Nori's Delta (Delta Team Three #1) - Lori Ryan Page 0,59

He’s not allowed to leave the base until we finish some training we’ve been putting off.”

She shook her head. “And when did that order come?” Merlin and Duff had clearly gotten off base, so the order was probably new.

Jangles looked abashed. “Uh, yesterday.”

The door behind the two men opened and her heart slammed to a stop when she saw Heath come in. He was mid-sentence asking what was keeping the other two men when he saw her on the screen.

She didn’t know what she hoped for but it wasn’t the way his face went completely blank and still. And it wasn’t the way he turned and walked from the room without a word.

She pressed her lips together not wanting to say anything because if she did, she knew she would be bawling in front of these men and there wouldn’t be a damn thing she could do to stop it. The pain that sliced through her heart at seeing him turn and walk away was too much.

She had started to doubt her decision, but it looked like he hadn’t been.

Jangles and Zip looked pained too.

Zip tried to make it better. “Nori, he’s—”

She shook her head stopping him. Hearing Heath’s nickname for her was too damned much. She cut the video feed and put her phone face down by the bed. She couldn’t talk to them anymore. Couldn’t see the pity emanating from them.

Until very recently, her career had been everything to her. It was what got her up in the morning, what drove her to work longer hours than anybody in the office including her boss, and what kept her coming back. It was the drive to be the best she could be at what she had chosen to do.

And right now it meant absolutely nothing. She had realized how utterly hollow her life was. She swallowed down the large lump in her throat and brushed away any remaining tears as she turned on her side and hugged her knees to her chest in bed.

Her chest felt tight and the heartache pushing on her seemed like it might swallow her whole. Everything hurt. She was going to have to try to cope with the fact that she’d lost Heath Davis forever. That was something she didn’t know how to do.

Chapter 38

If Heath thought he was stupid back in high school, he hadn’t come anywhere close to the idiocy he had demonstrated with Eleanor.

Seeing her face on the video conference screen— no, not just her face, her tears— had destroyed him. He should have stayed when she insisted he go. He should have seen through whatever it was that had made her send him away. Should have been there for her when she needed him.

He didn’t know if he could get her to talk about why she’d sent him packing, but at the very least he was going to go there and try like hell. He was going to tell her how much he loved her, and how sorry he was he hadn’t been enough for her.

He went back to the room they’d been working in, watching those stupid Code of Conduct training videos for the last three hours, and grabbed his bag. Jangles and Zip trailed him down the hall and were now standing in the doorway watching him as Merlin and Duff stared back at him from their seats.

“It’s about damn time you’re going to her,” Duff said, surprising them all.

Jangles looked at all of them. “Uh, I hate to burst your bubble Woof man, but the CO says that’s a no-go.”

“We’re on lockdown until this training is done, remember?” Zip added.

“Yeah, I remember,” Heath said. He remembered and didn’t give a shit. He would take whatever punishment Roe dished out.

“You’re looking at desertion if you do this,” Merlin said quietly.

Heath met the eyes of the men on his team. “I gotta try. She’s worth it.”

“Damn right she is,” Duff said.

Jangles and Zip stepped into the room. Zip was the one to speak and he was grinning again. “We got your back. We’ll tell the CO you had to see about a woman.” Zip was laughing at his use of the line from Good Will Hunting.

“The hell you will,” Heath said. “If Roe finds out you knew I was leaving and didn’t stop me, you’ll all be in hot water. You’re not taking that on for me.”

Merlin stood. “Fuck off, asshole. We can take the heat, same as you. Now go get your woman.”

Heath didn’t have to be told