Read Online The Debt 6 by Kelly Favor - Free Book Online

grabbing his hands.   “Why do you have to hate yourself, Jake?”
    When he looked at her again, his eyes were wet.   “Because I’ve done so many things I wish I could take back.   And I can’t take back any of it.”
    “You aren’t your past, Jake,” she said, meaning it, as she looked directly into his brown eyes.
    “Don’t give me that pop psychology crap,” he replied, but his voice shook with emotion.
    “It’s not just pop psychology,” she said, feeling calmer somehow.   “It’s the truth and you know it.”
    “I don’t know anything.”
    “You might have done some horrible things, and you might’ve experienced some horrible things, but right now you have a chance to be different.   Every moment is a chance to be brand new.”
    The wetness in Jake’s eyes formed tear drops that suddenly spilled down his cheeks.   “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered, “you know that?”
    “Give yourself a chance,” she said.
    “I don’t know if I can do that.”
    “Give me a chance, then.”
    He nodded, as the tears ran faster down his cheeks.   “Okay,” he said.
    “Give us a chance,” she continued.
    “Okay,” he agreed again.   And then he embraced her, and his strong arms were holding her tightly and she held him too.
    “I wish we could be like this forever,” she said, almost too herself.
    He pulled back and looked into her eyes and now he was smiling, and some of the pain was gone from his face.   “I love you,” he said.   “I loved you from the first moment I saw you but I was too afraid to admit it.   But I’m not going to miss my chance,” he said.   “I’m not going to live in fear anymore.”
    “I love you too,” she said, and her heart felt like it might explode from the happiness she felt.
     
    ***
     
    Later that night, they ate a dinner that Jake prepared for them.   He made up a bowl of tuna from cans, and then he cooked them each a can of chicken noodle soup, followed by a chocolate bar that they split in half and ate, laughing and smiling like two kids around a campfire.
    It was so strange, Raven thought, how in the worst of circumstances, they’d somehow found the very best in each other.
    They were far from home, and neither of them knew what lay in store.   They both had dangerous enemies, and they were cut off from the world, cut off from everything.   Jake’s multi-million dollar tour was in peril, his business and career hung in the balance, and Raven’s family had even been attacked.
    But somehow, despite all of it, she felt safe with Jake.  
    Safe and taken care of, and finally…complete.
    As she finished her last piece of chocolate and they lay in front of the wood stove, Jake rubbing her shoulders gently, she smiled.   “This is the happiest I’ve ever been,” she told him.
    He didn’t respond at first, and Raven turned and looked over her shoulder at him.
    “Hey,” he smiled, but his smile was a little bit sad.
    “What is it?   What’s wrong?”
    He grinned and wiped the corner of her mouth with his thumb.   “You’ve got chocolate on your lips,” he said.
    “You look sad,” she said.
    “I need to tell you something.”
    Her heart started beating faster.   “Please just say it.   You’re scaring me.”
    “Tomorrow morning, I’m going to walk to where I can get phone service and make some calls,” he said.
    “Okay,” she replied, her brow wrinkling and confusion.   “And?”
    “And things are going to change,” he said.   “We can’t just stay here, hiding out, waiting for the axe to fall.   Club Alpha and whomever they’re working for—they won’t just sit on their hands.   They’re going to keep trying to hurt us.   I need to stop them.”
    “So what are you saying?”
    “I’m saying that very soon it’s going to get scary again,” he said.   “I’m getting some of my old military buddies together to deal with the situation.   We’ll meet here and form a plan, and then we’ll carry it