or noises the members of DS-13 were making about this. He couldn’t hear anything over Sophia’s screams.
Sophia fought in a violent frenzy—kicking, clawing, throwing wild punches. Cameron just tried to keep her from hurting him or herself. He kept her as close as he could to his body. After what seemed like the longest period of time in the history of the world—and probably even longer to her—but was really only a few seconds, Cameron opened the door and let go of Sophia. She immediately pushed away from Cameron and all but dived out of the closet, landing heavily on the floor.
She pushed herself across the floor, as far away from him and the closet as she could get, sucking in deep gulps of air the entire time. When she reached the far corner of the room she dragged her knees up to her chest and rocked back and forth. Cameron stood just outside the closet, watching her, unsure what to do. He had no idea why she was so claustrophobic, but it was definitely not something she had any control over.
In that moment Cameron hated every single thing about his life in law enforcement. He was here to catch bad guys. But right now the good guys were the ones who were paying the price.
Cameron took a step toward Sophia and she cringed away from him, whimpering. “No, please...” She stretched out her arms as if to ward him off.
“No,” Cameron whispered. “I won’t do that again. Never again.”
Sophia nodded her head, but still shied away from him. Cameron didn’t want to move any closer to her. She’d been through enough. Down the hall, Cameron could hear the TV blaring. Evidently the guys thought the show in Cameron’s room was over.
He hoped it had been worth it. Because looking at Sophia right now, Cameron didn’t think there was any way it could possibly have been.
Cameron took a few steps toward her then sat down on the floor so he could be eye to eye with Sophia. Her breathing was still labored, and every last ounce of color was missing from her face.
“Sophia, I’m so sorry.” Cameron spoke softly. He knew this room wasn’t bugged, but couldn’t take any chances on any member of DS-13 overhearing them.
Cameron moved a little closer to Sophia but she shied away again. Cameron rubbed the back of his neck, where permanent tension seemed to have lodged, at least since he had first seen Sophia again this afternoon.
He wanted to give Sophia the physical space she needed, but the things he needed to say couldn’t be said from across the room. Moving slowly, he scooted over until he was next to her against the wall.
Sophia just huddled into her corner and didn’t look at him. But at least her breathing was slowing down a bit, wasn’t quite so labored.
“Sophia, I’m so sorry,” he said again. As if saying it again would make everything okay. “I had to make them think that something bad was happening in here.”
Sophia gave a quiet bark of acerbic laughter.
Cameron shook his head. “I mean, something they would think is bad. You know what they expected.”
Sophia nodded her head slightly, but didn’t say anything. They sat there in silence for long moments. Cameron tried to figure out what possible words could make this better.
“Things have changed since I saw you last, five years ago,” Cameron said softly, close to her ear.
“I know,” Sophia all but hissed, but just as softly. “The Cameron Branson I knew five years ago never would’ve done this.” She gestured toward her face with her hand, then pointed toward the closet with a shaky arm.
“Sophia, I’m sorry I hit you earlier. I had to take action immediately. And the closet...” Cameron shrugged wearily. “It had to be done.”
Sophia turned away from him again without saying anything.
“It’s not like I planned any of this. Damn it, Soph, I’m just trying to keep you alive.”
Sophia covered her face with her hands and began to cry. Looking over at the arm that was now exposed because her short-sleeved blue shirt was ripped at the shoulder, he could see some angry red marks on her arm. Those were from him, probably during the closet fiasco. They were definitely going to leave bruises on her pale skin, even though he had only been trying to help.
Although it pained him, Cameron hardened himself against the ache he felt at the thought of marring her beautiful skin. The bruises would help sell their story to DS-13.
“At least tell me you’re here, you know...working,” Sophia finally said to him.
Cameron appreciated that she left out the word undercover. That word could get them both killed quicker than almost anything else they could say. “Yeah. I’m with the agency.”
Cameron knew he was being vague, but didn’t think now was the time to go into Omega Sector and his life there. When they had known each other before, he had just been coming out of the Rangers. Sophia didn’t know anything about Omega—even most people who worked in the FBI knew nothing about it.
Sophia let out a sigh and turned toward him slightly. “Well, that’s a relief. I wasn’t sure.”
She wasn’t sure? “Seriously? What did you think, I had left the Rangers and joined some sort of crime syndicate since we last spoke?”
“Stranger things have happened.”
Cameron shook his head. “I guess.” He must really have been undercover too long if an old friend couldn’t tell if he was pretending or not. Maybe he had been in the darkness too long.
Cameron didn’t have time for metaphors about darkness and light in his life. He had a job to do: justice for his partner’s killer and retrieval of Ghost Shell. And now making sure Sophia got out of this alive and relatively unscathed.
He definitely did not have time to think about how beautiful she was, or how much she had meant to him five years ago, or how often he had thought about her since.
Keeping her alive. That was the most important thing.
* * *
WAS HE HONESTLY offended that she couldn’t tell if he was really working undercover or not when she was sitting here with bruises and a racing heartbeat from what he had done to her?
Sophia looked at the closet again. From across the room, it looked so benign. Obviously there was plenty of air throughout both this room and the closet. She very clearly knew that now. But five minutes ago there had been no way to convince her mind of that.
She pulled her knees closer to her body. She believed Cameron when he said he was undercover. She even believed he was doing what he thought was best when he had hit her earlier, and everything that had happened since. But that didn’t mean she wanted him to touch her again.
But part of her desperately wanted him to touch her again. She had wanted that for five years. But not here in this house with those filthy men in the next room.
Sophia glanced sideways at Cameron. He looked as exhausted as she felt. Sophia didn’t know much about undercover work, but she was sure that her entrance into the picture had to have thrown a wrench into whatever mission he was on.
“Have I totally screwed things up for you? I tried to get out of the warehouse like you said, but that big guy was out there,” Sophia offered softly.
Cameron looked surprised that she was talking to him at all. Now that she was calming down she was realizing that Cameron really had been working in her best interest.
But she still wanted out of here as soon as possible.
“Well, your presence was definitely unexpected. But so far it looks like there was no harm done to the case.”
“Really?” Sophia couldn’t believe that was true.
“Yeah, evidently how I’ve been treating you has been helping solidify my bad-guy reputation.”
“How long have