Free In a Broken Dream (The Broken Series Book 4) by K.S. Ruff Page A

warm. I breathed in their rich, musky scent. “I love this place,” I proclaimed.
“Even the air is soothing.”
    Rafael
poured the coffee while I piled eggs onto everyone’s plate. “Good. That’s why
we’re here.”
    Lexie
fed a piece of bacon to Annie, her golden lab, before turning her attention to Rafael.
“How’s she coping with what happened in Ukraine?”
    “I’m
sitting right here,” I noted mockingly.
    Lexie
scowled at me. “I know where you’re sitting. I’m asking Rafael because I know he’ll
offer a more honest accounting. You’ll sugar coat everything.”
    I
rolled my eyes over the top of my coffee mug.
    “I’m
worried about her,” Rafael admitted.
    “You’ve
lost weight again,” Lexie noted. “Are you sleeping?”
    “Not
well,” I confessed, “but I’ve been trying to wean myself off the sleeping
pills.”
    She
popped a piece of bacon into her mouth before reaching for her orange juice. “Are
you seeing a therapist?”
    “I
saw the school counselor for a while. My schedule’s been a bit hectic, so I
haven’t been able to squeeze in any other therapists. I missed the first month
of summer school and had to make up all those assignments while juggling a full
course load the past eight weeks. I’m developing a personal risk seminar for my
university, and we’ve been dealing with Michael’s estate,” I explained before
digging into my eggs.
    “That’s
her modus operandi” Lexie informed Rafael. “Whenever she’s dealing with
something traumatic, she buries herself in work.”
    Rafael
reached for a piece of bacon. “She’s returning to work when we get back. She
doesn’t need more stress. She needs time to process everything that’s happened,
time to work through her anxieties and find some peace.”
    Lexie
looked thoughtful. “Are you still doing yoga?”
    I
shook my head. My mouth was too full of eggs to speak.
    Rafael’s
face brightened. “That’s a great idea. Maybe you can start doing yoga in the
evenings before bed, or you can squeeze it in before you go to work like you
did in the spring.”
    “Are
you journaling?” Lexie asked. She threw the raggedy old tennis ball that Annie
had deposited at her feet to the far end of the yard.
    “I
don’t like journaling,” I confessed.
    “I
think you should consider it,” Lexie opined. “Journaling can help you process
and let go of things.” She reached for the coffee carafe and topped off our cups.
“So you decided to return to work. I can’t say that I’m happy to hear that.”
    I
warmed my hands on my coffee cup while watching an incredibly fat robin dig a
worm out of Lexie’s lawn. Annie dropped the ball and chased after the bird. “I
don’t have to travel anymore, not unless I want to. Shae and I will be
responsible for generating some briefings and the training materials, but we
aren’t required to take on any trips. My boss, Paul, is going to join Cory and
Sammi for the trainings in India and Pakistan in October. He’s trying to gauge
how best to involve a security detail while ensuring they don’t become too obtrusive.
If the university students feel threatened by our bodyguards, it could impact
their willingness to work with us.”
    Lexie
nodded. “I’ve seen how the presence of police officers impacts the willingness
of rape and domestic violence victims to speak at the hospital.”
    “Your
personal security should come first, regardless of who might feel threatened by
the security detail,” Rafael groused. He crammed a bunch of eggs into his
mouth.
    “What
if the security team were trainers too?” Lexie asked.
    I
gaped at her. “That’s… brilliant! ”
    She
snorted softly. “Yeah, right.”
    I
grabbed her arm. “No. I’m serious. That is brilliant. If the security
team led part of the training, they could pass as additional trainers. This
would give them a cover, so it wasn’t so obvious they were the hired muscle.”
    Rafael
eyed me curiously. “What, if anything, could Ethan and