Which meant he absolutely would not be playing her bodyguard.
No way, no how.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said slowly. It wasn't what she wanted to say. What she wanted to say would be, in actual fact, screamed at full volume, and it would be a demand to know how he could have been so cruel and heartless, so incredibly selfish. She’d also demand to know if it had all been a lie, if he’d ever loved her, or if he’d never intended to honor the youthful promises they'd made to one another.
But none of that was a conversation she wanted to have in public.
Actually, none of it was a conversation she’d have at all.
Because as much as she’d love to have some answers to see if they could help smooth over the rough edges her ordeal had left behind, she also knew they would open a Pandora’s box of emotion she wasn't ready to handle yet.
“Why not?” Micah asked, arching a brow at her, knowing that she wasn't going to bring up her trauma and call him on it right there. Smug jerk.
It would serve him right for everyone in this room, including one of his teammates, to know just what kind of man he used to be. Maybe still was. She didn't know him, hadn't seen him in over a decade, so she really didn't know if he was a good guy now or not. Being a SEAL didn't automatically exclude someone from being a terrible human being.
“Because Prey hires its own bodyguards, we have people on staff who are paid to do this kind of thing,” she replied.
“No need to pay me. Consider this a favor. For a friend,” he added with a little emphasis, and she hoped everyone assumed he was talking about Nathaniel.
He had to be.
They weren't friends anymore, and his abandonment had made her doubt if they ever really had been.
After he bailed on her, she’d spent a lot of time going over every interaction they’d shared in the three years they’d knownone another. It beat obsessing over her assault, and it was the only way she could handle Micah disappearing, pretending, convincing herself that none of it had been real. Over time, each memory of him she had became tainted, as she began to believe what she told herself, the sweetness of her moments with Micah becoming sour.
They were still sour, and she had no desire to spend any more time with him.
“Actually, I would love to assign someone to you who is already familiar with what we’re up against,” Raven told her, a slight apologetic note to her tone like she got that there was more going on than either she or Micah had said out loud.
“But—”
“No buts. It’s done. Consider Micah your new bodyguard,” Raven said firmly, cutting off her objection. “Nathaniel, I assume you and Ava will be remaining here?” When Nathaniel and Ava both nodded, her boss shifted her attention to the others.
“Isabella and I already talked on the way here, we’re going to move into one of the apartments as well,” Tobias said before Raven could even ask.
“I think I'm going to stay too,” Chelsea piped up. “I don’t think I can go back home. It was hard enough after Ava was kidnapped from there a few months ago, but now with the break-in, it doesn’t feel safe anymore.”
So she’d just lost both her roommates.
Great.
There was no way she could afford the rent for an apartment like that on her own. Especially not while she was also paying some of her mom’s bills and paying for Arthur’s care. She got why neither Ava nor Chelsea wanted to be there, and Ava was going to move soon anyway, they all knew it, but Teresa wasn't ready for everything to change.
Shehatedchange.
Knowing nothing in life lasted forever didn't make it any easier for her when those inevitable changes came.
Her brother’s life-altering stroke.
Her dad’s death.
Her rape.
Losing Micah.
It felt like she was losing Ava and Chelsea, even though she knew they would forever be part of her life.
If she was going to be forced to endure Micah’s presence in her life for the time being, then there was only one thing left inside her control, and she had no intention of letting it go.
