Questionable Loyalties

Against the World

Hobbs' mother comes to the door to usher me inside. "Are they ready?" she asks as I close the door behind me.

"They have to be," I say, letting out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding.

We can hear loud noises in the distance. No gun fire yet. Hattie must have found a way to take their guns offline. "How do you know my Jonah?"

I smile, "I had a client that liked my work, and Jonah's, and requested that we work together on a build. We worked together over video calls. This is the first time we've actually met in person. I wish I had my phone. I could show you pictures of the final product."

"How long have you known Luke?" she asks.

"It's only been about a year or so. We met in passing, and this is the first time we've spent any real time together," I try to explain. "I don't know him very well, but I know him well enough to know he's a good man." I'm guessing for the most part, but I know Hobbs has helped save the world several times. That would signify a good man to me.

She leads me back to a room, and tells me to get some rest. She reassures me that I'm safe here. I lie down on the bed, and listen to the noises that echo across the island. It all sounds horrible, and all I can do is pray that Deckard will come back to me.

...

Several hours later, Eteon's men have been subdued with the help of the rest of the people on the island. I still don't know where Deckard, Hattie, and Hobbs are. Jonah is the first one back to the house, to fill me in on everything I missed. It just makes me sick to my stomach, especially because he doesn't know what happened to them. 

Deckard, Hattie, and Hobbs don't make it back to the house until about midday. I'm sitting on the front steps when I first see them come over the hill. "They're back!" I shout to Mrs. Hobbs before I get up off the steps and run to go meet them.

I throw my arms around Deckard when he's close enough, trying to be careful, and hold some sense of composure. "I'm okay," he says, holding onto me as well. "Just be gentle. I think I'm going to be feeling this one for a couple days."

"What happened?" I ask.

"Brixton won't be coming after us again. Eteon has backed off for now," Deckard explains.

"But you're okay?" I confirm.

"I'll have some bruises, but I'm okay," he nods, resting his forehead against mine.

"We're fine too," Hattie cuts in, waving a hand in my direction. "Thanks for asking."

I turn and glare at my sister-in-law, and in an instant Deckard spins me, so that my back is to Hattie. "Not right now. We can do this in private, later. Then you can say everything I just watched flash through your mind."

"I'm not going to hold back, you know that, right?" I ask in a hushed tone.

"I expect nothing less, but you need to keep playing nice until we're off this island," he whispers, kissing my temple.

"Fine."

Deckard tries to tell Mrs. Hobbs that we'll get a hotel for the night, before we catch a flight back to London, but she's not having any of that. She insists that we'll all stay for a couple of days before we go home. As much as we wanted time to ourselves, we couldn't say no.

After dinner that night, Deckard and I go walk down on the beach for a bit. We find a secluded place and sit down on the sand. He wraps an arm around me, and I lean against his shoulder. "Are you okay?" he asks.

"I think so," I yawn. "I'm exhausted, bruised, and ready to give your sister a piece of my mind, but I think I'm okay. Are you?"

"Yeah. I know this is more than you ever bargained for, so I wanted to make sure you didn't want to run away from me yet," he replies.