Page 83 of Rescued Duty

This last part hurt to say, because it meant what happened was real. But she needed to be completely honest.

Naya looked him in the eye. “You left. You abandoned me. Looking out the window to your grandma’s house and knowing you weren’t there was a reminder of what I’d lost. I was once again the outcast and unwanted.”

“I’m sorry,” Zack whispered.

“You were my friend. Or so I thought,” she said. “And I was foolish enough to trust you again. To think that maybe I didn’t know the whole story. Maybe you’d grown up and there could be something more between us.” Except she’d been wrong.

Water pooled in Zack’s eyes. “I never meant to hurt you.”

Naya wrung her hands. He didn’t raise his voice or try to defend himself. There wasn’t even a hint of anger in his face. Only a mix of what was, what could have been, and what should be.

If Zack didn’t want to help her see this story through, that was his choice. But it meant their paths would probably never cross again this side of heaven. She needed people she could depend on.

If they were going to go their separate ways, she needed an answer to one question she’d lived with for years. “Why did you leave?”

TWENTY-FIVE

Zack gripped the steering wheel.Now or never.

But the words wouldn’t form.

The pounding rain against the hood of Naya’s car fell in time to the steady thump of his heart. Each beat more agonizing than the last.

He’d meant everything he’d told Naya. Hurting her had never been part of the plan.

They both had choices to make about what happened next, and either way, someone would get hurt. She wanted to keep investigating the story, but now that someone was dead, he wanted her to forget the story and be safe. He wanted to shake some sense into her and tell her she wasn’t thinking clearly.

Had she not seen Will face down on the ground—dead?

This story, the truth, was not worth it if the cost was more lives. If it meant she gave upherlife.

“Why, Zack?” Her whispered voice pierced through the recesses of his mind and took him back to that day. “Why did you leave?”

When you walk through the fire, I will be with you.The reminder from Isaiah 43 echoed in his mind.

Lord, give me wisdom. Help me speak the truth with kindness. Give me the courage to be honest. Whatever the outcome of this conversation, protect Naya. And may the person behind these attacks be caught quickly.

He leaned his head against the cool glass window and took a deep breath, willing his heart to stop racing. “I didn’t have a choice.”

He raked his fingers through his hair. He hoped Naya could see through to his heart. “We made a pact that we would always be friends. That we’d stick by each other.” Zack threaded his finger under the bracelet and spun it around his wrist. He’d been a freshman in high school, and she’d been in eighth grade.

“I remember.” Naya’s gaze trailed down to his hand. “We gave each other the red bracelets.”

“Then you lost yours.”

“I fidgeted with it all the time.”

Naya had told him she couldn’t find it when they got back from youth group one night.

“I think it fell off during game time. You won’t forget me now, will you?” Tears sprang to her eyes, and her breath came in short pants.

He knew what it was like to lose people. And he didn’t want her questioning their friendship.

“I knew how much it meant to you, so I made a promise to myself to find your bracelet.”

In retrospect, he should be able to laugh, because the way he had gone about obtaining her bracelet hadn’t been the smartest decision. But it couldn’t be reversed now.

“What’s that mischievous look for?” Naya narrowed her eyes.

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