“Come on, the town’s so small it’s barely on the map. Do you even get a phone signal?”
“I’m talking to you, aren’t I?”
She laughed again, and the sound was so damn familiar. The woman had been a close friend for over a decade, being assigned as their intelligence specialist right at the beginning of his SEAL career.
“Now,” she said, as she sobered. “How areyoudoing?”
“Good. Really good. I’m back with the guys, working a job that feels meaningful. And Maggie’s here.”
“Maggie’s there?”
“Yeah. Moved back about a month ago. Feels kind of like fate.”
There was a short pause. “Ethan…she stomped on your heart, then cut you out of her life.”
“And I’m going to find out why she did that. But I can’t help who I love, Jay.”
“Jesus Christ.” The words were almost a mutter. “You know all I’m going to do is worry about you now, right?”
“You don’t need to do that.”
“Really? Do you remember what you were like when she left you? A mess. The commander madeyoutake leave. You almost lost your spot on the team.”
The muscles in his forearms tightened. “That’s not going to happen again.”
“Yeah, okay.” Another pause. “I don’t want to fight.”
“Then don’t.”
There was ahumphsound. “I think I need to go hit a bag now. Let off some steam. What are you doing tonight?”
“Working.”
“Maybe I’ll come down there and help some time.”
“You’re always welcome.”
“I’ll hold you to that. Have a good night and watch that big bleeding heart of yours.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
He hung up and looked back at the screen, but dammit, now all he could think about was Maggie. He understood why Jay was confused. Hell, he was shocked too. He’d thought he’d never see her again. And now, he should probably be angry at her. She’d destroyed so many parts of him when she’d up and left, giving him no closure.
The commander had been right to force him to take leave. He hadn’t been in the head space to have his teammates’ backs.
He’d spent some time searching for her. But she’d changed apartments and his calls had never gone through. So he’d had to figure out how to live with a fraction of his heart.
Fuck it, he was done for the night.
He closed the laptop and leaned back in his seat, then his watch lit up. It was the outside sensor.
The fuck? Was someone out there? Or was it an animal?
In case it wasn’t, he sent a quick text to his team to let them know what was going on, then moved down the hall into the gear room. He keyed in a code for the weapons cabinet. They didn’thave a full armory in the SAR building, but they weren’t stupid enough to have nothing.
He pulled out a Glock. The cabinet locked with a click after him. When he stepped outside, the cool evening breeze touched his skin before the crash of shattering glass cut through the air.
He sprinted around the building, gun up but close to his body. He turned the corner, almost crashing into a person.
