Be With Me

Be With Me

C.D. Taylor

This is a work of fiction.
Names, characters, places, brands, media and incidents are either
the product of the author’s imagination or are used
fictitiously.

This book is dedicated to
the readers.

Prologue

Tyler Bradford lay in his
hospital bed in Germany, wondering how the hell he ended up there.
He was devoted to his country and did his duty but all it had
gotten him was a bullet lodged in his thigh. He considered himself
lucky though, a few millimeters and it would have hit his femoral
artery, and then things would have ended differently. Namely a
representative of the government showing up at his parents’ door in
Texas to inform his parents that their son had died in battle. He
should be thankful but wasn’t, he wanted to get out of this hell
hole and return to somewhat of a normal life.

How normal would it be?
Returning home after being deployed for eight years. Things would
undoubtedly change, and things had changed. His brother Jake was
happily married and a kid to go along with it all. Tyler had seen
pictures of the little angel, but he had yet to be able to hold her
and coddle her like a loving uncle should. He was not happy about
missing his brother’s wedding, but they couldn’t wait for him, they
had to do their own thing.

Had everyone forgot about
him? Did they just go about their normal lives like he wasn’t a
part of it, like he didn’t exist anymore? The thoughts sent fear
through his veins. Jake seemed happy, and his wife Emily was a
beautiful woman, and damn if he wished he hadn’t stayed home to
experience a life like that of his own.

Tyler never regretted the
choice he made to join the Marines, he was proud the day he signed
on. But he always wondered what would have been had he not lay his
name on those enlistment papers. It was too late to worry about the
“what if’s”, this was the hand he was dealt and he needed to roll
with the punches, even if those so called punches landed him here
in a damn hospital bed.

He knew the drill though,
had seen it too many times before with his comrades. He would get
his walking papers soon, and it would be time to ship out back to
the U.S. Setting foot on his home soil would be bittersweet, he
wanted to see his family but he also felt a duty to stand by his
brothers in combat. The fact of the matter was he didn’t have a
choice. This was the end of the line, and sure he would receive the
Medal of Honor at some point, but he had to ask himself “Was it all
worth it?”

One

“No, I’m in the middle of
bum fucking Egypt right now! Okay, well I know it was last minute
Richard, but I had to come down here and do this.” I shouted over
my cell phone.

“I wish you would have
told me, I could have come with you.” Richard replied.

“Yeah well, I’m sorry.
Don’t be mad.”

“I’m not mad, just
disappointed that you won’t be coming to Bermuda with my family and
I.”

“Yeah well I would rather
be basking in the sun with you then driving through God’s country.
This isn’t how I planned on using my vacation time
either.”

“I know, look just keep in
contact okay?”

“I will, although I’m not
sure what kind of cell reception I’ll get out here, there might be
too many cows standing in the way.”

Richard laughed. “Love you
baby can’t wait to see you again.”

“You too.” I hung up and
threw my phone in the passenger seat.

This was the fucking pits,
my entire vacation ruined because of my Mothers last will and
testament. Why did I have to be an only child?

I wasn’t over the moon at
the idea of spending two weeks in Texas, it was the place I grew
up, but fortunately had the balls to get out of when I wanted too.
There were just too many memories of the place that scarred my
soul. I had them buried so deep it would have taken some miracle to
dredge them up again. I was happy in Chicago, I had made a place
and a name for myself, and damn if this didn’t piss me off to have
to travel here. Richard was not happy, obviously, but I didn’t want
him tagging along to see the unhappy place I called home for
eighteen years. He didn’t need to see the skeletons rattling around
in my damn closet; he would have jumped ship and not even walked
the fucking plank.

He was a good man,
successful, attentive, everything I wanted in a future husband. He
kept crazy working hours just like I did, and he understood my
schedule. It was a match well suited for my lifestyle. Richard
never prodded me about my past, and I sure wanted to keep it that
way.

I shouldn’t have been so
damn scared at the age of thirty, to come back, but it all
terrified me to the core. I wanted to portray this badass, take no
prisoners façade, but at that moment in my rental car I was shaking
like an animal left out on a frosty winter’s night. I told myself I
wouldn’t cry, no, I was not going to shed a tear for the person who
wouldn’t protect me in my innocence. My Mother never let a tear
fall for me, and so I’d return the favor of no empathy
whatsoever.

My thoughts were
interrupted by the buzzing of my phone once again. “Hello?” I
answered.

“Hey where the hell are
you?”

Just great my best friend
Hayley. “Oh you know, driving through the Lone star
state.”

“And why are you doing
that instead of flying to Bermuda with your gorgeous fiancée? I
swear sometimes I wonder if you have lost your marbles.” Haley
sighed.

“No marbles lost here Hay,
just taking care of some unfinished business.”

“Well don’t stay too long
Maggie, I miss you already!”

“Trust me five minutes in
this damn state is too long. Have you spoken to
Richard?”

“Yeah he called earlier,
he was pretty pissed. I had to talk him down; honestly I’ve never
seen that man blow a gasket like that.”

“He can get fairly irate
at times; guess it comes with the territory though.”

“Yeah okay, well I gotta
go; I have a date tonight with a drummer.”

“Haven’t you come out of
your groupie phase yet?”

“Not quite, love you
Mags.”

“Love you too
Hay.”

Hayley had been there from
the time I set my feet on the streets of Chicago, she always had my
back no matter what. It was always me telling her the guys she
dated were no good, and she needed someone like Richard to be with.
She preferred to take a walk on the wild side though, the more
piercings and tattoos a guy had the better in her eyes. The
thoughts made me shiver; I could never see myself tied to someone
who didn’t have a decent pedigree. What was the point? Every woman
needed to understand that even though a man was nice to look at, he
might not be “keeper” material.

Richard was a keeper. We
were introduced at a party three years ago, and we held the same
interests. He liked tennis, I liked tennis. He hated baseball, I
hated baseball. Although I did have a secret obsession with the
sport, but it wasn’t likely I would divulge that information. He
would probably fly off the handle and freak out.

He was calm in the storm
of my life, and he just…fit. When he proposed to me at the top of
the Sears Tower, I nearly fell in the floor. It was a surprise, and
sure I was happy, but shouldn’t I have been elated? I remember
repeating “are you sure?” several times while he was on one knee.
Why was I questioning my relationship at this point? Our wedding
day was four months away and I was ready.

I had my perfect career as
a fashion editor, my condo was great, I drove the sweetest black
mustang, but something was missing. Maybe it was just pre wedding
jitters, all brides had them right?

I had to stop questioning
my motives for everything and just let things be, but being back in
my home state brought back shit that I didn’t need on my mind. I
had to stop the bullshit, get this task out of the way, and fly
back to Chicago. The goal was in front of me and my sights were set
firmly on it.

While driving my phone had
managed to slide off the seat beside me and fall to the floor of
the car. Damn. I looked forward to the road to make sure no one was
coming and I leaned over to try and grab at it. My fingers kept
grazing the outer case but I couldn’t quite get it. I took another
look at the road, and unbuckled my seat belt to get a better hand
on my phone. The next few seconds were a blur.

I heard honking, and
jolted back in my seat. “Oh shit!” I screamed out. Not like anyone
would hear me but I needed the effect. My car was all of the way in
the other lane and I was headed straight for someone’s front
bumper. I jerked the steering wheel to the right, and felt a huge
bump when I hit a ditch. The car kept going because I didn’t have
the common sense to hit the brakes. I sped into a pasture and
finally pushed down on the pedal. When I did, my head flew back and
forth, and it smacked on the steering wheel. “Fuck!” I yelled
out.

I shook off my first
reactions and laid my hand on my head, when I pulled my fingers
down they were streaked with blood. Oh. My. God. I felt faint, I
knew this trip was sucking terribly, but now it had fled off the
charts into totally fucked up territory.

I tried to focus my
vision, but couldn’t, I knew I was fading, and I could hear a man’s
voice and knocking on the window. I didn’t have the energy to turn
my head, and that was it, everything went black.

Two

Tyler didn’t know what to
think of the car careening toward his pickup truck, he honked, and
waved, but that didn’t seem to deter the driver from getting back
on their side of the damn road. He’d been home, less than a week
and someone was already trying to take him out. Just his
luck.

When the offending car,
jumped the ditch, took out a row of fence, and landed in a pasture,
he became worried. Hopefully they weren’t hurt but who knew. His
background of being the hero bombarded him; he couldn’t just walk
away and hope for the best, he had to see if they were
alright.

Tyler parked his truck at
the side of the road and turned on his warning flashers. He
wondered how he always managed to get himself into crazy situations
like these. He hopped down from the vehicle, jumped across the
ditch and trekked out to the wrecked car. To him it didn’t look
like anything major was wrong, but he couldn’t hear the driver
either. He made his way toward the driver’s door and peered in. It
was a woman, and damn she was a beautiful woman at that. Chocolate
brown hair with sun kissed highlights, a tan and flawless
complexion, and damn if she didn’t have sexy legs peeking out from
under a business like skirt.

Tyler panicked when he
noticed she wasn’t moving, he tapped on her window and spoke.
“Excuse me, are you okay?” No response. Damn.

He decided to look through
the front windshield to see if she had any injuries. “Fuck” He bit
out. Her forehead was bleeding, and he assumed she smacked her head
on the steering wheel. Damn. Damn.

Tyler reached over to open
the door of the car, only to find it was locked. He contemplated
banging harder to wake her up, but she was out cold, so he did what
any red blooded Texan would do. He reared back with his elbow and
hit the glass just right. It shattered on impact. He was glad he
wore a long sleeve shirt today that could have ended up really
bad.

He reached through the
busted window and unlocked the door. The woman was slumped over,
but she was still breathing. Thank God. Tyler cursed when he
realized she wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, and it made him want to
shake the living daylights out of her. He slid his arms under her
limp body and hoisted her from the car. She whimpered and snuggled
into his chest closer. Quadruple damn.

Her eyes began to flutter
open. “Where am I?” She groaned.

“Don’t worry I’ve got
you.” He replied.

She looked up at him and
he saw her eyes roll back in her head. She was out again. He
debated whether he should take her to the hospital that was a good
hour away or up the road to his brother Jakes home. She didn’t seem
to be in dire straits, so Jakes house it was. Emily would know what
to do; she was the mother hen type thank God.

He lifted her body into
the cab of his truck and laid her on the bench seat. He then closed
the door, and went back to her car. He popped the trunk and found
luggage in it with the initials LV all over it. Was that her
initials? Tyler grabbed the bags, and fished out her other
belongings in the front of the car. When he returned to his truck
he slung them in the bed and hopped in behind the wheel. The
mystery woman was still passed out, but still breathing which was a
relief. He put the vehicle in drive and took off for Jake and
Emily’s.