Two Weeks With a SEAL (The Wakefield Romance Series) (9 page)

"You know I could
kill you," my dad had said, his grey eyes blood-shot and locked on me as I
cried, going to get to my feet when he screamed at me, "I'll kill you ya
little bitch, like I should've killed your mama a long time ago." I fell
back to my butt, screaming for my mother, her cries mingling with Randy's
yells.

Randy was only ten at
the time, but he was a big kid, running into my dad and surprising him, yanking
the shotgun from his hands and swinging back to face my dad. My mom screamed at
Randy as tears streaked his cheeks, my father's laughter mocking him as his
hands trembled. "Do it," my father yelled, pressing the barrel to his
forehead, "you don't got the guts you lil' maggot. Go on, do it!"

In that moment, my
brother had turned from a boy to a hero in my mind, as he pulled the trigger,
the click ruminating throughout the room, making my dad's mocking laughter
rumble even louder. Back handing Randy, my father yanked the gun free throwing
it to the bedroom floor, slapping my mother on the way out of the room, leaving
the three of us to cry with each other as I presume he went to get high. My father
was a worthless piece of crap and I could care less if he died today, it would
only do the entire world a favor.

Snapping back to reality
I notice that Rosa is talking to me, her face displaying annoyance, "I'm
sorry, I wasn't paying attention, what did you say?"

She rolled her eyes,
smiling as she repeated her question, "I said, do you wanna come to the
condo sometime, we could do a girls night or you can stay the weekend?"
She looked hopeful as she painted Kendall's nails. Kendall even nodded and I knew
that she liked this new friend of ours.

"Well, yeah, I'd
love that," I say, putting my arm around her shoulder. We sat in silence,
the only sounds being hushed conversation from the den, the men's voices barely
audible over the crackling of the wood in the stove. It worried me that they
were being so silent all of a sudden and I turned my creased brow to Rosa,
seeing that her eyes were looking down the hallway as well. Her hands stopped
painting Kendall's nails, her eyebrows knitting together, her lips pursed and I
knew that it wasn't good. She took my hand in hers, interlacing our fingers,
her eyes never leaving their spot on the den door.

"Bad news,"
she whispers, footsteps causing her eyes to snap back down to doing Kendall's
nails, a look passing between the two of us as we looked over her dark
ponytail.

Chad was scratching his
beard as he came out from the den, his hand moving to rub the back of his neck.
His eyes looked tired as he gazed at me, pulling the rubber band from his hair,
he scratched his skull, nodding for me to meet him upstairs. His long legs
propelled him up the wooden steps, Reno coming to the back of the couch,
whispering in Rosa's ear that he needed to talk to her. My legs felt like lead
as I lowered them to the floor, my knees feeling like they were rusty as I
stood. I followed Reno and Rosa up the stairs, turning to my room as Rosa sent
me a sad look. Chad was sitting on the bed, his face in his hands with his
elbows propped on his knees as I entered the room, my heart falling through the
floor and into the wood stove below, going up in flames. "What is
it," I ask, afraid to move.

He motioned me over to
sit by him and when I couldn't move he stood, pulling my arms till I was down
on the bed, snuggled up to his side. "We ship out on next Tuesday,"
he said, his lips on my forehead and I wrapped my arms around him tighter, my
eyes closed tight to ward off the tears. "I have to be back on base a week
from Monday night." His fingers traced my jaw lightly, tilting it up so
that he could see my face, his lips meeting my eye lids. "Look at
me," he whispers, my eyes opening to find raw emotion in his, a light red
edging in them as moisture gathered on his lashes. My thumb runs over the
stubble on his cheek, my index finger lightly tracing the skin under his ear
and Chad's eyes close for a second, letting me know he's enjoying it. "You
can come with me, they'll let loved ones on the tarmac the day of
departure." That last word, it breaks the thin wall I was trying to keep
up, my tears falling like a river as I imagine all the bad things that could
happen to this man that I love.

I crawl over top of him,
our faces nose to nose, locking my eyes on his as my tears drip down on his
beard. "I love you," I choke out, "I ...I don't want to be
without you." His arms wrap around me, his fingers spread wide across my
back as if he's trying to feel every inch of me, memorizing it. "I don't
know how I'll do it," I whisper against his lips, my hands on his cheeks
pulling his face to mine. I kissed him frantically, his hands squeezing me into
him, pulling at my clothing. "I know this is what you do," I say, my
breathing erratic as he kissed my neck, "I just want you to come home when
you're done."

Taking my face in his
hands, Chad looked into my eyes, his thumbs brushing the loose tears away.
"I'll come back," his lips trace mine, the sensation sending chills
down my spine. "How could I not come home to this," he smiled,
running his hands down my back, butt and thighs. "Besides, I just got you.
You're all I've ever wanted and I can't give it up that easily. Sarge says the
mission might last six months, maybe less, you can never know for sure" he
kissed my lips. His eyes told me that he'd stay safe, that he'd do his best to
protect his 'brothers'. I laced my fingers into his hair as he sat up, his lips
burning a path from my lips to my shoulder.

Getting up, he quietly
shut the door, his eyes never leaving mine as he came back. I knew this news
was inevitable, it was his job. It was a part of him but I didn't think it
would be so soon. "Sit," I say, getting to my feet and pushing him to
the bed. I was going to show him everything I had ever wanted to do to him over
the years. All the fantasies I had pinned up in my mind, the reasons why I had
so much lingerie in my possession.

My little show ended
when Chad said he couldn't take it any longer, pulling me down onto the bed and
making love to me, both of us shedding a tearful 'I love you' with every kiss.
Our peaceful holds on each other were interrupted when Timmons knocked on the
door, asking if we were going to come down and eat.

"Yeah, give us a
minute," Chad replied, his arm under my head as I snuggled into his side.
He squeezed me tight, his lips kissing my forehead, his hand running down the
side of my body. I was overly happy in this moment, if only it could last
forever. "Baby," he whispered, moving to lie on his side facing me,
his blue eyes roaming my body, his fingers trailing along my waist. "Baby,
I love you with all my heart," he leaned in, brushing his lips on mine
lightly, lingering there as his beard tickles my nose. I couldn't help but
smile, it triggering a chuckle in Chad, his fingers quickly going on the attack
and tickling me relentlessly, my screams and giggles ringing out.

Rolling over on top of
him, I pin Chad's arms by his head, our laughs turning into kisses. "I'm
the Queen," I say leaning up and acting triumphant, a wide smile crossing
his face.

"Stay like that” he
says, leaning over and grabbing his phone from the nightstand.

"No, don't take my
picture," I say throwing my arms across my bare chest, trying to roll off
of him.

"I'm not gonna take
a nuddie pic," he laughs, sitting up and kissing me, "you look so
beautiful right now, I wanna capture this moment forever." His smile
melted my resilience.

Leaning his back down
against his pillow he aimed his phone's camera at me, "Promise," I
said sternly, holding my finger in his face making him laugh.

"I cross my
heart," he used his index finger to make and 'X' pattern across the middle
of his chest. I leaned down and kissed the path he had traced, letting my lips
sit there, feeling his heartbeat. Sitting up, seeing his smile, I nodded,
hearing the familiar 'snap' sound of his phone's camera a handful of times. I
bit my bottom lip, brushing my messy hair behind my ear as the last snapping
sound went out, Chad's eyes going wide looking at the screen.

"That's the
one," he said, moving his finger along his touch screen.

"Let me see,"
I say, crawling back down beside him. He had changed the picture to black and
white, cropping it so that it was just from the tops of my shoulders and up.

It took my breath away,
the way I looked. I didn't even think it was me, my hair falling to the side,
my hand up brushing it behind my ear, my eyes turned down, shyly not looking at
the camera. "You're beautiful," he said kissing my forehead and
sliding out of bed. That was how he saw me? I just starred at his naked form,
pulling on jeans and a t-shirt.

"My turn," I
said, grabbing my phone and jumping out of bed. He turned towards me with a
drop dead gorgeous smile on his face and I snapped the photo. It was perfect,
his eyes seemingly reaching out to me from the screen of my phone. I cropped it
like he had, switching it to black and white and setting it as my background,
all while pulling on some sweats and showing it to Chad. He liked it, kissing
me on the cheek as he straddled my footsteps out into the hall and down the
stairs.

Whistles met us as we
hit the living room, my face going red immediately, Chad fending off the hoots
and cat calls as I put my hand up, shielding my eyes and heading into the
kitchen, coming face to face with Rosa. I let out a sigh, Rosa giving me a wink
and handing me a full glass of wine. Taking a long sip, I plop myself into one
of the small table chairs, peeking out the window seeing that it was snowing
lightly.

"You can stay with
me," Rosa says, pushing a bowl of stew and some pieces of bread over to
me, "when they leave, you can stay with me as long as you'd like. They'll
have us behind the tarmac fence as the planes are loaded with gear. They'll do
a few marches out onto the tarmac, Marines and other Navy deploying personnel.
We'll have five minutes to say our goodbyes," she sent me a sidelong
glance as she sipped her wine. "One thing you can't do is break down.
You'll have to save that for later. If we broke down in front of them it would
weigh heavily on their mind," she put her hand over mine, her eyes meeting
mine with tears trickling down, dragging her mascara with them. I gripped her
fingers, holding onto them as I looked out the window again at the peaceful
snow, trying not to cry again. The sun was starting to set, the orange filling
the sky, the mountains in the not so far off distance.

"You wanna take a
walk," I ask her, wiping at the tears that were trying to fall as she
dabbed at her eyes with a napkin.

"Yeah, after you
eat," she smiled patting my hand. She called to Kendall who joined us, a
fresh hickey on the left side of her neck, telling her that we were going for a
walk if she wanted to join us.

"Yeah I'll
go," she replied, taking the seat with her back to the window, patting my
other hand. Sometimes I didn't have to tell her what was going through my head,
she just knew. We had been through so much together and as individuals, our
lives were far from charmed. Eating my food, I kept my hand in hers, her
strength keeping me from drowning in my own emotions.

Cleaning up the kitchen
after I was done, I wasn't surprised when all of the guys were in the den as
the three of us put our jackets and boots on. Grabbing a flashlight from
Randy's old gun case, I peek my head around the corner of the door frame.
"Going for a walk," I say, all of the eyes in the room snapping
towards me, those familiar blue ones forming a smile. "Be back in a little
bit," I wave and head for my two companions waiting for me at the door,
hearing a "Be safe" as I shut the door, delving into the chilly
mountain air.

We walked in
semi-silence back around the cabin, past the small tool shed where inside there
was an old four-wheeler, but I don't know whether it runs or not, Rosa saying
that Reno could look at it. The snow falls around us, the flakes growing in
size as we get further into the woods, turning into huge clumps and falling
softly on our jackets. Rosa weaves her arm into mine, walking along, matching
my steps with hers. "They'll watch out for one another," she says,
her head leaning on my shoulder, her pink ear muffs sticking out against her
dark hair.

"I know," I
reply, hearing that ever present voice in my head saying, "
But they
can't know what other people are going to do, that's how Randy died"
.
We walked around the small pond that Randy and I fished at the only summer he
had got to come up here, the memory of him in his khaki fisherman's vest, his
pole flinging back and forth, made me smile to myself. The water wasn't frozen
and there was a mallard duck floating out on top of the surface, quaking away
as we skirted the edge. "You like Timmons," I ask Kendall, getting a
little giggle from her and Rosa.

"He's nice,"
she says, shrugging her shoulders. There had been times over the years when I
wished I could have been as casual about love as her. Not caring what people
thought of me as I went from short term boyfriend to short term boyfriend, breaking
up and making up every other day. She was confident in her looks, knowing she
looked good even on her worst days, carrying herself with a poise that I could
only dream of. I wish she knew that Harlan was in love with her because he
would treat her like the Queen that she was. He was a good ol' country boy with
Southern manners. The words were on the tip of my tongue, but for the millionth
time I bit them back, resolving to let her figure it out on her own. "He
doesn't want anything more than this," she waved between her and me,
signaling a physical relationship, "and that's fine with me, I need time
away from the drama." This made me scoff and Kendall punched me in the
shoulder, the three of us laughing it off as the sky darkened around us, the orange
in the horizon turning to black.