Even adults could crash and burn with that kind of stress on their shoulders.
Had he been too harsh on her?
While he’d tried to ease a little of her burdens, helping out wherever he could, he’d still had school and his own job as well. Maybe he hadn't been a good enough boyfriend, maybe she’dneeded more from him than he’d been prepared to give, and that’s why she’d done it.
Back then, he’d spent a lot of time analyzing their relationship. Wondering where it had gone wrong. Trying to decide if some of the blame could be placed on his shoulders. But he’d decided that it couldn’t. He’d been a kid, too, and while he could have helped out more, he had tried to do his best.
They weren't kids anymore, though. And everything he’d just spent the night reading up about Teresa told him that she was exactly the kind of intelligent, hard-working, compassionate woman he’d always thought she would be.
What if that night was just a one-off? A way for her to blow off steam?
If the girl he’d once known was now the woman he’d always expected, did that change anything?
Teresa had graduated at the top of her class in both high school and at college. She worked for the world’s best private security company. She didn't just pay all her own bills but contributed enough that her mom only had to work one part-time job and covered all her disabled brother’s expenses.
She was everything he’d always wanted, everything that had slipped through his fingers, and he didn't know how to feel about it.
They couldn’t go back, that was for sure. Even if he could give her a second chance, his trust in her had been damaged, possibly beyond repair. Just because she’d been young didn't excuse her cheating on him, she’d known right from wrong, and if she’d needed to blow off steam or he wasn't giving her something she needed, she should have communicated that with him.
But …
Damn.
He didn't know the end to that sentence.
It wasn't like Teresa had been falling all over herself to apologize last night. She’d been cold and dismissive, pretending she didn't even know who he was. If there was going to be any real forgiveness on his part, she needed to own up to her mistakes and sincerely apologize.
After that …
He wasn't sure.
All he knew was that, other than that one night, Teresa had been the perfect girlfriend and now she was the perfect woman. For the moment, it didn't have to mean anything more than that.
Last night, she’d turned up at Prey right as he’d been leaving after Nathaniel and Ava got a call that one of their teammates was in trouble. Teresa worked for Prey as part of the Cyber Team, if her college degree was any indication. That meant she was the teammate in trouble.
Shoving away from the small table, Micah grabbed his keys, cell phone, and headed out the door. Regardless of their past, if Teresa was in danger, he was going to be there.
CHAPTER 3
April 29th
8:11 A.M.
“Are you sure?”
“That I'm hungry and want to go out and get something to eat? Absolutely,” Teresa told her friend, hating that the idea of her going out upset Ava, but the truth was, she couldn’t stay cooped up in the room, surrounded by her teammates for a single second longer.
She needed a break.
Last night had been too much.
The break-in, the trashed apartment, running into Micah Hart, realizing he was part of the same SEAL team as the man one of her best friends was in love with. Having to pretend for hours that the only thing that had her on edge was the fact that the apartment she shared with her two best friends had been broken into.
Without a break she was going to lose her mind.
“We have plenty of food here,” Chelsea added. Despite being sick, she’d dragged herself out of bed and come to help as soon as she’d heard what had happened.
Teresa appreciated having her team at her back more than they probably understood.
