His lips flattened.His cheeks ticked.
“Until you,” she admitted.“And I’m scared this will go away.”
“It won’t.”
They lay in the darkening silence.He stroked her hair.He was so much more than she could comprehend.She was in love with him.Admitting that to herself was scary, and realizing that was surreal.She’d thought of the years she ached from what was just puppy love.But this was different.It was real and returned.
“I was dishonorably discharged,” he whispered.“They kicked my ass off the team that I would give my life for, for my country that I bled for.”
“Why?”
“I didn’t follow an order.”
That wasn’t possible.Callum Hale was the king of doing the right thing.
“It’s a nightmare that plays in my head almost constantly,” he admitted.“The order was illegal.I’ll stand by that for the rest of my life.But that didn’t matter.”
“What was it?”
He stroked her hair.Minutes ticked by.“It doesn’t matter.It was carried out anyway.”
“By Hayden?”
“No.Never.But I said no, and someone else said yes.Maybe I could have done more.I keep trying to see how I could have changed what happened…”
“What was it?”
He pinched his eyes closed.“Someone at the wrong place.The wrong time.”He shook his head.“They weren’t armed.They posed no threat.I couldn’t stop it.”He released an unsteady breath.“They’re dead.Nothing I could do except go home and report it to anyone who would listen.I don’t know what will come of it.I know what should… But what will?”
Grace didn’t know what to say.“I’m so sorry.”
“I’m mourning the person who needlessly died.Compound that with former teammates spinning a narrative to cover their asses.They irreparably ruined my belief in…everything, and during dinner, I kept thinking what it would mean if someone on my new team did that again.I don’t know how I’d handle that.”
“What if they did?”Dominic’s reach into law enforcement had left people dead before.It wouldn’t be a stretch to believe he could turn people again.
His chest expanded with a breath so deep she wasn’t sure he would take another.The corners of his eyes tightened, and he let it out slowly, not answering with a slight shrug.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
She tried to remember the moment during her marriage to Dominic when she realized she was completely on her own, that no one would truly be loyal to her, that she would never be safe.“I’ve spent years not trusting anyone.I don’t want that feeling for you.”
“Don’t take on that worry for me,” he said.“I’m fine.”
“I’ll try.”
His dark eyes intensified.Seconds ticked by.“Try harder.”
“I don’t want you to feel the way I do—did,” she amended.
“I trust my team.I do… I don’t have any reason not to.Except Dominic knows more than we do.That threw me for a loop.”
“He’s always one step ahead.”
Tension flickered in the chiseled indentation of his cheek.“That’s what you keep saying.”He stroked the back of her head again.Callum skimmed his fingers over her skin before brushing his lips over the spot he’d just touched.“I want to know about Dominic.”
“You know everything—”
“No, I don’t,” he whispered under his breath.“You didn’t tell me everything from before.”
