Page 103 of Two Chambered Heart

"I don’t know which teams have been compromised. I don’t know who to send with you, Kayden. The only team I have needs three hours.” Archie’s voice was desperate.

“He doesn’t have that time. I’ll have to go in alone.”

“I’m going too,” Corey said through a sniffle.

“Absolutely not!” Kayden cut her a glare. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Ridiculous? Me? You going alone is ridiculous!”

“She’s right. I’m afraid it will be a suicide mission,” Archie said through the phone, keyboard clacking in the background. “The building has just as much physical security as they do cyber. It’s no joke.”

“Oh god, this is my fault. This is all my fault.” Corey’s distress was palpable. “If I hadn’t freaked out last night, he wouldn’t have left! I have to come, I have to!”

“It’s not your fault. We should have told you earlier. I’m sorry. You had every right to react the way you did.”

“This isn’t the time,” Archie barked over the phone.

“You can’t leave me behind and go in there alone. I won’t allow it. Put my violent tendencies to good use.”

“It’s not up to you!” Kayden yelled at her.

“It is up to me! It’s my choice, and I would rather die than lose him to this!” A sob escaped her quivering lips.

“You love him.” It wasn’t a question.

“He needs me.”

“Ineed you.” His voice almost broke.

“We’ll all make it out of this. I promise. Let me go with you.”

“You can’t promise me that.”

There was pain in her big blue eyes, but rock solid determination too. He couldn’t take it. It hurt to breathe. It hurt to think, and it hurt to look at her. Everything had fallen apart so quickly.

He choked, gulping down some air.

He felt her hands grab his face. “Open your eyes.”

He hadn’t realized he’d closed them.

“Look at me.” He did. He looked at the beautiful woman in front of him, who was the only thing holding him up. When he was falling to pieces, she was holding steady.

“You’ve got this, Kay. This is what you train for. You know what you need to do to get him back. But you can’t do this alone, not like this.”

He nodded.

It was dangerous, he realized, loving two people. He loved her, so he wanted to keep her safe. But he loved Jason too. Did he love him enough that he would risk Corey to get him back?

He did. And the weight of that decision was heavy in his bones, like a boulder dropping in a lake pulled down, down,down. But as it settled in the sediment, it became an anchor—grounding—the foundation he needed to take the first step in this impossible task ahead of them.

“Okay,” he said.

“Okay?” she asked back.

“Okay,” he repeated with more fortitude, loosing a long breath and confirming his insane decision. “You’ll need a lot of knives.”

“And a big ol’ gun.” She was still holding his face, the ghost of a smile on her lips. “Let’s go send them to hell and back. No one fucks with my guys.”

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