Sunday. Bethesda, MD.

Isaac pumped his arms, everything in him focused on the man sprinting away from him.

Teenagers ran in every direction. Whoever got off a shot earlier had sent the whole crowd into a panic. It was a diversion, it had to be, and Isaac wouldn’t let them get away.

He vaulted over a waist high wrought iron fence, cutting across the area reserved for the ducks. He charged through a hedge and over another fence, gaining close to twenty yards on the other man.

Ahead of him, a car idled.

A man stood at the trunk, phone to his ear.

Orlando.

Isaac would recognize him anywhere.

The man in the suit got five yards from the car.

Orlando raised his hand and fired a gun. The man in the suit pitched backward. The sound of the gunshot was almost drowned out by the screaming crowd.

Isaac put on a burst of speed and barreled into Orlando, knocking them both to the ground. Isaac drove his fist into Orlando’s face.

Hands grasped Isaac from behind, dragging him off the other man.

Isaac whirled, kicking out and throwing a punch.

The smaller, lighter man went down hard.

Isaac ignored him and grabbed Orlando by the coat.

In a matter of moments, cops would pour into the park. They wanted Tanya, and likely the rest of their team. Orlando would slip out, without anyone the wiser he was really behind it. Isaac had to get him back to the meeting point. The others would return, and from there they could decide how to deal with Orlando.

Isaac held his gun against Orlando’s forehead.

“Where have we met before?” Orlando pushed up to his elbows, completely at ease, despite the blood trickling down his chin and having a gun pressed to his skull.

“I have enough reason to shoot you right here and now, understand?” Isaac groped in the smaller man’s pockets until he found keys. He unlocked the trunk with the press of a button. “Get in.”

“Is this personal?” Orlando pushed up to his feet.

“In.” Isaac gestured at the trunk.

“I could make it worth your while to—”

Isaac hauled back with his left hand and delivered a sloppy hook to the other man’s jaw. Orlando pitched backward, sitting down in the trunk hard. Isaac shoved the man’s legs and limbs inside, then slammed the trunk shut. He glanced around at the quickly emptying park. Sirens wailed, drawing closer.

He felt for his comm., but the ear piece was gone.

“Shit,” he muttered.

It could have fallen out anywhere.

The others would make it out on foot, he had to believe that.

Isaac slid into the driver’s seat and cranked the engine.

He gassed it, sending the car shooting forward.

A cop car swerved around the bend. Isaac cranked the wheel, barely missing the other vehicle. He glanced in the rearview mirror, but the car didn’t turn to follow.

The warehouse was awfully close to the park.

The others would make it.

They had to.

Isaac pushed the speed limit, but not by much. If he were pulled over there would be no explaining why he had a man in his trunk. An oddly silent one.

What was Orlando doing back there?

The roads to the warehouse were clear. No one followed. He didn’t see a single member of the team as he neared.

If they were still in the park the likelihood of getting caught in the press of people fleeing and the cops circling in likely meant they weren’t coming for a while.

He drove into the warehouse and parked alongside the van they’d left.

Orlando was a slippery bastard. Isaac didn’t want to handle him alone if he could help it. He hadn’t patted him down, so for all Isaac knew, Orlando was ready to take a shot at him.

Isaac pulled out his phone and hit dial for Zain. If the others were preoccupied, Isaac didn’t want to distract them. Zain was likely listening in on the comms anyway.

“Where the hell are you?” Zain asked by way of a greeting.

“At the warehouse where Mossad had their headquarters. Where is everyone else?”

“The cops have them. Isaac...Tanya is one of about a dozen who were exposed to the gas.”

“What?” Isaac gripped the wheel, the car fading away from him.

“I don’t know anymore. The guys turned their comms off when they were arrested. I’ve got a lawyer headed to them, but no idea where Tanya was taken, if she’s alive, or anything.”

“I’ll call you back.” Isaac hung up the phone.

He stared in the rearview mirror at the top of the trunk.

The gas was deadly. That much Tanya had made certain they understood. But what if there was a cure? Some sort of antidote or treatment? The people Orland stole it from had no reason to admit to their creation, but Orlando would have every reason to know—and have—such a thing.

Isaac got out of the car. He sucked down a deep breath and then another.

For all he knew, Tanya was dead. He’d thought she had the console under control, that she was fine. That was on him. She’d been capable and in control every step of the way. She’d never needed him until he left her.

He had to believe she was still alive, that maybe she didn’t get full exposure or something.

Isaac drew his gun and pulled the slide back.

There had to be an antidote or a cure. Something.

He clicked the key fob and the trunk popped open.

“Get out,” Isaac said.

The trunk slowly lifted.

“You going to kill me? Is that what you do now? I wasn’t aware that was on your service list.” Orlando sat up, staring at him with his head cocked to the side.

“Get out of the car, now.”

Orlando braced his hands on the trunk and stepped out.

“Take the coat off,” Isaac said.

Orlando shrugged out of his coat and turned in a circle.

The man wasn’t armed that Isaac could see.

“The gas—you have an antidote?” Isaac edged forward.

“An antidote?” Orlando snorted. “No such thing exists.”

“You’re lying.”

“If they made one, it would be useless. The gas works on contact, breaking down living tissue, killing immediately.”

“No, it doesn’t. It can’t.”

“Who was exposed? One of your team? Tanya? Please tell me it was Tanya. That would be beautiful.”

Isaac took a step, hauled his right hand back and slammed the butt of his Glock against the side of Orlando’s face. The man staggered sideways, bracing his hands on the car.

“It was Tanya.” Orlando cackled, a maddening, deranged sound that echoed off the walls. “It will be painful. She’ll die slowly, wishing it would hurry up and kill her. And then there’s you.”

“Where is the antidote?” Isaac grabbed a fist of Orlando’s shirt and pressed the muzzle of the gun to his temple.

“There isn’t one. That’s the beauty of it. And the destruction doesn’t stop there. I might kill her, but I’ll destroy you, and everyone who loses someone they love there today.”

“She’s the only person who got exposed, so your revenge is pretty pathetic.”

“Is it? I can see how her death is twisting you.” Orlando grinned. “What are you going to do with me now? Beat a cure out of me? Go ahead.”

Isaac tightened his grip on Orlando’s shirt. He could kill the guy and no one would care. There wasn’t a person who would lament his death. If Isaac did that, then no one would pay for Tanya’s sacrifice. There would be no justice, except for him.

Killing Orlando would be a momentary balm, but tomorrow Isaac would have to wake up and look at his reflection and know that he sealed Tanya’s fate. No one would know her sacrifice or what she’d done, because who would stand up for her without also making Orlando face justice?

“Turn around.” Isaac shoved Orlando at the car.

“You won’t look at a man you’re about to kill?”

“I said, turn around.” Isaac jerked Orlando around by his elbow. He grabbed one of the thick zip ties from his pocket and bound Orlando’s wrists together.

“What time is it?” he asked.

“What does that matter?”

“Just curious.”

Isaac paused, rolling the last fifteen minutes through his mind.

Orlando hadn’t put up a fight. It was almost as though he’d been expecting someone.

“Is it past one, yet?”

Isaac glanced at his watch.

One-fifteen.

“What happens at one?” Isaac asked.

“You’ll see.”

Isaac shoved the man back into the trunk and slammed it shut.

They’d missed something important at the park. Something big.

Isaac pealed out of the warehouse. Orlando yelled from the trunk, but Isaac ignored him.

The streets around the park were blocked off, cars with lights flashing and uniforms everywhere.

A man in an FBI windbreaker strode past one of the barricades.

Isaac leapt out and waved his arm.

“Hey! FBI? Hey!”

The man turned and frowned at Isaac.

He left the car idling and jogged toward the man.

“Have you guys found some sort of...secondary dispersal for the gas? A bomb? Something that wasn’t back stage?” Isaac had to stop this. Tanya’s sacrifice couldn’t be for nothing.

“Who are you?” the man demanded.

“My name is Isaac Cohen. I work for Aegis Group, my team and I were alerted to a potential threat and I think some of them stopped one, but there might be another.”

“I need you to come with me.” The FBI agent put his hand on his service weapon.

“Okay, yes, fine, but—I’ve got a guy in the trunk of my car and—and my girlfriend was exposed to the gas.”

Sunday. Walter Reed Military Medical Center, Washington, D.C.

Tanya’s eyelids weighed a ton. Lifting them took too much effort, so she’d stopped.

Her skin ached as though someone had scrubbed her from head to toe, inside and out, with a wire brush. Hell, even her hair seemed to hurt.

“Here, this should help the pain,” a woman said.

Who was that? What were they giving her? Where the hell was she?

It took all of Tanya’s effort to part her lids and peer out.

The room was cast in a blueish hue. One bright light shone down on her. A woman wearing surgical scrubs, a mask and gloves leaned over her. Everything was covered save for her eyes.

“Hey, there. This is going to help with the pain, okay? Don’t try to talk. They had to take you through decontamination. I know that couldn’t have been fun, but you’re in ICU now and we’re going to take good care of you.”

The nurse glanced away.

Why was Tanya here?

The last thing she remembered was holding Isaac’s hand.

No, that wasn’t right.

She’d wanted to hold his hand.

“There’s someone who wants to talk to you,” the nurse said.

A figure edged forward. He had a hospital gown draped over his clothing and a mask on his face that hid the mole.

Robert Ellis and Brent Jones leaned over her.

Tanya sucked down a breath and tried to make her hands work, but her body was sluggish and unresponsive.

“Hi, Tanya. We never got the chance to properly meet. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.” Robert shook his head. “We stopped him, though.”

Him?

Did he mean Orlando?

Darkness closed in around her before she could figure out how to ask her question.

Isaac could have lived his whole life without going through decontamination. He was pretty sure every inch of skin had been scrubbed and power washed. More than likely, he’d lost a good layer or five of flesh in the process.

The officer in charge of him stood by while Isaac dressed in a pair of hospital scrubs. The jury was still out on whether or not they were arresting him. Given the fact that Isaac had technically kidnapped Orlando, there were plenty of grounds for his arrest.

“This way,” the officer said.

Isaac followed the man down the empty corridor. He didn’t know a lot about hospitals, but there always seemed to be more people around.

“Where’s Tanya? How’s she doing?” he asked.

“You mean the woman? Dark hair?”

“Yes.”

“No clue.” The officer opened a door and held it for Isaac.

“Where the hell have you been?” Kyle demanded.

“Nice dress.” Isaac glanced at the others, similarly clothed in hospital gowns instead of scrubs. “Where’s Tanya?”

“They aren’t telling us anything.” Abigail grimaced.

“Because that’s my job.”

“Our job.”

Isaac turned to stare at a short, stocky man next to a tall, pale guy with dark hair. Like the rest of them, they had on a hospital gown, the only difference was they got to have their clothes on underneath.

“You’re Robert.” Isaac balled his hands into fists. He didn’t give two fucks about the other guy.

“I am.” Robert shook his head and lifted his gaze to Isaac. “I owe your team a debt of gratitude.”

“You sold her out.” Isaac took a step forward.

Hands grasped at Isaac’s arms, hauling him away from Robert.

Robert stood his ground just inside the doors of the small waiting room, unmoved by Isaac’s aggression.

“Easy.” Agent Jones stepped in front of Robert. “We all had a part to play.”

“Many things have happened the last two months I am not proud of.” Robert crossed to the closest seat and sat down, his shoulders slumping.

“Where’s Tanya? Is she going to make it?” Isaac jerked his hand out of Shane’s hold.

“She’s here, and they don’t know.” Agent Jones kept his eyes on Isaac but otherwise didn’t move. “Most of her damage is external, but she did breathe in some of the gas. They’re treating her as best they can.”

Robert’s grim expression didn’t spare much hope.

“What about the gas?” Abigail asked.

“Orlando talked as though there was a second bomb, or dispersal, or something.” Isaac edged forward.

Adam shoved Isaac back a step with a hand to the chest.

“Thanks to Robert, we found Orlando’s man in the CIA. He was...persuaded to tell us about it.”

“Persuaded?” Robert snorted. “You beat the shit out of him.”

Isaac stared at Agent Jones, torn between respect and wondering what other lines the man might have crossed.

“Not my proudest moment.” Brett smiled, a tight expression that didn’t reach the rest of his face. “The gas and the companion bomb are secure. The FBI have Orlando in custody, but I doubt they’ll get to keep him. There’s going to be a fight over who gets the first crack.”

“What about your wife?” Isaac asked Robert.

“My wife was found alive in Orlando’s Berlin home. Whatever my punishment is doesn’t matter, so long as she’s alive.” Robert’s shoulders slumped. He was a weary man.

“Is she okay?” Abigail asked.

“Yes, Orlando was many things, but never a bad host.”

“How do you fit into this?” Isaac turned his attention to Agent Brett Jones.

“Because I knew Tanya.” Brett shrugged. “She seemed like a perfect candidate for the company. I coached her through the start of her application, and I was roped in as part of the joint op. About a year ago, I realized we had an internal issue and began working with Robert on figuring out who. Off the books, of course.”

“What happens now? To us? Tanya?” Kyle crossed his arms over his chest.

“Officially, Tanya was miss-identified as the suspected bomber.” Brett grimaced. “That is being laid at the feet of the true culprits. The shots fired in the park were the same would-be bombers fleeing police. Your team, and Tanya, were never there.”

“So we can go?” Kyle asked.

“I’m sure the police will have questions, but last I heard there was no intention of including you in what is already a sticky situation.”

“I want to see Tanya.” They could hash out what was happening to who without Isaac.

“She’s asleep. Let her rest,” Robert said.

“I’ll be there when she wakes up.” Isaac strode toward the door. No one stopped him.

He’d stood in that warehouse and seen how holding onto the loss of a loved one had warped Orlando into a twisted, evil man. It was easy to see parts of himself in Orlando. Isaac had spent the last few years holding on the memory of a brother that was never coming back. He hadn’t allowed himself to care for Tanya until she was pulling away from him, and now he could lose her.

He didn’t want to lose Tanya. Not now. Not ever.

Isaac wandered the halls until he found a nurse. He only felt a slight amount of guilt for bullying her into taking him to the sterile unit where Tanya and the others were being cared for.

“She’s going to go in and out of consciousness,” was the last thing the nurse said before she left him sitting next to her with strict instructions to do not touch.

Bandages covered Tanya’s arms and legs. Her face was blistered and her lips were chapped to the point it hurt looking at them. He wanted to take her hand and hold onto her, let her know he was there, but causing her more harm wasn’t what he wanted to do.

Time ticked by.

The nurses came and went, but no one would tell him anything about her condition.

It stood to reason the others would head home as soon as the alphabet soup of agencies had their shot at questioning them. Isaac was staying. If Tanya pulled through she would need weeks of treatment and rehabilitation. She wasn’t going to do it alone if he had his way. He had PTO to use anyway.

Tanya’s head turned this way and that. It was the first time she’d moved without prompting from a nurse. Isaac sat forward and gripped the railings on her bed.

“Hey, Tanya? Cupcake?” he whispered.

She groaned and frowned, but didn’t open her eyes.

“It’s me, Isaac.” He swallowed. “Robert actually helped out. There was some sort of secondary bomb rigged to go off and he helped the FBI. Anyway, Orlando’s in custody. Robert’s wife has been freed. Looks like as happy an ending as we could hope for, if you weren’t...”

Tanya turned her face toward him.

“I need you to get better, cupcake. Please? I have a lot of making up to do and I’d rather you see me grovel.” He watched for some sign she heard him, maybe understood his words, but it was impossible to read her.

He blew out a breath and placed his hand next to hers. He couldn’t touch her, but he hoped she knew he was there.

“Come on, cupcake. Get better. I need to tell you that I...I think I went and fell in love with you.”

Two weeks later...

Tanya was ready to pee in a toilet, not a cup. She mentally ticked off the minutes until she could shut a door and expect people to respect that it was, indeed, closed.

The door creaked open. She almost threw her cup of water at the person.

“Okay.” Isaac stepped in with a wide smile on his face and two duffle bags in hand.

Maybe she could throw a pillow at him. A cup of water seemed a bit cruel, given all he’d put up with from her.

“I’ve got all your records packed up, the stuff people sent you and some clothes for later. We’re all set.” His grin grated on her nerves, as did everything else.

“I can go?” she asked.

“They’re insisting someone wheel you to the curb.”

“You can’t do it?”

“I don’t have a name tag.”

“When has that stopped you?” She rolled her eyes.

“Guilty.” His grin widened.

For two weeks, Isaac had sweet talked and laughed his way around every hospital rule to stay by her side. He’d held her hand, brushed her hair and found her the exact brand of lip balm she liked. Whatever she wanted, he’d gotten it for her. When she needed something, he made it happen.

Appreciation was not the word she’d chose to label this thing knocking around inside of her. It was more complicated than that. She had to focus on getting better and not sorting out the tangled mess that was this thing with Isaac. Soon enough she’d be able to tell him that whatever debt he thought he owed her was done, the job was over and he could leave. Wasn’t that what he wanted all along?

I went and fell in love with you.

Nope.

She shut the mental door on those words.

He’d said them a few times.

So far they hadn’t discussed it, and if she had her way, they never would.

“Ms. Graham?” An orderly wheeled a large chair into the room. “You ready to go?”

“Yes.”

Isaac offered his arm to her before the orderly could. She considered not taking it. Her legs worked just fine, but she wasn’t quite up to doing it all. Between getting out of here and sorting out her hotel situation, she’d probably use up every bit of energy she had.

Tanya settled into the chair. Isaac handed her a pair of sunglasses big enough to hide half her face, and off they went.

Thanks to her partially-healed skin she looked several decades older than she was. The doctors couldn’t say if she’d have extensive scarring or not, but at least her lungs had recovered for the most part and she could continue resting from the comfort of her own hotel room. Granted, no one had let her see the state of her finances, so she couldn’t yet tell what kind of accommodations she’d be able to afford for the next few weeks.

She’d cross that bridge when they got there.

The orderly helped her into the waiting rental car, a Jeep that let her sit up instead of getting down into a sedan.

Isaac situated the bags before getting behind the wheel.

“Ready to get out of here?” he asked.

“Yes.” She leaned back and closed her eyes.

A ride from her room to the first floor shouldn’t leave her this tired.

It did not bode well for being on her own.

“I’ve booked us into a nice hotel near the airport. Any idea what you want your first meal of freedom to be?” He was so damn chipper, she needed a mute button.

“Don’t care. When do you go home?” And how much longer until she had to figure it all out on her own?

“Well, I thought we could see how tomorrow went and then make a plan.”

“We?” She peered at him from the corner of her eye. “You have a job to get back to.”

“We’ve had this discussion all ready, cupcake. I’m not leaving you.”

“Isaac, you have to go home sometime.”

“Like I said, I’m not leaving without you.”

Tanya swallowed down the bubble of panic. He’d been there for every difficult step, breath and hiccup along the way. His encouraging cheer and comforting presence had gotten her through the worst of her recovery so far, but she couldn’t continue to lean on him.

“Pull over,” she said.

Isaac steered the Jeep into the parking lot of a grocery store, shifted into park and turned to face her.

“Tanya—”

“Stop talking over me and telling me what to do.” She stared down at her hands. The skin was so new it was tender, so he’d gotten her light, kid gloves to wear until they didn’t ache as much. “Look, I can’t begin to tell you how much I appreciate what your team—and you—have done for me, but I have to start figuring this out on my own.”

“Why can’t we do it together?” he asked.

“Because.” She shook her head and laughed. It was a bitter sound. “You never wanted commitment, remember? So leave me at the hotel, and go home Isaac. Your family must be worried about you.”

“I’m not going home without you.” Isaac leaned his elbow on the center console and cupped his hand around hers. He didn’t touch her, but he was close enough she could feel the warmth his body put off.

Tanya stared out of the window. Was it too much to ask for the privilege of slinking off to some deep, dark hole where she could lick her wounds in private?

“I wanted to have this talk later, but let’s go ahead and have it out now.” There was an edge to his voice, one Tanya didn’t think she’d like. “Cupcake, I—”

“Don’t say it.” She clenched her hands into fists and stared straight ahead.

“So you’ve been ignoring me?”

“What do you think? You get upset at me for making an emotional decision, you punish me for it, and now you want to tell me you’re in love with me?” Her heart wanted it, but her head couldn’t accept it. “It’s not real. Go home. I’m not your responsibility anymore.”

Tanya had never wanted to be loved until Isaac, but she wasn’t willing to accept that love out of guilt.

Isaac carefully placed his palm in hers. He didn’t hold onto her, but he needed to touch her.

He’d had a lot of time sitting in that hospital, watching her do nothing but struggle to live, to sort through his own shit. The conclusion he’d arrived at was a pretty big ding to his ego, but he could take it.

“Tanya... I stood there and stared into Orlando’s eyes. I saw what losing his sister did to him—and if I keep holding onto what happened to my brother, I’m going to be just like him. All this time, I’ve been tied down by what I’ve lost. Almost losing you made me realize that what we had was special.”

“Those are just feelings. They’ll go away.”

“No, I don’t think they will.” He turned her hand over so they were palm to palm, the thin layer of cotton separating them. “You are more important to me than I was willing to admit. Looking at you hooked up to those machines, realizing I could lose you, too...”

Isaac swallowed and shook his head.

There’d been dark moments in the first few days when Tanya’s system had struggled.

He’d prayed and bargained and even cried a little.

“I have fallen in love with you, Tanya. Deal with it. I’m not going anywhere.”

“What about what I want?” she whispered.

Isaac clenched his teeth together. He knew she cared about him, that given time and opportunity he was pretty sure he could win her over—if she let him. She had to be willing to walk through that door with him. Otherwise he was no better than her father or Orlando.

Tanya pulled the sunglasses off and stared at him.

“What do you want?” he asked.

“I don’t know.” She blinked a few times. “I don’t want to be in the hospital anymore, but I do want to lie down.”

“Your wish is my command.” He held her hand a moment longer before letting go.

This wasn’t over, but Tanya’s comfort had to come first.

Neither spoke during the trek to the hotel. He focused on handling their small amount of luggage while she navigated them to the first floor room.

Zain had two tickets to Seattle waiting in their names. He needed to know soon whether they’d be using them tomorrow or if Isaac needed more time here. He had a plan, one he’d cooked up for the last two weeks, she just had to believe it could work.

Tanya stretched out on the bed closest to the door, the pillows propping her back up. Isaac crawled up to lie next to her, content to share space and silence with her.

What could he do or say to make her understand he was serious?

“I think too much has happened for either of us to know what we feel,” she said. It was the first thing she’d spoken directly to him since the parking lot.

“Maybe that’s true for you, but I’ve had a lot of time to figure that out. It’s okay if you need more time. I can be patient.”

“What happens in a week or six or ten, when you decide it was guilt or a near-death crisis that made you feel that way?” she asked.

“I love you, Tanya. It’s as simple as that.”

“How do you know?”

“Because... When you asked me to go home, I thought I was angry about one thing, but deep down, I was mad that you didn’t want me to have your back. We were a team within our team and you wanted to cut me out. Then I nearly lost you and I realized how screwed up I’d made things, that you were—are—important to me. No one’s ever understood me like you do, and if that’s not love then maybe I don’t really know what it is. I’d like to think it’s this. It feels right.”

Tanya sniffled, the sound slicing him to the core.

Isaac rolled to his side, the urge to hold her warring with the knowledge that even gentle touches were too much still. She rolled toward him, burying her face against his chest.

“You can’t tell me that.” Her voice was muted by his shirt, but he’d become something of a Tanya-mumble-translator.

“It’s the truth.” He placed his hand on her side and blew out a breath.

“What if you change your mind?”

“I’m pretty sure you can change it back. You might not know this about yourself, but you’re awfully convincing.”

Tanya snorted, which turned into a hiccup and a laugh. He shoved a pillow under his head and slid his hand around to her back, testing how far she’d let him go, how close she would get.

“Isaac...”

“I’m not going to change my mind, if that’s what you’re really worried about. What do you say, cupcake? Give me a chance? You don’t have to say anything, just give me a nod and tomorrow we’ll be headed to Seattle.”

Tanya peered up at him. In the dim light of the room the burns and scabs were harder to make out. She looked just like the woman he’d clutched to his chest in the back of a van all those weeks ago. She’d gone from near panic attacks to kicking ass, and she’d let him come along for the ride. Now, he’d take care of her if she let him, at least until she was back on her feet.

“I’m scared of loving you, Isaac. I’m scared that I’ll fall so in love with you that if you change your mind it’ll break me.”

“Cupcake, when I make up my mind, I’m pretty damn stubborn about changing it. You tell me you love me one time and I’m all yours.”

He stared down at her brown eyes. In all this time, he still couldn’t figure out what she was thinking. Tanya would always keep him on his toes. A life with her would never be boring, and he wouldn’t simply fill his brother’s shoes. With Tanya, he didn’t have to pretend. For the first time in his life, there was a person who understood him in a way that was at times uncomfortable, but not without love.

Didn’t she see that?

They’d both fallen in love, and then he’d gone and fucked it up.

He stroked her hair and said a silent prayer.

“I don’t know what to say,” she whispered.

“You don’t have to say anything. If you want someone around, I’m here for you. If you’d rather never see me again—I might not like it—but I’ll leave. I don’t deserve to ask you for anything, but—”

“I love you, Isaac.”

He blew out a breath.

“Really?” he wanted those word to be real.

“Yes. Really.”

He leaned down, blinking back the prickling sensation stabbing his eyes, and gently kissed her lips. He was a fucked up son of a bitch, but he could be better. For her. For their future. For himself. And together, they could have something wonderful.