Dark roots

Chapter 19

It was 3 in the morning, Bravo team just landed back but there still wasn't any news on how the mission of alpha team went. Every minute that went by waiting for some information made me more nervous. My mind was racing and I started to think about the worst things that could've happened.

I was laying in Simon his bed, wearing one of his shirts as I tried to get some sleep. The team should've been back by now and the not knowing what happened is making it hard for me to fall asleep.

I have been up for two days straight. I was sitting outside with a cup of tea in my hands curled up in a blanket, watching the sun rise and feeling it's warmth on my skin. I was so lost in my own thoughts that I didnt hear the loud footsteps of someone getting closer to me.

"Good morning you." Gaz said while he halted in his steps the moment he was right behind me.

His voice brought me back to reality while also made me jump out of my own skin by the sudden presence behind me. I looked up at him to see him standing over me with a mug in his hands, he was nodding at the space right next to me, silently asking if it was alright for him to take the seat next to me.

I moved over to make some room for him and he immediately sat down next to me, leaving only a few inches between us. Hid leg was brushing against my own. He had placed his hand on my leg in a comforting way, since the team left for the mission Ive barely spoken to anyone which was why I appreciated the company.

"What are you doing up so early, are you alright?"

"I'm fine Gaz thank you. I just couldn't sleep."

I turned my attention back to watch the sun rise while Gaz kept talking with me for a little while. His hand lingered on the small of my back but I didnt think too much about it, everybody had their own way with handling this type of stress and he probably just wanted to comfort me.

The day flew by and I was heading towards the kitchen to meet up with Gaz who asked me earlier to have dinner together. With everybody gone he must be lonely as well. I walked into the kitchen to see him how busy he was preparing a meal for the both of us. He poured two glasses of wine when he saw me walking into the room, before handing me the glass.

My eyes widened when I saw that he was going full out, what is it with military man and their ability to cook, not that I was complaining. But he put a lot of work into this meal and instead of being thankful for it, a disturbing feeling entered my stomach. I mean this was a dinner between friends right? I really hoped he wasnt thinking of this as a date. But with the wine, the food and the way he is dressed things seemed to be heading in that direction. If Soap was here, hed be laughing in my face.

"Ashley there you are! You look great." He said as he was looking me up and down, smiling at what he was seeing. He took a step in my direction and leaned forward to place a kiss on my cheek.

"Thank you Gaz, I said a little taken aback, I tried to ignore the way he was staring at me. The food looks great.

For some reason this uneasy feeling was washing over me but I pushed it to the back of my mind and tried to distract myself, all so I would stop thinking about Ghost and Soap on that mission for a minute.

I took a seat at the table as I watched him placing out the food in front of us. He gave me a smile before he sat down opposite of me, his glass of wine still in his hand. We shared dinner together and had a good talk, he tried really hard and occasionally flirted with me but in a gently way I brushed those away.

A few hours later, we were done with our food and continued our talk over some more wine. I didn't realize that in the meantime we had gone through two bottles of wine together, I felt a little buzzed.