Home - COD Simon Ghost Riley X Female OC

Chapter 42

Simon was nervous. That was the only reason that seeing Mariana in jeans didn't send them directly back to the bedroom. That and the tired, blank look on her face. He often thought of the night he interrupted her, wrapped in a blanket, looking at the stars. He had already decided that when their duty was complete, he would take her to the wilderness, wrap her in a blanket and let her feel that wonder.

If only for a chance to see it again.

"Aren't you going to wear your mask?" She asked him as they walked out, her voice still sleepy.

"I'm more anonymous without it at this point." He answered. It was true, but that didn't make him feel any less grotesquely exposed.

The flight was long enough for them to sleep. They sat side by side this time, and she did, her head on his shoulder. It didn't feel so fragile anymore. It felt dangerous, still, like he would let something alter parts of himself he had fought to cast in diamond-hard stone. There was always a voice in the back of his mind that told him he wouldn't be able to stop it, that it wasn't him letting her do anything. Her hands were just that strong, and her desire matched them. He had casually crossed the line between knowing it would end and wanting to cut it off before it bled him out, and holding on to every precious second for dear life.

He didn't sleep. He didn't have it in him. He placed his hand on Mariana's leg and waited.

They landed early in the morning and were driven straight to a meeting. The legal team would coach each of them on how to respond to questions. A few of them would give testimony, Mariana, Price, and Simon. But his would be easy, he could remember in fine detail every wrong he had witnessed. Mariana's would be harder. She would be, once again, reliving everything she had been put through. And the charges against Reina here were human trafficking and kidnapping. The only reason they could do that was because Mariana had survived, and because he had found her. They would shoulder it together.

Seeing Price again was a comfort. He shook both their hands, one after the other, looking very civilian and professional. He could feel the tight connection between them now, out in the real world. Simon had known from day one that the girl was something different. He'd been right. And they moved like mirror images, connected like a dovetail, something he was almost jealous of. Fate was for people with far less knowledge of the horrors of reality, but he dared to think there was a reason Simon had been the one in that house that night.

They would have the second half of the day to themselves. Simon would act as a sort of body guard for Mariana, they would share a room and a car. He didn't know who had mandated that but it was a relief. It left little chance for them to be separated. The general public was still unaware of Mariana's return but the judge had decided to leave the courtroom closed to them due to Reina's health concerns. It wasn't closed to everyone, though, press and other figures were allowed in and it was expected that the news would get out quickly.

"No one cared that I was dead, no one will care that I've returned." MJ mumbled, rustling through her things for something to sleep in.

The room was comfortable and well guarded. Simon removed his shoulder holster, checking the clip of his handgun and laying it on the nightstand.

"I think you're wrong." She looked at him over her shoulder where he sat to unlace his boots. "I think they'll write books about you. Films, maybe. You're back from the dead."

She turned back to what she was doing. "Is that supposed to be comforting?"

He smiled. "I would be horrified, actually."

He watched her fish out her dressier clothes and hang them up. They didn't know how long they would be there and she was poorly prepared to be seen more than a few times. She hadn't complained, though. About anything. She had been anxious, self-deprecating, but she had yet to ask for an out.