by Caisey Quinn
“Then tell me.” Vivien leaned back in the plush leather seat, trying desperately to absorb the emotional impact of what was happening here.
“Not until you’ve done what we asked. There’s a price on your head, Ms. Brooks. We won’t leave you vulnerable, but unless you follow protocol, we can’t make any promises.”
“You really think Vetrovsky could get to me so easily? Here? I mean there are soldiers posted all—”
“We’re not playing guessing games here, Private. We don’t think he could. We know,” Agent Whitworth interrupted. “You think the FBI took these shots of you? You think we’re losing sleep over you screwing your CO? We’re not. We lifted the photos from a file transfer from Vetrovsky’s e-mail server. The only place we followed you to was the beach because we didn’t think you’d be safe off base. We didn’t know he’d sent anyone here for you until yesterday. Hence why we’re here now.”
Knowing someone was already here to hurt her, someone who’d been close enough to photograph her all hours of the day and night, someone who could easily take out Chase as well, made it harder to refuse to cooperate.
She didn’t like what they’d suggested. She knew it would be even more detrimental to Chase’s life and hers than getting caught by his CO.
But it was that or risk their lives. Her own life she might’ve gambled with. But the man she loved would not be placed in danger because of her. Even if he hadn’t decided yet whether he loved her back or not.
23
Chase got the memo about Vivien’s certification testing being rescheduled for that afternoon and he felt like a complete ass.
It said she wasn’t feeling well and had to go to the infirmary.
He suspected her suffering was more about his own stupidity than her actual health. Though he knew that might be a little megalomaniacal on his part. Maybe she truly was ill. Or maybe she’d had a bout of nerves come over her about that damn bomb suit. Either way, he wanted to do what he could to help her feel better.
If it was his ignorance causing her issues, he was going to get on his knees and profess his love endlessly for as long as she’d listen. If it were medical, he’d run to the pharmacy and get whatever she needed. If it were nerves, he’d give her a dirty fantasy to focus on while in that suit.
But when he went to the infirmary, she wasn’t there. And no one there seemed to know anything about her. He stood there like an idiot holding flowers for someone who wasn’t there while the nurses looked at him like he was out of his mind. He didn’t stick around in case they wanted to check him in for a mental health visit. Instead, he headed to Vivien’s. Where she also did not happen to be. Or she was holed up with the lights off ignoring the hell out of him.
“Viv,” he pleaded, knocking loudly on the door. “Viv, please. Let me in. We need to talk.”
He didn’t care who saw them. He wouldn’t be her CO much longer. Though he had asked Master Sergeant O’Neil what would happen if he were to have had a relationship with a subordinate. O’Neil informed him that he could be accused of showing favoritism, misconduct, abusing authority, among other things, and that the subordinate would risk being removed from training or have to repeat it all over with a different instructor. Recalling that conversation, he toned the knocking down a little.
“Viv,” he said to the crack where the door met the frame, “if you can hear me, I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I . . .” He trailed off when a few grunts passed by. “Call me, please. Or . . . I guess I’ll see you this afternoon.” He stared at the door. He could’ve sworn he heard movement inside but he was not about to say I love you to a metal door.
He waited several long agonizing moments but Vivien never answered.
He’d just have to wait.
That was fine. He had nothing but time.
***
Of all the ways Chase expected Vivien to respond to his calls and attempts to locate her, a text message was the last thing he thought he’d receive. Yet there it was. On his phone in plain English.
I’ve been thinking a lot about us and I’ve realized it’s just not worth it. What we’re both risking—it’s too much. We had a good time and I enjoyed getting to know you but I think we both know it’s run its course. Take care, Chase. Thank you for everything.
He stared at the words in disbelief. Yesterday she’d told him she loved him. Now the tune she was singing sounded more like “we had a good run, thanks, peace out?”
Because I didn’t say it back.
He attempted to swallow around the lump of emotion in his throat threatening to choke this shit out of him.
Of course she was done. She was done risking her ass for a jerk who couldn’t even say I love you, too.
Chase texted back that he needed to see her so they could talk.
Then he waited for her response. But there was none.
When the time for her certification testing finally came, he was ready to explode. She could defuse the IEDs for practice during her exam, and then she could defuse him by hearing him out.
He practically sprinted from his office to the testing area, determined to make her face him so he could see what was really going on. She could say whatever she wanted over text but those eyes of hers wouldn’t lie to him.
Once he arrived, he was surprised to find the training field empty. He turned to a kid who looked barely eighteen. He pointed to the clipboard the kid held.
“There’s supposed to be a certification eval happening right here, right now. Private First Class Vivien Brooks.”
The kid, Cunningham, the patch on his uniform read, glanced at his clipboard. “That was moved, sir. To the training field behind the gun range.”
Chase frowned. No one used that field anymore. “Why? Who authorized that?”
“No idea, sir. It just says here that her eval was relocated.”
“I’m her CO. I should’ve been informed of any— Ah, fuck it.” He was wasting time arguing with a child who had no more of a clue than he did. He stalked across base to the gun range then stepped around behind it to the practically condemned field. Two officers stood at the edge of the field blocking the entrance, and he could see several others standing by where Vivien was putting on the suit.
“Private Brooks,” he called out, moving toward her until strong arms detained him. He glared at both men in turn. “What the hell are you doing?”
“This is a closed eval, sir,” one of the uniforms answered evenly.
“I’m her CO.”
He suspected Vivien had gotten nervous about her claustrophobia again. That was why she’d been ill earlier. And now, she was keeping him out because he’d hurt her and she was trying to focus. He could understand that. He didn’t like it, but he could understand it.
“Yes, sir. We were told to keep the field closed until her eval was complete. I’m sure you can see her once she’s finished.”
“Right, but I’m saying that’s a mistake. It’s closed to everyone else but not her CO. I need to see her.”
He needed to tell her he loved her. Now that he was ready to say it he felt ready to burst if he kept it inside any longer. Whatever apprehension had kept him from shouting it from the rooftops before was long gone. He needed to tell her now. To remind her that she could do this, that she could do anything because she was amazing. He wanted to tell her that he wanted to wake up to her in his arms. Even if she insisted on running at the ass crack of dawn. He wanted to hear her humming while making coffee. To come home to her at the end of the day and spend evenings hearing how her day had gone. He wanted to trade plates with her when they went out to eat. To watch her enjoying dessert as if it were orgasmic. He wanted to love her for the rest of her life, to make her feel loved. For as long as they both shall live. And he wanted that time to start right the hell now.
“I’m sorry, sir. We’re just following orders,” the younger of the two soldiers told
him.
Chase held his hands up so they wouldn’t physically detain him. “Understood, soldier. I’ll wait until she’s finished then.”
He stood back, taking a spot along the edge of the field where he could see her but he wasn’t sure she’d be able to see him.
It wasn’t until he heard her scream his name that he knew something was wrong.
Vivien was tearing her way out of the suit as if it were on fire. It looked like she was having an argument with the man helping with her eval and trying to get away from him.
He knew it was possible that she was panicking, having an episode. She needed him, damn it.
Without caring what kind of trouble he might put the two grunts in, he took off running toward her.
“Viv,” he screamed, gaining enough ground that he was closing the distance between them quickly but not quickly enough.
She had the helmet off and her head snapped up so he could see her eyes.
Blind panic was all he saw on her face. Then she shook her head frantically at him, but he had no idea what she was saying no to.
“Viv, it’s okay. I’m coming. I’m—”
The exact effect of a blast wave on the human body is difficult to measure.
There’s pressure, and debris, and so much force that everything in range is in danger of being obliterated.
In the brief instant before his body absorbed the impact, just before it left the ground, Chase remembered studying for an exam and memorizing that a C-4 explosion released gases at an approximate rate of 26,400 feet per second.
He was much closer than that.
When his body went airborne, he didn’t see his life flash before his eyes. He only saw a montage of every second he’d spent with Vivien Brooks.
The way she’d swindled him at the bar, how she’d ridden him slowly and indulgently in his truck, the way she’d challenged him in the classroom, fainted in the training field, her beautiful hair fanned out in the hospital bed, and finally, the sound of her voice whispering I love you against his skin on the best day of his entire life.
Those memories of her were all he had left, all that mattered, and all he held on to before everything went black.
Playlist
“Razor Blade”—Luke Bryan
“Fire Meet Gasoline”—Sia
“Soldier”—Fleurie
“In Too Deep”—The Sweeplings
“Devil’s Backbone”—The Civil Wars
“Fire in My Bones”—Fleurie
“Just Like Fire”—Pink
“Dust to Dust”—The Civil Wars
“Black”—Dierks Bentley
Don’t miss the next installment in the Nashville’s Finest series, LIVE WIRE, available in February!
HE’S NOT AFRAID OF ANYTHING . . .
Explosive ordinance disposal specialist Chase Fisk never breaks a sweat defusing even the most complicated of explosives. So when a homicidal maniac threatens to set off military-grade IEDs during Nashville’s largest music festival, Chase is the man to take him down. But with the reappearance of a woman he thought was long dead, everything he thought he knew is blown away.
EXCEPT LOSING HER AGAIN.
FBI operative Vivien Montgomery is an enigma to everyone around her. So when a deadly threat lands her in Nashville and paired up with the only man she’s ever loved, she isn’t looking forward to an emotional reunion. She’s only here to get the job done and get out. But when the madman behind the chaos targets her for death, the one man she left behind might be the only person she can count on to save her life . . .
Caisey Quinn lives in Nashville, Tennessee and is the bestselling author of the Neon Dreams, Second Chance, Abbot Springs, Kylie Ryans, and Broken Heartland series.
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