Page 137 of Secret Mission

“I’m sorry, brother. You didn’t deserve that kind of pain.” Axle reaches over, puts his hand on my calf. “I hated seeing you break down.”

I stare at his hand, trying to breathe around the agony of losing Hope. Of finding out she didn’t love me. That she wanted to leave. It’s a muddy, chaotic pain that presses me back into the bed.

“I should have been here for you. You know you didn’t kill her, don’t you?”

“But the climbing gear I set failed.” I choke out, my eyes welling over with hot thick tears. “When the protection pulled out, she fell.”

He doesn’t look away. Doesn’t flinch. Steady, strong, he offers a comforting presence. “You saw the report. It was an equipment failure.”

I look away, memories tripping over themselves, spinning into a blur of agony. “She trusted me to keep her safe.”

“And you did everything you could.”

Then a truth comes out of me, I’ve been too terrified to voice. “I don’t know if I can protect Allison.”

“Brother, that’s all you’ve done. You need to believe in yourself again.”

“It will always bother me,” I admit.

“As I would expect. But it doesn’t have to define your future.”

When he leans back in the chair, clasping the back of his neck, his fatigue is showing.

“You gonna get some rest and heal up?”

The glint in his eyes says, no. “Gotta wrap up this situation.”

“Then?”

“I might take some time off.”

“Come find me.”

He tips his chin. “We should go fishing or something.”

“I’m gonna take a break from the water.”

He grins and stands. “Understandable. But you know…you can take the frogman out of the water, but you can never take the water out of a frogman.”

“Jesus, don’t quit your day job to become a philosopher.”

“Nah. I like blowing things up too much.” He pinches his lips together at the corners and whistles loudly. “You guys, come on in.”

Meeting over. Axle rolls like that. No one calls the shots. Guess we’re the same when it comes to that.

As the guys file in, he taps the foot of the bed. “I’ll be in touch when I’m done. We’ve got some more things to talk about. Like when you’re going to marry Allison.”

With a calloused hand the exact size of mine, he shakes mine, holding it longer than I expect. “She’s right for you. I hope I get that lucky one day.”

“I know, man.” My words are thick, choked out. “Stay out of the way of those knives, you fucker.”

“Copy.” He ducks his head, says his goodbyes to my team, and strides out the door.

Not thirty seconds later, a streak of blonde hair and black clothing flies into the room. Her hands shoot up to cover her mouth.

“Oh, my god!You’re awake.”

Chapter Forty-Six