Page 39 of Freeing Camila

She let the silence fall again, resting on them like a blanket. Her heart beat steadily in her chest—not the wild, anxious kind she’d come to expect from being near someone. This was something else. A calm sort of awareness. A warm hum beneath her skin.

“Thank you,” she said, barely louder than a whisper.

“For what?”

“For this. For letting me be here. Like this.”

“I should be thanking you,” he replied.

“What? Why?”

He took a deep breath then let it out slowly. “You’ve taught me a lot in the short amount of time we’ve known each other.”

“How so?”

“Remember I mentioned losing a teammate?”

“Yeah.”

“He was my best friend. Liam. We both worked for Condor’s Overwatch and were on a mission. It was supposed to be a cake walk. Liam’s fiancée, Sutton, was a Pulitzer Prize winning photographer. She often went into the most unstable places. And we were her protection. We got lazy. That’s no excuse but it’s the truth. We knew there were factions in Colombia that were violent. But we let our guard down. Sutton was there to document a gathering of Colombian woman and girls who’s only wish was to be empowered. For two days, we listened as they shared ideas and made plans.”

“What happened,” she asked after he went quiet.

“There was a woman. I was attracted to her. She offered to meet me away from the village that night. I thought Sutton was safe with Liam, so I went into the jungle to meet her. It was stupid. I was old enough to not be led around by my dick. I can’t explain why I did it. I waited in the trees like a foolish teenager. She never showed, but Liam did.”

She gasped. “Why?”

“I didn’t know it at the time, but he’d grown unhappy in his relationship. She wanted things he wasn’t ready for. They were getting older, and she wanted to stop traveling so much. Maybe start a family.”

“Makes sense. I can’t imagine living out of a suitcase all the time.”

“I think Liam was close to ending things with her, but I thought his sense of decency would prevent him from being unfaithful. Never in my wildest dreams did I envision a scenario where the same woman would seduce both of us.”

“No,” she gasped. “She lured you both? How evil.”

He chuckled, but it wasn’t a joy filled sound. “You have no idea.”

“What happened?”

“Valeria was working for a faction that was slowly gaining territory in the area. She lured us away so her men could attack.”

“Oh, God,” she whispered, her hand finding his between them. Intertwining his fingers with hers, he held on tightly, as if her presence was an anchor, grounding him in the present moment and preventing him from being swept away by the overwhelming tide of his memories.

“We’d fucked up. We had left the person we were supposed to protect unattended when the surprise attack on the village occurred. We raced back, but there wasn’t much we could do. We were vastly outnumbered. Our priority was to find Sutton and get the hell out of there. Liam searched while I went to get our vehicle. When he found her, she was hidden but taking pictures. Liam had to forcibly drag her away.

“They were spotted as they made a run for the Humvee. I tried to lay down cover fire and thought they were going to make it. But just as Liam jumped into the back seat after Sutton, he was shot. It was a fatal hit.”

“Oh, no,” she cried, squeezing his fingers. “I’m so sorry, Wade.”

“I wish that was the end of the story,” he rasped, agony evident in his voice.

“What do you mean?”

He took a shaky breath and let it out slowly, as if he could banish the bad memories as easily as he expelled the air. “I’m not proud of my actions. I kind of lost it. I blamed Sutton, of all people, for his death. I thought if she had just stopped taking those damn pictures and ran when Liam had first found her . . .”

“You would have made it out and Liam would still be alive,” she finished for him. “But Wade. You can’t know that for sure.”

With a weary sigh, he ran a hand down his face. “I know. I told you I wasn’t proud of it. My accusations were unreasonable. Irrational. I can recognize it now as a stage of grief. For two years, I held a grudge against Sutton. I hated her. And worse, she knew how I felt.”

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