Chapter 7
Secret Badass
The sand stirs behind us as we head down the dusty path. Hale’s hand has clutched mine ever since we left Seminole. I’m not sure if he’s worried I’ll get hurt at Salan, or if he’s apprehensive about Brazen making advances on the girl he doesn’t know is taken.
Hale releases my hand to shift gears, and then he skids around to halt the car in a vast, open space.
“This is Salan?” I ask curiously.
“This is where we’ll stop. We don’t need them to hear our cars,” he answers, and his lips press firmly against mine before he lets me climb out.
“I love you,” he sighs.
“I love you. It’s just until this is over,” I promise, and then I walk over to snuggle up in his lap.
“That was a long drive,” he grumbles, and I can tell what he’s wanting.
“Your good-morning-wake-up-fuck wearing off?” I tease.
He smirks while rolling his eyes.
“I can’t get enough of you.” Then we hear the stirring of more vehicles, drawing his eyes away from me for a second. “Time to start this charade,” he mumbles reluctantly, and I huff as I stand from his lap.
The convoy of jet black vehicles swish into place, and Hale pulls his keys out to stash them in his pocket. Brazen’s eyes fall on mine the moment he sees me, and he stalks directly to me.
“We’re finally on the road together,” he smolders out, and Hale has to walk away before he does something he’ll regret.
“Brazen, we’re on the road, but we’re still not together. If my being here is going to interrupt your focus, then I’ll ask Hale to drive me back right now. I won’t put your life at risk so that I can get my field stripes again,” I grouse, his eyes burning from my tart remark.
“Araya, please don’t keep punishing me. You know how much I love you. Don’t let one stupid, drunken, and careless mistake end what we had. I was hurting, I was pissed, and I wasn’t me that night. Just talk to me, please baby,” he pleads with a near whisper.
“Not now. Right now we’ve got something to do, and our focus is necessary. Please stop. I’m asking you to give me time to breathe. I’ve been dying to go back out into the field, and if anything goes wrong, Clay will never let me have another opportunity.”
I start walking toward the assembly of people, including Hale - his eyes not looking up.
“I wasn’t there to stop them from taking you five years ago. Nothing will go wrong with me here. I’d die before I let someone touch you,” he asserts too loudly, and Hale’s eyes blaze over, finally looking in the direction he had been avoiding.
“You don’t think I fucking tried everything I could to stop them,” he blares, and Brazen’s eyes blaze back as he stands face to face with him.
“You didn’t try as hard as I would. She would have never been chained up and tortured for days on end if I had been there,” Brazen counters.
Their growls grow louder, the promise of an imminent fight radiating like static between them.
“I fucking obliterated everyone in my path to her, but there were too fucking many. It was a setup, and we walked into a trap. I tried to die to keep her safe, you arrogant son of a bitch. You have no idea what I sacrificed then and after to find her and keep her safe!” Hale yells, and I finally step in between them.
“Stop, now,” I squeal, sounding too girly, which isn't like me.
I'm completely ignored, and my body between them does no good since they both tower over me. I don't even obstruct their line of view.
“You left her alone with her tormented nightmares, and you destroyed her when you missed every-fucking-thing you could in order to hide from your guilt. If you had done everything you could, you wouldn’t have felt guilty,” Brazen interjects.
“You don’t know a fucking thing, you full blood piece of shit. I can swear to you that you couldn’t have worked any harder to save her than I fucking did. You think you’re so much fucking better than us. You think you know about our kind, and you think we’re beneath you. That’s why she fucking left you,” Hale lashes, and my hand is now pressed against his chest to hold him back.
“Please stop,” I plead.
“I don’t think I’m better than hybrids. I just think I’m better than you. She knows I am. That’s why she fucking left Selma and went to Javeline in the first place. She didn’t want you around because she knows you didn’t fucking care enough,” Brazen slices.
“You son of a-” Hale lunges before he finishes his sentence.
