“James Burke. He seems very fond of you. I don’t trust him.”
“He’s engaged, remember?” I reminded him.
“Then why does he seem to appear when you’re around?” he asked.
“Don’t tell him,” Burke crackled in my ear.
My mind raced for an excuse and I blurted out the first thing that made any sense. “When I first met Robin, she had said she was worried about me being here all alone. She offered to have her fiancé watch over me. I said I didn’t need it, but maybe she took it upon herself to ask him.”
It sounded very logical. Not true, but it could’ve been.
“If that was the case, why didn’t he tell me when I asked?” Jasper inquired.
I shrugged. “Probably because he didn’t want to hear about it from Robin if he did.”
I could tell he was trying to read me, so I tried to neutralize my expression. He came close and said, “You are promising me and Reesa right now that you will not share our secret.”
“I swear to you that I will never speak of this again outside of this room.” And Burke, you’d better not let it out, either.
Jasper nodded and said, “Good. Now if you don’t mind, I think I’d like to speak to my sister alone for a moment.”
I got up from sitting at the kitchen table and left the room, closing the door behind me. I knew Burke would want me to listen in, but that wasn’t going to happen. They needed their privacy. All I could do was hope that Jasper was doing the right thing and apologizing. Either way, Jasper was right about one thing–some things weren’t my business.
I walked to my bedroom and closed the door. “Burke, I’m going silent for a while.”
“Is everything okay?” he asked.
“Yeah. Just…tired.” Mentally and physically.
“LaHouse, you knew all this before. Don’t let it sway you from your mission,” he reminded me.
“I won’t,” I said and took the earpiece out.
I had joined the Marines years ago wanting to make a difference. I served overseas and helped to bring down some real scum of the earth. I wish the US knew what was going on in Tabiq. Maybe we could’ve helped them too.
A tear rolled down my cheek and I brushed it away. Maybe I still can.