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“He wants us to go talk to Natalie while she’s still in the hospital. He thinks we might be able to get something out of her about where those files are and what happened to Nick. Maybe Becks’s whereabouts too.” Kyle leaned his head back and closed his eyes.
“What do you think?” Scotty asked, catching Hayley’s hand and bringing it to his lips for a quick kiss.
“I think it’s our only option at this point,” Kyle replied.
Hayley pulled free from Scotty’s grasp and cleaned up her supplies. “Is she well enough to have visitors? She was in pretty bad shape at the row house.”
Kyle squinted open one eye to peer at Hayley. “Doctors say she’s stable. Single gunshot to the shoulder. Through and through. Brighton talked to them, and they said Natalie could speak to someone for short periods this evening.” He lifted his wrist and checked his watch. “Visiting hours end at seven.”
“Damn.” Spencer had been trying to reach a bloody area on his upper back without much luck.
“Here.” Hayley walked over to clean and bandage the abrasion for him. The sight of her hands on his shirtless buddy nearly Scotty him in. Still, he did his best to be proud of his angel of mercy and resist the urge to punch Spence in the jaw. “Better?” she asked.
“Much.” Spencer winked at Hayley, and Scotty growled low in his throat. Maybe slamming his fist into the guy’s face wouldn’t be such a bad idea after all. Spencer gave Scotty a droll look and raised a brow as Hayley walked away. “Jealous, bud?”
“She’s mine.”
“I heard that,” Hayley called from the bathroom.
“Good,” Scotty yelled back. “And don’t you forget it, Red.”
“Listen,” she said, coming back into the living room. “I get that maybe you guys enjoy your caveman routine, but I’m not a steak. You can’t order me. I’m a strong, independent woman who can date and sleep with any man I choose. Got it?”
Scotty frowned. “I thought—”
“You thought what?” Hayley continued. “That because we slept together, you could claim ownership? That because you helped rescue me, I owe you? I can take care of myself, all right? Been doing it a long time now.” She swiped the back of her hand beneath her eyes.
“Okay, Red. You want walking papers, you got ’em. From me and the FBI,” Scotty said, trying to make it sound like the idea of it didn’t touch him at all, didn’t gut him.
He’d learned the act first—how to pretend he didn’t care, even when he felt like he was being cut to pieces inside. Later on, he’d learned how to stop it from being an act: toactuallynot care if someone else decided not to bother keeping him around anymore. He’d forgotten that for a little while with Hayley, had let himself get too attached. That had been foolish. He should have known better.
Her head came up. “Do you have any idea what it was like for me to see you on your knees on that dock, a gun pointed at your head? Do you? You could’ve died, Scotty. Where would that have left me? I happen to care about you, you jackass.”
Wait, what?
That hadn’t been what he’d expected her to say. Not at all. He’d thought she was saying she was done with him, not that she cared about him.
Did she mean it? Could he bring himself to believe her? Hewantedto, there was no doubt about that, but trusting that someone could care about him… It wasn’t something he had much experience doing.
Before he could muster an answer, she stormed off to the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. Flabbergasted, Scotty pursed his lips, gazing around at the stunned faces of his SEAL teammates.
“Well, then,” Kyle said, his gaze lowered.
“Yeah, buddy.” Spencer shook his head and frowned. “Wow.”
“I like her,” Anna said, still cuddled beside Gage. “She’s got guts.”
“That she does.” Scotty rubbed a hand over his bruised jaw. “That she does.”
“Right.” Gage checked his watch. “It’s almost six now. If we’re going to get to the hospital to see Natalie before visiting hours end, we should get going.”
“Speaking of hospitals, I wonder where Hayley’s boss is now?” Anna said. Gage had caught her up on everything that had happened, including Michelle’s dockside confession that she’d done all this so she could afford to care for her sick child. Typical of Anna’s soft heart, she’d shown immediate compassion for the woman’s situation, even as she condemned the lengths to which Michelle had gone. “Probably holed up in some seedy hotel somewhere contemplating her life choices. God, I hope her son’s all right.”
“I’ve got Commander Brighton working on it,” Kyle said. “Her son will be taken care of.”
“Do you think she’s hooking up with Becks?” Scotty asked, grimacing.
“If she is, then she’s got even worse judgment than I gave her credit for,” Gage said.
