“Because what?” I asked softly, jostling him a little.
He snapped back to reality with a laugh. “Because you and I…are different, I guess. Different with each other, and just…different.”
“Of course we are,” I said without thinking, and then…I started thinking.
Why were we different? I mean, of course, there was the difference in how we knew each other before both our lives fell apart. When our lives were simpler, when we could measure our lives in terms of minutes instead of looking back and seeing them through the lens of years, through experience. We hadboth lost. Our losses were different, but they weren’t better or worse. They were just…different.
What was different?
After all, it wasn’t like I had been interested in any man before him. He had trotted along my path, neither of us understanding the impact of what that would mean, and now…now he was…what?
Because…he was him, that was it, wasn’t it? He was him, and even if I tried to incorporate all the complications and complexities, all of it was still washed away because he was him. He was just as difficult as I remembered, just as hardheaded, just as stubborn and willful, except now he was more obvious about it. Maybe that was because he was being more honest, maybe it was because I was seeing more than I’d seen before, or maybe it was a mixture that I couldn’t and wouldn’t ever be able to really breakdown.
But he was him, and I loved that about him.
I opened my mouth to tell him that when shrieking filled the room, bouncing from every angle as the lights turned to full brightness. His eyes widened, and I snapped my head around, surging upward as red light filtered into the room from lights that I’d never realized were there. Getting to my feet, I barely noticed as he dressed, his hand on my elbow as he steadied himself.
“What…” he began, but then the door opened and men with guns filed in.
Danger. That was all I knew, just…danger. I couldn’t tell if they were aiming at me or Walker, but that didn’t matter. Even if they were here for me, they were here, and they were a threat; that was what mattered.
I dove forward without thought, my legs working in a way they hadn’t done for years. The first of the men to enter the room was slammed against the wall with a jarring thud that wouldhave sounded painful to me otherwise, but right now it sounded good. There was shouting from the others, but I didn’t notice as I gave the first man another shove, making his head bounce off the solid wall, and watched him slump without caring.
“Cade, no!”
The next man swiveled, and I saw his eyes widen, and I understood. This was someone who had never seen a fight, not the genuine kind anyway. The kind where you’re forced to stare down the barrel of someone as willing as you are to fight, to kill, to die. I almost felt pity for him, or at least I would have if it wasn’t for the fact that he’d come into my room with his weapon drawn, willing to use it.
His wrist broke with ease, and he crumpled when I shoved my knee into his gut and then?—
Agony.
I whirled around as pain bolted from one end of my body to the other, and I realized it was…a Taser?
Who used Tasers in a war?
“Cade, stop!”
My muscles screamed in agony, my blood boiling as I twisted around and?—
“No!” a scream belted forth, piercing through the understanding, piercing through my recognition.
Walker was before me, clutching my face with a desperate expression that snapped me back to…reality?
“Stop, please,” he whispered desperately. “Don’t do this, Cade, please don’t do this.”
“Walker?” I asked hoarsely, feeling myself dragged backward as his face contorted in misery.
“Stop, just stop, he’s just freaking out, he’s got PTSD, you fucking assholes,” he howled, thrashing in every direction and my instincts surged again and I lashed out at the next person to get near me because they were a threat and?—
“Enough,” a new voice bellowed, and I snapped to attention. “You will stand down,now!”
I didn’t know the voice, but I recognized its authority as I grew still. Even Walker stopped fighting as I lay on the ground and peered up to see who had cut through the chaos with just a few words and a tone. I ignored the men in uniform and suits and stared first at Reggie, not believing he could have managed something like that. But he wasn’t even looking at me; his face was open shock as he stared at the dark-haired man next to him. Both looked as if they had just rolled out of bed, wearing loose sleep pants, plain shirts, and their hair askew. While that made Reggie look more like his true, slightly chaotic self, the man he was staring at stood firm, his shoulders back and his chin pointed outward as he slowly gazed at everyone until he looked down at me.
“Sir?” I asked, the word leaving my mouth before I was even sure who he was.
“Be calm,” he said, his voice firm as he looked up. “Just stay down. There’s nothing that can be done for the moment, understand?”
“I…” I was confused, too lost to argue with what was a clear order, and I turned to stare at Walker, who was standing with his face against the wall, his hands cuffed behind him.
