Page 95 of Miss Typed

“Few more minutes. Hang in there.”

They were the longest minutes. Anything under high stress normally was. But in reality, we were back on the road in eight minutes. Alex gave me a nod of appreciation despite looking as though he wanted to puke in the back seat.

Unfortunately, we weren’t out of the woods. A vehicle approached our flank, going over a hundred miles an hour. I’d heard of this happening as a show of force or intimidation, but it could also be an attack. I raised my gun and looked into the beat-up car at the three men to assess the threat.

My voice rang out. “Three men. Shit. They have semi-automatic weapons—”

As if in slow motion, they started firing. I opened my window and returned fire. Our driver, Mack, swerved towards them. Metal hit metal with a horrendous screech, causing their vehicle to veer right and flip and ours to spin out of control.

* * *

My shaky fingers hit Chloe’s speed-dial on my cell phone. The adrenaline from the near miss had finally drained from my body about an hour ago, but I was still feeling some aftereffects.

“Hello.”

I swallowed hard at the sound of her voice, having missed it over the last four weeks. “Hi.”

“Aiden? How are you?”

“Okay.” I couldn’t talk about the close call. I couldn’t talk about how our driver had been able to get the vehicle under control before we, too, rolled over on the open highway. I wouldn’t tell her about the firebomb the suicide vehicle became or how we’d left it behind as we sped off in the night to get back to our base. Or about all of the bullet holes in the side of the truck. About how badly I’d prayed during the instant I thought we might flip at ninety miles per hour. I’d ached for the opportunity to see her again. Then been filled with immense gratitude over how we’d miraculously come out of it unscathed.

“Are you sure you’re all right?” Concern laced her voice.

“Yeah. Better now. Can you tell me about your day?” I just wanted to hear her talk. Hear about something mundane and happy, and not about Iraq.

“My day was fine. But how are you?”

“I need you to talk about anything right now. Please. Just distract me.”

She hesitated, probably trying to figure out this strange request. Finally she spoke. “Well, I had another wild day in the records department. They’re animals on the third floor with their crazy alphabetical filing system. I considered myself smart until I had to sing HIJKLMN in my head because I forget the order of those middle letters.”

My lips curved up in a much-needed smile. God, I’d missed her. Missed her sarcasm and her humor. “Do they not have the same alphabet up in Canada?”

She giggled. “Those are fighting words.”

A chuckle escaped. I could feel my body start to relax for the first time all day. “Tell me more about what you’ve been doing over the last few weeks.”

She went on for the next ten minutes, talking about everything from Teagan’s niece going into remission to enrolling in classes for the spring semester, starting in April.

“Are the classes in Dubai?”

“No, uh, in Los Angeles.”

“When do you leave?”

“Next week.”

“Where will you live?”

“Temporarily, I’ll stay with Kendall. I’ll start the search for a roommate once I get there since I prefer to meet someone in person before committing.”

“Who is Kendall?”

“She was my roommate back when I first lived in LA. She and her husband, Liam, live south of LA by the beach. They offered me a place to stay while I search for an apartment of my own. But they just had a baby, who is adorable by the way, so I don’t want to overstay my welcome. Hopefully, I’ll find a place quickly.”

This is why I’d let her go. So she could live her life without me holding her back. Yet hearing her move on without me was absolute torture. “I should go.”

“Wait. Aiden, I’ve missed you. Talk to me. Are you safe where you are?”