Caleb

Chapter Twenty Eight

Caleb ~

Caleb watched Lainey walk away from him as if it were the last time he'd ever see her. She was broken and angry, but walked away with her chin up and a stoic expression, concealing all of her emotions as she made her way across the room and out onto the terrace.

She was so damn strong, but he knew she needed to break. That he had delivered the ultimate betrayal and that she was devastated even if she couldn't show it in the room full of sharks.

Moving toward the glass doors, Caleb kept her in his line of sight and watched as she walked to the far side of the terrace and subtly lifted her hands to cover her ears.

I made Lainey's world too loud. Me...I did that.

He wanted to run to her. He wanted to scoop her up and tell her he loved her - that he would spend every day of his fucking life making it up to her, but she needed space and didn't have ears to hear him at the moment.

James appeared in his peripheral vision and he prepared himself for another verbal lashing.

"I was in your fucking corner, man." James said in a low voice, trying not to bring attention to them.

"But you can't bullshit a bullshitter. I've said some pretty ridiculous lies to get a woman in bed. I know what it looks like, but this..." he motioned his finger toward Caleb and then toward Lainey before he finished. "...this wasn't that. So you're either a really good fucking liar that deserves an ass beating, or this is a misunderstanding that we need to figure the hell out."

"Well I can't say that I don't deserve an ass beating because I do, but this is a misunderstanding. I never faked any feelings for Lainey. It's all real."

"You fucked up." Marcus grumbled from beside him with his eyes on Camila.

Thanks brother. I'm fucking aware.

"I know that, but what could I have done?" Caleb said, trying to keep his anger under control. At the end of the day as much as he knew he loved Lainey, he could have never told her about the intel or their secondary objective and he still couldn't. He hated putting the job before all else and having to keep secrets, but the fact was, that was the life he chose.

"You should have been honest about your feelings from the beginning. You lying to us, to Hunter, and to Lainey is what got you into this fucking mess. Would it have been pretty? No. Would you have been sent home or reassigned? Maybe - but you wouldn't be here in this big fucking shit storm."

"Yeah well that's real easy for you to say. It didn't happen to you. You didn't have to weigh the options the way I did." Caleb said, regretting the words as soon as they left his mouth.

"I've been exactly where you fucking are Caleb, and don't you forget it." Marcus' tone dropped and his deep voice was low and cold as he continued.

"You seem to have forgotten that Red and I worked together overseas. I loved her more than I loved anyone in this whole damn world, but I was too scared to tell her. Duty over self - always, but I should have at least told her how I felt. Maybe we would have had to wait a while to be together, but at least she would have known without a doubt that I was in love with her. I waited too long to tell her and when I finally got the chance, I had to say the words to her fucking casket as we put her in the ground..."

Caleb, Pierce and James were all completely silent and internalized Marcus' painful words.

"You have a right now with Lainey and you aren't guaranteed an eventually. If you love her like you say you do. You need to fix this, Caleb and you need to fix it fast. We know why you couldn't kiss her, but she doesn't."