Page 102 of Enthrall Ecstasy

“You just come out and say it, don’t you?” I felt a stab of fury. “You have no filter, Jake.”

“Something happened on that mission south of Kabul. You need to talk to Henry about it. He was there.”

“Nothing happened.” I stepped back. “It all blends together anyway.”

“You need to tell someone. Let it out.”

“Let what out?”

“Whatever it was that changed you.”

Gesturing my frustration, I raised my hands. “Everyone came back changed. I’m no different.”

“You are.”

That would have shaken me if it were true.

“I’m sure Cole would have mentioned it by now,” I shot back.

“He probably knows you’re a lost cause.”

Is this what everyone thought of me? Someone who couldn’t be fixed to their level of acceptable?

“You never knew me,” I said.

“That’s just it, I knew you too well.” De Sade softened his tone. “Look, when a quarterback takes the field, he needs his teammates—”

“This isn’t a sports metaphor, is it?” I hated those. “Anyway, I was a SEAL. We take camaraderie to the next level.”

He sighed. “Look, what I’m saying is…the game of life can’t be won alone.”

My shoulders dropped as I mused over his ability to get through to me.

“Some introspection might be useful.” He pointed at me. “And never knock a sports metaphor.”

“Just tell me you’re okay,” I said softly.

“I miss you, but I can’t look back. I can’t go back to feeling starved of…” He let his words trail off, a pained expression on his face.

“I gave as much as I could.”

“The person you’re with deserves all of you.”

I didn’t want to deal with this now.

My afternoon was tainted; he always had this way of bringing me down.

“Rue’s too special to be ruined,” he threw in.

“You don’t think I know that?”

“You know she’s desperate for love.”

“She told you that?”

“Didn’t need to…I can read it all over her.”

“She’s been briefed on what to expect.”