“Chloe, I have to get back out there now. That little girl needs me to find her parents.” He yanked on his boots. “Just wait for me. Please. We’ll talk about this later.”
No. She was done waiting. She should have been done with this long ago. Maybe then she could have saved herself the heartache she’d always been afraid of.
“I can’t wait for you,” she whispered. “I’m sorry, but I can’t. It’s not your fault—this is who you are. Go find those parents.”
Gage called her name as she turned and ran out of the hospital, but she didn’t look back.
Chapter Eleven
Gage wanted to chase after her, but Chloe knew him better than he knew himself. The girl’s parents were missing, and he had to go out there to make sure the family was reunited.
His chest was sore, as if Chloe had snatched his heart from between his ribs and run off with it. But he had to focus. Had to get back out there. It was his single objective.
Footsteps and the loud ruckus of conversation drifted into the room. Gage recognized some of the voices from his rescue team just before East stepped into the room.
“Hey.”
“Not now,” Gage growled.
“Whoa, easy tiger. I was coming to tell you the good news. The parents were found. Thankfully they stuck together and seem to be in good shape.”
Gage blinked. The parents were found? The family was okay? And they’d finished the job without him? “What?” His mind and body slowed for the first time in hours. “Who found them?”
East smiled. “The new recruits you trained. They were like carbon copies of you. They moved and examined the area exactly like you taught them. I swear, it was like watching you out there.”
Gage was half stunned and happy. The guys stuck to their training and acted on his behalf the way he’d taught them. He had done this.
“It’s a good fuckin’ day, man,” East said. “Everyone survived with nothing more than a few scratches.”
The adrenaline that’d kept Gage functioning drained from his limbs like an emptying whirlpool. They were okay.
Relief settled in his bones as clarity hit him like a punch to the stomach. Chloe had left him. She’d told him she’d loved him, and then she’d walked away.
He clutched his throbbing knee but nothing compared to the fear, the relief, the instant flood of countering emotions. Was this how she’d felt when she’d come to the hospital and seen him?
He couldn’t remember really seeing her or hearing what she’d said. He’d been too busy trying to leave.
“Christ,” he muttered. “The event.”
The restaurant anniversary she’d been working hard on was tonight, and she’d left it to come to him because she was worried.
And I dismissed her.
“You okay?” East asked. “You look like you could use a beer.”
Actually, he could. Maybe taking a breather to figure out how to tackle the situation with Chloe was best. He also needed a minute to sort through what he was going to say. Because his world had been crumbling around him, but he was only realizing it now.
He could try to make this work with Chloe. Surely, he could make this work.
She loves me…
The word rolled in his mind, over and over. She loved him, which made him damn lucky. But she hated that she loved him, and he’d just fucked up royally.
East raised a brow. “So I thought I heard Chloe earlier… I take it you’re having lady problems?”
Gage finished lacing his boot. “You could say that. Thanks for telling her to freak her out.”
“Hey, there was spotty service and she hung up and rushed over here before I could tell her it was just your leg. Besides, I figured you’d want her to know.”
Yeah, he did. But he didn’t know she’d react that way. Now he was on the brink of losing her for good. Maybe he already had— No. He wasn’t giving up on his mission. It was his most important one yet.
“I’ll make it work,” Gage said.
“Uh-huh. Because you know what’s best, and surely you can waltz in and out and Chloe will fall in line.”
Gage glared at him. It’d already been a long day, and now East was pulling this shit again. “What’s your problem?”
But East came back with his own glare. “Watching you screw this up from day one is getting annoying. Chloe doesn’t do commitment. She doesn’t wait around. And you want both from her just on the promise that you can make it work.”
“Yes!” Gage slammed his hand on the bed. “I have to make it work, East.” He took a deep breath. “I love her.”
East’s eyes shot wide. “Well, hell. That puts you in a big shit storm then.”
“I have to talk to her. She’s mad I was going to go back out. Now I’m not since the parents were found, so problem solved.”
“Man, you are thick,” East said. “If you think that’s your problem, you’re in bigger trouble than I thought.”