Page 8 of BounBound By Scars

Logan frowned, clearly puzzled. “I might not get all the details, but you’re being ridiculous. Sure, Sebastian might genuinely like her, but you? You’re head over heels! Wouldn’t her dating Sebastian ruin your friendship anyway?”

“That’s pretty much what she said.” I mumbled.

He laughed and clapped me on the back, a bit too hard. “Just talk to her, Kabir.” He stood up, clearly ending our chat.

As I walked towards his door, I muttered under my breath, “Keep this from your girlfriend, will you? I don’t need Amelia hearing about this.”

“Fiancée.” He corrected me with a wink. “And she probably heard everything, but we’ll zip it.”

I must have been collecting flies in my mouth with the way my jaw dropped because Logan started laughing.

Another one bites the dust, I guess.

???

“We really do need to find this so called Doom Switch.”

Sebastian’s voice pulled me out—grating, sharp, interrupting my musings of Amelia and our fucking kiss.

That kiss.

Was I really about to bury it? Pretend like it hadn’t split something open inside me?

That I hadn’t tasted something that had the potential to burn me alive?

That history wasn’t on the verge of repeating itself?

I exhaled slowly, pushing away the intrusive memory of her lips. The absolute nerve of this man—talking about fucking mission logistics this early in the morning.

“I’d say it’s in the White House somewhere. Or the Pentagon.” Delara added.

“Pentagon feeds intelligence to the White House. Maybe we can find a way to break into the White House during a cabinetsession,” I muttered, throwing out words without caring where they landed.

Truthfully? I wasn’t eveninthis conversation. Not really. Not when Amelia was sitting across from me instead of next to me, stiff, deliberately avoiding my eyes.

Look at me, dammit.

As if I’d tugged on some invisible string, her gaze flicked to mine—just for a second. Then, just as quickly, she looked away.

And straight at… Sebastian?

What the fuck?

I frowned, but whatever the hell was happening across the table wasn’t my business. Or at least, it shouldn’t be. She wanted to date him. It shouldn’t bother me.

Right?

“And do what? Ask nicely for the keys to the White House Situation Room?” Zarek scoffed, shaking his head. “We need a more solid plan.”

“Well, Squad Six is out if we want to show our faces, considering they know all of you,” Delara smirked, and Logan rolled his eyes beside me.

“Doesn’t mean we’re useless,” Dylan shot back. “They know we’ve gone rogue and will retaliate. At worst, they expect an attack.”

“And at best,they’llcome toyou.” Sebastian pointed his fork at Zarek, clearly implying what we all knew but didn’t want to say out loud.

Squad Six needed to be ready.

“I’m hoping they’re unaware of our location,” Zarek muttered.