Without waiting for an answer, Lennox stood and headed down the hallway. As he neared the open door of the bedroom, he heard Talia and Katrina talking in soft, hushed tones. Not wanting to intrude on a private conversation, he held back a second until he figured out what they were talking about. It only took a moment to realize they were talking about what they’d seen on the video cameras during the surveillance raid.
“I was so scared when I saw all those armed men walking past the room Lennox was hiding in,” Talia was saying. “All I could think about were one of those men seeing Lennox and Colt and then everything going wrong. I thought I was going to be sick the entire time we sat there listening to that meeting.”
“Yeah, that was terrible,” Katrina said with a sigh. “But what about being in that van as it was being shot to crap around our heads? And running through those alleys? It was like a nightmare that wouldn’t end.”
The silence that met that statement was jarring in its significance. It hurt Lennox down to his soul to know he’d put Talia through such a horrible experience.
“Do you think it’s always like that?” Talia asked, her voice soft as if reliving a painful moment. “The chaos, the confusion, the gut-clenching fear?”
“I don’t know,” Katrina admitted. “What happened tonight might be a normal day in the life of a SEAL. Darwin saved my life like he’d done it a hundred times.”
Talia was quiet for so long that he was about to give up and walk in and check on her but her hesitant frightened words when she finally spoke made him wait.
“Now that I’ve seen what it’s like, I’m not sure if I can handle the reality of Lennox being in situations like this all the time. I’d have a nervous breakdown every time Lennox goes anywhere, worrying that he’s involved in something like what we experienced tonight.”
Lennox stood there, the words like a punch to his gut, making it hard to breathe.
“What are you going to do about you and Lennox?” Katrina asked. “Are you going to keep seeing him?”
He didn’t need to hear her answer. He already knew what she was going to say. Fighting the instinct to turn and walk away, he walked into the bedroom.
“Hey,” he said casually. “Sorry to interrupt, but we’re all talking about what we think tonight means for Anna, and everyone thought you two might want to sit in on the conversation.”
It didn’t take more than a glance to realize that Talia had been crying, which only served to tear Lennox’s heart open that much more. As he led the way down the hallway and into the living room, he decided he’d rather be shot at than have Talia dump him.
Lennox somehow kept his crap together until Talia left with Katrina an hour later. Kyla and Wes soon followed. He vaguely heard her saying something about making sure to lock the place and turn off the lights.
The conversation concerning Anna had gone nowhere. Outside of the fact that they still had no body, nothing had changed. But no body found had to be a good sign. People like Keller rarely left evidence behind. The theory that he needed that ship in order to get Anna out of the country was discussed and dismissed as far-fetched. If the man needed a ship, it was for some other reason than getting her out of the country. From that point, the discussion had shifted to Talia and Katrina’s safety.
“Do you think it’s safe for Katrina and me to go home?” Talia had asked. “What if Bogdan and Fredrickson realize we were there?”
Colt and Darwin had explained that there was no way anyone had seen them, not when they’d been in the van orrunning through the alleys. Returning back to work like normal would be the best thing so no one would ask any questions.
Even now, Lennox’s head spun at the thought of Talia being in even a little bit of danger because of the mess this op had turned into. He was supposed to be keeping her out of danger, not getting her into it.
He was so caught up in those thoughts he barely heard Darwin talking about what had happened after he and Katrina had run away from the surveillance van. Apparently, Darwin had a thing for her. While his relationship with Talia was going up in flames.
“Earth to Lennox. Come in, Lennox.”
He looked up to see Colt and Darwin regarding him in concern.
“You okay?” Colt asked. “You’ve been zoned out since you came back into the living room after going to get Talia and Katrina. What’s going on with you?”
Sighing, Lennox repeated the conversation he’d overheard between Talia and Katrina and the effect tonight’s op was going to have on his future with her.
“What are you going to do?” Darwin asked.
“I don’t know.”
From where he was sitting on the other couch, Colt frowned. “What do you want out of this thing you have with Talia? I mean, I know you like her, but it sounds like you were looking for something long-term.”
Lennox didn’t even have to think about it. “I’ve fallen for her. Faster than I ever would have imagined. I didn’t even realize I was looking for something real until it smacked me in the face.”
“I don’t have a lot of experience with serious relationships,” Darwin said, then snorted. “To be honest, I don’t have any at all. But I think you need to sit down with Talia and tell her how you feel. If you expect her to willingly sign up for a life with a NavySEAL then you need to let her know how much you care about her.”
Lennox pulled out his phone and opened ESPN, scrolling through the latest sports news. “I get what you’re saying but I’m not sure I see the point since Talia has already made up her mind.”
This conversation was making his head hurt.
