Page 30 of Stand Fast

Even painkillers could be the start of a slippery slope for a lot of people. For that reason he never gave a patient a higher dosage than absolutely necessary during treatment and transport. Not unless they were going to die and the only act of kindness was to pump them so full of meds that they didn’t suffer in their last few minutes on earth. His hands tightened around the steering wheel as ghostly faces flashed in his mind.

Pushing them aside, he glanced in the mirror again. Jaliya was watching him, the touch of her gaze a low-grade tingle beneath his skin.

“Do your parents support your job?” she asked.

“In FAST, you mean? Or the agency in general?”

“Both.”

“Yeah, they do. They’re proud that I’m trying to make a difference for the people here and back home by cutting off funding to terrorist organizations and cartels. But they don’t love how dangerous it is.” He took in her profile for a second as she gazed out the window before focusing back on the road. “Why, you don’t think yours support your job?”

She made a face. “They like that I’m fighting for what I believe in, but they’d always hoped I’d pick something more academic.” She tossed a grin at him. “More white collar.”

“So they’re snobs,” he teased.

She laughed and he smiled in reflex. “When it comes to professions, yes, I guess they are. Mostly I think they just worry about me all the time. They want me to be safe, and to them that means a comfy, boring desk job back in the States.”

I want you safe, too. It’s why I’m here.But he would never want her to give up a job she was so well suited for and obviously loved, even if it was dangerous. He might not like that she was in danger, but he’d learn to deal with it.

“I guess that’s just something parents never stop doing—worrying about us.” He loved her laugh. And her voice, her cute British accent. Her dedication to her job and that she was a team player.

“Maybe. And, I guess you’ve probably noticed by now that I hate any kind of misogynistic bullshit.”

“I had, yes,” he answered with a straight face.

“I noticed that too, by the way,” Prentiss said with a wry smile.

She gave a soft chuckle that went straight to Zaid’s gut. “My parents and sisters share my view on that, but they hate that I’m so vocal about it. They think I should fight quietly and not be so…brash about it.”

“But then you wouldn’t be you,” Zaid said.

She turned her head to meet his gaze in the mirror then, and for a split second there was such unguarded gratefulness on her face that it sent a wave of tenderness through him. He wished they’d been alone and not riding in a vehicle so he could hug her.

“That’s exactly it.” She paused a moment, as if searching for the right words. “I tried to fit into their mold when I was younger, I really did, but I felt suffocated. We all love each other, even if my father can’t say the words, so that made it easier when I broke with tradition and went my own way.”

The friction with her father was starting to make a lot more sense now. “How many sisters?”

“Two. I’m the middle.”

He grinned. “It’s always the middle child.”

She shot him a playful glare. “What are you, then, the perfect eldest?”

“Nope. Only. Perfect? My mom thinks so. Although my cousin did come to live with us for a few years when I was in my teens, and she was like a sibling.”

“Was?”

His stomach muscles grabbed. “She…passed away the year she was supposed to graduate.” He’d never gotten over it. Or over the feeling that he could have—should have—done more to save her.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. What happened?”

Prentiss already knew the story, so Zaid didn’t mind telling her with him here. “Her ex wouldn’t take no for an answer, refused to believe they were done. So he ran her car off the road and shot her twice in the chest as she lay there pinned in the wreck.”

“Oh my God, how awful. Is he in jail?”

It had been the darkest time of Zaid’s life, knowing that he hadn’t done enough to protect her. “Yes. I think about her all the time. She had the purest heart of anyone I’ve ever known. Maybe she was too good for this earth.”

“That’s the nicest compliment I’ve ever heard someone give another person.”

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