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Alht he would stay his whole life—over Just like that

Guilt pressed in on him

Heavy

Suffocating

He blocked out the iround, young Lance Corporal Mike McCoy—which threatened to overwhelerous moment he swayed on the spot

Only his subconscious fighting to lock on the fah the door, provided him an anchor to the present

He grasped at it gratefully

One day at a tiain over the years, to soldiers in his position? Never i there, his life having i in tatters around him But this wasn’t the army Or what had happened out there This was siood friend Playing bodyguard whilst Rafe tracked down exactly as threatening his family

And right now, being a bodyguard beat being a surgeon hands down True, part of Rafe’s plan included clinical observation but he could handle that Observation was one thing It was staying an active surgeon right now that certainly wasn’t an option

An operating room with a body on the table in front of him and a scalpel in his hand was no place for a e of ht of it At such an obvious sign of his oeakness But those tours of duty had taken so many men and women he knew, so many innocent kids, so many helpless civilians, particularly that last week And especially that last mission

When perhaps he could haveshould havemade different choices

All those women, those kids Mikey It had taken them all

Did it have to have taken part of his soul, too?

The sounds in the hallway provided a sudden, welcome distraction from his uncharacteristic moment of self-pity

Ten operational tours in the past twelve years alone, sometimes back-to-back, and never once had he allowed himself to look back and dwell Everybody knew that was the road to self-destruction because it wouldn’t bring anybody back and it was a waste of time

Galvanised, he pushed himself out of the seat and stalked across the floor just as the door swung open and the familiar forure slinking in behind Rafe—her head resolutely down—that arrested his gaze

Raevenne Rawlstone

He hadn’t thought about her in years

Liar

He ignored the silent accusation

But he had shoved ether, to the back of hisheard Rae’s h the door, he found he couldn’t stuff her back into whatever cold corner of hisall these years

It was insane Objectionable Unacceptable And yet, it seemed, here he was

He wasn’t aware that he’d crossed the room towards her until she lifted her head—those unreen edging that had haunted him far more than he had ever cared to admit—and finally met his stare full-on

His breath lodged, as though he inded, as though seeing her for the first tiile So far reossip columns, those entertainment channels, that awful Life in the Rawl reality show

He’d tried to escape them but it hadn’t been easy When you were out in a conflict zone it was a And still, it rit his teeth so hard he was surprised his jaw didn’t break

‘Ma’aear

It was ridiculous given how they’d once known each other, and he wasn’t surprised she hesitated before sliding her s a stiff handshake

‘Major’

Was that a jolt ofsoh him?

Impossible

So as he having to fight himself not to snatch his hand away?

Myles glanced back at her

He had no words to articulate why he felt so upended Or even what it was Which hen she opened her uard’