Page 102 of Enthrall Ecstasy
“You just come out and say it, don’t you?” I felt a stab of fury. “You have no filter, Jake.”
“Something happened on that mission south of Kabul. You need to talk to Henry about it. He was there.”
“Nothing happened.” I stepped back. “It all blends together anyway.”
“You need to tell someone. Let it out.”
“Let what out?”
“Whatever it was that changed you.”
Gesturing my frustration, I raised my hands. “Everyone came back changed. I’m no different.”
“You are.”
That would have shaken me if it were true.
“I’m sure Cole would have mentioned it by now,” I shot back.
“He probably knows you’re a lost cause.”
Is this what everyone thought of me? Someone who couldn’t be fixed to their level of acceptable?
“You never knew me,” I said.
“That’s just it, I knew you too well.” De Sade softened his tone. “Look, when a quarterback takes the field, he needs his teammates—”
“This isn’t a sports metaphor, is it?” I hated those. “Anyway, I was a SEAL. We take camaraderie to the next level.”
He sighed. “Look, what I’m saying is…the game of life can’t be won alone.”
My shoulders dropped as I mused over his ability to get through to me.
“Some introspection might be useful.” He pointed at me. “And never knock a sports metaphor.”
“Just tell me you’re okay,” I said softly.
“I miss you, but I can’t look back. I can’t go back to feeling starved of…” He let his words trail off, a pained expression on his face.
“I gave as much as I could.”
“The person you’re with deserves all of you.”
I didn’t want to deal with this now.
My afternoon was tainted; he always had this way of bringing me down.
“Rue’s too special to be ruined,” he threw in.
“You don’t think I know that?”
“You know she’s desperate for love.”
“She told you that?”
“Didn’t need to…I can read it all over her.”
“She’s been briefed on what to expect.”
