Page 44 of Eight Years (The Trident Trilogy 1)

Chapter Twenty-Two

Millie

Virginia Beach, Virginia

2019

It’s late in the afternoon, and I haven’t seen Mason all day. I’ve kept myself locked down in Raine’s office, trying desperately to find Haroun Hadzic’s house. I’m just about to close my computer and head back to the hotel when Mason walks in.

“So, any new leads on Hadzic’s father?”

I’m a little thrown just by the sight of him after being up all night thinking about floating on his chest in the ocean. He just stares at me, all business, like nothing happened yesterday.

“Umm. M-m-maybe,” I stutter. “I’ve been going over the area Petrovic told me about for days, but I haven’t seen anything that looks like what he described. So, Culver put me in touch with an Air Force captain in Afghanistan. He’s had his guys do some runs over the area to see if they can see anything that I’m missing on the satellite. I’m just waiting for him to get back to me today.”

“What happens if he doesn’t find anything?”

“Well, I’ll keep looking, but from D.C. There’s not much reason for me to be down here if I don’t have anything for you guys to do.”

All of a sudden he looks pissed, like I’ve said something wrong.

“So, just back to the D.C. life?”

“Yeah, I mean, I guess. That’s where I live.”

“Back to the boyfriend?”

The question takes me by surprise. “Yeah, I mean we haven’t talked in a few weeks, since I’ve been down here, but, yeah, we’re still dating.”

“You haven’t talked to him at all since you’ve been down here? You haven’t missed him? That doesn’t seem like much of a relationship.” His voice is demanding answers that my brain just can’t give him right now.

“I didn’t say I didn’t miss him.” I don’t, but technically I didn’t say that.

“Do you?” He’s staring right at me, challenging me to tell him the truth. He knows I have feelings for him, too. I just shrug and try to concentrate on my computer.

“I don’t know, Millie. It seems like you deserve something a little more passionate than that.”

“Why are we even talking about this? It’s not really any of your business. No offense, but it’s not.”

He stands up suddenly. “You’re right. It’s not. Let me know what the Air Force finds.”

And just like that, he walks out of the office, leaving me confused and more than a little disappointed.

I know he’s right about Drew and me. Despite Drew’s many calls and texts, I haven’t talked to him since I left for Virginia Beach. I always call him at least every couple days when I travel, but now, it’s been almost two weeks. There are many reasons for that, but it’s at least partially because of the feelings I’m starting to have for Mason. That’s another problem I’m going to have to take care of, but one step at a time. I know the first thing I have to do is break up with Drew.

When I get back to my hotel room, I down a couple glasses of wine, and then call Drew. He picks the call up on the first ring.

“Oh my god, she’s alive.”

“Hey. Sorry, it’s been a crazy few weeks.”

“Are you okay? I was really worried about you.”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I say. “Hey, Drew, we need to talk. I don’t want to do this over the phone, but you deserve an answer.”

“An answer to what?” Drew asks slowly.

“An answer to why I haven’t been calling you.”

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