Finally back in her stateroom, she shared a very emotional phone call with her sister before taking the longest, most amazing shower of her life. Then she’d gotten dressed and fell onto the bed.
And still, she was no closer to getting answers than she was before.
As she lay there, events from the days prior rolled through her mind. Memories assaulted her…glorious, wonderful memories. But there was one that kept coming back to her, no matter how hard she tried to ignore it.
Do you really sell insurance?
She’d asked Garrett that question while sitting at the beach.
I do. If you want, when we get back to the ship, I can show you my license.
Avery could still picture him squatted down before her that day. So caring and attentive. He’d gotten her water when she’d become too hot. They’d laughed and talked…and kissed.
And then he’d looked her right in the eye and lied to her face.
Tears that had yet to fall poured from her eyes and onto her pillow. She tried to fight them at first, but it was no use.
It was all too much, and everything seemed to hit her at once.
Garrett’s confusing betrayal. Being held at gunpoint and then groped by that horrible man. Jumping from a freakingmovingtruck. Thinking she was going to die…
It all came rushing over her in a giant tsunami of pain. And the only thing Avery could do was ride the wave. Until finally, blessedly, she cried herself to sleep.
Chapter 16
Exhausted to his bones, Garrett rode the elevator to his and Colt’s floor, thankful as hell that he was alone.
What a clusterfuck of a day.
Leaning his back on the car’s wall, he closed his eyes and drew in a long, deep breath before letting it out slowly. Just as it had every time he’d so much as blinked these last few hours, Avery’s gorgeous face filled his mind’s eye.
Only she looked different, now. No, that wasn’t right. She looked exactly the same. But she’d looked athimdifferently.
Like he was a stranger. Someone she barely knew, rather than the man she’d made love to over and over again.
And he couldn’t get that look out of his fucking head.
It was all there, in her eyes. Her beautiful, dark chocolate eyes. Every emotion she’d been feeling since the minute she’d heard Digger call him by his team nickname.
Confusion. Sadness. Betrayal.
He’d promised to explain everything to her but hadn’t wanted an audience for that particular conversation. So he’d waited.
When he and Digger had first found her and Jess in that field, he’d been so fucking relieved he’d damn near bawled like a baby. Hours later and hestillhadn’t gotten rid of the fear he’d felt speeding down that road in search of them.
After arriving at the ship, and his brief but emotional reunion with Colt, he’d been debriefed by the head of cruise security, a man Owens knew personally.
Of course, he knows him. Owens knows everyone who’s anyone.
After that, he and his team, along with Owens, used their secured satellite phone to call the president—yep, that’s right,thepresident of the United States.
It wasn’t the first time Garrett and his team had been on a call with the powerful man. And, given what they did for a living, it wouldn’t be the last.
Once they’d filled him in on what had happened, Garrett gave a written statement to the local police chief. He’d left out the part about the Delta Force team who’d aided in their transport back to the ship. Instead of naming names, he used vague words like ‘additional team members’.
One of the reasons those guys were able to do the things they did was largely because of their anonymity. Garrett and his team wanted to do whatever they could to help them keep it.
As far as the other hostages knew, the Delta guyswerepart of their team. And there was no reason for them to think otherwise.