HOURS HAD PASSED before they finally rolled into a blink-and-you-miss-it town with its only local drive-thru on the corner of the one light in town intersection. Declan went inside to order while she freshened up in the restroom that was accessed from the outside of the building.

“Hey, what do you want to eat?” he hollered, just before going inside.

With a dismissive shrug, she replied, “Just, whatever is fine.”

Despite the hours of consistent silence, she was overwhelmed by him and needed space. To clear her head. His presence was heavy and exhausting, and she didn’t know why. Sitting so close to him for so long through whatever emotion it evoked required a minute to reconcile whatever it was that he did to her. It wasn’t tension, certainly not desire or even fear – just something in the air between them. Maybe it had something to do with the secret op’s, undercover, undisclosed military for hire, mercenary thing he had going on.

It didn’t take conversation for her to learn who Declan O’Reilly was – his silence actually spoke volumes. He was determined and confident. His focus was like none other. Though gritty and rigid socially, there had to be something deeper that was more emotional.

He cared for some reason, or he wouldn’t be there, protecting her and her family the way he did. That made him selfless and fearless. Not to mention big, bold, and brawny with all the right bulges and valleys carved into his perfect physique. Then, there were his eyes – those deep emerald green eyes that you could swim in for hours. She shook herself from her wandering thoughts and scolded herself for trailing down such an inappropriate path. She splashed cold water on her face and got the hell out of her own head.

Small town, slow service – this place was anything but fast food. Lydia was leaning against the car when he finally made his way out of the joint. She greeted him with an eyeroll when she noticed not one but two milkshakes and that the bags were already soaked in grease.

“Milkshakes and burgers. I wasn’t sure if you wanted fries or onion rings, so I got both. I’ll eat whatever you don’t, or we can share. Your call.” He extended the drink carrier within her reach so she could grab her shake but was met with an offended look of disgust.

“Are you serious?” she shot back, catching him off guard.

Not sure what he had done wrong, he looked down at the bags and shakes to make sure there wasn’t a fly in her food or something of the like. “Chocolate. Thought everyone liked chocolate.”

“Declan, I can’t eat any of…” she scoffed, waving her arms around, indicating the source of her fit was that which rested in his full hands, “that. Milkshakes? I bet there’s cheese on those burgers and plenty of saucy stuff, too?”

A baffled look followed by concern led to more questions. He hadn’t a clue what he did wrong. “Well…yeah! It’s a burger; it needs the cheese. Oh geez! Are you lactose intolerant or something? How did I not know that?”

“Lactose intolerant? NO! It’s…animals! I don’t eat animals – I’m vegan!” Her spoiled fit had escalated to a full-blown toddler tantrum, complete with tears threatening to spill over. “I may as well start drinking hard alcohol and…and…smoking those marijuana drugs and…and…get on with this early death you’re offering me!”

“Early death? It’s a burger. Can’t you just peel off the cheese or something?” Still baffled, he decided he better school himself on veganism because his lack of understanding was driving her beat red with white knuckled fists.

“Peel off the…” Lydia tossed her hands in the air, completely defeated. Grabbing her bag of food from his hand, she marched off, but not before stopping short, turning around, and grabbing her milkshake.

She left him where he stood and took a seat on top of a nearby picnic table that overlooked a small duck pond. She picked at her food, feeding most of it to the ducks and geese that were surrounding her while she dug back into that ugly place in her head. Only a day or so before – she couldn’t remember because it was all such a big blur – she had been living her normal life, shopping, doing yoga, eating non-animal anything all prepared by her live-in chef.

Now her life had been reduced to this – a bag of greasy dead animal that tasted like cardboard in the middle of nowhere with a guy she thought she knew, but didn’t, whose muscles had muscles and who had only one expression…smug. She missed her son. That was what this was really about. Being uprooted, on the run, and away from him was killing her inside and the real source of her tears. Not the milkshake. She’d never admit it, but that milkshake was so fucking good, she wanted another one. She wondered why she gave those up to begin with – there was something to be said about chocolate and sugar.

Declan joined her at the picnic table after hanging up his phone, milkshake in hand. He was silent for a moment, obviously testing the waters before he spoke – he didn’t like the tears – they made him uncomfortable. Spoiled or not, he knew her outburst was about more than cheeseburgers and milkshakes. Lydia wasn’t shallow, rude, or ungrateful. He didn’t even think she was really vegan. Though it seemed to be a spoiled rant, it was much more than that, nothing but a façade to mask her broken heart.

“Trinity and Jax are safe,” he began, keeping his eyes fixed anywhere but on her in fear of tears. “They’re on their own now. They should arrive at their new home tomorrow.”

Lydia nodded slowly. “That’s good, right?”

“Yeah, they said she is handling things really well – taking it seriously. She asked a lot of questions, took notes even. Jax has her busy. They’re going to be fine.”

She wasn’t sure if she should be proud or jealous because she was anything but handling things well. “Trin was always the strong one, and tough, too. She’ll figure it out – too stubborn not to.”

“So are you. Don’t sell yourself short,” he encouraged.

Running her hands through her hair, she took a moment and tried to absorb what he had said. As much as she wanted to believe him, he was wrong. She was selling herself short because she fell short…she couldn’t do this; she wasn’t that strong.

In a near whisper, she confessed to what was really driving her anger and fears – Esteban. “He’ll come for me you know.”

Declan dropped his head and played with the straw in his milkshake cup, searching for the words he could give her to put her at ease. They eluded him because he knew, if there was such a way to bring her peace, that the truth itself would be enough to take her to her knees. That the truth was just as painful as being away from her son, sister, and everything she knew life to be. But she deserved to be free of the fear she confessed, even if it meant she would never be Lydia Valdez again.

“He isn’t going to come for you. He won’t have a reason to,” he began, trying to be as gentle as possible. “By Friday, he will think you’re dead. The plan is already in motion.”

“Dead? That’s day after tomorrow. Why…why would he think I’m dead?” Her body went rigid, and her voice began to shake. “What…what are you going to do to me?”

It pained him that once again she feared him. That she assumed this ruse to throw Esteban off her trail meant something more sinister than what she had already been through would take place and at his hands. He didn’t blame her for being afraid. It was a real and justified emotion, but believing that didn’t make the sting any less. He was here to protect her and would lay his own life on the line to do so, and he wanted nothing more than for her to know and believe that as his truth.

“Lydia, I could never hurt you. That isn’t at all what I meant.” Relief coursed through him when he saw her relax, even if it was going to be brief because what he said next was sure to shock her. “His men are already in New York. They think they have eyes on you and Trinity – it’s my team who they saw. Tomorrow night there will be an accident, and his men will get there just in time to see the tail end of it. They’ll see the body bags, the car, and then they’ll see the news report. Esteban won’t question it after a confirmation like that.”

It was odd to sit and hear exactly how your death was going to play out and that it would make the news for all to hear. Not many people get to be witness to such a thing or be involved in planning it. The only thing she was grateful for in that moment was that she wasn’t superstitious – that kind of information, and detail, had to be the type that screwed with karma and came to fruition.

“What about you? What happens to you, Dec.”

“I’m your driver and body guard. I go where you go. I’m dying with you guys, Lydee.”

“So, we all get our freedom?” she questioned. “This is a good thing?”

“I wouldn’t call it freedom. We still need to stay off the grid and let the world think we are gone. This just buys us time. If we stick to the plan and lay low, it should be pretty smooth sailing until trial.”

They sat in silence for a moment or two. She needed to process what all of this meant. Learning your life was essentially over and that you get to stand by and watch the world go on without you was a tough idea to digest.

“Dec?” Her voice lacked confidence and was heavy in pain that he could feel. “All of us die, right – even Trin and Jax?”

There wasn’t much to say, and she wasn’t asking him to make it hurt any less, so he just nodded.

“How long do we do this?” she asked.

“As long as it takes. Until the trial. He’ll know there is a star witness testifying against him once he’s arrested, and he won’t expect it to be his dead wife. Or me, for that matter. We have that on our side – he’ll be looking for old enemies and deals gone wrong, not us. As it is, they aren’t arresting him just yet, and that means no arraignment or trial in the immediate future. They want an iron clad case, no wiggle room for mistrial.”

“Who is they?” Lydia asked.

Declan shrugged at her question. Offering no answer meant he didn’t have to inflict any more pain and upset. If she knew who they were, and just how big this thing was, it would crush her. She was living in the middle of something big, something most people only see in movies. It was ugly, and she had no idea just how much so – he wanted to spare her and keep it that way.

“C’mon, are we talking States Attorney? Big dogs in D.C.?” Her questions stalled when he gave her a raised brow and a side-eye glance. “Oh, my God, that high up? What has he done, Declan?”

“It would be easier to list what he hasn’t done – it would be a short list, too.” He wanted to tell her why he stayed under for so long, and that it was to make sure Esteban’s bad deeds didn’t get to her, but he didn’t. “Your husband is a very bad man, Lydee. One of the worst, and we need to put him away.”

“Ex-husband. He’s a widower now.”

It was all just too much, and she let the emotion finally have its way with her heart. She needed comfort and support, but she settled for Dec’s shoulder and silence instead. The weight of her world crashing down around her, in that moment, was just too much to bear. So she wept, and in a weak moment, he put an arm around her and let her. He felt her pain in her cries and gave in to the embrace, giving her what she needed in that moment because he was the only one who could.