Page 15 of Rescuing Micah
To saythat Teresa wasn't happy with their current arrangement just might be the biggest understatement in the entire history of the world.
Although she’d allowed him to clean up her wounds, bandage her cut, and give her some painkillers, after that, Teresa had done her best to pretend he wasn't there. While she hadn't been outright rude, she had mostly ignored him while working alongside her team, and he was pretty sure it was because she didn't want to arouse suspicion with her friends that they shared a past.
They’d both given statements to the cops, and they’d ordered in food and eaten together while brainstorming ideas. The kidnapper left alive had turned out to be a mercenary who had taken money to abduct Teresa and deliver her to an as yet unknown person. Pretty much the same thing that had happened with Isabella Baker’s abduction. A bounty had been placed on her head, and a mercenary had accepted the job. Now there appeared to be a bounty on Teresa’s head, and it was driving him crazy with worry.
Unlike her.
She seemed more annoyed with his presence than afraid for her own safety.
At first, Micah had assumed that the animosity he felt coming from Teresa was a product of her guilt. She knew that she’d done him wrong, but she wasn't at a place yet where she was willing to own up to it, apologize, clear the air, and move forward as adults.
It almost seemed like she believed thatshehad a reason to be angry withhim.
Which made zero sense.
He was the wronged party here, not her.
She might have only been a seventeen-year-old girl at the time, but she’d made the decision to cheat on him, knowing they were in an exclusive relationship. Maybe he’d handled the aftermath of finding out in a slightly childish way, but he’d only been nineteen. Running, blocking her, then shifting gears and deciding to drop out of college and join the military had seemed like the best plan at the time.
But his bailing without a confrontation certainly didn't warrant this level of hostility from a girl who had spread her legs for a bunch of men all at the same time.
As badly as he wanted to bring it up, Micah was trying to be respectful of the fact that Teresa had bigger things to worry about than a teenage love affair gone wrong.
Which was why he was down on his hands and knees scrubbing paint off the wall of the apartment Teresa shared with her friends rather than confronting her with the past and demanding an explanation.
Beside him, Teresa was desperately trying to wash the red paint off the white carpet. That was a pointless task. The carpet was ruined. It would have to be ripped up and replaced, there was no saving it.
Not that it seemed to matter to Teresa.
She had a bucket of soapy water beside her and scrubbed at the carpet with a towel, trying her best to rid it of the bright, red paint with carpet cleaner that wasn't up to the task.
Because she seemed to be getting increasingly desperate as she scrubbed and the paint didn't come off, he stopped what he was doing, set down his own towel which he’d been using to clean paint off the soft gold walls, and turned to face her.
“I think you’ve done all you can,” he said gently. Even though there was definitely lingering anger on his part, Micah could see that while she might have hurt him deeply, Teresa was still agood person who cared about others and worked hard. She was good at her job, had a great rapport with her team, and they all seemed to respect her, Nathaniel as well, and she’d fought for her life that morning, almost succeeding in saving it.
Almost.
But if he hadn't decided to go back to Prey and talk to her, she would have been abducted.
The thought of her in the hands of such ruthless people, who wouldn't hesitate to cut her open and take her body apart, was sickening.
Just because he’d spent most of the last decade doing his best not to think about the girl who had ripped out his heart and stomped all over it, didn't mean that from time to time, thoughts of her wouldn’t sneak back in. Sometimes at the most inappropriate of times, too. But memories were like that, anything could trigger them, and it was only Teresa’s betrayal that had tainted most of those memories. If she hadn't, they would be the highlights of his life. Even those that weren't special in and of themselves were special because they were moments shared with such an amazing girl.
An amazing girl who even he could admit had turned into an amazing woman.
Why did you do it, Teresa?
Why did you ruin what we had?
Why wasn't I enough for you?
The questions ran through his mind, but he didn't ask them out loud. Later he would, once the trafficking ring was disbanded, those involved in prison, and the threat hanging over Teresa’s head eliminated.
Teresa hadn't stopped scrubbing at the carpet, clearly ignoring him.
Needing to put a stop to her near manic behavior, he reached out and grabbed her hands. Physically stilling them. He got thatthis was a major violation, and he understood her need to clean it all up and make it like it had never happened. But that wasn't happening.
The couches were ruined, the TV was ruined, the paintings that had hung on the walls were ruined, the carpet was ruined, the beds in the three bedrooms were ruined, most of the clothing was ruined, the kitchen table and chairs were ruined, and the Easter decorations were ruined. Basically, the entire place was trashed beyond repair. The best they could hope for was washing the paint off the walls. Everything else was going to have to be replaced.
