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Sadie
“I know you’ve mentioned your parents worked for the government, and that was why you got into this line of work, but we never went that deep with it,” I said softly, looking up at Zack.
He was so beautifully handsome. It was like I was staring at a retired linebacker turned personal security guard. But then, when you got lucky enough to peel back the layers, his heart and soul managed to outshine his good looks and create a desire I couldn’t ignore.
Even now.
Zack shifted his weight, the leaves crunching underfoot as he took a deep breath. A puff of air drifted away as he nodded.
“True. I’ve done a pretty good job of avoiding that topic.” He smiled and tilted his head as he studied me.
There was something so natural and stunning about this moment as we stood quietly in the woods, recognizing that we had managed to hold tight the secrets among us.
“Are you getting cold?” he asked.
I wiggled my gloved finger. “Nice try. I like being outside, and it’s not that cold. We go in there, and I won’t hear about your parents.”
“I just don’t know that it will bring anything to our relationship or how you see me, especially since…” His words were brutally recognizable. I’d asked the same question a million different ways, and I still didn’t feel like I knew the whole truth.
And now, what leg did I have to stand on to ask for his truth? I broke up with him.
“Since we aren’t together?” I continued for him.
He nodded, glancing back toward the house's silhouette through the trees.
“Yeah, but it doesn’t mean I stopped caring about you.” I shook my head. “I’m just curious how you can be so tender and compassionate to me and the ones you love while you do something so… aggressive for work.”
Zack took a step toward me and closed the gap slightly. “They are two separate worlds, Sadie. I don’t bring home my work, and I don’t bring home to my work. I can’t. It would be too dangerous.”
“Then what about this situation? How do you explain this?”
He’d become used to hiding his reactions from me recently, and I could tell he was trying to do it again.
“Life isn’t always black and white. I’m doing my job, and it just happens to be for someone I care a lot about.”
“Does that make it harder?”
He was quiet for a few seconds. “It makes me realize how much I lost when you left me. I shouldn’t have taken you for granted. I should have made changes to make you more comfortable. Now, I’m paying the price and doing what I can to make you safe.”
His words beat ferociously through me. With each pulse, it felt like I was reopening the wounds of what we had and never could have again.
But I couldn’t deny that when I was with him, I felt safest.
“My parents worked for the State Department.” He cleared his throat. “They were stationed overseas for many years and didn’t make friends. When my mom became pregnant with my brother, they moved back to the States. But they were always looking over their shoulders.”
Of all the confessions I’d imagined about his parents, this wasn’t what I expected.
I nodded. “Okay.”
“As the years progressed and they had two sons, they became more paranoid. Or that’s how my brother and I saw it. We didn’t realize that they were just scared for their family, for our safety.” His gaze hardened as he looked away. “And the government basically dismissed their worries and gave them no help. Absolutely zero help.”
“So, was there someone after them?”
Zack’s gaze flew to mine, and his handsome features turned stern. “Absolutely. And they did everything they could to protect us. They paid the ultimate sacrifice.”
I gasped in horror. “Zack, I didn’t know…”
He shook his head. “How could you? I always acted like their deaths were a freak accident.”
