Home - COD Simon Ghost Riley X Female OC

Chapter 29

Simon didn't sleep. Mariana wept herself into a nightmare at some point and he held her until she woke again. Her small apologies were the only real words they shared for the rest of the night. His body knew when morning came and she had fallen asleep again, a comfortable weight against him. If he let himself, he could imagine the dream she described, her in a big comfortable bed, him on his way back to her side. He was glad that was a good thought to her, even if it hurt when she woke and found it to be an illusion.

He had thought for hours about what would go down that day. He would be made to stand and appear menacing and dangerous, which he knew how to do. He wondered if they realized that they were the ones in danger. He knew how to escape from a predicament in which he had a gun to his back. It didn't usually involve a woman in his arms but he could make it work. And if he took a bullet on the move, he would still have a few minutes to maneuver her away from them and to safety, worst case scenario. Best case, he had long enough to get his hands around Halcon's throat and slowly squeeze the life out of him. It would be too easy, less than he deserved, but Simon could accept that.

He had a fantasy in which she killed the falcon, in which she ruined him the way he had attempted and failed to ruin her. But it was risky and he didn't want her to have blood on her hands. If they managed to make it out of the room where the murder was supposed to be filmed, then his main goal would be escape, once they were in the desert he could at least set her in the right direction.

Even that plan depended on his ability to survive, or the lofty, hopeful chance that the 141 would show up. Or that they could find her out there alone. His now battered heart couldn't stop worrying about Soap, that the only goodbye they really had was standing next to each other, watching Mariana. If he got to see the Sergeant again, he would tell him that they were friends. He didn't care that he would be crossing his own lines. Only a few people meant to him what the Scotsman did, sharing trust and easy companionship. It would destroy him to think that Johnny had died not knowing that.

He hadn't really hurt in a while, it had been so prevalent in him for so long that he unwittingly became numb to it. But he hurt that morning, for his own inability to prevent it all. He was a leader. He was the strong one. He had been called in to do what no one else could, and he did. He got himself up a river without a paddle quite unlike anyone else was able to.

They drew it out. No one came in to feed them. Mariana stirred and sat up, her hips stiff from straddling him, and was immediately awash with guilt for sleeping their last night away. Simon could see the lone red light from the camera in the corner glint off the tears on her cheeks. He reached for her face and wiped them away. He wished he could tell her to stop, but she wasn't whining, and she wasn't panicked. He couldn't justify the urge. Maybe it was because it was making him feel like crying, too. She had lost her hope, something he still held a thin thread of, and that was a heavy load for him to bear. She had built her entire survival on that hope. The best he could think to do was destroy every single person that dared to try and take it away from her. He worried that he was a part of that. Maybe that's where the sacrificial urge came from. To make it right.

"We're a team." He told her. "Okay?"

She nodded. She had no fight left. "Thank you."

He took his hands from her cheeks and ran them back through her hair and down over her shoulders and arms. He wished they could have had another night together. A much different one. He could hope for that without much guilt, he realized. He never expressed himself well but he knew he could lay her down and make her feel beautiful and worthy and hopeful, even if only for a moment. Maybe he would never feel those things, but he could give them to her. He could keep the stars in her eyes even though his would always be dark.