Fearless: Complicated Creatures Part Three by Alexi Lawless Page A

he’d known her when she was still as bright and shiny as a brand new penny, ambitious and irreverent, loving and light. He was right in a way, because the woman she was now was deeply unhappy. Exhausted and damaged. And it wasn’t just from the ordeal in Afghanistan. Sam had been numb for so long after her family died and Wes had disappeared. Then, she’d been angry, pissed off, fucking furious . And when that burned out… she been left feeling empty and aching and… hollow .
    Truth was… Sam never minded taking the risks—gambling with her own life when she thought the reason was worthwhile. Maybe she’d even welcomed death in her subconscious mind, seeking a little peace, some kind of reprieve. Sam realized she’d come to a point where she just wanted to lay down the burden. She was weary of carrying that mantle.
    “I’m not the girl you loved anymore, Wes,” she murmured. “I haven’t been her in a long time.”
    Wes shook his head before he kissed her hand again. “I want to put that light back in your eyes, Sammy.”
    “That’s not your job, Wes. One person can’t be responsible for another person’s happiness. That’s just too much responsibility to bear. I don’t know how I get back to it, or if I can—but it’s not your job.”
    His eyes narrowed. “Is it Jack’s?” he asked quietly, the edge in his voice ultra-fine and razor-sharp.
    God, Jack…
    But Sam didn’t want to discuss Jack with him. It wasn’t right, and she wasn’t equipped to process the myriad of emotions she felt for that beautiful, maddening man. Their split still felt too tender. She also couldn’t believe he’d been here to see her, only to depart again by the time she’d awoken. That hurt too, though she didn’t want to think about it.
    “Wes, I’m not looking to start up anything with you or anyone else right now. I need to heal, in so many ways,” she admitted to him and to herself. “And I need some time to do that.”
    “No way in hell am I letting you go now,” he told her, taking on that stubborn look she’d seen on his face so many times. He was only going to dig in harder. And now was not the time.
    “Wes, please go home,” she asked tiredly. “Better yet, take on a fresh project. Get your mind off this—off of me and what we used to be—”
    “Hell, no,” he replied vehemently, chin coming up. “Don’t, Sammy— just don’t .”
    “Don’t what?” she countered, tired of arguing. “Don’t ask you to take care of yourself?”
    “Don’t act like we’re over,” he answered hotly, chin rising. “Because we’re not. This isn’t over.”
    The pain in her back was morphing from dull throb to full-on fire. She shifted again as the painkillers stopped taking the edge off.
    “Where’s the damn morphine button?” she mumbled, patting around blankets.
    Wes found and pressed the button deftly. The release felt all at once miraculously relieving. She sighed as the lenitive spread throughout her system.
    “I’m sorry, Sammy. I’m coming at you with too much, too fast.” He drew a calloused thumb down her cheek. “I’m just scared of losing you again. That’s all.”
    “Do me a favor?” she asked, her voice sounding small as she sunk toward oblivion.
    “Anything, Sammy.”
    “Go home, Wes. Give me time to find you again. When I’m ready…” and with that last request, she was out.
    *
    December—An hour later
    Asklepios Klinik Barmbek, Hamburg, Germany
    W E S L E Y
    Samantha fell into a comatose-like sleep almost immediately after she asked him to leave, and he sat beside her, ruminating on what she’d asked him to do after she’d all but confirmed the painful truth he’d been suspecting for weeks. The woman she’d become in the years they’d spent apart was altogether different from the girl he’d fallen in love with at nineteen. The difference was night and day.
    Where Sammy had once been vibrant and unrestrained, this woman was composed and controlled. The girl