Page 18 of Silent Comrade
“Yeah, no. I’m going to need more thanthat.”
“Really, that’s all. I’d love to make moretime for him, but I have to finish my degree. Tachi, I can’t failagain.” Her eyelids prickled. Tears now? She blinked hard. Chalkthe reaction up to stress, an emotional roller coaster offulfilling Mom’s last wishes for Britt, plus finally having thefinish line in sight. “For once in my life, I have to complete whatI started, and no guy is going to distract me from that goal.”
“Could you do both? The guy and thegoal?”
Britt snorted a laugh. “I’m all formultitasking, but I’m not going to risk it. School first. Try toland an internship or position with one of the big houses. Then ifthere’s time left, I can check out Al.”
“What if he’s not around by the time youaccomplish all of these things?”
“Quit threatening me with FOMO! Not going towork.” Britt’s head lolled back on the cushion and she grimaced.“First of all, I want to prove to my family that I’m not theflighty one who can’t complete any task or life goal.”
Tachi paused, wistful expression on herface. “You want them to be proud of you.”
“Of course.” Rubbing her eyes with the heelsof her hands, she tried to scour the image of Al blocking all thelight as he filled up the space around her. Wow, how her body hadresponded to him. She crossed her legs. “Second of all, if he’s theright person, then he’ll still be there later.” She held up a handas Tachi took a breath and opened her mouth. “I don’t have thebandwidth for a new relationship right now.”
Her roommate shook her head and whistledlow. “You really are the bomb, girl. Wish I had a spine half asstiff as yours.”
“My spine wasn’t always this stiff.” Shewaved off the protest. “And believe me, you do just fine stickingto your own priorities. You get what you want by sheer force ofwill if necessary.” Tachi’s confident, take-no-prisoners attitudemade everyone sit up and pay attention.
Her roommate’s laugh filled the room. “Ilike the sound of that!”
They chuckled in the quiet evening untilBritt glanced over. “Hey, know what helps with life dilemmas andtrying to ignore hot guys?”
Furrows formed between her dark brows as sheheld up her hands. “No. Come on, Britt. Not shopping…”
“Yes, shopping!”
“How do you have the energy? Mall’s not openat this hour.”
“Tomorrow evening after school. It’sresearch. Last-minute inspiration. For real I need somesupplies.”
“Actual work, or are you justifying youraddiction?”
“I resemble that remark.” Britt huffed.“Brainstorming fabric pairings to polish the collection.”
“Likely story.” Tachi got up and tugged hershirt down. “I have to work tomorrow, but thanks for the invite,darling,” she said over her shoulder as she yawned her way backinto the bedroom. True, Britt did appreciate the rent and grocerymoney her roommate brought in dancing. Crazy good talent andequally amazing good looks could support the bulk of a two-bedroomapartment in downtown Atlanta.
Britt sighed. Soon, she’d have a full-timejob that paid all the bills. Soon.
Before then? Shopping!
Chapter Nine
How much could a human being shop?
If the human’s name was Britt McNeill,apparently she could shop like endurance athletes ranultramarathons. Red indulged in a momentary stretch of his back,then returned to his affected poor posture. It had been a latenight yesterday, what with the dinner, the kiss, and afterwardpatrolling the apartment premises until dawn—covertly of course. Staying awake in today’smidmorning classes had tested his military training.
Fast forward ten hours, and here they werestill shopping into the evening.
He patted the cell phone. No abnormaltriggers from his security cameras in the school or around herapartment today. That wasn’t necessarily good news. The latestupdate from CO Hunt indicated that Lequire’s attention was focusedon Reagan who was up in the mountains, not on Britt, but Redwouldn’t take any chances.
He looked up from his mindless perusal ofbrightly colored summer separates and scanned his surroundings oncemore.
He could barely see Britt’s head over thetop of the racks, even with her wearing those thick-soled DocMartens. The accompanying black tights and black cardigan made thecolor consistent, but then an unexpected burst of a pale pinkV-neck shift was completed by a black pendant. Her look was 98%Goth, 2% sweet.
He 100% wanted to be closer to her.
Red tucked his head further into his hoodie,cursing that he had to wear that plus his beanie. Hard to remaincovert with easily recognizable hair the color of molten lava.
