Page 18 of Dear John

“Do you tell Bowie?” I retorted.

Rolling her eyes, she flopped back on the bed. “Not if I want to be able to leave the house without him following me.”

“So, you see why I didn’t say anything. Things are already on edge with us,” I sighed. “If I tell him, it’s only going to make things more difficult. He’s going to feel responsible, and then he’s going to want to add security.”

“No,” she sat up, already shaking her head. “I can’t handle that. I just want things to go back to normal.”

“Exactly, and Shawn is in the hospital. He’s not a threat.” I bent over, resting my elbows on my knees, still trying to recover from the dream. I took a deep breath as Riley rubbed a hand over my back. It helped, but the visions—those terrible things I saw in my nightmares, those wouldn’t leave me. They would only add to the nightly reel of things that freaked me the fuck out and ensured I wouldn’t get any sleep.

Footsteps on the stairs had me stiffening. Even Riley straightened and pretended everything was fine. Kavanaugh grinned at me, though he looked like he hadn’t slept at all. “Coffee,” he said, holding one out to me.

“Thanks,” I smiled.

“Yes, thank you,” Riley grinned, snatching the second out of his hand.

“That was actually for me,” he muttered.

“Which is why it’s so nice that you decided to give it to me,” she smiled, getting to her feet. She shot me a look once she was past Kavanaugh, then fled the room.

He sat beside me and brushed my curls over my shoulder. I didn’t need to see the look on his face to know that he was worried about me. “Did you get any sleep?” he asked.

“Is that your nice way of telling me I don’t look good?”

“Not at all,” he smiled.

“Because this is not how I normally look when I’m awake. You’ve seen me,” I deflected. “I look awesome.”

“I know, Red.”

It didn’t matter how many times I reminded him that he had a teammate named Red. The nickname stuck.

“When did you leave?”

He shrugged. “Had to run to OPS.”

“I thought you had the day off.”

“I do,” he said hesitantly. “The senator called.”

I immediately stiffened, but I did my best not to jump to the wrong conclusion. “What did he want?”

“He…” He rubbed his hand along the back of his neck and sighed. “The information he promised didn’t lead anywhere.”

“And he knew that, so he was calling to offer you more?” I asked hopefully.

“Not exactly. He made me another offer.” I scoffed before he even finished. “He can get me the information I need, but it’s going to cost a lot.”

“How much?”

“Working with him, protection during his campaign…”

My jaw dropped and I got to my feet, not liking where this was going. “He wants you to go back to your fake life.”

He nodded, not bothering to look at me.

“And you’re considering this.”

“I had actually hoped to discuss it with you first,” he snapped, then softened his voice. “Sorry, I get tense when I talk to the senator.”

---