change, Scotch,” Mikey explained, answering my unspoken question.

“Oh, hush.” I rolled my eyes as he ducked around a Humvee. The sun dipped lower, settling an orange glow with the setting of the day. Nightfall would soon be here. My first night spent with Mikey. My first night I wouldn’t spend feeling so broken and alone.

Caught between two tan Humvees, the metal obscuring us from guard patrol or anyone else, Mikey shoved me against the side of the vehicle without hesitation.

“Uh uh,” I admonished, shaking my head as he reached to hoist me from the ground.

His gaze narrowed, pressing his body directly against mine. “Why the hell not?”

“Like Bernie said, you need to grovel, and we need to talk, because I’m still a little mad at you,” I muttered.

He smirked, cocking a brow. “Didn’t stop you before. You’ve always been slightly mad at me.”

“You’re an asshole, Blondie, you know that?” I replied, giving him a smile. He leaned forward, resting an arm above my head. “And you haven’t showered in seven days.”

“I’m aware. Of both things,” he said. My heart jumped, a giggle escaping my lips, and my eyes widened, shocked by my own response. “You’ve gotten soft on me.”

Narrowing my gaze, I sliced him a glare. “No, I haven’t.”

He inhaled deeply, dropping his arms to his side. “I’m really sorry. I can’t imagine how it must have felt.”

I sucked in my cheeks. “This is all your fault, you know?” A tear slid down my cheek. Raising my hand to wipe it away, he beat me to it and quickly swiped the stain away. “For seven days I thought you died. For seven days I believed that my last conversation with you left you thinking I wanted nothing more than a good fuck from you. That was it. And you broke your promise.”

“Technically, I didn’t break my promise.” His tender gaze swallowed mine, and he brushed a strand of hair away from my face. “I wouldn’t make you a promise I couldn’t keep.”

“So, are we talking now?”

A gentle smile softened his face. “I missed you.”

Another wave of overwhelming undecipherable emotions washed over me and the word vomit was uncontrollable. “I’m so sorry, Mikey. I was selfish. I was just scared. There’s something about you that just honestly terrifies me. I’ve always been driven, able to ignore my emotions and set them aside to make sure my career works out. That whatever goal I’m working toward isn’t blocked by anything else. Or more specifically, anyone else. But every time I’m around you, I let go and find myself saying ‘fuck it’ way too often. Except I don’t mind it in the moment, and even afterwards it seems to be fine until I blow shit up and—”

---