Red Alert/Red Notice (The "Super Jerk" Prequel)

23 - Right By Your Side

^^Above, chapter title credit: Song by Eurythmics.^^

{Geoffrey}

I can see throughout lunch that Raina doesn't want to talk about what happened. When Banks mentioned the contract, she'd given me a This talk isn't over kind of glare, despite the gun pressed to her head. I'm so lucky to have a wife who's that fearless. Maybe Louisa was right – I don't deserve her – but I know it's for a completely different reason.

The Wigmore facility is out of town a little ways, nearly to the airport. Raina and I are pretty quiet the whole way there, although I can hear her tension in the tightness of her breathing. She keeps rubbing at her cast, looking out the window with her brow furrowed.

"Raina..."

"That contract," she says, resting an elbow on the window ledge as she looks over at me. "When were you going to tell me about it?"

"I don't know," I say honestly. "So many things happened right afterward that I just kind of forgot."

"I know I keep saying this, Geoff, but..." She shakes her head, raking her fingers through her hair. Even now I see her hand trembling. "You don't have to keep things from me. I don't exactly have a group of friends I can tell or anything."

I keep my eyes on the road. "It's not that, it's...I'm afraid something will happen to you. The more I tell you, the more valuable you are to our enemies."

"And I love that you want to keep me safe," she says, reaching over with her good hand and squeezing mine. "But I know safe's not an option anymore. Not for us, anyway."

"I would kiss you, but I'm driving." I glance over with a wink.

She blushes. "Geoff."

"I'm serious though," I say after a short silence. "I don't want anyone else to hurt you. You've already been hurt by the people you trust the most to take care of you."

Her expression darkens, and for a second, I think I've said the wrong thing until she speaks again. "My dad told me once that no one would ever want me."

"Raina, you don't—"

"Yes, I do. He said...a girl like me could screw as many guys as I wanted, but they'd never want me. They'd never love me. That...you know...I was just better off selling myself." She shrugs, but I can hear the sadness in her voice. "So that's why I was so scared when I got pregnant the first time. I thought he was right."

"You don't have to worry about anything like that from me. I love you, that's never going to change. And we're family now."

"Which brings me back to the beginning. Don't shut me out, Geoff. I spend so much time alone. And you...being away all the time...I just feel so cut off from everything." She rests her head on the window. "I miss you, even when you're close. Because you just act so far away."

We pull up to the facility parking lot about ten minutes later. There's a booth out front, and a guard leans out as soon as we're level with the window.

"You got a pass, mister?" he says. He's barely over eighteen, by the look of him.

"Just let Richard Osborne know that Geoff Cromwell's here to see him." I have to keep the impatience out of my tone. The least Osborne could have done was tell his employees I was coming.

He gives me a skeptical look, but straightens up anyway and picks up the phone inside. We don't speak as he says something into it, glancing over at us occasionally. After a second, he puts the phone down and then pushes a button, making the gate slide back. I give him a wave as I drive forward, and he only rolls his eyes at me.