AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I just… I’m at a loss for words.”
“A terror organization thought my parents had more clout than they did, and so they became targets right before my parents moved back here. There was a bounty on my parents.” He shook his head. “They didn’t have a chance, but they did their best. They got us to age before it happened.”
My heart burned in sorrow for Zack and Ian.
That kind of loss.
That kind of terror.
“You always grew up feeling like you had to look over your shoulder?” I asked softly, taking a step closer to Zack.
He nodded. “Always, but they never told us why until we were older. But they’d taught us martial arts, survival skills, urban combat skills.” He sighed. “While other kids were learning to ride bikes, we were learning hand-to-hand combat. My brother and I tried to rebel, and we thought they were crazy… like some of those survivalists who go off the grid. Up until I was ten or eleven, I just wanted to grow up in a normal house. I didn’t understand why I had to have the crazy parents. I just wished they’d told us sooner.”
The pain radiated to me, and I couldn’t stand still. I looped my arms around Zack, wishing I could share in the pain he felt, take it away…
I rested my head on his chest, listening to the steady rhythm of his heart.
“So we both know what it feels like to carry the world's weight on our shoulders,” I said softly, tilting my head to look into his striking hazel eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“I didn’t want to scare you. I didn’t want you to think the entire world was full of bad stuff.” His voice was tender and his gaze even more so.
“I had you. You’re the good stuff, Zack.”
“Then why not good enough to stay, Sadie?”
His words were like a million nails to the heart, and I had no answer.
I didn’t know why I wanted to run.
But even now, every cell in my body felt ready to explode, ready to dart at the first hint of disaster.
And now, with Tim running around, I felt like all I could do was go away where no one could find me.
That would be my peace.
Isolation.
“It wasn’t you, Zack. It’s me. I don’t have my head screwed on straight.” I took a step back. “Even now, all I can think about is how good it feels to be in your arms, to be with you. You’re my safety net, but you shouldn’t have to be. That was never anything I looked for before in a partner. So, why now? Why base my entire future on something that happened to me in the past?”
His eyes stormed with emotion as he nodded slowly. “We understand each other so well, Sadie, because we’ve both faced demons we didn’t ever want to believe existed. But this world isn’t always rainbows and butterflies.”
“I know, Zack.” I nodded, feeling a shiver through me. “But I understand what my therapist means about falling in love with someone who shared that trauma with me.”
Zack bit his lip and shook his head. “That’s the thing, Sadie. It wasn’t traumatic for me. That’s what I do. I rescue people. I protect people. It was traumatic for you, and whether it was me who saved you or my brother or one of Jaxson’s brothers, you’d still have all those memories leading up to the rescue. Those can’t be taken away. Reminders will exist in this world of the horrors you faced.” He leaned against an enormous Douglas fir trunk and crossed his arms. “I get that I remind you of that moment in your life. I can accept that you don’t want to be reminded of that moment. But I want to believe that maybe that moment you saw me, and I held you as I carried you out of the warehouse, was the beginning of good things to come. That’s how I wish your therapist wanted to frame what happened to you because I’m telling you, Sadie…” He scratched his chin and let out a deep breath. “You’ll be running for a long time trying to grasp a peace that might not exist.”
Honesty dripped from his words.
“I know…”
Zack’s eyes narrowed on me, and a wave of longing swept over me. “Do you, though? Because I will not be the only reminder you’ll face throughout the coming years. Triggers will sneak up on you when you least expect it, and if it were me, I’d rather have someone I trusted right there with me to guide me through them.”
Every word he said was the truth.
My therapist was wrong.
I needed Zack.
But the damage was done.
