Page 105 of An Epic Voyage
Good.They’d been awake for over twenty-four hours.Plus, she wanted to shower and change into one of the extra sets of clothes she’d brought with her.No doubt Jackson wanted to rinse off since he’d taken a dip in the ocean.
Evangeline shuddered, recalling the helpless feeling of watching him plunge into the water below.Yes, he’d been a Navy SEAL, the best of the best, but he was older now and didn’t get the chance to practice jumping out of a helicopter very often—or ever.Something could’ve gone wrong.
“If you two don’t mind, I’m going to check on Jordy Crier and Franklin Shepard, and then stay with Indigo.”
Yep, Evangeline was going to lose her.
“I’d feel better if she weren’t alone,” Evangeline answered honestly.Indigo was the most self-sufficient person on the planet, but that didn’t stop Evangeline from worrying about her.
“We’ll be back this afternoon.”Jackson shook Griffin’s hand and then placed his palm possessively against Evangeline’s back to guide her forward.She must be exhausted if she wasn’t scolding him for such an aggressively male move.She’d never admit that she liked him touching her.It’d been too long.
“You picked up on it too, didn’t you?”Jackson asked once they were out of earshot.
“Uh huh,” she said, knowing exactly what he was talking about.
“I don’t want to lose her.”
She glanced at Jackson.His gaze was focused straight ahead.
“I don’t either.”
He turned his head to her.“Love complicates things.”
She forced herself not to wince.It was the same thing she’d said to him years ago before she’d walked out on him and ruined her life.
#
Griffin hated leavingIndigo’s side, but he needed to check on Jordy and Franklin.He spoke with a nurse, who gave him their room numbers.Jordy’s was closest, so it was his first stop.
Jordy was asleep in his bed with an IV attached to his arm.Instead of waking him, Griffin backed out and found Franklin in intensive care.Griffin could view him only through a glass wall.He looked horrible, ghostly white with all kinds of tubes, wires, and monitors surrounding him.
Griffin stopped a passing nurse and asked about his condition.She apologized for not being able to give him any information.She wanted to know who to contact in Franklin’s family, but Griffin was clueless.He gave her a Bureau tech’s phone number, the one who had performed a background check on Franklin before Griffin had started his mission a few months ago.He would have access to Franklin’s records.
On his way back to Indigo, the nurse who had been in her room when he first entered stopped him.“Are you Griffin?”
“Yes.”
She handed him a bundle.“There’s a shower you can use down the hall.”She pointed in the direction.
“Do I smell that bad?”
“Oh, no, not at all.But I spoke with Ms.Adair earlier.She told me you saved her life by pulling her out of the water when she was unconscious.She asked me to make sure you were taken care of when you arrived.”
A lump of emotion clogged his throat.She’d been the one who had been shot, yet she was worried about him.He could only nod his thanks to the nurse.Words weren’t possible.
He found the shower and washed off the stench of the Atlantic Ocean.His clothes were toast, so he stuffed them in the garbage and donned the blue scrubs.The nurse even included socks, a toothbrush and paste, mouthwash, shaving cream, a razor, and a comb.She’d done as Indigo asked and taken care of him.
Griffin recoiled when he looked in the mirror.His jaw was black and blue, his upper lip twice its size with a scabbing cut.There was nothing he could do about it, so he used the toiletries and ran the comb through his wet hair.
Then he headed back to Indigo.
She was still asleep.Griffin pulled a chair close to her side and gripped her hand.She squeezed his fingers in her sleep.
The next thing he knew, someone was playing with his hair.He jerked upright to see Indigo smiling at him.
“Good morning, or maybe afternoon.I have no idea what time it is.”
Griffin stood and gently kissed her.He’d wanted to do that earlier, but he didn’t think her bosses would have appreciated it.
