I’d barely had time to get my head together after everything that’d happened in the last few weeks. After her call, I decided that was the best time to ask, after I explained everything. With that plan in place, my nerves eased a bit.
She waited until we’d had a few minutes to eat before she said, “Spill.”
I swallowed a quick drink, ready to confide in my friend. “First, I have to thank you for letting me stay and not forcing me to talk.”
“You’re not getting out of it this time.” She pointed at me, her obsidian-colored eyes narrowing. “You need to deal with this stuff.”
I held up a hand. “You’re right, and I’m going to tell you what happened. I just wanted to thank you first for not trying to get it out of me sooner.”
She grinned. “Yeah, I’m an awesome friend like that.”
I rolled my eyes, but I appreciated the tease. I was going to tell her everything, and it wouldn’t be pleasant, but she was trying to make it as easy on me as possible.
“Did you see the story on the news the day before Thanksgiving about the hostages in Iraq who were rescued from being sold?” That seemed as good a place to start as any.
She went completely still. “Yeah.”
“Four of them had actually been taken in Iran weeks before.” I pressed my hands together to prevent them from shaking. “I know because I was held with them too.”
The color drained out of Martina’s face, her normally honey-colored skin as pale as I’d ever seen it.
“Freedom had to have an emergency appendectomy our last week in Iran, so she went straight from the hospital to the airport where I was supposed to meet her. On my way there, some men with guns stopped the taxi, grabbed me, threw me into a van, and then took me somewhere on the outskirts of the city.”
“How was this not national news? International? Hell, even local?” Martina looked like she was going to be sick.
“Freedom kept it quiet because she wasn’t sure what had happened to me at first. She was trying to get the police to search for me when she was sent a ransom video.” I still went cold every time I thought about what that must’ve been like for her. No matter how pissed I was at her, I knew that she loved me, and it must’ve been awful for her. “She knew our parents could afford the ransom, but she didn’t trust the kidnappers to honor the agreement, so she called an old boyfriend who has a security agency and hired him to find me and get me out.”
The story became easier to tell with each word, and soon, they were pouring out. I told Martina everything. From being certain I was going to be raped when I’d been dragged out of the cell to seeing the men die in that hallway. I told her about Eoin pretending that I was a prostitute and then how I’d kissed him. And more.
I filled her in on everything that’d happened after I’d gotten home too. All the way up until I walked out of my parents’ house and showed up at her work. By the time I was done, I felt surprisingly better, as if I’d purged myself of something that had been making me sick.
I reheated my food and ate it as Martina thought things over in silence. Finally, just as I was finishing up, she reached over and put her hand on mine.
“I’m so glad you’re safe.”
With a start, I realized that no one had said it to me like that. Their relief and joy at seeing me home safely had been genuine, but it’d always been tinged with a hint of exasperation as if I’d held some level of responsibility for the chain of events.
Maybe it’d been unconscious on the part of my family, and I sincerely hoped that was the case, but either way, it just proved that I’d made the right choice by leaving.
Things needed to change.
Three
Eoin
This was not how I pictured the end of my first official week at my new job. After Freedom left, I waited for Cain to tell me that I was fired. Instead, he dropped back into Bruce’s chair and sighed.
“No more fucking clients…or their sisters.” He rested his head on the back of the chair and closed his eyes.
“Never again,” I promised. “I’m done with women for the foreseeable future. Not worth it.”
He raised his head and opened one eye. “You’re forgetting who you’re talking to. I dated a Mercier woman. They’re worth a hell of a lot.”
I blew out an exasperated breath. “Not this much trouble.”
He shrugged and put his head back down. “Wait and see. They’re a lot more addictive than you think. I dated Freedom for about three months, and then, just before I got my new assignment, she dumped me. Took me almost a year to get over her.”
Shit.
“Not the same,” I insisted. “Aline and me, it wasn’t like that.”
It might have been, if things hadn’t gone to shit every fucking time I was with her. I slept with the woman three times, and each time, all hell had broken loose right after. Like the better the sex, the crazier things got.
“Mm-hm.” It didn’t sound like he believed me, but I wasn’t so sure I believed me either.
He looked like he was going to take a nap, which was fine with me because I didn’t feel like talking. My mind had already been fucked up because of what’d happened over the weekend, and Freedom’s visit hadn’t helped matters much. I needed to get my head on straight and focus on my future, not on the latest thing Aline had done to get herself into trouble.
I hadn’t been thinking for very long when my phone rang. A quick glance at the screen told me it was Israel McCormack, Leo’s dad. If he was calling me during the week, something was up.
“Hello?”
“I hate to bother you at work, kid, but…” His voice cracked. “Nana Naz…she’s in the hospital.”
I stood up so fast my head spun. “Is she…what happened?”
“I don’t know. Doctors wouldn’t let me stay with her while they’re doing the examination.”
I’d never heard him like this. I hadn’t been there when he’d gotten the news about Leo, but he hadn’t been alone then. He’d had Nana Naz. Now, he didn’t have anyone. Because of me. Because I couldn’t save Leo.
I had to do something.
“I’m on my way.”
A moment passed as he cleared his throat. “Thank you.”
“Call if something happens. I’ll check my voicemail when I can.”
Before I ended the call, Cain was on his feet, his expression serious. “What do you need?”
“Time.” I shoved my phone in my pocket. “Family emergency.”
He nodded. “Do what you need to do. The job’ll be here when you get back. Need me to do anything for you?”
I shook my head, my mind already halfway back home. “I’ll be fine. Just have to go.”
“Then go.”
He didn’t even pause, just told me to go, and he meant it. I didn’t know the other guys well, but I knew they’d understand too. Family came in all shapes and sizes, which I understood better than anyone. And that was why I planned to get back to San Ramon as fast as I possibly could. Another part of my family was hurting and needed me.