The Assassin's Deception

Chapter 35

KAITLYN STONE
After Conrad's eyes drifted to a close, his breathing slowed, and his heart rate steadied I laid his hands on his chest and walked silently out of the room closing the door quietly behind me. I leaned heavily against the wall next to the door for a moment forcing my breathing to calm and my heartbeat to slow.
I made my way down to the living room where Jonathan, Cameron and the rest of the team waited for me.
"What is his problem, Kaitlyn?" Jonathan asked walking towards me.
I raised my hand to stop him with a glare.
"Conrad and I served in Afghanistan together. We both have PTSD. His manifests differently than mine does because I've been trained to manage my emotions differently than he has. The real question is, what the hell were you thinking punching him like that?"
"He pulled you away from me."
"Because in his mind you were going to hit me. He's seen it happen enough to know he doesn't like it when people hit me." I growled.
"Have you slept with him?" He asked.
"Conrad and I were in a relationship from June of 2012 until December of 2015. Come to think of it we never officially broke up. We were too busy fighting for our lives in the basement of a POW camp for the last year and a half of it. Six months after we made it home Conrad left for Atlanta and we haven't seen each other for three years. We text every day and we call each other at the end of every week but we drifted. My past with him doesn't give you a right to hit him." I answered harshly.
"You didn't tell me." He sighed.
"It doesn't matter. It was our past. He's my best friend." I answered again.
"I should be your best friend." He said taking a step towards me.
"I'm not one to deal with jealous and possessive behavior, Jonathan. I am twenty five years old. No one will ever tell me who I can or cannot be friends with." I growled taking a step back away from him.
"Kaitlyn, come here." He said softly.
"I don't know what is going on with you but you need to back off. You knew who I was when we started this and the way you're acting isn't going to work for me."
"I heard you hadn't been with anyone since Chase died and now I meet this man that you had three and a half year relationship with?"
"I never told you I hadn't been with anyone since Chase." I shot at him.
"One of Blair's goons did."
I laughed so hard I almost doubled over.
"You trust the people who abducted you so he could torture you in order to hurt me to know everything about my love life?" I continued laughing.
"Conrad and I began our relationship in Berlin, Germany on June eleventh 2012 exactly six months after I lost Chase. Some may think that's too soon but we'd spent so much time together by that time, grieving together, Conrad for his mother and I for Chase that it was like breathing, being with him. We spent nine months in Germany together before being deployed to Afghanistan where we spent ten months active duty before our company was ambushed and we were taken hostage. We spent eighteen months in the POW camp before we managed to escape. Conrad and I lead the battalion for the rescue of the other POWs and returned home later that week. Six months later he moved to Atlanta and we hadn't seen each other until today; three years later. It would make sense they didn't know about him." I sighed and shook my head.
"I need to check on Conrad and go to bed. I would suggest you don't come up there tonight."
I turned on my heel and walked back down to crack Conrad's door open.
Inside the dark room he laid facing the door his face relaxed as he slept.
I closed the door again and climbed the stairs to my bedroom. I pressed my back against the inside of my bedroom door and looked up at the ceiling. I didn't bother to lock the door even though I could have. Having Conrad back was a welcome relief but was I still in love with him? I cared for Jonathan so fully but at the same time that outburst with Conrad wasn't the man who captivated me in New York; at least it didn't seem like it was and I wasn't sure I liked the person I saw that night.
JONATHAN BLACK
"What the fuck was that?" Cameron turned on me after Kaitlyn left the room again.
"You've never been jealous like that and to punch him like that..." Dina added.
"You're lucky she didn't just throw us out on the streets." Gunter said.
"I think if it wasn't for the fact that the crazy Mystery Woman wants to kill you she might have." Jordan said.
"Not a single one of you is on my side in this?" I asked flabbergasted.
"You told me you wouldn't screw this up and the one thing you're doing successfully is screwing it up!" Cameron exclaimed looking at me bewildered.
"It wouldn't bother anyone else if your girlfriend said her ex boyfriend of three years who she never officially broke up with is her best friend?"
"Normally, maybe, but this is Kaitlyn you're referring to. Her circle is incredibly small and you didn't know what they went through together. If you're not careful you're going to push her right back to him." Cameron answered.
I sighed as I considered that. Losing Kaitlyn to Conrad.
It hadn't even occurred to me how fully independent Kaitlyn is when I lashed out at Conrad. It didn't even occur to me even though she'd said they served together in Afghanistan that they could have been through traumatic things together. Am I going to lose her by acting insane and jealous?
I wasn't sure what to think of that or even how to feel about that but maybe the fact that I didn't immediately recoil from the idea as if it burned me was a hint I needed to listen to?