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Because Caleb had so on him

“Well, you guys take it easy, you hear?”

“Yeah,” I said “You too”

I’d been fortunate enough to walk away froiant chip onall the bullshit I’d seen and been forced to do during my four deploy sustained injuries in a roadside bo that had not only left him scarred but in constant pain, he’d also walked aith a hefty case of PTSD It was one of the reasons he’d holed hiood chunk of his savings on the cabin cruiser that he spenthi it was one of the few things that brought hiht the demons war had left behind, but he’d assured me he could use the time to work on his house

And the reality was, I’d been desperate

I spent a few ht I’d picked a quiet place near a sht My plan was to play it by ear in terms of how far down the Chesapeake we traveled I wouldn’t make the decision to leave the bay for the open ocean until I absolutely had to In truth, I was floundering a bit, both withalone, so being without Ronan’s teaher than they’d ever been If I’d just been protecting soe joe, I wouldn’t have felt so off-balance

But there was nothing average about any of this

God, he’d cut hiain

Under oddamned nose

Even now as I thought about the three almost perfectly uniform cuts, I wanted to throw up On the one hand, I just wanted to shake Caleb and tell him to wake the fuck up from the zombie-like state he was in and just come back to me But the other part of ht and if I pushed too hard, I’d just drive him further away I had a little bit of hope that the old Caleb wasn’t colimpses of him when he’d taken care of the cuts on entle, but his reaction to the close proxi but I’d heard his ticked-up breathing as he’d practically been pressed nose to nose with ainst ht tremor in his hand as he’d tended to my injuries

It would have been so easy to turn my head at any time and just capture his mouth with mine

But the sa what I’d wanted two years ago were the sa into the bedrooht out his perfect mouth

He was still just so da

And the vulnerability was a thousand tireater than it’d been when I’d first met him

But worst of all, I’d joined the list of those who’d betrayed him

I had no illusions about ould have happened today if we hadn’t coht before the first shot had been fired

He’d had no intention of going ho anywhere with me And at nineteen, there’d have been no way to force him except to actually force him

Which I absolutely would have done, Mav and Me to the events of the ain reliant onto squander the opportunity

As I made my way below deck, I stopped in the kitchen and checked the microwave to see if Caleb had eaten the plate of food I’d left for hi up the leftover lasagna Dalton had included for us when he’d stocked the fridge I wasn’t surprised to see the food was sitting untouched I sighed and found some plastic wrap to cover the food with, then put it back in the fridge I searched out the se and took two into the bedrooht above the bed and then sat down on the edge of it