Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“Uh, Tiny?”
“Yeah?” He looked over at Ryleigh. She was sitting on the couch next to him and clicking away at her keyboard, as usual. She’d been out of sorts for hours.
Earlier that afternoon, Jasna had arrived back at The Refuge in tears. She’d discovered that her grades were all D’s and F’s. Which made no sense whatsoever, since the girl was actually a very good student.
Ryleigh nearly lost her mind, but Henley stayed calm. Told Ryleigh in no uncertain terms that she would take care of that one. That Jasna’s teachers would realize immediately the electronically printed report card was wrong.
But everyone knew this was one more way Ryleigh’s father was attempting to cause trouble. To pick on a child was unacceptable. Why Tiny thought the man would have any shred of compassion or empathy, and not drag a kid into his schemes, he had no idea.
While fixing the grade snafu would’ve probably been way easier than fixing most things Harold Lodge had done, it was a huge blow to Ryleigh. Tiny hated this. All of it. He could kill a terrorist intent on doing harm to him or his team members, could hunt down an HVT, high-value target, and take him or her out without any remorse. But he was helpless to fight against someone who hid behind a keyboard. Who used electronic means as his weapons.
Ryleigh was still doing her best to mitigate the damage her father was causing, but they were all on pins and needles, wondering what would happen next.
“You told me that if I heard from my dad, I should let you know. Well…he’s messaging me.”
“What?” Tiny asked, putting aside his phone and practically leaping for Ryleigh. She handed her laptop over to him without hesitation.
The message on the screen wasn’t in a normal chat box. What looked like row after row of html code was slowly scrolling by, and it took Tiny a moment to pick out the message from Ryleigh’s father.
Bitch dont mess with me. you’ll give it back. all of it or else.
“Give what back?” Tiny asked.
“Um…I might have stolen ten thousand dollars from his account today,” Ryleigh said.
“ What? Why?”
“He made me mad! Messed with Cora and Pipe’s foster application. And since he’s refused to answer any of the messages I’ve sent him, I decided to talk to him in a language he couldn’t ignore.”
Tiny watched as more words scrolled past him on the screen.
The shit i’ve done, its nothing compared to whats coming.
Tiny had no idea how a father could talk to his own flesh and blood like this. “How do I respond? Just type?” he asked.
“Uh-huh. But…what are you saying?”
You’re a coward, Lodge. And a shit human being. Stop taking your patheticness out on innocent people.
ah the big bad seal speaks! enjoy her cunt, I’m sure its nice and tight considering what an uptight bitch my daughter is
Tiny ground his teeth together. He was doubly glad she’d let him screen the messages, as he’d asked. She didn’t need to see this vitriol.
i shouldve sold her when I had the chance
Leave her alone. You’ve done enough to fuck up her life. We’re going to find you, and when we do, you’ll spend the rest of your pathetic life behind bars.
ha! no you aren’t, and no I’m not
Be a real man and own up to your sins. Tiny knew that wasn’t going to happen, but figured he might as well see if he could try to goad him into doing the right thing.
a real man like you and your buddies? fine i’ll do that, i’ll act in a way you can understand and appreciate. it’ll be fun to watch the sparks fly
A chill went down Tiny’s spine. He had no idea what Harold meant by that, but he knew it couldn’t be good.
tell my darling daughter to give my money back, all if it, and all this stops. if not we’ll see who wins in the end
Tiny began typing a response, but suddenly the entire screen went black. He lifted his fingers from the keys in surprise.
“What? What’s wrong?” Ryleigh asked urgently.
“I don’t know. Everything went black.”
Ryleigh cursed and took the laptop from Tiny. She breathed a sigh of relief when words began scrolling on the screen once more. “He deleted the conversation. And I can’t trace him because he bounced his connection off too many towers. What’d he say?”
Tiny sighed. “He wants his money back. All of it.”
“I wouldn’t give him a penny if he was drowning and the money kept him from going under,” Ryleigh said fiercely.
“Come here,” he said, not giving her a chance to respond before he pulled her against his side. He buried his nose in her hair as he tried to get control over his emotions. He wasn’t surprised at how horrible her father was, she’d told him exactly what kind of man they were dealing with…and yet, he was still disturbed at how easily he’d talked about selling his own daughter.
To his relief, Ryleigh snuggled against him immediately. Her arms went around him and she pressed her cheek to his shoulder.
“Have you ever seen the movie Sixteen Candles ?” she asked out of the blue.
Tiny stifled a groan. “Let me guess, the girls told you about Jake Ryan.”
Ryleigh giggled, and the sound went straight to his dick. “Yeah, but I’d heard people say they think you look like him before today.”
“I do not,” Tiny insisted, although deep down, he had to agree there was a slight resemblance. On one hand, he couldn’t believe he was having this conversation, but on the other, he was more than glad he wasn’t trying to soothe Ryleigh after she was forced to read for herself all the shit her father had the nerve to say to her.
“Can we watch it?”
“ Sixteen Candles ? ”
“No, Alien fourteen. Yes! Sixteen Candles .”
“If I can find it on one of the streaming apps.”
“Oh, it’s there. I already looked it up,” Ryleigh said. Tiny could hear the humor in her voice.
“Of course you did. What would you do if I’d said no?”
“Watch it with one of the girls. Maybe Reese, she seems to really love it.”
Tiny reached for the remote. “Nope, that’s not happening. We can watch it.”
Ryleigh giggled again. He liked her like this. Relaxed. Happy.
She told him which app the movie was on and within minutes, the opening credits were rolling. Ryleigh looked up at him. “Tiny?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m sorry you had to talk to my dad. I’m sure it wasn’t fun. And he probably said some awful things. But I’m going to stop him. If it’s the last thing I do.”
“ We are going to stop him. And it won’t be the last thing. I won’t allow that. Not when we’re just getting started.”
“Started with what?”
“Us.”
She blinked at him, then gave him the sweetest smile he’d ever seen. She put her head back on his shoulder and squeezed him tightly. Tiny kissed her head and relaxed against the cushions. Ryleigh had snuck under his shields as easily as she slipped into top-secret databases. But he wasn’t sorry. He was tired of being suspicious of everyone and everything. He wanted what his friends had.
And he knew to the very marrow of his bones that Ryleigh was his chance. His chance to trust again. To love.
If Tiny thought Ryleigh would fall asleep halfway through the eighties movie, he was very wrong. She stayed awake and kept up a running commentary throughout. She rolled her eyes in disgust at the blatant discriminatory depictions of Asians, and how the supposed “hero” left a blind-drunk woman—one he was dating—in the hands of someone else, giving him carte blanche to have sex with her, even though she couldn’t consent.
But at the end, when Jake Ryan appeared at the church where Samantha’s sister got married and responded to her innocent, “Who me?” question with, “Yeah, you,” Tiny still heard Ryleigh sigh.
The kiss over the birthday cake at the very end was cheesy as hell, but he could see how it would appeal to teenagers…and apparently Ryleigh.
She looked up at him when it was over, but she didn’t speak.
“So?” he asked.
“So, what?”
“Does he look like me? That main dude?” Tiny asked.
Ryleigh studied him for a long moment before shrugging. “There’s some resemblance, but honestly, you’re much more…”
Tiny practically held his breath waiting for whatever she was going to say.
“Rugged. Less pretty-boy. More real.”
He let out his breath. He could live with all of that. “What do you want to watch next? Pretty in Pink ? Say Anything ? Breakfast Club ?”
She giggled. “How about Under Siege ? ”
Tiny groaned.
“What? It’s manly. And has Navy SEALs in it,” Ryleigh protested.
“It’s awful.”
She pouted. “I like it. I can picture you as the lead. Being all badass, blowing up microwaves, not shivering even though you’ve been locked in a freezer, caring about that poor low-ranking guy who was just trying to do his job, and vowing revenge when your friend the general was killed.”
“Commanding officer,” he corrected.
“Whatever.”
Tiny couldn’t help but like that she saw him that way. “Fine.”
This time, Ryleigh did fall asleep halfway through the film. Instead of waking her up and sending her to bed, Tiny switched positions on the couch, lying lengthwise with Ryleigh dead to the world on top of him. One hand rested on the small of her back, and the other was under his head, acting as a pillow of sorts.
This felt good. Amazingly good. He hadn’t slept in the same bed…er, couch…with a woman since Sonja. Hadn’t been able to, mentally.
And yet with Ryleigh, he felt not one iota of doubt or trepidation. Even though she’d lied to him, even though he’d spent months trying to dislike her. It felt as if from the moment he’d met her over a year ago, they’d been working toward this point in time.
Was Tiny all of a sudden a different man? One who trusted everyone, and everything they said? No. Hell no. But he trusted this woman. She should be a complete mess, what with her background. Instead, she was compassionate and kind. She went out of her way to help others in any way she could. Tiny understood it was an attempt to atone for what she saw as her sins, but as far as he was concerned, they weren’t her sins. They were her shithead of a father’s.
She would no sooner stab him in the chest in the middle of the night than she would decide to go back to a life of crime at her father’s side.
No, if she was going to do anything , it would be to slink off quietly, disappear like a puff of smoke.
Tiny was completely safe from Ryleigh attempting to inflict violence on his person. But not from damaging his heart. He wasn’t safe from falling in love with her.
Shit. Love…
Yeah. He was a goner.
He’d have to go slow. For both their sakes. Prove to her that his assholery of the past was just that—in the past. That she could trust him with no reservations. More importantly, prove that he trusted her the same way.
With that thought, Tiny closed his eyes, a lightness he hadn’t felt in years settling over him. He’d seen therapists, talked about his trust issues, about the things he’d seen and done as a SEAL, and yet, he’d never felt any different afterward. He’d remained the same messed-up guy he’d been before therapy. But now he felt a shift inside himself. As if he’d finally let go of the bitterness, the anger he’d held on to for so long.
Sleep came fast, for once. And it was a deep, healing sleep. Ryleigh in his arms, against his heart, was what he’d needed for years. Now that he had her, he wasn’t letting anyone, including her asshole father, take what he’d waited for his entire life.