Page 254 of Haunt Me

The captain is already shaking his head. “Anyone less broken than you, young lady, I have yet to see. Let me tell you who I saw that day. I remember it as if it was yesterday. You were so brave in the midst of such tragedy, and my heart broke for you. Kim and I checked up on you afterwards, in the hospital. You are a fighter, a survivor.”

“We have seen terrible things in this world, and I can testify to this: You are not what happened to you,” Kim says. “You are what you did after that. What you are doing now.”

“A rescuer of dogs,” I say, and Eden looks at me strangely.

“What now?” the captain asks, his interest piqued, and I relate the story of how Eden jumped in the waterfall to save Pooh last summer. The captain gets more and more impressed, even as his brows draw together when he understands how close we came to disaster that day.

“Sounds like you’re someone we would like to recruit, Eden,” Kim says, smiling with excitement.

Don’t you start with that.

“I don’t think so,” Eden replies. “I’ve been diagnosed with severe PTSD.”

“So have we,” Captain Sawyer says somberly. His eyes have not left Eden’s face for a second. “It’s what happens when you learn to survive. It happened to you sooner in life than it happened to us,” he points between himself and Kim, “but all it means is that you are brave. Strong. The kind of person who saves lives—including your own, if need be.”

I can confirm this is true. I have known both trauma and success. One does not replace the other. They both require handling—and I have handled both very badly. Eden hasn’t.

“It all depends on how you behave in the face of tragedy,” I say slowly. Mostly so that I can hear it myself. “What you think, what you do… What you choose to do.”

Kim is nodding. “And what I saw that day was a kid who chose to face things head on and be strong. To do what she had to do, even while she was falling apart. You always have a choice, Eden, and you chose strength. That is very rare, and I am lucky to have witnessed it.”

“Hey, stop trying to recruit her, Sergeant,” I joke, but deep down I’m terrified. Because these two are right. Eden would make a perfect first responder. She is calm in chaos, she is wise, responsible, and the most caring and brave person on the planet. And I should know, I have met most persons on the planet at this point.

“I’ve also had an offer from a queen,” Eden muses, her cheeks growing red. I meet her eyes, and she’s biting back a laugh. Oh, she’s enjoying this, isn’t she? Making me squirm.

“You seem to be in high demand. Are you going to make them fight for you, honey?” Kim asks, glowing like a proud mom.

“Sure am,” Eden says.

Suddenly, I remember the slam of jealousy that assaulted me last month when Jude told me that Eden preferred Theo’s security detail to mine.

Well, two can play at this game.

“A movie star is also trying to recruit her,” I add, thinking of Spencer and his idiotic schemes to write with her. Although, knowing him, he and Eden are probably already in talks about it. His idiotic schemes tend to come to fruition these days. “Everyone wants her. Kings and queens and everyone that matters.”

Do I matter? That is the question.

“Sounds that way.” Kim is looking at Eden with open admiration.

“It doesn’t feel that way,” Eden says, turning serious again. “I thought I would have fixed myself by now, but it’s taking time—if it will happen at all. I still struggle with feeling unwanted. It may never pass.” My body freezes up. “I keep having this… This flight response. I’m working on it, but it’s not going away.”

“All that means,” Kim’s tone is gentle but not condescending, “is that you need people in your life who will stay.”

“I will stay,” I say on reflex.

The captain smiles up at me with approval. “Hear that? This one stays.”

“I have been hearing that,” Eden looks at me. “For a year now.”

“Well, then, seems like he’s telling the truth,” he says. “And you also have a pair of ‘who do I have to kill’ sisters, if I’m not mistaken. Your young man told me about him.”

“She does,” I say. “And the one they mostly want to kill is me.”

“I highly doubt that,” Kim says and turns to face Eden. “You have so many guardian angels. Your bodyguards. And this guy.” Both she and the captain shake their heads at me.

“What?” I ask, on the defensive. “I’m just ‘this guy’? Am I not a ‘who do I have to kill’ sort of boyfriend?”

Eden blushes to the roots of her hair hearing me call myself her ‘boyfriend’. I smile widely—I can’t help it.

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