Second Chance SEAL: A Bad Boy Military Romance (8 page)

I
was shaking
for the first hour of the drive. I couldn’t stop seeing those men pressing me down against the floor so easily and callously tying me up. No matter how hard I struggled, they simply held me down harder and kept going.

I couldn’t believe this was really happening. But it all sank in when Gates came back and stopped those two sick fucks. I wasn’t sure if he killed them or not, but I found myself not really caring one way or the other.

That thought alone terrified me. I should care if men were dead or not, but I really didn’t. They were sick fucks that wanted to hurt me, and that was really all that mattered in my mind. Still, I didn’t want to become a person that didn’t care about human lives.

Maybe that was what I needed to be if I was going to survive.

After an hour of driving, we were clear of the city. We were on a highway heading southwest, doing at least seventy the whole time. We barely spoke, and I could tell that Gates was upset, though I didn’t know why.

He saved my life again. He saved it once when he picked me up, and again when he stopped those men from taking me. It wasn’t his fault that Tony was an insane creep and knew how to track my cellphone. Tony probably planted a bug inside of it or something the second we started dating.

Gates still managed to get back and save me. We didn’t talk about what happened at the meeting, and I knew it wasn’t a good idea to press. Still, the silence had lasted long enough.

“Where are we going?” I asked him.

He glanced at me like he was coming out of a trance. “Michigan,” he said.

“Why Michigan?”

“I know a place there we can lay low.”

“What place?”

“My father left me a cabin. Well, he left it to my grandmother, but she said he wanted me to gave it. It’s not much and probably in bad shape now, but we can stay there for as long as we want.”

“Is it safe?”

He shrugged. “I really don’t know. For a few days, at least.”

“A few days,” I said softly.

“I don’t know if Tony is going to back down,” he answered. “I met him, at the restaurant. I saw what kind of man he is, and I don’t think he’ll let us go no matter what.”

“He seemed so nice,” I said numbly.

“That’s not a shock. He clearly can hide who he really is very, very well. You’re probably not the first woman he’s lied to this way.”

“Think I’m the first he’s tried to kill?”

“No,” he said simply. “I doubt you are.”

“What are we going to do then? We can’t run forever.”

“No, we can’t. But Tony works for someone, I’m sure of that. We need to contact those people and offer them something in exchange for our lives.”

“Our lives?”

“I’m in this, Piper. No matter what happens.”

“You don’t have to do this,” I said. “You can just drop me off somewhere and disappear. This is my problem.”

He sighed. “Stop saying that.”

“It’s the truth.”

“I’m not going anywhere. I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

I nodded, marveling at him. I couldn’t imagine how I could be so damn unlucky and lucky all at the same time. On the one hand, my ex-boyfriend wanted to murder me, but on the other, I had this incredible strong man to keep me safe. It was a horror and a blessing.

We drove for another half hour and I let myself get lost in my thoughts. My mind ran through the whole spectrum of time, trying to figure out where everything went wrong.

Maybe it was back when I first met Gates. Maybe even before that, on the airplane. Or maybe it was more obvious, maybe it was when I met Tony and decided to go out with him. I should have been smarter, should have asked questions.

But that just wasn’t worth the time and effort. I could obsess about it all I wanted, really beat myself up over it, but none of that mattered. I was in this situation, driving across the country with Gates, and nothing was going to change that.

He already fought for me. Probably killed for me. I had no clue what else Gates was going to do, but there was a strange excitement in my core. This was a man willing to do whatever it took to keep me safe. There was no stopping him.

He suddenly put on his turn signal and got off at a rest stop exit. We were in Pennsylvania, heading down I-76. “Where are we going?” I asked him.

“Need to make a call.”

“Is that a good idea?”

He shrugged. “Tony mentioned Greg. That means Tony knows about Greg, and I think they could be in trouble.”

“Shit,” I said softly.

“It’s okay. Greg can handle himself.”

“But their house. Their kid.”

“Greg can handle it. I just need to warn them.”

“Okay. Yeah.”

He pulled over the car, then collected some coins from his central console. He climbed out. I followed him over to the phone. He deposited the coins into the payphone then dialed Greg’s number.

It rang and rang. Finally, Gates perked up.

“Greg,” he said.

I couldn’t hear the other end of the conversation.

“Listen to me carefully,” Gates continued. “You’re in danger. I can’t talk long, but this isn’t a prank call or a joke. You need to go dark for a while. It’s about Tony. I’ll contact you through the base. Understand?” He paused. “I know, man. Please, just do as I say. I promise I’ll give you more info soon.” Another pause. “Okay, brother. Good luck. Stay safe.”

He hung up the phone and looked at me.

I frowned. “Well?”

“He’s unhappy. But I think he listened.”

“Good,” I said, feeling relieved.

“Now we need to get back on the road. I’m guessing Tony tracked that call.”

“You really think so?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know how many resources he has at his disposal. I think it’s best if we assume that he has the whole mob helping him.”

I shuddered. “That can’t be true.”

“It could be.”

We climbed back into the car and he started the engine. It roared to life.

“How long?” I asked him.

He grinned at me. “Like twelve hours. So get comfortable.”

My face fell. “Twelve hours?”

“Just be thankful we’re safe.”

I nodded. “Yeah. Okay.”

He put the car into gear and we pulled out into traffic. I leaned back into my seat, getting comfortable.

He was right. I’d trade twelve hours in a car for safety any day.

* * *

T
he ride was long
, but it was uneventful. We drove straight through the night and the sun rose as we crossed through Indiana and into Michigan. Gates drank coffee after coffee, and although I offered to drive, he refused.

“Nobody drives her,” he said to me.

“Her?”

“My car.”

“Of course it’s a her.”

He grinned at me. “I can’t help it if I get all the ladies revved up.”

I rolled my eyes but his stupid joke did make me feel a little bit better. I looked back out the window and tried to imagine all the people we were passing. None of them had to worry about the mafia trying to kill them.

I must have closed my eyes, because one second I was imagining all those people, and the next I was sitting in a still car with sunlight streaming in through the windows. I sat up slowly, looking around, blinking away the confusion.

The windows were open, and Gates wasn’t in the driver’s seat. There were tall trees all around, and ahead there was a small cabin. I unbuckled my seatbelt and opened the door, climbing out.

My legs were stiff as I stretched the long trip from my sore muscles. I looked around and took a deep breath. This must be the cabin.

“Gates?” I called out and headed toward the front door.

It was pretty, but remote. There was nothing but woods all around. I felt like I was in the middle of a vast, deep forest and there was nobody nearby to save me if something went wrong.

Actually, that probably was the case.

“Gates?” I called out again, walking up the front steps. I suddenly felt a stab of fear and panic. I didn’t know where he was, and if he was gone then I was screwed. I didn’t know where I was or how I’d survive out here alone. Worse than that, if Gates was gone, that meant the mafia caught up to us.

“Gates?” I called one more time, really feeling the fear coat my stomach.

“Hey,” he said, pushing open the door. “You okay?”

I blinked at the gun at he was holding and the way his eyes scanned the tree line.

“Yeah,” I said. “I didn’t know where you were.”

He relaxed slightly. I could tell that he was still on high alert, though. “We got here maybe ten minutes ago. I was letting you sleep while I got this place in order.”

“Oh.” I paused, feeling silly. “Thanks.”

“Sure. Come on, come in.” He stepped aside and I walked past him.

It looked like any other cabin I’d ever seen in my life. There was a kitchen to the left, a small living room to the right, and a hallway leading toward the back. I assumed the bathroom and bedrooms were back there.

“It’s not a palace, but it’ll do,” he said. “There’s propane in the tank outside, so we’ll have heat. And there’s gas in the generator, so we’ll have electricity if we need it.”

“Good,” I said, nodding. “How far into the woods are we, anyway?”

“Far,” he said, laughing. “The nearest town is a half-hour drive, at least.”

“Wow.” I shook my head. “I’ve never been so secluded before.”

“Well, it’s the perfect place to hide. There’s even some canned food here, if you don’t mind that sort of thing.”

“Beats starving to death.”

“Sure does.” He gestured at the place. “Go ahead and get settled.” He turned back to the kitchen and I sat down at the table.

“Not much to settle,” I said.

“Good point.” He started fussing with the stove and eventually got it lit. He opened a can of soup and poured it into a pot, stirring as it heated.

We sat there in silence for a few minutes while he stirred. I could tell he was thinking about something, but I didn’t know how to bring it up and pull it out of him. Gates wasn’t exactly the forthcoming type, and I suspected that he didn’t respond well when someone pressed him too hard.

I was beginning to feel like I had a picture of Gates, even if it was in broad strokes. It was a sketch of him, but it was something. He was loyal as hell and serious, but he was also funny and cocky. He had a grin that drove me insane, but he had the attitude and the abilities to back it up. He held something deep inside of him, something that he wasn’t going to share with me anytime soon. But it only made me want him more, despite our insane situation.

He finished heating up the canned soup and placed a bowl in front of me, along with a spoon. He got us two glasses of water and sat down across from me.

“You’re not eating?”

“Not hungry,” he said.

“Come on. Eat something.”

He shook his head. “Had too much coffee. I’m going to crash soon.”

I took a bite of soup. It was plain and boring but exactly what I needed in that moment. I began to slowly eat.

“I think I owe you an apology,” Gates said after a minute or two.

“You definitely don’t.”

“I do.”

“Whatever you think you did, we’re more than even,” I said, laughing.

“I never responded to your letters.”

I stopped eating and stared at him for a second, the painful memories of those ignored letters rushing back to me. I looked away from him and out the kitchen window.

“I didn’t think you got them.”

“I did,” he said. “You can’t imagine how they made me feel.”

“Why did you ignore me, then?”

He was quiet for a moment. “I was in another country, surrounded by violence and danger. I didn’t think I was going to make it back home.”

“So what? You knew that going in.”

“It’s one thing to know it, but it’s another thing to see it. When I got your letters, I realized that I couldn’t do that to you. I couldn’t string you along.”

“Bullshit. You could have told me that.”

“It’s the truth. I couldn’t respond because I didn’t think I was strong enough to. But those letters got me through some serious shit for a while there.”

I chewed on my lip, unsure about how to feel. On the one hand, the pain of him ignoring me lanced through my chest and made me want to curl up into a ball and cry. I had a feeling he was just a one-night stand, but to have him completely ignore me just plain destroyed me. I got over it, of course, but at the time it was very, very painful.

On the other, I understood what he was saying. He was in a war zone and he couldn’t allow himself to get involved with someone back home. Maybe it was for my sake or maybe it was for his own, but he had to do what he needed to survive. I couldn’t fault him for that.

“It’s okay,” I said. “It doesn’t matter now.”

“It does matter. I wanted to respond to you.” He reached out and took my hand suddenly. “I wanted to tell you exactly how I felt so many times, but I never had the chance.”

“How did you feel?” I asked softly.

He stood up and came around the table. He knelt down in front of me and put one hand on my cheek, eyes staring deep into mine.

For a second, I thought he was going to say something. I thought he was going to confess some deep, inner secret to me. I could practically see it there, boiling under the surface.