Page 36 of A Damaged Soul
It wasn't like Black didn't have plenty of men working for him. He had four teams to date. Three in Boston and one in New Mexico. All of which should've come for us before Charlie Team.
Black sighed. "They were all out on their own assignments. Trust me it killed me to ask for help."
"Maybe you need more employees," I grumbled.
But it didn't matter now. The damage was already done.
"I'll take that into consideration. For now though, it was time. I know you didn't want them to know, but obviously things have been changing for you. Maybe this was what was supposed to happen."
"Elle has nothing to do with this." I snapped at my boss for even bringing her into it.
"My point exactly. You care about her. I never thought I would see the day where you cared about anyone like that."
I flinched at the truth of his statement. As much as I didn't want it to be true, and despite denying it to myself, I did have feelings for Elle. Being captured made that blatantly obvious when it was her face that got me through those beatings.
"I'm no good for her."
Knowing was one thing. Acting on it was another. There were dozens of reasons I shouldn't allow Elle to get that close to me.
"That's bullshit, Rhett." Black shook his head. "You're one of the best guys I know. I don't care what happened in your past."
That seemed to be the theme for everyone lately.
"You might not care, but I do."
"There's nothing wrong with caring about what happened. Your problem is you let it control your whole life, starting with your family and now this." Black pointed to where Elle walked out of the room with Zack.
"I deserve to be unhappy after what I did."
"No you don't. You deserve to find someone who can help you heal and accept what happened. And it looks like Elle could be that woman for you, but are you going to push her away because of misguided guilt? If so, you're an idiot."
Maybe my boss was right or maybe not, but it wasn't up to me anymore. It was what Elle wanted.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Elle
As soon as I stepped out into the hallway, I let the tears flow freely. I had been trying my damndest to hide them in front of Rhett, but there was no use now.
"My brother would hate to see you crying over him like this." Zack stood with his back against the wall and one leg crossed over the other.
"Yes, well, your brother isn't out here right now, and you're not going to tell him shit, so it doesn't matter."
Zack smirked. "Feisty. I see why my brother likes you so much."
"I don't know about that." Something changed between Rhett and I in that hospital room, but it wasn't clear yet if it was a good change or not.
"I do. We might not have been that close these last few years, but I recognize the look. It's the same one all Lynch men get when we find the one."
I could feel the heat in my cheeks. I didn't know what to say to that, but thankfully I was given a reprieve from answeringwhen my phone rang. I glanced at the screen and saw it was Molly. "Sorry, I need to take this," I said.
"Hey," I answered almost immediately.
"Oh thank goodness you answered. I was prepared to come hunt you down if you didn't."
As usual, Molly was over the top in everything she did and said.
"I'm sorry. I was going to call you, I swear. I even stepped out into the hallway to do just that, but then I got to talking to Rhett's brother."
