Spy Out Of Water

Chapter 14

"I think I got snot on your shirt," I frowned, pulling back. I could see the wet spots from my tears on his chest.

"I don't care about the shirt, Finley," Toby tells me, grabbing both sides of my face. "Are you really okay?"

I nod, inhaling a shaky breath and giving him a small smile. "Oh my gosh, what about you!" My eyes widen as I finally notice the condition Toby was in. How did I not notice before. 

"That bruise is huge! And that cut looks really deep, are you sure you don't need stitches? I can get the first aid kit," I frantically ran my hand over her face and arms, checking to see how bad it was. 

"Fin, Fin, Fin," Toby lets out a light chuckle, grabbing both of my wrists to stop me. "The cuts not that deep, honest, and I've had worse bruises. Besides, you should see the other guy," he winks. 

I can't help but giggle, "I did. You tased him remember?" 

"One of my finer moments," he nodded, looking thoughtful, and I let out another laugh, followed by a hiccup. 

"I love your laugh," he smiled. 

That sobered me up real quick. No. Nope. I couldn't let him love any part of me. I quickly changed the subject. 

"Sorry I'm still on your..." I scrambled off of his lap and leaned against my bed next to him. 

"I don't mind," Toby's cheeks turn pink. 

The butterflies in my stomach are fluttering so much I feel like throwing up. 

"Do you ever think about a different life?" Toby asks me. He leans his head back, turning to look at me, his blue eyes shining with intensity. Even with his hair disheveled, face covered in cuts and bruises, he couldn't have looked more beautiful. 

"What do you mean?"

"I mean if we weren't spies. If we had met as two teenagers who went to a regular old high school. Do you think things would be different?"

I knew what he was asking. He was asking if things between us would be different. Maybe they would have. We could have met at the mall or at a party or even a football game. He might have approached me and asked me out, and I would have said yes. And then we'd go out on a date and maybe even start dating, because it would have been that easy. 

But we can't have easy. 

I gave him a sad smile. "Does it matter?"

"Sometimes it feels like we're giving up so much," Toby admits. And for the first time in my life, I felt like I might agree. 

"We do have a choice you know," I reminded him. The academy was just for training. What we did afterwards was truly up to us. It just so happens that we end up being well prepared for espionage. 

Toby let out a humorless laugh. "We haven't even graduated and we're already on a mission. Do you really think either of us are going to pursue anything else?"

"What made you want to be a spy? I mean you and Jax have really similar training. Why the field instead of tech?"

Toby ran a hand through his hair. "I guess it's because of what happened when I was a kid. I never got to experience any kind of justice for what my parents did. So maybe in a way, by taking down any bad guy I'm reclaiming that sense of closure for the kid who never got it. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah, it does," I reached over yo rub his shoulder, hoping to bring some comfort. "A loss for any bad guy anywhere is a win for all good guys everywhere."

"Exactly," he shoots me a crooked grin. "What's your reasoning?"

"I don't think I really have one," I admitted. "It's just who I am. It's who I've always been I guess. I mean my parents were spies and I feel like I'm taking over where they left off. It came naturally to me and I never really considered doing anything else."