Page 18 of Infinite
I’m still so deeply in pain that I haven’t looked outside myself very much at all.
“Whenever things get strained for me, I hate when other people try to get me to...see.” She makes air quotes around that word. “I see what I want and telling me to open my eyes doesn’t do anything but piss me off. All I can do is present the truth as I see it.”
“I hate that any of them think that way.”
Charlie smiles with a hint of sadness. “I’m glad you still care about them. I know they’re dumb and this whole thing has been beyond unbearable for you, but they’re trying. I promise. I don’t think Aaron is a bad guy, I think he’s just lost.”
I think back to a distant memory. “You were who got Aaron out of there, weren’t you?”
“I was.”
“And did you think he was capable of this?”
She looks off and shrugs. “I think people are capable of unthinkable things. I look at some of the criminals and terrorists I’ve come in contact with over the years. They were fathers, husbands, sons, daughters, or mothers, and something happened to alter the course of their beliefs. Things we can’t rationalize because there’s nothing rational about what they’re doing. Like I said, I don’t think he’s himself right now, though. I know all of what is going on and how much the guys are worried about him. We all thought he was getting help.”
I want to have empathy, but I don’t. He did this. It’s his fault this is happening, so fuck him and the help he needs. He caused this hurt, and he’ll have to suffer for it. If anyone expectsmeto feel bad, they can fuck right the hell off with him.
“What do we do now?”
“I wish I knew,” Charlie says honestly. “He could be angry with the guys, and that’s why he’s doing this. If that’s the case, then Mark, Liam, and Jackson going in could exacerbate the situation. If it’s something else, they could calm him enough to extract Quinn. Do you see why they’re not moving quickly?”
I do, but it doesn’t change the fact that Quinn is the one suffering from all of this. The more time we waste, the higher the possibility of my losing him forever becomes. I’m not an expert on all of this like they are, but even I know that time is everything.
“And at what point do we put Quinn’s needs ahead of Aaron’s?”
Charlie masks any reaction a normal person might have had. “That’s exactly what they’re doing.”
I lean back, tired from all of it. “Then I hope Aaron doesn’t have needs we’re not thinking of.”
7
Quinn
Aaron walks in carrying food. I don’t trust anything from him, but I’m starving. I held off eating the last twenty-four hours because the drugs he gave me are killing my stomach.
Still, he tries to get me to eat.
“I’m not poisoning you,” he says as though he can read my mind.
“I appreciate that, but can you blame me for being apprehensive?”
He is one of us. He is my brother in arms. I would do anything for him, even now. Once a SEAL, always a SEAL. There’s a code and family tie that’s unbreakable. This, however, crosses the line.
You don’t kidnap your friends.
“You know me.”
“I don’t right now.”
Aaron places the tray down. “I’m the same guy, just tired of allowing life to happen to me.”
“So, you decided to what?”
It’s clear that he’s having some kind of mental break and suffering from PTSD. He’s erratic, confused, and angry one minute and then thinks we’re friends the next. There’s nothing I can say to make sense of it, but if I can understand him, it may allow me to manipulate him.
“Everything was fine, you know? I was okay with Lee and Liam. I loved her enough to want her to be happy. And then I couldn’t handle it. She’d come to work, smiling, and I knew that . . . I should’ve fucking died. If I hadn’t come back, then I would’ve never known about it. I wouldn’t have had to watch her be happy, raisingmychild, lovingmybest friend.”
Jesus. “You’re still in love with her?”
