Page 51 of Red Zone Awakened

CHAPTER21

Hot water poured over Keiko,mingling with her tears before flowing down the drain beneath her.There was no stopping the tears this time.No pretending they were caused by fear.They were from grief.Soul-deep, agonizing grief.

A pained sob escaped her as she rolled her forehead against the cool glass of the shower.She should have been with Abigail.Should have been standing beside her friend, trying to protect her.Maybe if Freedom had her, they wouldn’t have sacrificed the scientists.Perhaps Abigail would still be alive.Was it her fault that her friend was dead?Should Keiko have turned herself in to Freedom?Would it have changed anything?

Without warning, the water cut out, and a warm, soft towel wrapped around her.Gentle hands pulled her from the shower.“You okay, princess?”

She looked up into Mace’s clear blue eyes, taking in his stubble-covered jaw and the crooked nose that had obviously been struck once too often.Such strength in just one man.She reached up and stroked his cheek.

“No,” she answered honestly.She was being torn apart inside.Ripped to shreds by the loss of her friend and the horrific way it’d happened.

“If there was anything I could do…” He looked as helpless as she felt.

“Just hold me.Make me feel like I can get through this.Make mefeelsomething, anything other than this agony.”

“I can do that.”His big arms wrapped around her, engulfing her in his strength.“You know there’s nothing you could have done, right?”His voice was gentle, muffled against her hair.

“Maybe if I’d been there, if I’d stayed on the terrace…”

“No.”Mace squeezed her tight.“It wouldn’t have made a difference.Don’t tell yourself that, baby.It’s a lie.If you’d been on the terrace, Freedom would’ve just kept you up there in front of the cameras until they’d played all their other cards.You’d have been their final play.Their grand finale.”His hand stroked her hair.“They’d have killed those people anyway.There’s nothing you could have done to save your friend.”

“You could have grabbed her, too, when you ran.”

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Keiko hated herself for saying them.She leaned back and gazed up at him, seeing his own regrets painted so clearly on his face.

“I’m sorry, Mace.I shouldn’t have said that.This isn’t your fault.Everything happened so fast, and I know you grabbed me because I was closest.I saw Abigail step back, farther away from the audience, once I finished speaking with her.Knowing her, she was probably inching toward the door, hoping to make her escape before anyone noticed.She was nowhere near you when the trouble started.I’m so sorry I laid that on you.”

He cupped her cheek and stared into her eyes.Her heart.Her soul.“If I could have saved her, I would have.I wish I could go back in time and change things for you.I wish I’d saved her for you.”

Keiko hiccupped a sob as the tears rolled down her cheeks again.“I can’t believe she’s gone,” she whispered.

“Fuck.”Mace grated out the word.“You’re killing me here.You’ve got to stop crying.I can’t cope with it.”

She forced the slightest of smiles.“And it’s all about you.”

“Yeah,” he whispered.But even though his joke was a poor one, they both knew he didn’t think that way at all.“What can I do to help?I’ve got to do something.”

The words escaped her before she’d even thought about them.“You could kiss me.”

She felt the shock of her request ripple through his body.“Keiko, I’m not sure that’s a good idea.We’re—”

She pressed her fingertips to his lips to stop him.“Right now, I don’t care about good ideas.I just want a few seconds’ reprieve from the pain.I’m falling apart, Mace.Please, just this once, don’t think about whether or not it’s a good idea.Help me to forget.For a minute.Before we have to start running and fighting again.Please.”

“Keiko.”He spoke her name with such feeling that it seemed to wrap around her.“You humble me.With everything that’s happened, you’re still going, still asking for what you need, still putting yourself out there.Never known anybody with the kind of courage you have.Blows my mind.But this is a bad idea, princess.We don’t really know each other.There are secrets and, hell, trust issues… How about we just cuddle?”

“I need more,” she murmured.“I need you to take me away from everything, for a little while.”

She saw his resolve crumble and knew he’d give her what she wanted: escape from herself.

If only for this moment.

Surely she was allowed a short reprieve.A few minutes where she felt something good instead of the weight of all that was bad.

“Please,” Keiko whispered.

“Why are you so damn hard to resist?”he muttered as his hand clasped her nape.

The world faded to the man in front of her.Then narrowed further to his face.His eyes.His lips.And then, those lips pressed against hers in a kiss that swept her away with its gentleness and understanding.Her eyes closed of their own volition as she lost herself in the soft, firm touch of his lips.