Page 38 of Matched

Chapter Fifteen

Tony

Goddamn Texas heat. And thank fuck for the AC in this hotel. Bear pushes me and I almost stumble as we head into the small dining area we’ve been monopolizing the past couple of nights. I turn and give the big behemoth the middle-finger salute, even though I’m not really mad. On tough days, Bear is the glue that holds us all together.

The training is long and exhausting, but there’s something so satisfying about working my body to its limits. But I miss Inara. And her lips. And the way her tiny frame and curves fit right into me. The mere thought of her sends the blood pulsing to my dick, and I bite back a groan. Fuck, I can’t be popping a boner right now.

“Inara say anything about the broken vase?” Craiger asks.

“Nope.” I stop in front of the TV, shoulder to shoulder with Jim. A cable weather station is focused on the East Coast, and a blob containing a large amount of purple and red on the computer model is moving off the Atlantic, with the predicted path to take it right over Virginia. Exhaustion makes me a little slow on the uptake, but when I realize what I’m looking at, my stomach dives into my boots.

“Shit.” Jim steals the word right out of my mouth.

The weatherman starts talking and as soon I catch the words storm and hurricane, I whip out my cell and immediately call Inara. The phone rings and rings as I pace toward the back patio and with each passing second, the pain grows in my stomach. When the call goes to voice mail, I hang up and dial her again, standing at the door, unable to force myself out into the punishing heat.

“Tony?” Inara picks up at last, sounding out of breath. “Is everything okay? Are you hurt?”

Her familiar voice pours over me, and I close my eyes and picture her beautiful face while I hasten to calm her fears. “Everything’s fine. I’m calling because I saw the weather report and wanted to make sure you were home safe. There’s a storm heading your way and it’s going to be a big one.”

She releases a heavy sigh into the phone. “Oh, thank God. You scared the shit out of me. The storm’s been all over the news here too.”

I hold the phone away from my head and blink at it. Did she just admit that she’d been scared? On my behalf? That little detail shouldn’t matter, but damned if I’m not all warm and tingly all of a sudden. I put the phone back up to my ear. “Can you repeat that?”

“I said, the storm’s been all over the news here too.”

“No, not that. The part before it. You know, where you said that you’re worried about me. Like a real wife and all.”

There’s a pause where I can practically see her roll her dark eyes. “Seriously? You call from training to give me crap?”

I chuckle at the exasperation in her voice. Damn. I really do miss her and her spunky ways. “You’re staying inside, right?”

There’s another brief pause. “Not exactly. I’m needed on a callout to Shenandoah National Park.”

Those are about the last words I’m expecting and my fingers tighten around the phone as if trying to crush it into pieces. The weatherman warned the storm would be one of the worst this year. “Inara, it’s going to be too dangerous. If you get hurt, then you can’t help anyone.” I grip the cell tighter while my chest flutters, the lack of control causing my head to go light. “Please, stay home.”

“Tony, you know how important this is to me. I promise, I can handle it.”

I rub my hand over my smooth scalp to try to calm myself down and when that doesn’t work, I hit my fist against the nearby wall. A woman pulling a suitcase behind her turns at the noise, then averts her eyes and picks up her speed toward the lobby. I try to keep my tone low and steady, but by the time I get to the end of my speech, it climbs again. “They’re saying it’s not even safe to drive. What do you think is gonna happen while you’re hiking through the mountains?”

Her voice rises this time. “I’m doing an important job. I know it’s dangerous, but what about your job? Yours is even more dangerous and I support you in all of it.”

“You mean the way you did when I first got the news I was leaving?” I’d told myself that her reaction that day was no big deal, but I guess some subconscious part of me has been clinging to the hurt.

She sighs again, a soft sound that I barely catch. “You’re right. I did react poorly, and I’m sorry. I was caught off guard. I’ll do better next time.”

“Well, okay. Good.” While touched by her quiet admission, and also flustered, that is so not the point! Doesn’t she understand I’m scared shitless for her? “But that still doesn’t mean you should be out there.”

“Why don’t you explain to the missing girl how you deem my life more valuable than hers?”

I lean my head against the wall and exhale. “Shit. I’m sor—”

“And you might as well tell Jim to stop calling Taya because she’s just going to say the exact same thing to him.” She hangs up before I have a chance to respond, before I can mention that I respect what she’s doing. I respect her strength, her courage, but I don’t love the risk. I don’t love that at any moment she could be called away and have to wade through dangerous settings to find someone. Aren’t there limits, though, circumstances that determine whether or not she should go out? Surely a hurricane coming is grounds for sitting this one out.

I stomp back to Jim, passing the guys seated at a table, staring at their own phones. He’s got the same irritated and worried face I must have. Jim rubs his eyes with his palms. “Let me guess, Inara’s got the same idea as Taya.”

“I don’t know what the hell they’re thinking.” My stomach aches with a sourness I can’t place. What if something happens to her and I’m not there? My mother’s face flashes across my mind. This. This is exactly what I promised myself I’d avoid. I don’t want to worry about someone else. To think about how devastated I would be if something bad happens to her. I’ve lived through that kind of pain once already. No way do I want to sign up for a second round.

Damn you, Inara.

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