Protect Me Not ((Un)Professionally Yours 2)

She was leaving.

He was staying.

When he returned home, his life would be irrevocably changed. While some aspect of him welcomed that change, another part of him argued that not everything from his past needed to be left behind.

They arrived at the airport in what felt like a blink of an eye. Ty and Hugh offloaded the luggage onto a couple of baggage carts, while Vicki stood to one side and flipped through her passport. He walked them into the departure terminal. Then to the baggage check. And then—much too soon—they were at the security gate.

Ty opened his mouth to speak, but Vicki stepped through the gates before he could say anything. She left without a backward glance, without a word of farewell…just a few steps, and she was beyond his reach. She walked through the metal detector, then stood—arms outstretched—as a security guard ran a scanner over her petite frame. The guard nodded, and she collected her bag, stepped forward, and out of sight.

Oh, God, no. Come back!

The words screeched through his brain, but when he opened his mouth to give them voice, he couldn’t squeeze them through his closed-up throat.

Anxiety and dread weighed him down, and he remained rooted to the spot, physically incapable of moving. The heavy hand that landed on his shoulder snapped him out of his terrifying paralysis, and his head swung toward Hugh, who stood watching him without expression.

“You couldn’t keep that promise after all,” Hugh said, his voice grim. Ty sighed shakily as he recalled their conversation on the flight over.

Yes, he had hurt her. But the truth was…he had hurt himself pretty badly as well. Because what he felt right now was agonizing.

How could he just let her walk away like that? Without doing a single goddamned thing to stop her? What the fuck was wrong with him?

Ty’s knees buckled. Dark waves of loss and pain washed over him, threatening to drown him. He had felt this too many times before. Yet—unlike in the past—this loss was of his own making. He had driven her away. The fucking best thing to ever happen to him. And he had let her go.

When Ty staggered, Hugh’s hand tightened on his shoulder, as if to support him.

“Look, I don’t know what’s going on with you,” Hugh growled. “But sort yourself the hell out, okay? If you can’t do that, then stay the fuck away from my sister.”

One final—warning—squeeze on Ty’s shoulder, before he let him go, and proceeded through the security gate himself.

Ty didn’t watch Hugh leave. Instead he turned away blindly and stumbled out of the terminal, ignoring the angry shoves and curses from the people he careened into in his desperation to get out. Muscle memory carried him to the car park and back into the massive SUV Miles had supplied for the drive.

Safely back in the car, he allowed the reaction to take him.

He punched the steering wheel, once, twice, and then gripped the wheel in both hands and violently and futilely shook it in his grip.

“Fuck!” The word was a muffled, anguished roar.

Ty had been home for nearly five days. He was now shadowing Job and had registered for brush up courses in communications and human resources, to start in the new year. His days were full; he was already drafting new training modules and recruitment protocols. Ideas he’d had for a long time. He was low-key excited about actually seeing those concepts in black and white, and eventually implementing them all.

It had been nearly two weeks since he’d seen Vicki last, and—despite the exciting changes in his professional life—he was miserable as hell. He had kept his promise to the staff of Bloomin’ Paradise, visiting the day after his arrival to say a proper goodbye.

According to an uncomfortable looking Linda, Vicki had been out to lunch. Ty hadn’t pushed the matter. He had handed out gifts from Cape Town, promised to keep in touch, fondly hugged everyone, and had left. Feeling a pang of loss as he walked away from people who had come to mean so much to him in so short a time.

He’d known that Vicki was hiding in her office. Just a few meters away. Everything in him had wanted to go to her. To beg her for forgiveness. But how could he expect her to forgive him, when he had done absolutely nothing to earn it?

He had lied to both Vicki—and himself—when he had so arrogantly informed her that he had no intention of missing her. He felt like he had lost his best friend, and he missed her every damned day. He missed her smiles, her laughter, her wit, her sense of humor…he missed her smell. Her taste. Her gut busting laughter. He missed seeing her first thing in the morning and last thing at night.

He missed the man he was with her.