Bound & SEAL'D: A Bad Boy Navy SEAL Romance (12 page)

H
e’s smiling
big the next time I see him. “We got him,” he says. “It’s over.”

“What do you mean?” I ask. “What happened?”

Colt speaks up, “Most of the documents he had were from your desk. He stole from you, Lena. Now all you need to do is tell your boss.”

My stomach sinks when I hear this. “He stole my work?” I mutter. I know Elijah is a scumbag, but I didn’t think he’d actually steal from me.

Bowen grabs a glass of water and says, “I’m going to head home. If she wakes up anytime soon, the wife is going to be wondering where I am.”

I do my best to thank him and watch as he leaves the cabin. It’s just Colt and me now and I feel pretty relieved. He turns to me and says “Yeah. The files had your name on it. What’s worse, he didn’t even have a legitimate source. No Akron, no nothing,” he laughs to himself. “All that work breaking in for nothing.”

“It’s all over?” I ask, falling across his bed. Those warm, familiar sheets give me a feeling of comfort like no other. I close my eyes and wish this all could just end now. “For good?”

“It’s all over,” he laughs. I bring my lips to his and feel a new sense of relief rush over my body. “And now I can have you all to myself again.”

T
he next day
, however, is something else entirely. Colt promises to wait for me in the parking lot, as I walk into the building, ready to turn Elijah in. As soon as I storm inside, Elijah knows something is wrong.

“Peter!” I yell. “I need to talk to you.” I stalk into his office and shut the door. Elijah, of course, slams the door open and joins us.

“Can I help you two?” Peter asks, looking flabbergasted.

I stay standing, speaking as fast as I can. I’m completely out of breath. “Look, I know I quit and made a big scene. But it’s only because I was in shock. I have to tell you something important.”

Elijah looks worried. He’s biting his nails and standing near the door. “What exactly is on your mind, Lena?” Peter asks me.

“She’s lying, Peter,” Elijah blurts out. “Whatever it is she has to tell you isn’t the truth.”

Peter takes off his glasses and stares at both of us. “Elijah, give the lady a chance to speak. Will you? I’m getting tired of the outbursts.”

I’m freaking out. My heart beats against my ribcage like it wants to escape and I feel like I’m about to explode. I tell him everything. “He stole my stuff. Check his drawer. There’s all the information I gathered from my sources, in addition to other documents I’ve collected over the past quarter.”

Peter stands up and glares at Elijah. “Is this true, Elijah? Did you steal from her?”

He actually tries to defend himself. I’m at my wits end when he says “No, Peter. Everything I’ve collected has been on my own time. I would never think to take anything from her. To be honest, I view her work as…
subpar.
”

“Subpar? Peter, just go into his desk. Check it out for yourself if you have to,” I say.

“Fine,” he says, standing up. “I will. Elijah, if you’d please move out of the way. It’s time to get to the bottom of this.”

Elijah’s face contorts in the same fashion as it did the night I caught him with my sister. “No,” he simply says, blocking the door. “I won’t let you ruin everything I’ve built.”

I feel my face grow flush with anger. “You
built
? You didn’t build anything, dammit! You stole my work. Do you realize how unethical that is?”

“Peter walks toward Elijah and faces him. He says “If you don’t get out of the way, I’ll fire you right now. It’s up to you what you want to do, but you can’t keep me in my own office forever.”

Elijah is sweating. He knows it’s over. And like a man who’s been caught doing the unthinkable, he decides to end it right here. But, not without a grand display. “No!” He shoves Peter into his desk and flees, as papers fly up into the air.

“Elijah! Stop!” I scream. The whole office just stands there. “What’re you looking at? Get him! He attacked Peter.” Still, no one moves. “Fuck. Do I have to do everything around here?”

I chase after him, until we’re darting downstairs. As soon as he’s out into the parking lot, Colt welcomes him with open arms. Oh, and a fist in the face.

He falls to the ground and groans loudly, screaming “You fucking bitch!” over and over again.

“You want a broken jaw too?” Colt asks him, holding him against the asphalt. “Go ahead, call the woman a bitch again. I dare you.”

“You got him!” I exclaim, running over. “My hero,” I laugh, but I feel dizzy from running. I reach out my hand to grab ahold of Colt, but only feel my hand cut through the air. “Shit…” I whisper.

Colt turns around and I hear him yell, “Lena? What's wrong?”

There's no time to respond. I feel myself faint and black out before I hit the ground.

W
hen I wake up
, everyone is sitting around me.
Great. Another hospital bed.
“Colt?” I ask, my voice groggy and dry.

He's asleep, but as soon as he hears my voice, he's awake again. “We have to stop meeting up like this,” he laughs.

“What the hell happened?” I ask. I lean forward on the hospital bed and begin ripping off each cable that's connected to my body. The machines start going haywire, beeping like crazy.

“Whoa there,” Colt says, easing me back down. “You're okay. I'm here.”

“What happened?” I repeat myself, feeling incredibly disoriented and confused. “The last thing I remember is you tackling Elijah.” The image of Elijah falling to the asphalt suddenly makes me crack up.

“Yeah, you won't be seeing him around here anymore,” Colt says.

The same doctor as last time walks into the room, tapping her pen on her notepad. “Lena Skye?” She looks at me. “What happened the last time you were here? I came back in the room and you were gone.” A faint, knowing smile creeps into her face.

I look over at Colt, who simply chuckles, and then back at the doctor. “Sorry about the other day,” I say. “I, uh, guess I was just in a big hurry to get back home.”

She smiles and says “Well, it’s your choice. We don't hold people here against their will. Although, I
did
have some news that might've prevented this little accident today.”

I feel my stomach drop. “News?”
Oh, God.
My mind starts racing, in an attempt at figuring out what “news” she could have had for me. Is it tuberculosis? Or even worse, cancer? It can't be. I haven't had any symptoms until today. “Am I… Am I going to die?” The thought is paralyzing.

“Die?” she asks. Colt looks worried, but the doctor quickly laughs off any preconceived notions of death. “No, you’re not dying. Actually, it’s the opposite. You’re pregnant.” She says the
news
like it’s normal, as if this happens to people every day. Okay, it
does
happen to people every day. But that doesn’t mean it should happen to me. I feel… well, I feel like I’m about to throw up.

I actually do. I do throw up, right onto the doctor’s little clipboard.
Take that. Stupid news.
“Whoops,” she says, “there’s that morning sickness. Right on time.”

“Could you be a little more nonchalant about all of this?” I ask her, wiping the spit from my face. Despite the news, Colt is looking happy. It’s like he’s excited to hear that I’m pregnant.

“Well, most people take the news a little differently,” she says.
Oh, shut it!
I can’t help but roll my eyes. “But you don’t look too happy. Here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to leave you with my card. I know a good OBGYN who can take care of you, whatever your needs may be. When I come back, you’ll most likely be gone again, but feel free to call me any time.”

“That’s it? I’m fine, other than
I’m pregnant
?” I can barely even say the words. Pregnant with the Navy SEAL’s baby. God, I sound like a fucking cliché.

“That’s it. You’re very healthy. Congratulations.” She quickly leaves the room and I feel Julie and Colt’s eyes burning through me.

“Oh, what the hell are you all looking at?” I suddenly yell, feeling very confused.

“I don’t know,” Colt starts to speak. “This could be a good thing. I mean, don’t you think? Things between us are really starting to go well and—”

“And I would like them to
continue
to go well, thank you very much. God. Can’t anyone just leave me alone for once in their miserable lives?” I can feel it. There’s that anger again, pushing through my veins. Dammit, genetics.

“Lena!” Julie hisses at me. “Calm down. You’re not thinking straight. Colt, she’s not thinking straight. I’m so sorry.”

I press my pillow against my face and practically scream. “I don’t want his child, dammit! I don’t want anyone’s child. I just want to be my own person.” I look up to see the two people I am closest to staring back at me with disgust. Colt is quick to leave the room.

“You know what? I actually liked you,” he says and I feel my heart turn to stone. “I was willing to stand up for you, to fucking tackle some psychopath in the parking lot for you. I was even going to… Well, fuck. I was even going to propose to you sometime soon. Because you know what? I
love
you.” He reaches into his pocket to show me a welded ring. In the center is a hand cut diamond and,
my God,
it is huge.

“Colt, I…” I try to form a sentence, but I can’t say anything. I’m wrong and I know it. But deep down, I’m not sure I want any of this. After hearing this news, I’m thinking that it might be a good time to make it on my own for a little bit.

Julie gets up after him. I guess she’s against me too. “
You
fucked up this time,” she says without batting an eye. “Not me. You. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll think about what you’ve done.
He loves you
.” She slams the door and walks out of the room.

Suddenly I’m alone. Like, really alone. There’s only the beeping from the machines and the shuffling of the nurse’s shoes outside. “Guys?” I call out, “Anyone?” Nothing.

Well, Lena. You’ve successfully burned all your bridges. Congratu-fucking-lations.

“
F
ucking bitch
. That fucking little twat! That motherfucking, god damn, ball licking whore!” I back up and try to calm her down. You’d think I’d be pissed, but Julie’s off the fucking rails.

“Whoa there,” I whisper, “that’s your sister you’re talking about. Try to have a little understanding.”

“Understanding? Me? Fuck no. I guess you don’t know me. Julie does
not
understand.” She huffs and digs through my fridge for a beer. “Wait, that sounded kind of dumb, didn’t it?”

“Yeah, a little. Besides, when did you start talking in the third person?” I ask her. She just shrugs and sits back down on the couch. It’s the same couch I fucked Lena multiple times on.
God, I miss that.
“Look, it’s not even your kid, so I don’t know why you care this much. It’s probably a mistake to think I could raise a child anyway. I wouldn’t be a good father. Shit, I’d probably turn out like my old man.” A shiver runs through my spine when I think about that.
Disgusting
.

“Why do I care? Are you really going to ask me that right now?” She’s back out of her seat and now she’s standing on my couch, making a whole speech out of this. Here I am, hanging on for the ride. Julie, man. She’s off her rocker. “She’s my sister and she’s taken care of me all her life. When my father left us, who was there? Lena. When I was drinking breakfast, lunch, and dinner, who was there? Lena. And when I lost my money and couldn’t pay rent, who paid it for me? Fucking Lena.”

“Amen,” I say.

“So yeah, I care. Maybe I care too much. But she deserves someone who’s going to take care of her,” she takes a breath and continues. “Yeah, you guys aren’t like technically together or anything. And yeah, it’s been kind of a bumpy ride with Elijah and me, and everything else. But I can tell you’re a good guy. I could sense that on the first night we met. So,
shit!
I’m pissed. And she’s having that baby.”

I applaud her, clapping loudly. Clearly I’m drunk, but I have an excuse. It’s been a rough few days, dammit. “Alright, I hear you,” I say. “But you can’t force a woman to have a baby, even if it is mine.”

She frowns, eyebrows creased with heavy thought. “Well, why the hell not? Men did that for like the first two thousand years of human civilization. Why stop now?” She laughs.

I shake my head, laughing a little too. “Yeah, well. I’m not like that. I want what she wants. Whatever makes Lena happy. That’s my new motto or something.” I examine my beer before taking another swig. Julie rolls her eyes at me.

“Lame,” she mutters under her breath. “But it’s commendable, I guess. At the end of the day, though, Lena isn’t a girl you let run away. I know her a little better than you. When the going gets tough, she stays. When the going gets rough, she sways. But when the going gets out-of-fucking-hand, she darts the hell out of there. Don’t let her dart out of there, Colt. You’re too good to let her do that.”

“Hm.” I take another sip of my beer and realize it’s lost its appeal. I set it on the counter and lean back against the leather. “Sounds like someone I know.” I sigh and take a look at the cabin I built myself. It was a palace.
My
palace. And I built it because things got a little “out-of-fucking-hand,” if you will. Then I found Lena. And like light against darkness, she forced me out of my hiding and showed me what I really was capable of, deep inside. I was capable of love.

I think about the night of the festival, when she hopped on that carousel. All those lights, all those spinning fabrications… They really seemed like they were part of a bigger picture, didn’t they? She made me wonder. She made me want to know more. And when she grabbed my hand, she showed me a world of possibilities. And I wasn’t just talking about her pussy either.

“You’re right, dammit,” I say. “I need to do something. I think I want to start a life with her. You know, a real life. I think it’s time I leave the past behind.”

She claps her hands loudly and slaps my back. I fall forward for a second.
Damn she’s strong.
“You
think
? What do you mean, you
think?”

“Jesus, you hit like a man!” I exclaim. “I mean, I
know
. She’s the only good thing I’ve experienced in this life.”

“You’re damn right she is,” she laughs.

“You know, I always wondered if I would meet a woman like her. A woman who could take my breath away,” I say. “You always read about women like that in books or see them in films. But I actually met one. In the flesh.”

“Wait. You read books?” she asks. I sigh
very
loudly.

“Just tell me what I need to do,” I say. “I’m going to win her heart if it’s the last thing I do.”

She hands me my cell phone and says “Just call her. She’s a simple girl. If she wants to talk, she’ll answer.”

Here I am, drunk off my ass, calling the woman I like. No,
love!
And the phone rings, and rings, and then rings again. It rings so many damn times that I feel my heart crumble to dust within each silence. Finally, the phone disconnects.

“She denied the call,” I say, with a slight tinge of sadness in my voice. “She actually denied the call.”

“No shit she denied the call!” She laughs loudly and slaps her knee. “I’d deny the call if I was her too.”

“Well then why the hell did you tell me to call her?” I say, throwing the phone at the carpet.

Her eyes grow wide. “Because, you idiot. It makes you look a little better now doesn’t it? You don’t want her thinking you haven’t tried to talk to her about things.”

“I don’t think I get anything. This whole
dating
thing totally eludes me. I mean, I wasn’t the one who walked out on
her
. Doesn’t that count for something?” I ask her. “Doesn’t that mean she has to come running back to me?”

She stares at me like all women stare at men when they say something stupid. “Do I really have to answer that for you?” She asks me. “Now you gotta go for plan B. Don’t worry, I have an idea.”