The rage in him seemed to burn past any control.
“Get him out of here,” Logan ordered, giving a jerk of his head toward Cale. “Put him in the second villa, guard him and make sure he cools down.”
Cale put a hand on Slade’s shoulder.
Slade immediately jerked away from him. “Don’t believe me?” His voice rose. “None of you believe me? You think you can trust him? That I’m crazy?” He laughed again. The sound was rough and wild. “Then just...ask him.”
She glanced at Gunner. Logan had released him, and now Gunner stood as still as a statue. The white bandage was a stark contrast to his tanned skin.
“Ask him, Sydney. You do it,” Slade urged. “Because it’s all about you, right?”
“No, it isn’t.” The throbbing in her head was getting worse.
But Slade kept talking. This wasn’t the man she remembered. So much rage. “Ask him!” Slade yelled. “Ask him if he wanted you, even then.”
She stared at Gunner. His eyelashes lifted and his gaze held hers.
She couldn’t bring herself to ask the question.
“Take him out,” Logan ordered again.
“I saw the way you looked at her then. The way you look at her now! I was in the way!”
Cale pulled Slade toward the door.
Slade kept shouting. “You saw your chance, and you took it. You played hero to her, but you left me to die! You got just what you wanted—her!”
Sydney flinched.
“Tell her!” Slade was fighting against Cale’s hold. “Tell her the truth. She deserves it! We both do! Look at her. Look at Sydney and tell her how you felt about her...tell her about all the times you’d watch her when you didn’t think anyone saw.” His voice dropped. “But I saw. I always saw.”
His voice was ugly and mean and he was so far from the Slade that she’d remembered. Captivity could twist a man—or a woman—she knew that. It would take months, maybe even years of therapy before the Slade she knew returned.
If he ever did.
“I knew you wanted her, but she wanted me! She wasn’t going to you, not while I was there. So you got me out of the way.” Slade’s chest heaved.
She stared at him, seeing past the long hair and beard. His nose had been broken. She could see the rough bump along its bridge. There was a long, thin scar under his right eye. Another scar bisecting his left eyebrow. And that limp...
“Tell her!”
But Gunner wasn’t talking.
Cale had Slade near the entrance to the villa now, but all of a sudden, Slade stopped struggling. His cheeks were flushed dark red, his eyes glittered, but his body just froze.
Then he looked at Sydney. “Shouldn’t he be defending himself?” Now his voice was flat. From screaming to flat.
Sydney shivered.
“Shouldn’t he be trying to tell you that I’ve got it all wrong?” His voice seemed hoarse. “Why isn’t he talking?”
Why wasn’t she? Sydney cleared her throat. “You’re confused, Slade.” She tried to make her voice sound soothing. But her words broke because her control was fracturing.
“Did he wait a few months...or did he go after you right away?”
The question had her gasping. “It wasn’t like that!” Gunner hadn’t gone after her at all. Not for two years. Not until...
The last mission.
When she’d told him that she’d moved on.
They’d been moving on, together.
“You’re wrong about him,” Sydney finished, voice quiet. “You’ll see that, soon.”
Gunner still hadn’t spoken.
“No,” Slade exhaled on a low breath. “You’re the one who’s wrong, and you’ll see that...soon.”
Then he was leaving the villa. Cale followed on his heels.
The door shut behind them with the softest of clicks.
Silence.
Sydney was still staring at that shut door. Her body was tight and aching, as if she’d just been through another vicious battle. Maybe she had.
“Gunner...” Logan’s voice. “Gunner, you know it’s the stress. Slade is going to have PTSD, he’s going to—”
Gunner shook his head. “He meant what he said.”
“Yeah, well, if he meant it, he was wrong.” Logan was adamant. “I know you, and that...hell...that’s not the way you operate. You don’t leave a man behind, especially not your brother.”
She couldn’t read Gunner’s expression.
“But I did leave him behind,” Gunner said softly. “Isn’t that why we’re all here now?”
She wanted to grab him and shake him. “You tried everything you could!” If it hadn’t been for Gunner, she would have died on that mission. He’d barely managed to get them both to safety.
“Rescue teams went back. They saw no sign of him.” Logan’s sigh was ragged. “Stop beating the hell out of yourself over this.”
“You already let Slade beat the hell out of you.” Sydney didn’t even know why she said those words, but...
Gunner glanced at her. The darkness of his eyes was a banked heat. “Why didn’t you ask me?” Soft.
Logan whistled. “Okay, I’m going to check in with Mercer. Syd, you, uh, finish up in here, and then we’ll talk about our exit strategy.”
Then he was gone. Pretty much rushing in his haste to get away.
Gunner rolled his shoulders, as if pushing away a painful memory. Then he stalked toward her.
She didn’t move, even though she had the urge to flee.
“He told you to ask me,” Gunner said. “So why didn’t you?”
Because she hadn’t wanted the others to hear his answer. Because some things should be between the two of them.
“You thought he was right, didn’t you?”
“Not about you leaving him,” she whispered. Logan was on the phone in the outer room, but still close enough that she worried he’d overhear them.
A muscle flexed in Gunner’s hard jaw. “You thought I wanted you.”
This was the hard part. The part that would tear her pride to shreds, but what did pride matter now? “No, but I knew I wanted you.” That was her secret shame. She’d been with Slade; she’d met him first...
Then she’d met Gunner.
And in the beginning, Gunner had made her nervous. He’d put her on edge, every time that she was near him.
Slade had been the one to offer quick compliments. To take her out on fun dates.