Page 8 of Rescuing Micah (Prey Security: Cyber Team #3)

They’d both given statements to the cops, and they’d ordered in food and eaten together while brainstorming ideas.

The kidnapper left alive had turned out to be a mercenary who had taken money to abduct Teresa and deliver her to an as yet unknown person.

Pretty much the same thing that had happened with Isabella Baker’s abduction.

A bounty had been placed on her head, and a mercenary had accepted the job.

Now there appeared to be a bounty on Teresa’s head, and it was driving him crazy with worry.

Unlike her.

She seemed more annoyed with his presence than afraid for her own safety.

At first, Micah had assumed that the animosity he felt coming from Teresa was a product of her guilt. She knew that she’d done him wrong, but she wasn't at a place yet where she was willing to own up to it, apologize, clear the air, and move forward as adults.

It almost seemed like she believed that she had a reason to be angry with him.

Which made zero sense.

He was the wronged party here, not her.

She might have only been a seventeen-year-old girl at the time, but she’d made the decision to cheat on him, knowing they were in an exclusive relationship.

Maybe he’d handled the aftermath of finding out in a slightly childish way, but he’d only been nineteen.

Running, blocking her, then shifting gears and deciding to drop out of college and join the military had seemed like the best plan at the time.

But his bailing without a confrontation certainly didn't warrant this level of hostility from a girl who had spread her legs for a bunch of men all at the same time.

As badly as he wanted to bring it up, Micah was trying to be respectful of the fact that Teresa had bigger things to worry about than a teenage love affair gone wrong.

Which was why he was down on his hands and knees scrubbing paint off the wall of the apartment Teresa shared with her friends rather than confronting her with the past and demanding an explanation.

Beside him, Teresa was desperately trying to wash the red paint off the white carpet. That was a pointless task. The carpet was ruined. It would have to be ripped up and replaced, there was no saving it.

Not that it seemed to matter to Teresa.

She had a bucket of soapy water beside her and scrubbed at the carpet with a towel, trying her best to rid it of the bright, red paint with carpet cleaner that wasn't up to the task.

Because she seemed to be getting increasingly desperate as she scrubbed and the paint didn't come off, he stopped what he was doing, set down his own towel which he’d been using to clean paint off the soft gold walls, and turned to face her.

“I think you’ve done all you can,” he said gently.

Even though there was definitely lingering anger on his part, Micah could see that while she might have hurt him deeply, Teresa was still a good person who cared about others and worked hard.

She was good at her job, had a great rapport with her team, and they all seemed to respect her, Nathaniel as well, and she’d fought for her life that morning, almost succeeding in saving it.

Almost.

But if he hadn't decided to go back to Prey and talk to her, she would have been abducted.

The thought of her in the hands of such ruthless people, who wouldn't hesitate to cut her open and take her body apart, was sickening.

Just because he’d spent most of the last decade doing his best not to think about the girl who had ripped out his heart and stomped all over it, didn't mean that from time to time, thoughts of her wouldn’t sneak back in.

Sometimes at the most inappropriate of times, too.

But memories were like that, anything could trigger them, and it was only Teresa’s betrayal that had tainted most of those memories.

If she hadn't, they would be the highlights of his life.

Even those that weren't special in and of themselves were special because they were moments shared with such an amazing girl.

An amazing girl who even he could admit had turned into an amazing woman.

Why did you do it, Teresa?

Why did you ruin what we had?

Why wasn't I enough for you?

The questions ran through his mind, but he didn't ask them out loud. Later he would, once the trafficking ring was disbanded, those involved in prison, and the threat hanging over Teresa’s head eliminated.

Teresa hadn't stopped scrubbing at the carpet, clearly ignoring him.

Needing to put a stop to her near manic behavior, he reached out and grabbed her hands. Physically stilling them. He got that this was a major violation, and he understood her need to clean it all up and make it like it had never happened. But that wasn't happening.

The couches were ruined, the TV was ruined, the paintings that had hung on the walls were ruined, the carpet was ruined, the beds in the three bedrooms were ruined, most of the clothing was ruined, the kitchen table and chairs were ruined, and the Easter decorations were ruined.

Basically, the entire place was trashed beyond repair.

The best they could hope for was washing the paint off the walls.

Everything else was going to have to be replaced.

“In the morning, why don’t we call a professional, see if they can clean it up?” he suggested. Micah wasn't sure even a professional could get the paint out of the carpet, but he was willing to try if it helped Teresa.

“I can do it myself.” She huffed, tugging her hands free.

“You can't,” he said, gently but firmly.

Letting her come back home had been a mistake.

She wasn't in the right mental headspace to handle it.

But he wasn't the boss of her, and he couldn’t outright refuse.

She wasn't a prisoner. He would just feel a whole hell of a lot better having her tucked safely away at Prey.

“Can so.” Angry fire danced defiantly in the chocolate brown eyes that stared back at him.

There wasn't just defiance there, though.

Unshed tears shimmered in Teresa’s eyes.

His heart ached to find a way to make this better for her. In this moment, he didn't care about the past, about the pain she’d caused him, she was hurting, and there was a part of him—a bigger part than he’d admitted to himself—that still loved her.

“We need to take a break. How about we cook some dinner, and then we can try again. Together,” he offered, willing her to take the olive branch he was offering and meet it with one of her own.

If they could talk through the past, maybe they stood a chance.

At what he didn't know yet.

All Micah knew was that his feelings for this woman weren't as dead as he’d pretended they were all these years.

“Cook,” she echoed softly, the defiance seeping out of her gaze, replaced with something he didn't like. Something that looked like defeat.

That was not the Teresa he knew. That Teresa had stepped up when her dad died and supported her family every way she knew how, despite her young age. That Teresa had never met a problem she wouldn't attack with logic and reason until she figured it out.

But the Teresa before him looked dangerously broken.

“I know you love cooking, but if you're too tired or in too much pain, then I can make something,” he suggested. He was nowhere near as good a cook as Teresa was, but then again, he’d never enjoyed it the same way she had.

Cooking for her family was the one chore that she’d actually enjoyed back when he’d known her, and she was always experimenting with something new.

With a desperate shake of her head, she dropped the towel and staggered to her feet, knocking the bucket beside her. It sloshed some water onto the already ruined carpet, but Teresa didn't appear to notice.

“Not hungry,” she mumbled. “I'm going to go take a shower and try to get some sleep.”

Snatching up the bag of clothes, toiletries, and the air mattress they’d picked up on the way back from Prey, she hurried out of the room, leaving him staring after her, wondering what had just happened.

Obviously, he’d said something that had upset her, he just didn't know how suggesting they eat some dinner had done it.

This Teresa was different from the one he’d known, he supposed he shouldn’t be surprised by that, given the amount of time that had passed since they’d been together.

There was a hardness to her that hadn't been there before. She’d always been a bit of a softie, someone people could easily take advantage of because she wanted to help, wanted to ease their burdens, even if that meant adding to her own.

Now she still had that same heart, but it had been cooled somewhat. She was able to find emotional detachment as she worked, he’d seen it today and been struck by the fact that the teenage version of Teresa would never have been able to handle this job.

What had changed her?

And why did he feel so compelled to fix whatever it was and bring back her softness, when he’d already been burned by Teresa before?

Walking away should be easy, yet Micah was finding it impossible.