Hell To Pay

Chapter 13: Guilt

Flint sipped at the coffee that scalded his throat as he returned to the room. Harper had only talked about the mission, but he had the feeling that was because Lyle and Archie were both here, too. The air hung heavy the whole time he was in here, but as he re-entered it somehow felt thicker and suffocating.

"That prick finally ran off?" He asked, spotting Zane in the corner scanning through her medical chart. He wasn't here when he left.

"Gomez needed to speak to him." Zane commented. "Some sort of emergency."

"Good, maybe he'll go back to the office."

Harper's eyes flashed his way, "I wish you wouldn't do that."

Her words cut him just a little and he glowered but he knew the look in her eye. It was finally time. She was finally going to give him a piece of her mind. It was why the air hung so heavy, she was happy to see him, but yeah, he'd fucked up. He swallowed and stayed silent and the other two must've noticed because they were suddenly shifty and Archie finally stood.

"I'll just go grab some food." He squeezed Harper's hand and left without another word and Flint glanced at Zane. His arms were crossed, jaw set, but he moved towards the door, pausing to look back.

"Just try to remember that you're bleeding internally and raising your blood pressure isn't great for you right now."

Harper didn't say a word and Zane left so Flint growled, "Dickhead."

"He's not." She snorted and shook her head.

"He is, he's a-"

"I like him." She said and he frowned. The guy was a total asshole, he'd given him a cheap kidney shot! He was still peeing blood from it! As he gaped at her, she finally said, "He brings some honesty to the team. Rancher and Archie don't speak against you, not like Mac did." He felt his eye twitch as she said his name. "Mac was the only one to challenge you, to make you reevaluate where the mission was going, you need that."

"If you're suggesting he's my new Mac I don't appreciate it."

"I'm saying-you fucking jerk-that you need someone to force you to see alternate paths because you'll never do it yourself!"

"Why don't you just tell me what's really on your mind?" He demanded quietly. He really hadn't planned to fight with her so soon, but he'd known it was coming. From the moment they'd found her alive, the moment they told him she was going to be fine, he knew this was coming. She needed to rest, but she was as stubborn as he was, she would do it her way, when she wanted to.

Her lip trembled as she met his eyes and he felt the familiar grief he'd been running from all year long pierce his gut. He looked away. He couldn't stand to look at her, to see the accusation in her eyes, but the moment he turned his head, she snapped, "Look at me!" He didn't, pressing his lips together. "Look. At. Me."

Fuck. He lifted his eyes millimeter by millimeter until he met her gaze.

"You left me."

"I came back for you."

She was controlled chaos right now. Her eyes raged with every emotion, but her outward appearance was still as the night, her expression steeled with every bit of training he himself had. "Why? You were gone more than a year, you were gone and Mac was gone. You left me with nothing, Flint, you fucking bastard, asshole, son of a bitch." Her voice didn't raise at all and that was probably what hurt the most. He'd seen Harper mad, enraged, he'd stopped her from ripping a bitch's eyes out once. This? He'd never seen her like this.

"What do you want from me?"

"Say you're sorry!" She finally snapped but her next words were just as low as before, "Say you never meant to leave."

"But I did. I wanted to go."