want to be normal again. God, how I want to be the man who came to visit one year ago. I don’t want to be broken anymore.
He hadn’t heard the door behind him open or close. The only thing that alerted him to her presence was that familiar milk and honey fragrance she possessed, torturing his senses. What would she think if she saw him, saw what he knew to be an agonized expression and eyes filled with confused tears? The day Tiaan broke down in front of Reynolds’ men, bawling, begging… They bloody well laughed at him. Quite literally kicked him while he was down. Would Chelsea do the same? He didn’t think he’d be able to bear it if she did.
Thankfully Mac turned the radio on as he drove, something loud enough to cover the sounds of his gasping sobs. He knew exactly what Tiaan was going through at that moment because he had been in this position once before.
Except the people who tortured him were not his fellow Americans, fellow soldiers. Mac wasn’t tried for treason after doing nothing more than following his orders but left for dead and hunted by his own government when he failed to roll over and take his last breath.
Hell, Mac knew just what was happening inside his head. If he could count on anyone to get him through this, it was Mac.
Six
There, she felt it again.
Chelsea opened her eyes and looked around her small room as the eerie impression of being watched swept over her a countless number of times over the past two nights – since Tiaan arrived.
Just as she had previously, Chelsea expected to see nothing, to find that no one had entered her room while she slept in short intervals between feeding Ruan when he woke and putting him back to sleep. But this time, her eyes caught a dark shadow huddled in the rocking chair opposite her bed. The chair moved.
“Don’t be afraid,” a voice whispered.
Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Chelsea carefully pushed back the covers and shimmied to the side of her bed. In the dark, she couldn’t see much of anything but that voice, the accent, she knew who it belonged to.
“If you want me to go…” Tiaan paused his slow back and forth motion, waiting.
Between the elevator and the car, she witnessed too many facets of one man and the way he spoke to her, the ferocity in his voice and anger in his eyes…it was all quite frightening. But the drive home, during which he openly cried about something she would never understand, it gave her cause to wonder what could possibly be going on inside his head.
Mac said it was up to Tiaan to elucidate his experience with her if he chose to, but he did inform her that the man who fathered her child had been through something truly horrendous and he had to face it alone. Whatever he went through, it obviously affected his mind.
Chelsea made her peace with the fact that she may never know the man that seduced her that night again, and they may never experience anything like the night they shared in the future, but she had a connection with him. They had created a human being together and whatever he was going through, he didn’t need to do it by himself.
Tentatively, she rose on exhausted legs, pulling her nightdress down to her knees, and walked soundlessly over to where he sat. In a show of peace, of good faith and solidarity, she offered her hand and waited to see what he would do. She wanted him to take it, to stand up and come to her arms, to let her comfort him. She wanted to hold him and tell him everything was going to be alright, even though Chelsea didn’t know if that was the truth.
Tiaan swallowed, the sound loud enough for her to discern. Then he reached out uncertainly and slipped his hand into hers. Despite the summer heat, his flesh was cold to the touch. “You’re freezing,” she whispered.
“It hurts,” his meek voice admitted.
He offered no further explanation.
Chelsea wet her lips. “What hurts?”
Silent seconds ticked by, sliding into minutes, punctuated by Ruan’s sleepy murmurs
He hadn’t heard the door behind him open or close. The only thing that alerted him to her presence was that familiar milk and honey fragrance she possessed, torturing his senses. What would she think if she saw him, saw what he knew to be an agonized expression and eyes filled with confused tears? The day Tiaan broke down in front of Reynolds’ men, bawling, begging… They bloody well laughed at him. Quite literally kicked him while he was down. Would Chelsea do the same? He didn’t think he’d be able to bear it if she did.
Thankfully Mac turned the radio on as he drove, something loud enough to cover the sounds of his gasping sobs. He knew exactly what Tiaan was going through at that moment because he had been in this position once before.
Except the people who tortured him were not his fellow Americans, fellow soldiers. Mac wasn’t tried for treason after doing nothing more than following his orders but left for dead and hunted by his own government when he failed to roll over and take his last breath.
Hell, Mac knew just what was happening inside his head. If he could count on anyone to get him through this, it was Mac.
Six
There, she felt it again.
Chelsea opened her eyes and looked around her small room as the eerie impression of being watched swept over her a countless number of times over the past two nights – since Tiaan arrived.
Just as she had previously, Chelsea expected to see nothing, to find that no one had entered her room while she slept in short intervals between feeding Ruan when he woke and putting him back to sleep. But this time, her eyes caught a dark shadow huddled in the rocking chair opposite her bed. The chair moved.
“Don’t be afraid,” a voice whispered.
Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Chelsea carefully pushed back the covers and shimmied to the side of her bed. In the dark, she couldn’t see much of anything but that voice, the accent, she knew who it belonged to.
“If you want me to go…” Tiaan paused his slow back and forth motion, waiting.
Between the elevator and the car, she witnessed too many facets of one man and the way he spoke to her, the ferocity in his voice and anger in his eyes…it was all quite frightening. But the drive home, during which he openly cried about something she would never understand, it gave her cause to wonder what could possibly be going on inside his head.
Mac said it was up to Tiaan to elucidate his experience with her if he chose to, but he did inform her that the man who fathered her child had been through something truly horrendous and he had to face it alone. Whatever he went through, it obviously affected his mind.
Chelsea made her peace with the fact that she may never know the man that seduced her that night again, and they may never experience anything like the night they shared in the future, but she had a connection with him. They had created a human being together and whatever he was going through, he didn’t need to do it by himself.
Tentatively, she rose on exhausted legs, pulling her nightdress down to her knees, and walked soundlessly over to where he sat. In a show of peace, of good faith and solidarity, she offered her hand and waited to see what he would do. She wanted him to take it, to stand up and come to her arms, to let her comfort him. She wanted to hold him and tell him everything was going to be alright, even though Chelsea didn’t know if that was the truth.
Tiaan swallowed, the sound loud enough for her to discern. Then he reached out uncertainly and slipped his hand into hers. Despite the summer heat, his flesh was cold to the touch. “You’re freezing,” she whispered.
“It hurts,” his meek voice admitted.
He offered no further explanation.
Chelsea wet her lips. “What hurts?”
Silent seconds ticked by, sliding into minutes, punctuated by Ruan’s sleepy murmurs
Similar Books
