“Yeah.”
“They’ll come after you now.”
His jaw tightened once.
“Already figured that out.”
Fear clawed up my chest hard enough to hurt.
“Why are you acting like that doesn’t matter?”
That finally stopped him.
For one long second he just looked at me.
Then quietly?—
“Because losing youmattered more.”
Oh God.
My eyes burned instantly.
“Hersh…”
He exhaled roughly before dragging one hand through his hair.
“You know what the funny thing is?”
I shook my head.
“That bastard downstairs thinks he scared me.”
Thunder rolled outside.
Hersh stepped closer again.
Close enough I could feel the warmth coming off him.
“He didn’t.”
My pulse stumbled hard.
“Flick…” His voice lowered. “I spent sixteen years thinking I lost you already.”
Pain hit me straight in the chest.
“Do you know what that did to me?”
The question shattered something inside me because suddenly I realized?—
I never asked.
I never asked what those years did to him.
Hersh leaned one hand against the counter beside me.
“I went through Ranger school angry as hell.”
