Page 19 of Protecting Salvation

“Oh, anything is fine.”

He blinked as she turned around and gave him a smile that reached her eyes and it was the first since he’d seen her last Friday that felt real.

“Well, I have cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, pickles, and mayo?”

“Sounds good.”

He watched her get everything out and place it on the chopping board, where she began to wash, chop, and assemble.

“So come on, spill.”

He huffed out a laugh. “You’re a direct little thing aren’t you?”

She pointed the butter knife in his direction as she spoke. “I’m a farmer’s daughter and we don’t tiptoe when direct is better.”

“Fair enough.”

He didn’t know that detail about her, having deliberately not read her file because he wanted any information about her to be something she trusted him with. Each person the team interacted with had a thick file on them put together by Watchdog.

God, just the thought of his friend made him sick to his stomach. The man he’d been was all but gone, lost to a trauma that every single member of the team felt guilty for. He wondered if someone like Peyton could help him heal, or at least try, and decided he’d speak to Bás when he got the chance.

“Well, since we aren’t segueing into this, I won’t mess around. I have a brain tumour.”

The knife in her hand clattered to the ground as her face paled and the next second he was diving around the kitchen to grab her before she passed out.