Page 97 of Harbinger

The secondI pull into the Texas compound, Ronan is out the door. He’s been fuming for the past hour, on his phone almost the whole time.

I follow behind him as he enters the house and goes to the guest wing, immediately getting back on the phone. It’s a call this time.

“I don’t think anyone was injured during it, no. At least not by us.” He listens for a moment. “No, I don’t think that’s necessary. We’re fine right now; I just wanted to know what you would personally suggest.” After another couple of moments of silence, he rolls his eyes, turning away from me as his head tips back.

This conversation is not going how he wants it to, apparently.

“Fine,” he snaps as he ends the call, still stewing.

“You doing okay?” I ask, standing in front of him. I look up at him, studying his face in the warm light of the room. He looks tired. Extremely tired. And he looks scared.

He looks at me for a long moment before grabbing me, pulling me in for a long hug. “I just don’t want to lose you,” he says, kissing the top of my head.

“I’m nothing special, Ronan.

He shakes his head. “You’re the one person who’s been able to love me the way I think I deserve to be loved. One of the very few people who would ever consider being with me. I appreciate you more than you could know.”

I give him a tight-lipped smile, casting a downward glance at the floor.

“I have to go talk to Stella about erasing that footage. Are you okay to wait here?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” I challenge.

One of his shoulders tips up as he offers me a tense, closed-mouth smile. “I just don’t know how you would have taken what just happened.”

“I took it okay, I promise.”

And I did. That’s not really a lie. I think I took it fantastically. I may not have been a great shot, but I was a fantastic driver, and that’s what mattered.

“Okay,” he says, his hand slipping off my shoulder. “I’ll be right back, I promise.”

But the longer he leaves me alone, the worse my nerves get.

It occurs to me that I shouldn’t be left in a room alone when preparing for such a huge day because all I can think about is all the different ways I can screw it up.

After about thirty minutes of stewing alone, I head to our room, turning the light on before digging into our suitcase.

This place really is beautiful. The rooms are all a nice light green color, the beds high with fluffy white blankets. There has to be at least five rooms here. It makes me wonder how many visitors they usually get.

But there’s no one other than Ronan and I tonight.

Tired of looking for a comfy shirt, I yank one of Ronan’s large t-shirts from the pile. Stripping off all my other clothes, I pull it over my head, loving how free I feel in it. Nothing restricting me.

And then there’s the other elephant in the room. Our whole relationship. What is it? Do we have a name for it? Is it going to go anywhere? Should I even spend energy thinking about a possible future together?

This seems like way too much to deal with.

I sit on the bed for another ten minutes, hoping Ronan will be back. But he’s not. Of course.

Since no one else is staying here tonight, I feel emboldened to make my way into the main room despite my lack of pants. I just want to be comfy as I lounge.

I curl up on the couch as I wait for him to get back, trying not to look outside for too long. The view is so nice during the day but spooky at night.

Finally, about an hour later, Ronan walks through the door, fury following him. I stay where I am, watching him carefully as he scowls at the ground.

“Are you okay?” I ask, my voice bolder than I feel.

“Yeah,” he starts, biting his cheek as he scratches the back of his neck. “Just had a little bit of a fight with our handler, is all. I keep telling her that we need some way of being able to erase security footage ourselves. There are ways out there. Stella doesn’t have to be responsible for it every single time.”

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