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Chapter 27
They were holed up in yet another hotel. This time in Lima. Julia was getting fed up with hotels, but even more tired of having people around her continuously. She needed to think, and she couldn’t do it with the tension pouring off Callum. While she’d been hiding in the bathroom, the team had decided it was safer for Julia, her gran and Callum to wait out the operation in Lima. So when Joe had hired a helicopter to take them to the village where Alice was being held, another copter had flown the rest of the team to Lima.
Julia had arranged for an easy-access cab so that Callum’s wheelchair wasn’t an issue. The usually grumpy man was even more volatile than usual during the trip, which had all of Julia’s senses working on high alert. She thought his temper was because he couldn’t keep his disability hidden. He’d pinned the legs of his trousers up to stop them flapping about under his stumps, and it was clear his limbs were missing. What Callum didn’t get was that no one was looking at his lack of limbs, because the rest of him was overwhelming. He radiated authority and danger, whether he was in a wheelchair or out.
Julia checked the time again. Four minutes since she’d last checked. The extraction team were maintaining radio silence. All Julia knew was that they’d arrived in the mountains where Esteban had a residence. Elle had reported that the town was tiny and empty. Everyone was either in bed, or in Cusco with Esteban. They’d acquired a vehicle once they were in town and had gone straight to the estate, where Elle hacked the security system. There had been no information on the team Lake sent to help them, which could only mean that the people who made up the team didn’t want anyone to know they were helping out. Julia wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but she trusted Lake Benson’s judgment.
Six minutes.
She walked over to the window and looked out over the bustling capital city of Peru. Even in the dead of night, the roads were filled with cars fighting for space. This time their hotel was right in the centre of the sprawling city. It was a modern tower block of glass and concrete, surrounded by the classic Spanish architecture of a bygone age. Normally Julia felt reassured in hotels that were the same the world over, but this time she wished she was in one of the brightly coloured adobe buildings with their ornately carved balconi
es. She could imagine spending a lazy day with Joe in one of those hotels. They’d lie on a bed made with white linen and laugh at nothing.
Joe.
Eight minutes. And still no contact.
She rested her forehead against the cool glass and tried not to think about what he might be doing. If he got hurt…
No.
She couldn’t think about that.
She’d told him it was over between them. It was the sensible thing to do. Experience had taught her that the novelty of her personality wore off pretty quickly for people who got close to her. Julia didn’t think she could live through another round of dealing with someone else’s disappointment.
You’re too needy. You’re too weird. You overwhelm me. I can’t be a crutch for you, Julia. You need help. This is your fault. You don’t have a social life. I feel trapped with you…
Voices from her past crowded out her thoughts, but through it all there was still this huge, solid presence in her mind. Joe. He could even protect her from her memories.
Eleven minutes.
She felt her gran come up beside her.
“They’re going to be fine,” Patricia said.
Julia didn’t say anything. Her gran didn’t look like she wanted honesty, and anything she deemed acceptable would be a lie.
“I was trying to think of some family story I could tell you,” Patricia said. “One to help you deal with your past and your feelings for Joe—before you sabotage your future, that is. Although breaking up with him while you were sitting in the bath has probably already done the job.”
Julia squeezed her eyes shut. She was already aware that Ryan had blabbed about her conversation with Joe to everyone else in their suite. There was no end to Julia’s humiliation. It was the gift that kept on giving.
“In the end, I couldn’t think of one,” her gran said. “I’m too busy worrying about Alice. Instead, I thought I’d give you the meaning behind the story I would have told. Saves time, anyway.”
There was silence. Julia knew she was supposed to ask what it was. There was no way that was happening. She could out-stubborn her gran in a battle of wills, so she kept silent.
“Fine.” Patricia rolled her eyes. “Here’s the motto of the story I would have told if I could have thought of one—get over yourself.”
“Gran!”
“Don’t you Gran me. I’ve been watching you blow hot and cold with that man for the past few days. It’s obvious you’re crazy about him, yet you keep talking yourself out of it. It’s pathetic, and I’m fed up watching it. I never thought my granddaughter was a coward, but now I’m beginning to wonder.”
Julia felt the words like a punch to her stomach, but she fought past it. She knew her gran meant well. She was also family, and it was really hard to get rid of family when they upset you. She knew—she’d tried in the past.
“Please, Gran, next time you want to give me a pep talk, don’t.”
“Oh, for goodness’ sake. That boy loves you. We didn’t need Ryan’s gossip to figure that out. You can see it in everything he does. He just wants a chance to show you.”
“And what happens when he starts to get irritated by the fact I’m shy and introverted and have many, many issues? What then?” She glared at her gran. “I’ll tell you what. He leaves me in the dust. You’ve seen it happen. It happens all the time. I trust someone. I let him close, thinking he’s the one who’s going to accept me for who I am. Meanwhile, he’s thinking he’ll be the one who’s going to fix me. Then when he realises he can’t. That I’m unfixable. He runs.”
