Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
Tiny was extremely pleased and relieved that things between him and Ryleigh seemed to be mostly back on track. She’d forgiven him for being a jerk readily enough…which honestly didn’t surprise him too much, considering how kind she was. He’d had the evidence right in front of his face for months, and he’d stubbornly continued to think the worst.
But she’d proven over and over that all she wanted to do was help. Even when she’d been working as a housekeeper, she’d gone out of her way to assist others. Always volunteering to stay longer if needed, and to help Jess and Carly after she was done with her rooms if they were still working. Even now, he sometimes found her shadowing Joshua, the newest housekeeper, helping out when needed.
Now, all his animosity had turned to worry. She’d admitted that she was scared, said she needed to protect everyone at The Refuge, but she still wouldn’t open up to him about why. When she’d told Tonka that the thing with Tricare was a simple misunderstanding—Tiny had a feeling she was hugely downplaying the incident—Ryleigh had seemed extremely uncomfortable with his effusive gratitude.
Though she hadn’t actually said a word, Tiny strongly suspected she thought it was her fault there’d been an insurance mix-up in the first place. Which was crazy…wasn’t it? He couldn’t think of any reason why it would be her fault. The government insurance they all carried thanks to their military service was known to be glitchy, just like any insurance company.
But ever since Tonka had brought the issue to her attention a few days ago, Ryleigh had seemed…jumpy. The first thing she did every morning was open her laptop, her fingers flying across the screen as she searched for God knows what. Tiny had no clue, but it was obvious she was looking for…something. Someone? He didn’t know, and she wasn’t talking.
It was frustrating that she wouldn’t talk to him, but he knew better than anyone that he couldn’t force her to confide in him. She wasn’t an over-sharer at the best of times. Hell, he’d been as shocked as Ryleigh when she’d blurted out that she was a virgin. If he hadn’t surprised her so thoroughly with his admission that he was attracted to her, she probably would’ve never shared something so intimate.
Tiny was secretly relieved to have that vital information. It told him something important—that he needed to go slow. He didn’t care that she hadn’t had sex before. It didn’t turn him off…though he was mindful of the fact that taking her virginity came with the weight of certain responsibilities. But for now, he was just proud of her for knowing what she wanted—an emotional attachment to someone before she jumped into bed with them. If they got to the point where she wanted to be physical with him, he’d make damn sure she knew that he valued her decision to let him be her first.
In the meantime, and until she trusted him enough to talk about her fears, he’d learn as much about Ryleigh as he could through observation. He already knew how little she liked the outdoors, and it amused him. She didn’t mind walking around the grounds of The Refuge, but going out into the woods where there were—gasp—bugs and wild animals, wasn’t her thing. It was pretty cute. And it reinforced the fact that she was more comfortable with her computer than anything else, and had clearly grown up that way.
Today, Stone was taking him and Ryleigh up in the helicopter The Refuge had purchased. The former Army Night Stalker pilot wanted to scope out the best routes for sightseeing tours of the area, and he’d invited them both to come with him.
“I’m not sure about this,” Ryleigh said nervously as they walked toward the newly built hangar on the property.
“What aren’t you sure about? Stone’s an amazing pilot. I have more confidence in him than I do in the pilots who fly commercial jets.”
“It’s not that. I know he’s good. I’ve seen his— Er…” Her voice trailed off.
Tiny couldn’t help but laugh. “You’ve seen his records?” he guessed.
“Yeah. But I didn’t mean to,” she added quickly. “I was trying to find out more information about his background, so I could maybe find him that way. They kind of just jumped onto the screen without me doing anything.”
Tiny laughed harder. “Uh-huh. Just jumped onto your screen, huh?”
She gave him a sideways glance and seemed to relax when she realized he wasn’t upset.
“What about mine?”
“Your what?” Ryleigh asked.
“My records. They just happen to appear magically on your screen as well?”
She shrugged.
Tiny nudged her with his shoulder. “It’s okay if you saw them, it’s not as if I did anything every other SEAL hasn’t.”
Ryleigh stopped in the middle of the trail and stared at him. “You swam three miles into the ocean, dragging your injured teammate behind you, while being shot at from the shore, and then avoided terrorists who were searching for you by boat, getting to the rendezvous point that you didn’t even know would still be there or not.”
“SEALs don’t leave SEALs behind,” Tiny said with a shrug. The incident she was talking about had been hell. He still had nightmares about it. But he’d saved his teammate, and while they were being hunted, acting as a distraction for the terrorists, the rest of his team had killed the target they’d been sent in to find and eliminate. A win-win in his book.
Ryleigh simply shook her head and continued toward the hangar. “Whatever,” she mumbled, nudging him back, making Tiny smile.
Every now and then, his arm would brush against hers as they walked, and every single time, a surge of what felt like electricity shot down his body when they touched. It was a little disconcerting…but also a massive turn-on. He couldn’t even imagine what being with her skin-on-skin would do to him. Or being deep inside her body. He didn’t know if they’d ever get to that point, but he could dream about it.
“Anyway, as I was saying, this is gonna be fun,” he told her. “We’ll both get to see The Refuge from the air. There’s so much more than just the land around the cabins.”
“Filled with wild animals. And cliffs to fall off of. And bugs. Lots and lots of bugs.”
Tiny grinned.
“You know, I was content to see that stuff through the lenses of the cameras you guys put all over the property. I’ve seen all the mule deer, squirrels, and coyotes I ever want to see through my computer screen. Not to mention foxes, raccoons, sheep, cougars, and if I’d known there were bears here, there’s no way I would’ve taken this job.”
“Why did you? Take it, I mean?” Tiny couldn’t help but ask. He wasn’t sure Ryleigh would answer him, she was very good at evading his questions…but to his surprise, she didn’t hesitate to speak.
“I wanted somewhere off the beaten path. I was tired of the noise of the city. And all the people. I saw an ad online for this place, and read a review from someone who’d stayed here and claimed it changed her life. I looked up the website and was impressed with what I saw. It was rugged, but somehow still charming and quaint, and you guys do a lot of good things for people. I especially liked that.” She shrugged. “And when I saw it for the first time, when I was here for my interview, it just had a… safe feeling.”
Tiny nodded. “Yeah, I felt the same way when I first arrived. I mean, there weren’t any cabins or anything yet, but just being out here soothed my soul in a way I hadn’t felt anywhere else.”
“Except for the bugs, it’s perfect,” Ryleigh said with a grin.
They approached the hangar. Stone had left the bay door open and they could see the chopper inside.
Without thought, Tiny reached for Ryleigh’s hand. He wasn’t sure why, just that he needed to feel connected to her at that moment. Hearing she’d felt the same about The Refuge as he did the first time she’d stepped onto the property, made him want to be even closer to her.
They walked hand-in-hand into the hangar—but as soon as Tiny saw Stone, he knew something was wrong.
“Got bad news. We can’t go up today,” Stone told them.
Ryleigh dropped his hand, and Tiny let her go. “Why not?” he asked.
“The fuel we ordered wasn’t delivered this morning. I’m not sure why. I called the place, and they said they had no record of our order, which is bullshit because I personally verified it with them last week. It wasn’t on their schedule, which is super weird. Anyway, we got it straightened out, but they can’t come out for a few days now.”
Tiny was disappointed, as he was looking forward to seeing the property from the air, but he understood that sometimes glitches happened. But when he turned to Ryleigh, he stiffened. She was staring at Stone intently, and she looked…guilty, for some reason .
“What? What’s wrong?” he asked quietly.
She turned slowly to look at him, then blinked. “Um…nothing.”
Tiny’s lips pressed together. It wasn’t nothing , not if her reaction was anything to go by. He watched as she took a big breath and got control over her emotions. “Maybe we can do it next week then?” she asked Stone.
“I’ve already rescheduled,” he said with a nod.
“Cool,” she said.
Just then, Stone’s phone rang. He smiled apologetically at Tiny and Ryleigh, and answered. “Hey, Stellina , what’s up? What? Fuck. Okay, I’m on my way up there. Take a deep breath, she’ll be fine. They’ll both be fine. I know…all right. I’m coming.”
Stone hung up and didn’t wait for Tiny to ask what was wrong. “That was Maisy. Something’s wrong with Reese. She’s bleeding. She thinks it’s the baby. Spike’s taking her to the hospital as we speak and everyone wants to head over to be there for her.”
“What do you need us to do?” Tiny asked.
“Can you get the hangar closed up? Everything’s good in here, I locked the chopper down when I realized we wouldn’t be going up.”
“Will do. Go. Get to Maisy. She doesn’t need to be stressed this early in her pregnancy.”
“That’s what I keep telling her, but she won’t listen to me,” Stone said with a wry grin. Then he sobered. “Thanks, man. I’ll see you later?”
“Absolutely, yes,” Tiny told him.
He and Ryleigh worked together to close the huge hangar door, then he once more took her hand in his as they made their way back up the trail toward the cabins, much faster than their earlier stroll.
It wasn’t until they were on their way to the hospital that Tiny realized he hadn’t pressed Ryleigh about her reaction to the fuel delivery mix-up. But now wasn’t the time. She was worried about Reese, as was he.
He made a mental note to ask later though. He didn’t like when she kept things from him, and while he didn’t think she’d lie to him, since he’d asked her not to, not talking about something that was clearly bothering her was almost just as bad.
A couple hours later, everyone was back at the lodge at The Refuge waiting for word about how Reese and the baby were doing. She’d been airlifted to Albuquerque to their level-one trauma center, so they could better treat her and the baby.
Brick’s phone rang, and everyone immediately hushed as he answered it.
“Brick. Hey…yeah, okay…uh-huh…glad to hear it. I’ll tell them. When? Good. We’ll be waiting. All right. Later.”
“So? Was that Spike? What’d he say? How’s Reese? And the baby?” Alaska asked her fiancé impatiently.
“Yeah, it was him. Reese is okay. It was touch and go for a while, she lost a lot of blood, so they’ll be keeping her in the hospital in Albuquerque for a few days to make sure she’s really all right.”
“Oh, thank goodness,” Lara breathed.
Tiny let out his own breath of relief. He had no experience with pregnant women and the things that could go wrong, but he was glad Reese was okay.
“And the baby?” Henley asked, holding her own newborn in a carrier against her chest.
“Premature, but breathing on his own.”
Everyone gasped.
“Wait—she gave birth?” Cora asked.
“Apparently,” Brick said with a grin. “Dylan John Fowler was underweight, but the doctors think he’ll be just fine. He’s in the NICU, but Spike said it was a precaution, not because anything was majorly wrong.”
The worry in the room bled away. No one expected the second baby of The Refuge to be born so soon after the first, but the occasion was just as joyous as when Henley’s little girl arrived.
Everyone began to talk about moving up the baby shower they’d planned for next week, and deciding who would be going down to Albuquerque to see Reese, Spike, and Dylan first.
Everyone except Ryleigh. When Tiny looked over, she had her head buried in her phone, thumbs racing over the screen.
“What’re you doing?” he asked as he sidled closer to her.
She didn’t even look up. “Ordering food for Spike. And clothes for all three of them. They left here so fast, they didn’t have time to pack a bag. When Reese feels better, she’ll want some soft PJs to wear. And hospital food sucks. Reese will probably be too exhausted to eat right now, so I’m making sure they have good stuff delivered to her room for later. ”
Her compassion made Tiny feel guilty all over again about how he’d treated her.
“And I’m making sure their insurance is good to go,” Ryleigh mumbled under her breath.
Tiny smiled at that. Should he be worried about what databases she was hacking into as they stood there? Probably. But since she was looking out for one of his best friends, he couldn’t seem to dredge up any concern whatsoever about what she was doing.
Lunch was a celebration of sorts. Even though the people they were celebrating were down in Albuquerque, it didn’t take away from the happiness of the moment. Everyone was excited about Dylan’s appearance in the world and very relieved Reese was all right.
Tiny overheard Owl and Stone talking about the problem with the fuel delivery for the chopper, and how that could be a huge issue if, in the future, someone needed evacuation because of an injury or wildfire.
It took a moment for Tiny to realize Ryleigh wasn’t eating. She was picking at the food on her plate and pushing it around. “What’s wrong?” he asked softly, for her ears only.
She looked up at him. “Nothing.”
Tiny pressed his lips together in frustration, reminding himself that her reluctance to talk to him wasn’t a surprise. He’d been a dick to her for a long time. It wasn’t as if she was going to open up and tell him her deepest, darkest secrets just because he’d apologized. He’d have to prove to her that she could trust him, that he wouldn’t go back to being the asshole he’d been up until this point.
He opened his mouth to tell her as much, when sounds of a ruckus came from the reception desk .
Someone had arrived after lunch was served, and Alaska had gone over to help the man. Nothing seemed amiss…but now the new arrival was yelling and waving his arms in the air.
Brick was moving before anyone else had even noticed, but Tiny and all the other guys were quickly on their feet. Some of their guests were volatile because of the traumas they’d experienced. No one judged them for it, but at the same time, it wasn’t acceptable for that anger to be taken out on Alaska, or any other staff or guests at The Refuge.
“I don’t care what your computer says, I have a reservation!” the man shouted, his face turning red. “See? It’s right here! This is why I printed off my confirmation, things always get fucked up!”
“I’m sorry, sir, but there’s no record of that reservation number in the system. It must not have gone through,” Alaska said in a calm, steady tone.
“How could it not have gone through when I have a freaking reservation number and an email telling me what time check-in starts?”
The man had a good point, but Tiny wasn’t interested in that at the moment. He was more concerned with how angry the guy looked. While Brick circled the desk, heading for Alaska, Pipe was the first to reach the guest, and he didn’t pull any punches. He stepped into the newcomer’s personal space, forcing him to take a few steps back from the desk.
“We’ll figure this out, but you need to relax, mate,” he said firmly.
“You can’t tell me—” The man’s words abruptly cut off when he got a good look at Pipe. The man could be intimidating, with all his muscles and tattoos, and he was using both to his advantage at the moment. The angry man probably also thought better about whatever he might have said next when he saw all the remaining Refuge owners converging on him.
Brick gently pushed Alaska behind him at the desk, but she refused to completely back off.
“Mr. Henderson has a reservation number, but there’s no record of it in our system,” she told Brick unnecessarily. “I’m not sure how that happened.”
“Do we have a cabin available?”
Alaska bit her lip and wrinkled her nose. “We’re booked up tonight. Tomorrow, cabin four will be empty because we had a cancelation, but not tonight.”
“The friends and family cabin?” Owl asked from beside Tiny.
Alaska took a moment to consider his suggestion, then nudged Brick aside so she could reach the computer. She clicked on the mouse and typed something, then nodded.
“That should work,” she said. Looking at the guest, she took back control of the situation, as if she wasn’t surrounded by six very protective men. “Sir, I’m not certain how this happened. The cabin you reserved isn’t available, and tonight, everything is sold out. But we have a special cabin that’s reserved for friends and family that’s available. It’s smaller than the one you reserved, but you can stay there tonight, and tomorrow move into cabin four. To apologize for the inconvenience and the mix-up, we’ll give you fifty percent off your stay, if that’s acceptable.”
Tiny could hear the stress in Alaska’s voice, but she was as professional as ever .
“Yeah, I guess that’ll work. I was really excited to come here and couldn’t believe my luck when I was able to get such a late reservation. I’m sorry if I…uh…if I was too harsh a moment ago.”
“It’s okay,” Alaska assured him.
“Can I see the confirmation email?”
Tiny glanced over and saw Ryleigh standing to his right. He wasn’t sure when she’d appeared at his side, but he wasn’t particularly thrilled she’d put herself in range of a potentially dangerous man. Nine times out of ten, their guests were polite and calm, but a PTSD episode could flare at any moment, and the last thing Tiny and his friends wanted was for someone to get injured.
Mr. Henderson shrugged and held out the piece of paper he’d been clenching in his fist. She took it, and Tiny grasped her elbow and gently moved her off to the side. She dutifully shuffled where he wanted her to go, her mind occupied with examining the piece of paper.
Tiny heard Alaska talking to the man, and he vaguely noted some of his friends heading back to the lunch tables and the impromptu celebration of Spike and Reese’s newest arrival, but his attention was riveted on Ryleigh.
Her brows furrowed, and she frowned as she read the email Mr. Henderson had received. From where he was standing, it looked legit. It had The Refuge’s logo on the top and the signature line looked authentic as well. He had no idea how a mistake as big as sending someone a confirmation without a reservation could actually be made, but he knew Ryleigh and Alaska could figure it out.
Owl volunteered to show the man where his cabin for the night was located, and as soon as he and Mr. Henderson had walked away from the desk, Alaska began speaking.
“I don’t know what went wrong. That’s never happened before. There’s no way he should’ve gotten that confirmation without the number being generated by our system. And if he had a confirmation number, it should be on the schedule!”
“Easy, Al, it’s okay,” Brick told her.
“It’s fake,” Ryleigh said firmly. Her voice wasn’t loud, she was being cautious so the other guests eating nearby wouldn’t overhear, but she sounded completely confident in her assessment.
“What? Fake ? How is that even possible?” Alaska asked in confusion.
“Look—the email address is correct, but it’s spoofed. See the a? It’s different from the one in our default email font. Ours is a circle with a straight line drawn down on the right side. But this one is a Cyrillic a,” Ryleigh said, pointing to the email address.
“That makes a difference?” Brick asked.
“Absolutely.”
“But…why? How ?” Alaska asked.
Tiny kept his gaze locked onto Ryleigh. She knew what this was about, of that he had no doubt.
Alaska took the piece of paper and studied it. “Wow, this is really good. The picture at the top, the way it’s set up, the signature—everything is exactly like what we send out.”
“I’m sure that was done purposely,” Ryleigh said.
“So did Mr. Henderson actually pay for his stay? Where’d his money go?” Brick asked.
Anger rose within Tiny at the realization—someone was stealing from them. Had spoofed their confirmation email and taken the guest’s money. Not only was The Refuge out the cost of the man’s stay, but they would also essentially pay the guest to stay there, since they were refunding half of his charge.
“Tiny?”
Turning, he saw Luna standing behind him, looking concerned. He hadn’t even heard her approach, which he mentally kicked himself for. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Dad’s having a meltdown…I think…can you come to the kitchen and talk to him?”
Tiny nodded, on Brick’s heels as his friend also headed toward Robert and the kitchen. He wasn’t sure what was happening now , but his gut was screaming that something was very wrong.
When they entered the kitchen, they walked into chaos. The weekly delivery of food had obviously arrived while they were eating and dealing with the reservation issue, but it seemed twice as big as normal. There were boxes of food on every available surface, and Robert was checking off items, muttering swear words under his breath.
“What’s wrong?” Brick asked, interrupting the chef’s rantings.
“Everything! This order is all wrong!” Robert exclaimed. “I ordered twenty dozen eggs and instead got twenty. Twenty total, not twenty dozen. The flour’s missing entirely. I got baking chocolate instead of semisweet chocolate chips. If I used that in my cookies, you’d all revolt. The asparagus is celery and instead of fish fillets, I got frozen fish sticks. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg with this shitshow! Someone has to be pranking me, right? This isn’t cool. How the hell can I plan meals this week when my order’s so fucked up?”
The feeling that something was very wrong—something much bigger than a simple food order—continued to make the hair on the back of Tiny’s neck stand up.
Brick looked confused. Luna was standing off to the side, wringing her hands, not sure how to soothe her angry father. Then a noise behind him had Tiny spinning around.
Ryleigh was standing there, eyes big in her face—and she looked completely shattered.
He was moving before he registered what he was doing, approaching Ryleigh as he would a skittish colt. She was staring at the food strewn around the kitchen as if it was going to reach out and bite her.
“Ryleigh?” he said, taking a step into her line of sight, blocking Robert from her view.
She looked up, and the expression on her face almost made Tiny go to his knees. She looked lost. And so damn sad, it made his heart hurt.
“This is all my fault. I knew it was coming, but this is…it’s not good.”
“This isn’t your fault,” he told her. “There was probably a new employee packing Robert’s order, and he or she just messed it up.”
But Ryleigh shook her head. “No. It’s not that. Tonka’s insurance, the reservation, the fuel, the food…it’s all him.”
“Him who?” Tiny asked gently. He wanted to pull her into his arms, to comfort her, but she looked as if she would break into a million pieces if he touched her.
Her gaze cleared slowly…and Tiny could see the resolve transform her expression. “We need to talk. ”
“Okay,” he said without hesitation, relieved that she was finally going to confide in him.
“Everyone needs to be there. The Refuge owners, that is.”
Tiny wanted to insist she tell him what was bothering her first. But if she needed Brick and all the others to be there to hear whatever it was she had to say, he wasn’t going to object. “All right. When Spike gets back from Albuquerque with Reese, we’ll get everyone together and?—”
But she was shaking her head. “No. Now. Right now , Tiny. It can’t wait.”
“Okay.”
“What are we talking about?” Brick asked.
Ryleigh turned to him. “I know what’s going on. And unfortunately, it’s going to get worse.”
“Worse?” Brick asked, a muscle in his jaw ticking.
Ryleigh nodded.
“You want to meet us in the conference room? I’ll go get the others.”
Tiny wanted to protest. Ryleigh hadn’t eaten much before they’d been interrupted by the irate guest. And she looked pale. But Brick had already left the kitchen to gather their friends.
Putting his hand on the small of Ryleigh’s back, Tiny led her out of the kitchen, leaving Robert still mumbling under his breath about the disaster of the food delivery.
He saw the others getting up from the tables and heading toward the conference room, as he followed Ryleigh inside. She didn’t sit at the large table, instead began to pace back and forth.
Tiny eased himself down onto a chair but kept his gaze fixed on Ryleigh. He didn’t like this. Not one bit. Whatever was going on, he had a feeling he wouldn’t be able to fix it easily. Not like he could while he was still on the teams. Whatever was happening wasn’t something brute strength could resolve.
None of them were going to like whatever Ryleigh had to say. Of that he had no doubt.