Loving Maddie From A to Z by Kelly Jamieson

Author:Kelly Jamieson [Jamieson, Kelly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance
ISBN: 9780991853250
Amazon: B00VPCMVFO
Barnesnoble: B00VPCMVFO
Goodreads: 25164267
Publisher: Kelly Jamieson
Published: 2015-03-29T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Zack’s stomach clenched and he curled his fingers around the cold glass of Guinness. He hadn’t talked about it all since he’d been back.

“Tell me,” Aidan said again in a low voice. “I’ve trusted you. Now trust me, that I can handle it.”

This was so true. Aidan and Maddie had both given him that amazing gift of their trust. And the words came pouring out. “We were in a convoy bringing supplies to al-Qusair. We’d driven all night through the mountains with no lights on, so as not to attract attention from the regime. But when we got there, the city was nearly destroyed. Forces had been bombing it from the air. So we decided to turn around and go back to Damascus. Just as we were leaving the city we were stopped by a truck full of masked men. They made us get out and walk to a nearby house.” He paused. “They beat us up.”

“Who were you with?”

“It was just me and Simon. Simon Hickham, he’s the chief foreign correspondent from the BBC.”

“Right.” Aidan nodded. “Heard that on the news.”

“They told us they were police, but it didn’t take long to figure out they were rebel forces. Fervent Islamists. They prayed five times a day and talked about jihad. When we got bombed, we knew for sure they were rebels.”

“Bombed.” Aidan’s eyes went somber.

“Yeah. Good times.” Zack lifted one corner of his mouth, then took a sip of beer. “We survived, obviously. After that we had to move to another house on the outskirts of town. Then that area was bombed and we moved again.”

“Christ.”

“They kept us like animals, sleeping on dirty straw mattresses, locked up in this tiny room with windows that didn’t open. It was so fucking hot. They gave us their leftovers to eat. That didn’t bother me so much; after a while I just lost my appetite. I tried to move as much as I could, doing isometrics so I wouldn’t completely lose muscle tone. Simon and I talked about everything we could think of. Our favorite movies, favorite books, favorite restaurants, favorite cities…which famous person we’d most like to meet. We talked about how war changes you and how we could be better people when we got out. Never if we got out. We were always positive, even though I had my doubts on the inside.

“The worst thing was the humiliation. The lack of freedom. Having to ask to go take a piss. Asking for everything. And they’d say no. They liked seeing us beg.”

He swallowed, memories coming back. He’d shut them off but they were still there, dark and terrifying. But sitting here with Aidan in this cheerful pub, the sun shining outside and Aidan watching him with concerned empathy, gave him the strength to keep talking. To get it all out. “One night Simon and I tried to escape. Our guard had fallen asleep and we got out of the house. We only got about five hundred feet when we were caught.

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