Page 7 of Rescuing Micah (Prey Security: Cyber Team #3)

She must have heard him wrong.

Because there was no way her ex had just volunteered for babysitting duty.

No way in hell.

Why would a man who had deliberately abandoned her because he didn't want to deal with her ordeal now decide he wanted to help out when she was in trouble?

Of course, Teresa assumed he’d grown over the years, she had too.

He was a SEAL, so he’d obviously matured.

He put his life on the line to protect their country and its people, and make the world a safer place.

It wasn't that she thought Micah was a bad guy, but she still harbored a lot of anger and resentment, and it was hard for her to see him as anyone other than the boy who had abandoned her.

Which meant he absolutely would not be playing her bodyguard.

No way, no how.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said slowly.

It wasn't what she wanted to say. What she wanted to say would be, in actual fact, screamed at full volume, and it would be a demand to know how he could have been so cruel and heartless, so incredibly selfish. She’d also demand to know if it had all been a lie, if he’d ever loved her, or if he’d never intended to honor the youthful promises they'd made to one another.

But none of that was a conversation she wanted to have in public.

Actually, none of it was a conversation she’d have at all.

Because as much as she’d love to have some answers to see if they could help smooth over the rough edges her ordeal had left behind, she also knew they would open a Pandora’s box of emotion she wasn't ready to handle yet.

“Why not?” Micah asked, arching a brow at her, knowing that she wasn't going to bring up her trauma and call him on it right there. Smug jerk.

It would serve him right for everyone in this room, including one of his teammates, to know just what kind of man he used to be.

Maybe still was. She didn't know him, hadn't seen him in over a decade, so she really didn't know if he was a good guy now or not.

Being a SEAL didn't automatically exclude someone from being a terrible human being.

“Because Prey hires its own bodyguards, we have people on staff who are paid to do this kind of thing,” she replied.

“No need to pay me. Consider this a favor. For a friend,” he added with a little emphasis, and she hoped everyone assumed he was talking about Nathaniel.

He had to be.

They weren't friends anymore, and his abandonment had made her doubt if they ever really had been.

After he bailed on her, she’d spent a lot of time going over every interaction they’d shared in the three years they’d known one another.

It beat obsessing over her assault, and it was the only way she could handle Micah disappearing, pretending, convincing herself that none of it had been real.

Over time, each memory of him she had became tainted, as she began to believe what she told herself, the sweetness of her moments with Micah becoming sour.

They were still sour, and she had no desire to spend any more time with him.

“Actually, I would love to assign someone to you who is already familiar with what we’re up against,” Raven told her, a slight apologetic note to her tone like she got that there was more going on than either she or Micah had said out loud.

“But—”

“No buts. It’s done. Consider Micah your new bodyguard,” Raven said firmly, cutting off her objection. “Nathaniel, I assume you and Ava will be remaining here?” When Nathaniel and Ava both nodded, her boss shifted her attention to the others.

“Isabella and I already talked on the way here, we’re going to move into one of the apartments as well,” Tobias said before Raven could even ask.

“I think I'm going to stay too,” Chelsea piped up. “I don’t think I can go back home. It was hard enough after Ava was kidnapped from there a few months ago, but now with the break-in, it doesn’t feel safe anymore.”

So she’d just lost both her roommates.

Great.

There was no way she could afford the rent for an apartment like that on her own.

Especially not while she was also paying some of her mom’s bills and paying for Arthur’s care.

She got why neither Ava nor Chelsea wanted to be there, and Ava was going to move soon anyway, they all knew it, but Teresa wasn't ready for everything to change.

She hated change.

Knowing nothing in life lasted forever didn't make it any easier for her when those inevitable changes came.

Her brother’s life-altering stroke.

Her dad’s death.

Her rape.

Losing Micah.

It felt like she was losing Ava and Chelsea, even though she knew they would forever be part of her life.

If she was going to be forced to endure Micah’s presence in her life for the time being, then there was only one thing left inside her control, and she had no intention of letting it go.

“I'm going back home,” she said, aware she sounded stubborn and borderline petulant. But she couldn’t stand another change right now, not even one as simple as staying in Prey’s building.

“That’s not—” Micah started.

“I'm not asking for permission. I'm informing you. Informing everyone. If I have to have a bodyguard, then it doesn’t matter if I stay here or go back home. Micah will presumably get caught up on all the details, so he’ll know how dangerous these people are and will ensure he doesn’t make mistakes.

Therefore, I don’t see the problem in going home.

Besides, it needs to be all cleaned up anyway. ”

There was a chance Raven could veto the idea, she was the boss, and she’d already pulled rank with Tobias about his injury before, so she silently implored the older woman to understand that this was about her mental health.

She literally could not handle another change when Micah’s presence was stirring up so many bad thoughts and memories.

“Fine,” Raven agreed. “We’ll have extra cameras set up in your apartment and in the hallway outside to be safe.”

Teresa nodded her assent. “Thank you. Now we should get to work trying to ID the guys who attacked me. The cops are going to be here soon, and I’ll have to give statements. Micah will too. But until they arrive, we can bring up the camera footage and see what we can do.”

“Nuh-uh,” Micah announced.

“What do you mean no?”

“I mean you're bleeding, and you’ve barely taken a breath since I found you, let alone taken the time to inform us of any other injuries and have them taken care of.”

“I'm fine.” Brushing off his concern, Teresa went to move around him when his hands darted out to grasp hers. His touch was gentle, and she absolutely loathed the warmth that spread through her body at the contact.

She didn't want to feel anything when it came to this man.

How could her body betray her like this?

After everything he’d done, she should hate him. She did hate him. Problem was, a lingering part of her heart still loved him.

“You should go to the hospital,” Micah said, the pad of one thumb brushing just under where her cheek was throbbing.

“I don’t need to.”

“You have two head injuries.” His thumb shifted to sweep across her forehead, where she was sure a knot was developing from having her head slammed into a brick wall.

“I don’t have a concussion. I'm a little dizzy, but no nausea, and no trouble concentrating, I didn't even pass out,” she reminded him.

“You're bleeding.” He didn't seem to like that very much, if the expression on his face was anything to go by.

“We have a first aid kit,” Tobias said, producing the one he must have retrieved from the bathroom down the hall.

“If you want to go back to work and not take a trip to the hospital, you need to at least let me clean you up,” Micah told her.

Teresa opened her mouth to argue. To inform him that she could do it herself, and even if she couldn’t, he was the absolute last person in the world she would let tend to her wounds. Not when the most serious wounds she’d ever had were inflicted by him.

Taking her silence as assent, Micah guided her to a chair and gently pushed her down into it. Then he proceeded to open the kit and with soft, almost tender strokes, cleaned away the blood on her face and placed butterfly bandages over what she was sure was a small wound.

Why was he being so nice to her all of a sudden?

After all, it wasn't like he had thought favorably of her all these years. The first thing he’d done upon seeing her again was assume she wasn't good enough, or smart enough, or whatever the heck it was that made him think she couldn’t possibly be in a building belonging to such a prestigious company.

Soft touches aside, Teresa knew that her assault had changed the way Micah looked at her. He obviously saw her as dirty and broken, the same thoughts she had battled over the years. The same thoughts she still battled.

It didn't help to know that the man she’d fallen in love with reinforced her darkest thoughts.

How was she supposed to survive spending time around Micah with her sanity intact?

Teresa was pretty sure she wasn't going to.

April 29 th

6:49 P.M.

To say that Teresa wasn't happy with their current arrangement just might be the biggest understatement in the entire history of the world.

Although she’d allowed him to clean up her wounds, bandage her cut, and give her some painkillers, after that, Teresa had done her best to pretend he wasn't there.

While she hadn't been outright rude, she had mostly ignored him while working alongside her team, and he was pretty sure it was because she didn't want to arouse suspicion with her friends that they shared a past.