SEAL Team Seven Tyler: Book 4 (10 page)

“No I have to go back I have to, Tyler…” I heard raised voices and things crashing into walls. It sounded like a stampede in there, and my heart hurt when I heard him roar. That’s the only name for the sound he made. Like a wild animal who’d been trapped.

I’d never heard such a thing before in my life and it sent cold fear shimmering down my spine. I tried to get up, to go to him, but by then Gaby and Vanessa had come to join us, soon to be followed by Davie and Susie.

All of us huddled there on the couch, thank heaven the baby was asleep in one of the guestrooms, this would’ve had her howling for sure.

I couldn’t make out the words that were being said but I know he was arguing and when he called out for me I thought I would go mad when the others held me back.

I know if I hadn’t been so bruised I would’ve gone to him, but I had nothing left in me. So I sat there and listened to his torment with tears running down my face.

Tyler

I couldn’t see, that’s all that registered, I couldn’t see and there was pressure on my chest. There were hands grabbing at me, and voices; familiar voices but they weren’t making any sense.

Who were we trying to stop? Were we on an Op, wait what? Shit was all muddled in my head and nothing made sense. There was a buzzing in my ear that won’t quit and there was something, something…

All I knew was that I had to get the fuck out. There was something I had to do. And then it all came crashing back. Victoria-Lyn: beaten, bloody, broken…raped? Had she said she’d been…

Someone was making a hell of a racket as I pushed and shoved my way through the throng of what seemed like a hundred bodies crowding me all at once. “Hold him Con for fuck sake somebody get the needle in him. I told you all, didn’t I tell you…?”

Lo? What was he talking about, what needle? “Who…” I felt the prick in my arm and flung my arm out. “Fuck me, fucker busted my lip.” That was Dev. Who Dev, who busted your lip?

That would have to be one huge motherfucker to get away with that, Dev isn’t exactly small. “Hold him down this time you fucks I need my teeth to eat, the fuck.”

I felt that slight sting again and came back into my body for a quick second before darkness came. “Vicki…” I reached for her but she wasn’t there.

***

VICTORIA-LYN

“Where is he what did you do to him?” I wanted to run into the room when the six men came back out but my body wouldn’t cooperate. The pain was kicking in worse than before and my knees all but buckled when I stood to face them.

“He’s okay, he’s resting now, that’s best.” I listened to Logan but there was something he wasn’t saying. I know the guys were accustomed to gentle violets like Danielle and Gabriella, I didn’t know Vanessa well enough to judge, but I’m thinking since she was in the army she can’t be too soft. Me, I’m cut from a whole different bolt of cloth.

“What was all that noise back there if he’s okay? And what was all that stuff we heard breaking?” I think I’d had enough of life and its bullshit for now. Seeing your life flash before you while under the fists of a brute would do that to you I guess.

Hearing the man you love crying out your name in the middle of what sounded like torture was another eye opener. There was no way he could convince me after this that he didn’t care.

“He can be…a little difficult when he gets like this trust me he’s better now.” I moved around them to go to him but once again Logan stood in my way. “Leave her Lo he won’t harm her, she’s probably the safest one here once he comes out of it.”

I looked at Connor quizzically but didn’t hang around to ask for an explanation of his cryptic statement. The room looked like a warzone. There was broken furniture, the chair that had sat next to the bed was in pieces, the nightstand was across the room and on its side.

There were other things strewn around the room like a tornado had hit it but I ignored it all as I made my way to the bed and the man laying there.

I never noticed before how his hair curled when it was growing in. My heart clutched in my chest as I took him in in slumber. This was a much softer Tyler. In sleep I could see all the innocence of the boy he must’ve been.

I felt my womb contract at the thought of carrying his son, a son who would have the same look of mischief about his mouth even in sleep; a son who would be so fierce when it comes to the ones he loved. I hope that’s what this all meant, I needed it to be.

I climbed onto the bed and laid my head on the pillow next to his keeping my eyes on his face. It was the first time I’d been able to study him this closely. I know it’s not PC to think like this, and he would most likely scoff at me for thinking it, but he was the most gorgeous man I’d ever seen

I let my eyes travel down from his face. The tattoos begged to be touched, to be traced by my fingers or tongue. My heart raced at the thought and before I could get too carried away I drew my yes from the art that adorned his neck, chest, and arms.

There was more evidence of what had gone on here. His hands were red and raw and there was a bruise starting high on his cheek. “Oh Tyler, I’m so sorry.” I reached out and touched his cheek softly with my fingertips before leaning over to kiss the spot better.

The world tumbled upside down and I found myself on my back with a very fierce Tyler over me. “Did he touch you?” His voice sounded strange like it was coming from somewhere else. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but Logan’s words ran through my head.

My heart beat out of control even as I willed it to calm down. His hands held me pinned to the bed, but even so I didn’t feel that horrible fear that he was going to hurt me. Instead I hurt for the pain I felt and saw in him.

I kept my voice low and even, as I looked into his eyes, willing him to come back into his self. “He didn’t Ty I promise, I didn’t let him.” I felt the tension slowly leave him little by little; then he shook his head and looked down at me like he’d never seen me before.

“Fuck!” He threw himself away from me so hard, I thought he was gonna fall off the bed.  He looked around the room before looking back at me in horror. “What happened, did I hurt you?” He grabbed his head and pulled.

I got up on my knees ignoring the pain in my ribs and wrapped my arms around him. “No Tyler you didn’t touch me you have to calm down please.” I was afraid that he was gonna hurt himself again.

His heart was beating way too fast and I was afraid he’d have another episode. I was about to call out for the guys when he seemed to snap out of it, whatever it was.

He moved away from me with purpose and I eased off the bed to follow him. I made it into the living room in time to see him sock Logan one. “What the fuck, you let her back in there with me like that?”

Logan just wiped the blood from his lip like he was accustomed to being popped in the face. Then he did the strangest thing, he grinned. “Looks like you were right Con, having her there as a buffer calmed him down. At least there won’t be any more broken furniture…for now.”

I was a little lost but since it didn’t look like there was going to be any more bloodshed I let myself relax. “You done, you got it out your system? Now let’s go we got shit to do.”

Tyler flexed his fists and I watched as his broad shoulders relaxed. “Give me five.” He took my hand and started leading me away, and when he caught on that I was still moving gingerly, picked me up and took me back to the bedroom.

***

Tyler

I feel like an ass, here she is hurt to fuck and I had to pull my caveman routine. At least I’d held on long enough to get her seen to and the guys were here so it wasn’t too bad. “I’m sorry I scared you baby.”

I laid her back on the bed as gently as I could before pulling the sheet up around her thighs. “It’s okay are you okay?” I kissed her fingers and kept her hand in mine.

“Yeah I’m fine, I’m gonna go talk to my brothers for a few. Are you gonna be okay or do you want me to stay?”

“I’ll be fine, I think I just need to rest a little now my ribs are sore.”

“Shit, lemme see.” I lifted her top as carefully as I could to check her ribs. Her flesh was an angry blue green color and now that the haze had cleared for the first time I saw how truly tiny she really was. That shit just made it worse.

“I need you to tell me what happened from beginning to end, don’t leave anything out.” She didn’t look too sure and I didn’t blame her. She was probably afraid that I’d go out of my head again.

“You don’t need to worry I won’t hurt you, not ever.” I ran my fingers down her bruised cheek and pulled her into me. I didn’t want our first kiss to happen when she was so broken and bruised, so I kissed her eyes and the corners of her mouth instead.

Whatever they’d shot me up with had an added bonus effect of heightening my senses. Either that or she packed one helluva punch because I felt her down to my very soul. “Tell me.”

“I was on my way to work.” She stopped and cleared her throat before continuing on. “He was waiting for me. I didn’t think anything of it; I’d seen him before he was just a nuisance. I thought I could handle him you know.”

“I don’t know what set him off this time. Usually when I rebuff him he’d just laugh it off until the next time. But this time he seemed angry, like I’d done something to piss him off. He became very aggressive, almost agitated.”

“He kept calling me names and I got mad and told him to fuck off. That’s when he grabbed me and…” Her body started to shake and I wanted so badly to tell her to stop, but I needed to hear and she needed to get it out.”

“It’s okay, he’s not her now I am. Shh, it’s okay, take a deep breath.” I soothed her as best I could until she settled down enough to carry on. I kept my arms around her to keep her calm, safe.

“He pulled me into his car. I should’ve known something was off when I saw the car just sitting there running with the door open. He’d never been by the diner that early either, but I wasn’t thinking. I screamed and fought but there’s nobody around that early in the morning no one to hear.”

“He drove us to the hotel and I kept asking why what was going on, where was he taking me? He wouldn’t answer. Then his phone rang and he was talking crazy about shipments and missing money and I don’t know what it was all about.”

My blood ran cold in my veins. So I had been right after all, there was no longer any doubt. It was because of me, because she’d been hanging around my family and me. “What else did he say?” I hope she didn’t catch the dead tone in my voice.

“Nothing, he hung up the phone and that’s when he started, he started…” She shook so hard this time the bed moved beneath us. “It’s okay baby I’ve got you, he can’t hurt you anymore, you need to tell me the rest. It’s like poison I know, the only way to purge it from your system is to get it out.” I wonder if she felt the change? If she even noticed that my body had turned to ice?

Shipments and missing money! As she tried to calm down my mind tried to figure out ways to get into the barracks where the two we’d let go were stationed. Knowing for sure that he was part of this, solidified things for me. There was no longer any room for waiting.  This shit ends now.

***

VICTORIA-LYN

I wanted to stop when I felt him tense and his body became like stone, but he was right, I needed to get it out. Now that I was saying the words out loud none of it made any sense.

Carson had been after me for a while, asking me out on dates flirting, the usual. I never paid it more than the cursory notice because it was a regular occurrence; men were always hitting on me.

This morning when I’d seen him at the diner even before opening I hadn’t really thought much of it. I figured he was in a rush and needed his first cup of the day.

I’d been about to tell him that it was gonna be a while before that could happen since I had to set up first, but before I could get the words out he’d started in.

I didn’t know until now that he was asking me about Ty and my relationship with him, how could I? There was no relationship. But now it all made sense, the reference to the mangy dog that I preferred over him. Asking me where I’d been the night before.

How had he even known though? That still made no sense unless he’d had me followed, but why? It was back to not making any sense.

I told Ty all of this and felt the change in him. I could also feel the restraint he fought hard to keep on himself. When I was done reciting everything I could remember, from the near rape, which I’d fought like hell to prevent, to almost dying under a madman’s fists, he pushed my head back and looked into my eyes.

“I’ll make this right I promise you and no one as long as I live will ever put fucking hands on you again.” He got up from the bed and the look on his face scared me more than what I’d been through in that room.

“Tyler no, what’re you gonna do?” I grabbed his arm and felt the steel there. “There’re rumors, he’s a very bad man you can’t go after him.” I was confused at the smile that crossed his face.

“That’s just the kind I go after. You stay in here and rest I’ll have Dani get you some more soup, this one’s cold by now.” Shit who is this guy? I know lethal when I see it, and the man who just walked away from me was that and more.

“Ty.” I tried stopping him again but it was no use. I heard his voice through the door telling Dani to look after me until he got back. What had I done? Maybe I shouldn’t have told him as much as I did.