Page 36 of Dear John

It soothed something in my chest to know I had a place to go. It wouldn’t be the same, but if it meant I could still do my job, I would make the change. I just had to contact Sebastian.

But not today. It was still too fresh.

“What about you?” Thumper asked Red.

I glanced at him, wondering what he would do. I didn’t want him to leave, but I couldn’t stand the thought of going this alone either.

He shook his head, sighing at the situation. “I can’t stay, but fuck. Everything is here. I have to think about Cotton and…” He glanced at me, his eyes filled with sorrow.

“It’s alright. I get it and I’m not mad. You have roots here, and Cotton doesn’t do well with change.”

I knew he didn’t want to break up the team, but there was no going back from what happened. I could never forgive Cash, not even in his state of duress, for basically throwing me to the wolves and threatening me and the people I loved. At least at Reed Security, I would be protected from any actions Cash took.

“So, this is it?” Rae asked.

“Don’t cry,” I smirked, knowing that was the last thing she would do. “We’ll see each other again.”

“Not if I see you first.”

She strode past me, circling her finger in the air. “Alright! Let’s get this shit done! I have places to be and a man at home waiting to get between my thighs!”

I glared at her. “That was just mean!”

13

EVA

“You kicked Kavanaugh off the team?”I shouted as I stormed into Cash’s office.

He didn’t even have the decency to look up as I shouted at him. His head was down as he read through some file, the whole time pretending like I wasn’t even there.

“Cash!”

Sighing, he flipped the folder shut and leaned back in his chair, staring at me like I was a giant annoyance. “Yes?”

I narrowed my eyes at my husband. This wasn’t him. Nothing about the man in front of me was anything like the Cash I knew and loved. If I didn’t know better, I would say it was Rafe sitting in front of me.

For just a moment, I really studied my husband and wondered if maybe there was some mixup. Could this really be him or…No. It wasn’t possible. Cash was with me before Rafe was taken to the island. To pull a switch like that...

“Impossible,” I whispered, pressing my hand to my stomach.

His eyes narrowed in on the movement, but he made no other gesture to signify that he noticed my terror or that he cared.

“What’s impossible?” he finally asked.

“You’re—”

“I’m what?”

I couldn’t rely on his word. Rafe had tricked me before. But if this man in front of me really wasn’t my husband, that meant…I closed my eyes, reliving the words I had heard from others.Burned at the stake.No, that couldn’t have been Cash. There was no way Rafe would allow that to happen to his brother. He fought so hard to get Cash back when he was taken in his place.

But this man was most definitely not my husband. I studied his face, looking for any sign that it was Rafe, but it was so freaking hard to tell. They were identical in every way. Even that damn bullet graze that took out part of Cash’s ear matched the same one Rafe had.

“Are we done here?” he snapped. “Or are you going to continue staring at me for another hour?”

My feet moved against my will. I was standing in front of him, staring at the man I needed to be my husband. Without a second thought, I bent over and pressed my lips to his.

Cold.

---