Saturday morning, I meet Wren for breakfast to get an update. “Here is the report I downloaded on the flight home yesterday. We rescued over 300 people and saved 85 people that would not have made it without us intervening.”

“Good work. When is Aedon heading back?” I ask him, cutting into my pancakes.

“She should be home by tonight. The Red Cross can handle everything that is left to do.”

“How do you feel it went? Do you have any suggestions?”

“I think it went well for our first time out in the field. I do think we need to hire another person in the office to give Ander a break. He was working 24/7 on his computer.”

“I think you will have to convince him to share the duties with someone else. He’s a bit of a control freak when it comes to that computer. Now that you guys are back, he’s going to take a few days off. He learned when we are in crisis mode, he will have to work like a dog. How was it for you?” I wipe my mouth.

“It was awesome. I saved a kid’s leg from being amputated and I did surgery in the field on a man who had a sign impaled through his stomach. He will have a tough recovery, but he will live.”

“Nice work,” I pat his shoulder. “This is what we live for.”

“I’m glad we’ve done this, I only hope that when it comes to a really big disaster things go as smoothly.” He finishes the last bite of his food and leans back in his chair.

“Take the weekend off and get some rest. I’ll go to the office and file all the paperwork for you.”

“Thanks. I’ll probably sleep the entire rest of the weekend.”

The office is quiet except for a punctual low bleep that keeps sounding from the National Geological Society monitor. It is reading seismic activity along the Cape Mendocino, California area. The indicators are only small and not unusual for that area. If it were lighting up along Oregon, Washington, and up to the Vancouver Islands, it would be a catastrophe. That fault line would wipe out millions of people. It’s known as the Cascadia subduction zone, and it runs 700 miles up the coast. The “Cascadia” part of the name comes from the Cascade Range, a chain of volcanic mountains that follow the same course a hundred or so miles inland. The “subduction zone” refers to a region of the planet where one tectonic plate is sliding underneath another one. Typically, the movement is slow and harmless, but when the borders meet, destruction happens. It’s been predicted for years that a major earthquake will cause this area to sink into the sea. The three of us had to take an in-depth course over all the fault lines on the earth. It’s in grained in my memory.

I watch as the lights slowly fade and the beeping stops before I return to my desk, where I spend the next couple of hours filing paperwork for the government. As I’m finishing and getting ready to leave, the elevator opens and an exhausted Aedon walks into the office.

“Hey, what are you doing here? You should have gone straight home.” I say, walking up to her and brushing a strand of hair from her face.

“I wanted to drop off my files I worked on during the flight home so I don’t have to worry about it first thing Monday morning.” She walks by me and plops down at her desk chair.

“I was just leaving. Are you up for some dinner? We could do take out at my place.”

“Chinese?” She looks hopeful.

“I’ll call an order in. We can have my driver stop on the way home to pick it up.”

She stands and stretches. Her white tank top raises enough to show the small of her stomach. She quickly pulls it back down over her faded blue jeans. “Normally, I would fight you on the limo, but I’m too dog-tired to walk anywhere.”

I call our favorite Chinese place on the way to the limo. I don’t need to ask her what she wants, I already know her favorite is chicken fried rice with an egg roll. She slides in and I sit next to her. Her head falls on my shoulder before I’m buckled into the seat. I cherish the feel of her. She’s sound asleep when my driver pulls up to the restaurant. I hold my finger to my lips to keep him from waking her and stealthily pull my wallet from my back pocket, lightly jostling her with my elbow in the process. She stirs and her head falls into my lap, curling her body up on the seat. I give him the card and he heads out of the limo. My hand has a mind of its own as it strokes her soft hair. She mumbles something and her hand goes under her chin, mere inches from my cock which also has a mind of its own. I suppress a groan and shift slightly away from her hand and the damn woman shifts with me. I let out a couple of deep, calming breaths to try and stifle my need for her.

As the driver climbs back in, I roll down the window, letting the cool breeze hit my face until we make it to my apartment. “Wake up, sleepy head.” I say as I rub from her shoulder down her arm.

She slowly rolls over looking up at me. I can’t help but smile at her. “I’m sorry,” she says sitting up.

“Nothing to be sorry for, you were exhausted.” I love that vulnerable side she only shows me.

She pulls her shirt down and runs her hands through her messy locks. “I was apparently drooling on your jeans,” she says, looking at my leg.

“You can drool on me or over me anytime you want, doll,” I tease with her and she rolls her eyes at me.

“As much as I would love to fall back to sleep, I’m starving.” She shoos me out of the limo, then walks past me and punches in the code to the main entrance.

I smile at her. “You remember the code.”

“I remember a lot of things.” She pats my cheek and walks inside. I grab the food from the driver and follow her. She already has the elevator waiting on me.

When we make it to my penthouse, she heads straight for the bar and mixes herself a cocktail. “Do you want one?”

“No, I’m good.” I take plates out from the cabinet and place them on the coffee table, knowing that she loves to eat on the couch.

“I could have used one of these several times this week.” Taking her shoes off, she sits on the couch, tucking one leg under her.

I open the containers and load her plate with food, handing it to her. She quickly finishes her drink and takes the plate from me. I get up and make her another one before I fix my food. “Was it rough out there?”

“The devastation some of them experienced is emotionally hard to deal with. Some families lost everything that had taken them a lifetime to build,” she says between bites of food. “Some lost even more.”

I sit back and join her with my plate. “I read in the report that you saved a lot of people. I’m proud of the work we are doing.”

“I never feel like it’s enough when we lose people.”

“We can’t save everyone, you know that.”

“I know, but that doesn’t make it any easier.”

She’s quiet while she eats the rest of her food. I get up and make her another drink. “Are you trying to get me drunk?” she asks, taking the glass from my hand.

I chuckle, “Maybe enough to make you forget.”

She swirls the glass in her hand before it goes to her lips. She throws her head back and swallows it down. When her eyes open, I see a glistening of tears behind them. “You know…I had my heart set on you.” Her hand goes to my cheek. “Why did we have to be so bad together?” she whispers.

Moving closer to her, I take her hand from my face and hold it in mine. “I don’t think we were bad together. I’m thinking the sex was amazing.”

She pulls her hand from mine and leans away from me. “I’m not talking about sex and you know it.” She gets up and fixes herself another drink. “I waited so long for you to work things out.”

I lean back on the couch and watch her. “We’ve never talked about it before,” I say as she makes her way back over, but she sits in the recliner across from me, instead of next to me.

“I was a fool, thinking you would be true to me.” She takes a long sip, but her deep brown eyes are cemented to mine.

I scoot to the edge of the couch. “What are you talking about? I never cheated on you.” I can feel the deep crease of a scowl form on my forehead.

“Really,” she laughs.

“Aedon. I never cheated.” My frown deepens.

Getting up, she walks over to the glass wall and stares out at the city. “I came home late one night from a study session. I had tried calling you several times during the day. It was the day after you failed your first exam. You had been on one of your lows several days before and didn’t study.”

I walk up and stand next to her. “I remember. Thankfully the professor let me retake the exam.”

“Do you remember the high you had been on right after that? I came home to a woman in our apartment.” She turns and faces me, finishing off her drink before she speaks again. “Actually, she was in your arms. More specifically, you had her pressed against a wall with your body.”

“I never knew you saw that.” I can feel my face burning red as I jam my hands into my pockets and throw my head back, looking up at the ceiling.

“Just because you never knew I saw it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.” She turns to walk away and I grab her arm.

“I didn’t have sex with her. I was out of control, but as soon as I had her in bed, I saw your face and I couldn’t go through with it. The girl left pissed at me. I tried your phone, but you didn’t answer.” I place both my hands on her elbows, turning her to face me. “Is that why you left me?”

“I tried to stay, but I couldn’t after I thought you had been with someone else. There were so many other reasons for me to leave, but she was the last straw for me. I couldn’t do it anymore.”

I release her arms and run my hands through my hair. “Was I that bad?”

“You were a train wreck. I never knew which track you were on. Some nights you wouldn’t even come home. I would wait for you and call all of our friends, trying to find you. I tried to walk away so many times.”

“Fuck. I’m so sorry, Aedon. I wish I would have gotten help a long time ago. I never meant to hurt you. I’m not the same guy I was back then and you know it.” I take a step closer to her. Her long lashes fall over her eyes and a tear slips down. I catch it right before it rolls off her chin, then lean in closer and kiss her lips lightly. She tastes so damn sweet. “I never wanted to see you unhappy. I let you walk away because I knew I was bringing you heartache. I know I told you that I didn’t care when you were walking out the door, but it was a lie, one that I’ve regretted since then.”

Her eyes open and she licks her lips. “I knew you would bring me nothing but heartbreak. I was a fool for hanging on as long as I did back then, but you owned my heart. I remember every little thing. Every damn little thing from the scent that you left on my pillow, to the sound of your heart beating with mine. The high, the anguish, the sting, everything.”

“I should have fought harder to be the man you needed. Stay the night with me, Aedon.” I search her eyes as she seems to think about it. Then she closes her eyes and stumbles backward. I catch her before she falls. I scoop her up in my arms and her head falls back. She’s sound asleep before I make it into my bedroom. I place her in the middle of the bed and pull the covers over her. I stand staring at her for the longest time. God, I still love this woman, but she deserves so much more than my many shades of darkness.

I wish I could go back and change so many things. I should have stayed on my medication, but it dulled my thoughts. I still struggle with it somedays, but when performing surgeries or in the middle of an adrenaline rush, my mind is sharp. I’ve learned control, but too late to save Aedon all the heartache that I caused her.

Bending over her, I place a kiss on the top of her head. “Sleep, doll.”