“There’s no one else.”
Mackenzie glanced at Aaron, but he was pressing buttons on his phone and hadn’t seen Eva’s face. She looked back at her friend. Eva was the opposite of everything Mackenzie tried to be—sparkly and loud. But right then Mackenzie’s closest friend—which wasn’t saying much, since they usually only saw each other at work—wasn’t happy, to say the least.
“I can’t do it.”
“Kenzie, do you think I don’t know what you’re hiding? Do you think I haven’t figured it out?”
“I—” It wasn’t possible. Mackenzie had worked too hard for too long for her secret to get out now. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Girl...I heard you sing.”
“What?” Mackenzie sucked in a breath. “When?”
“Do you think I’m stupid?”
“Of course not.” How could Eva think that?
The other woman’s eyes softened. “About a month ago I left my phone here. It was late when I came back to get it. I heard you, playing piano and singing to yourself.”
Mackenzie didn’t know what to say. It didn’t spell total disaster, but her voice was distinctive. She had assumed she’d be safe just working in the office. After all, she’d set the center up. Wasn’t that enough to balance the scales? She’d come to terms with the fact that music couldn’t be part of her life anymore, except in secret. Now she wouldn’t be able to sing at all, not even when she thought everyone was gone.
Why did that hurt?
Eva’s head tipped to the side. “You know, you kind of sound like—”
Please don’t say it. “I know.”
“They’re already in the blue room waiting. Please. There’s no one else.”
Mackenzie sighed. “There’s a ton of work to do in here.”
It was an excuse, but she had no interest in being the person she used to be. Not again. And she would do everything she could not to fall back into that trap of selfish, wild living. The only thing those days of youth had done was set her on a collision course with this life of hiding and secrets.
“Kenzie—”
She bit her lip. “Okay. I’ll go and oversee things. They can practice, and I’ll just make sure it doesn’t get out of control.”
But there was no way she was going to sing in front of the kids. No way on earth.
Eva beamed as if it was Christmas morning. “Great.”
Mackenzie rolled her eyes, but Eva didn’t see because she’d already breezed out the door. It was only one class. Surely disaster couldn’t happen that fast.
“Hold up a second.”
Aaron stopped her with a hand on her arm. Mackenzie looked down at his fingers on the sleeve of her sweater. She could feel his heat through the material and it struck her that she’d never felt anything so warm. His hands were strong, his nails trimmed short, and his little finger was bent as though it’d been broken and not quite set straight.
She looked up at his face. “The kids are waiting.”
“We still need to have a conversation. I know what Eric said, but if I’m going to have the best shot at protecting you, then I need to know what happened.”
“Fine.” Even though Mackenzie had no intention of telling him anything about who she used to be.
He apparently didn’t buy it, because he said, “If you don’t, I will absolutely walk. I have to know what I’m up against.” The hint of a smile gleamed in his eyes. “Who knows, I might surprise you.”
“I don’t like surprises.”
Aaron leaned back against the wall, listening to a teen girl singing. There really was no other way to keep an eye on Mackenzie without it looking as if he was doing exactly that. Diligence was the only thing that paid off. Faith in a higher being to solve all his problems was nothing but a childish dream. Not when in one split second everything could go wrong and no matter how hard he tried to fix it, someone still got hurt.
He rubbed a hand down his face, dismissing the memories of heat and sand...and blood.
He loved the spontaneity of being Delta Force, though there was a shelf life to the career. Retreating just didn’t sit well with him, but when it was that or put his teammates in danger because he couldn’t admit he was slowing down...there wasn’t anything to it. When the time came, Aaron would just finish up his days and move on with the confidence he’d done his duty to Uncle Sam.
Aaron was almost to his mid-thirties, so it was past time to start thinking about fallback options. Especially considering the fact his team hated him at this point. When he got back, there wasn’t going to be much of a working relationship between them all if they didn’t trust Aaron anymore.
They’d banded together around Franklin, which was the right thing. Aaron didn’t fault them for giving their support to their blind teammate. Franklin would need it. But did they have to reject Aaron in the process? Hadn’t it just been a mistake? A horrific one, sure, but he was only human. Didn’t they know that?
“What do ya say?”
Aaron glanced down the hall where a teen boy in a white T-shirt and saggy jeans crowded a younger girl against the wall.
“I’m not sure.” The girl’s voice was a nervous murmur. “I don’t think—”
The boy’s face hardened. “Not the right answer, babe.”
Aaron sauntered over. “Hey, what’s up, guys?” They both turned to him. The boy’s face hardened and the girl’s eyes went wide. “Is there a vending machine around here? I’m really craving a soda.”
The girl’s face washed with relief, even though the boy hadn’t stepped back. She pointed down the hall behind Aaron. “In the kitchen. They’re a dollar, but if you hit the top three buttons on the left and the bottom right one at the same time, an orange soda will drop out.”
The boy looked at her. “Why would you tell him that?”
“He’s Ms. Winters’s new boyfriend. I saw them together earlier.”
The boy looked back at Aaron. “For real? You’re Ms. Winters’s new boyfriend?”
Aaron nearly rolled his eyes at the third degree from a kid who apparently thought his teenage self was something everyone needed to take note of. Was that what he had looked like at that age? Aaron must have seemed ridiculous. It was a wonder his foster parents hadn’t laughed at him.
Aaron looked at the girl, admittedly a little intrigued. “Does Ms. Winters have a lot of boyfriends?”
