Heartless People |Book 3|

Chapter 19

"Lisa." She sighed deeply as she turned away from me and grabbed a clean set of underwear. "I had a moment."

"A moment?" I asked slowly, waiting for her continue.

"Yes, Lisa, a moment! A lot has happened and I couldn't breathe, okay. Sometimes I feel like I'm—" she stopped before turning to me. Dressed in only her underwear, she propped her hands on her hips but didn't look at me. Instead she looked up at the light fixture, as she chewed on her bottom lip.

"Sometimes you feel like what?" I whispered, taking a step forward.

"Like I'm still running across Europe, still fighting for my life. I wake up sometimes and I have to sit and hold myself together. There are other times that I remember things and my skin burns, my veins feel as though they've been lit on fire, and I have to cool down," she confessed. I found myself speechless.

How in the hell had I missed that? She was still fucking suffering? Jesus Christ.

"Jen—"

"Do not look at me like that, I'm handling it. I just need time, okay? You haven't caught me before and they're becoming less frequent. It's only when I'm stressed—"

Wrapping my arms around her, I held her close.

"I don't need a hug."

"Jen, shut up and just stand here with me."

"Lisa—"

"You're still talking."

With a sigh, she stood in my embrace, tense and annoyed, but soon her body relaxed and she laid her head against my chest. A few moments later, she wrapped her arms around me.

"You should have told me, Jen."

"There's nothing you could have done," she whispered.

"I can be there. Why is it so hard for you to let anyone be there for you?" It always came back to the same issue.

"I'm trying, Lisa. You have no idea how hard this is for me. It's always been me, it's going to take me time, but you can't treat me differently or pity me." She pulled away from me. "I can still do my job, and that includes seeing our son before we go."

I let go of her as she grabbed a pair of pants and one of my dark t-shirts.

"What are we planning?"

"Tonight, we're going to stalk Avian." She donned her boots before she pulled out not one, but two guns, and threw them to me.

"Stalk him or kill him?" I was fine with either option.

"For now, stalk. We're going to the White House tomorrow and I'm sure he's going to try to kill us again. Change your shoes, we might be running," she demanded.

"Don't we have men for this?"

"Wouldn't you rather make sure it's done properly? Or are you above all this now, Ms. Manoban?"

Rolling my eyes, I checked the chamber of the gun. "Remember when all we used to do was handle drugs? I miss that."

"We can get back to that the moment we kill my dear grandfather. But until then, we do whatever we need to, even if that means jumping across buildings."

"Why the hell would we be jumping across buildings?"

She grinned. "Just think of it as my version of a date."

"You're enjoying this?" What the fucking hell?

"I used to do this for my father. How did you think I stole that red diamond when I was eighteen?"