Cygny's Six

She just wasn’t sure.

“Wait,” Cygny hummed as her mind worked through Beck’s words, “you said interested.”

“That’s the second reason why I called. You need to get packed.”

“Packed? If he’s interested that’s not a yes. Why am I getting packed?” Cygny got up on her feet and stalked away from her desk, needing to work some of the shakes out of her legs. “I’m perfectly happy where I am.”

The silence fell between them like a stone.

“Right. Happy.” Beck sighed. “Did you actually go out to get your dinner or are you still ordering in all your meals.”

“Wow, thanks, Beck. I’m not a shut in!” Cygny moved into the kitchen and opened up the cupboard above the microwave to look at the bottles of spices she had in a rack. Some were still brand new. “It’s not every meal. I cook for myself.”

“And the market? You do your own shopping?”

Cygny folded her arms across her chest and managed, almost, not to snarl. “Instacart saves time and money. Gas too.”

“Right.” Cygny had to hand it to her friend, seeing right through her protests. “Look, Hank’s got a training set up for some of his people. New hires and others that he’s considering. He wants us to go there and see what we’re all made of so get your shit together and I’ll book you some tickets to Wyoming.”

“Wyoming?” Cygny couldn’t quite keep her tone in the normal range and winced a little at how high her voice had gone.

“Yes, Wyoming. And don’t you dare tell me no. You’re going to come to Wyoming. At the worst you’ll get a chance to kick some ass and if Hank doesn’t hire us like he should, we’ll have a chance to get you drunk and make you sing karaoke or something else completely out of character.”

Cygny bit into her lip.

The person Beck had met and become friends with didn’t do those things.

The person she’d been before…

The person who’d fallen in love with a man only to find out that she’d nearly ruined his life?

That person would do those things.

The person she was now…

The person she was now had dinner brought to her nearly every night.

Hardly the bad ass defender of America that she’d wanted to be when she’d taken the job with Homeland Security.

“Wyoming, huh?”

“The Wind River Mountains,” Beck clarified.

Cygny groaned. “I know I’m probably going to regret this later, but… send me the details. I’ll be there.”

* * *

Walkingacross the red dirt of Monument Valley, Leo Chandler stopped at the end of a rock outcropping and sat down, dangling his legs over the yawning chasm below. The silence of the moment was humbling.

And bothered the crap out of him.

There wasn’t really a middle ground.

There hadn’t been in over a year since he’d finally cleared his name. Still, he couldn’t seem to shake the anger and bad taste in his mouth knowing that the reason he had to clear his name and the person who’d helped him clear it were one and the same.

The woman who’d stolen his heart had almost destroyed his honor.

As much as he kept to himself, searching for the most remote places in the world to lose himself, he was constantly drawn back to the idea of finding her and-

And…

Lifting his eyes skyward, he stared at the glaring light of the sun until he had to look away.

Yeah, he was still a little fucked up by the betrayal.

Little?

He mocked himself.

What was just shy of totally fucked in the head?

No one answered back.

Not that he wanted anyone to answer back.

He just wanted to stay out in the middle of nowhere and-

And what?

Pretend that he wasn’t angry at the world?

Pissed off at the military for cutting him loose?

Pissed off at himself for being trained to see danger everywhere and completely ignored the danger he’d let into his bed.

And his damn heart.