Page 39 of Flash Bang
Ro felt like a shrink, cataloging her reactions as they bolted through her: surprise, betrayal, anger, understanding, and then ice cold resolve. It was almost like the five stages of grief. Or something.
“I can’t risk the safety of everyone I’m responsible for just to take you home.” Graham spun away and stalked to the windows, fist clenching by his side.
“Tell me one thing, Graham,” Ro started, proud that her voice was even and devoid of emotion. “With the way shit’s going down—and we all know it’s going to get worse—are you ever going to be able to spare even one person to help me get home?”
Zach answered this time, “Babe, you gotta see where we’re coming from …”
“Oh, I see it. But it doesn’t change a damn thing for me. I didn’t ask for your help in the first place. And I don’tneedit. I feel like I’ve said this before, but at the risk of repeating myself, I’ll say it again: I got myself here, and I will get myself home. And I’ll be doing it on the timeline we agreed on. If you can’t hold up your end of the bargain, that’s on you. But you better not stop me from leaving.” Ro could have patted herself on the back for getting it all out without raising her voice.
Graham was across the room in an instant, his callused fingers gripping Ro’s chin. “You are not leaving by yourself. No way in hell. Did you miss the part where one of my men was shot today? Are you that naïve that you think you have any chance of safely making it home by yourself?”
Ro jerked her chin from his grip and her previously detached tone evaporated like water on scorching asphalt. “You already got to fuck me with your buddy. What do you care what I do now?”
Graham gripped her by her shoulders and dragged her against him. “Goddammit, Ro. You are the most stubborn woman I’ve ever met.”
Zach moved in behind her, sandwiching her between them. It was a little too reminiscent of last night for Ro.
“We care. A whole hell of a lot,” he said. “Which is why we can’t let you go alone. You’re too damn important.”
Ro slumped back against Zach. This argument was going nowhere. Both sides had gone to the mat, and neither was going to back down. It was time to retreat to their corners and regroup with a new strategy.
Ro exhaled. “Let’s just eat dinner and talk about it later. You’ve got to be starving.”
Both men seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. Graham released her to Zach’s embrace, but not before dropping a kiss on her forehead.
“We’ll figure it out, babe. Just give us some time.”
But time was the only thing Ro didn’t have to spare.
Ro stayed in the mess hall to help Allison wash up after dinner. Zach figured that it was a good thing because it gave him and Graham time to regroup with Ty and arrange the watch schedules for the next week. Adding another man to every shift meant less free time for everyone, but better security. They’d spent the day repairing the fence, burying the bodies, and running drills to prepare for a similar breach situation. It was exhausting, but it was work that needed to be done to be ready for the next time something like this happened. Because there would be a next time. Hell, situations like this were the reason one of the first things they’d done after the grid went down was install the razor wire topping the walls. Over six hundred acres was too much land to protect for a long period of time, especially if a large enough group attacked. But they would defend the inner sanctum to the death. With the lookout perches in the tall oaks and pines within the walls, they could snipe anyone approaching before they could get close enough to do any damage.
Slipping into the command post, Zach held the door open for Graham and then dragged a chair up to the large wooden table covered in a map of the property. Ty had redrawn the fire watch routes and was waiting for their input on staffing the shifts.
“Did you at least bring me some dinner?” Ty asked.
Zach held out a soup thermos and a spoon. “Straight from Allison herself.”
“Damn, that woman is an angel. Not too many women out there like her,” Ty said, unscrewing the lid of the thermos and digging in. Between bites and groans of appreciation, he added, “Your woman seems … unique. She’s got guts to spare. You figure out what you’re doing with her yet?”
Zach settled into a chair. “Keeping her,” he said. Because really, that was the only acceptable answer.
“But somehow we’ve got to convince her that staying here makes sense,” Graham added, scrubbing his hands over his face. “I gotta believe her family would want her to be safe. And the only way we can guarantee her safety is if she stays.”
“You think she’ll go for it?” Ty asked.
Zach thought back on the conversation they’d just had. “She’s not exactly … seeing things our way yet.”
Graham dropped into a chair. “I don’t give a damn; I’ll tie her to the bed if I have to.”
“Good luck with that, man,” Ty said. “Because I have a feeling you’re going to need it.”
After wrapping shit up with Ty, and ensuring that neither he nor Zach had a watch shift until the next afternoon, Graham headed back to the mess hall to collect Ro. He was struggling with how to apologize for not living up to the promise he’d made. Especially when she’d lived up to her end of the bargain whole-heartedly. But now that she likely considered their deal to be off, what would happen tonight? Would she demand to sleep on the couch? Graham figured he’d find out as soon as he stopped to get her.
When he entered the mess hall, he was surprised to find the kitchen dark and deserted. Neither Ro nor Allison was anywhere in the building. A cold twinge of unease bloomed in his chest.
He turned and headed for the cabin, catching Zach as he loped up the front steps.
“Did you bring Ro back already?” Graham asked.
