Page 32 of Hide From Me

“You're so lucky. I've always wanted to travel,” she sighs, but I can’t bring myself to look at her as she pops the candy into her mouth. The silence around us is broken only by the sound of waves crashing peacefully in the distance. If you strain your ears hard enough, you can hear the distant thrum of Seaborn’s base just a little ways down the beach at the end of the hill.

“Maybe one day I can take you somewhere,” I say quietly. I like the thought. There are plenty of easy assignments I go on that barely take an hour. I could easily bring her with me and spend a few extra days showing her the world. “I have to go to South America in a few days for another trip, but maybe you can come on the next one? We can figure it out.”

“Jesus, you travel a lot. What do you even do for work?” She prods, and I take the chance to sip my drink.

“Family business.”

“You’re starting to sound like a sugar daddy,” she mutters.

I laugh. “So now I’m casual, mystery man,andyour sugar daddy?” I press a hand to my chest. “Truly honored.”

“Don’t let it go to your head,” she says, but the teasing glint in her eyes is real.

I pull out a cigarette, light it, and exhale slowly as she watches my every move.

“I said no games tonight, but since we’re becomingfriendsI guess twenty questions is in order.”

“You go first then,” Raylen says, tugging the gin from my hands to pour herself another glass. I furrow my brows at how quickly she’s downing the drinks, but I try to focus on something else.

“Alright then, tell me about your job. Do you like it? What would you want to do if you weren’t a waitress or did you always know you wanted to wine and dine on people?”

“Whoa now, slow down,” Raylen giggles. I hesitate for a moment before flicking the lighter, enjoying the sound she makes.

“I enjoy my job because of Jack, but I don’t think anyone grows up thinking, ‘Oh my God, I want to wait on rude people all day’.”

I grin as she loses herself in thought, staring at the setting sun over the horizon.

“I wanted to be in law enforcement at one point,” she says quietly. I lean my elbow on the table and rest my head against it, watching as her lips wrap around her glass and she takes a smaller sip this time.

“Why didn’t you pursue it?” I ask quietly, hoping not to disrupt her relaxed demeanor.

“Law enforcement always fails us one way or another. I didn’t want to become part of the statistics after I lived through them,” she replies softly. I want to pry deeper and find out which station failed her. I want to understand what she needed them for in the first place.

My jaw flexes. I want names. Stations. Details. But I hold it in, watching her instead. The light shifts around us, and the moment the base ignites in the distance, casting long beams across the sand and sea. The stark structure glows against the dying light, steel walls kissed by the sun’s final blush. It looks like a prison from here, but I know the warmth that lives inside it.

She rises to her feet, glass in hand, arms folded tight across her chest, but she’s smiling. Beaming. And fuck me, I’d do anything to keep that smile on her face.

“Not all law enforcement is bad,” I say gently, but she isn’t listening.

“That base, for example,” I murmur, following her around the table. My hands find her hips as I lean my own back against the worn bench, pulling her against me as we look down the hill.

She doesn’t flinch. Just leans.

“It’s full of people who’d go to war for someone like you,” I whisper.

“How do you know?”

Because I’m one ofthem.

Because you're mine.

I clear my throat and shrug, shifting my hands to interlace in front of her waist with a smirk as she relaxes back against me.

“It's their job,” I say simply, and her body shakes with what I can assume is a laugh she's not letting break free.

“Um, I hate to break it to you, but I don't think the people there really care about their jobs. They hardly ever even guard the place.”

My brows furrow, and my mind races at the implication. I won’t admit to the undercurrent of irritation she just caused to course through me, because, for fucks sake, it’s my base. Of course, we all care about our job, and the place is indeed guarded just fine. I mean, we did have that one incident where my biological mother snuck in, but in our defense, she was a highly trained tech for the old faction, Bay, so honestly, I would have been more surprised if she hadn't managed it.