Chapter 3
Chapter Three
NOAH
Present Day
Company Family Day. That’s what Nick Salinger called it.
Like, somehow, that made it more inviting.
I had been at Hope’s Haven for just over a month and I was ready to bolt.
Everyone was perfectly nice. Mrs. Salinger, the owner of the B&B was more than nice.
She was sweet most of the time but she had that tactical brand of bossiness that came from being the mother of special forces children.
Add in her history of being one of the first rescue pilots, and she was a force if naturte.
The woman could nurture, but she was as protective as the men around her.
Like, when I’d refused to get out of bed to go to therapy.
She’d made some excuse about why she needed to change the bedding, or she got her husband to come in and fix something. She would not allow me to wallow.
Like the baby monitor she kept in my room. She warned me she was doing it and had politely asked me to not switch it off. I didn’t have the heart to disagree with her.
As it turned out, she never asked how I slept, and she never mentioned my nightmares. On the nights I had them, no one interrupted me, and she served me breakfast in bed the morning after.
I owed that woman a debt of gratitude. For one thing, if any of the guests had interrupted me during a nightmare, I could’ve seriously hurt them. I don’t know how, but she made sure that never happened and that I didn’t have to face anyone the morning after.
It was a helluva lot more than what my own mother did for me. No. My mother relied on nannies and then later lamented the fact that I didn’t follow the same career path as her or my dad. I had no doubt there would have been a litany of I told you so’s if she’d discovered my trouble sleeping.
Heaven only knew what she would have to say about my inability to be around strangers or deal with crowds of people for too long.
Avoiding my mother and the parade of people she surrounded herself with was the main reason I opted to stay at Hope’s Haven.
After being in enemy hands for several weeks the year before, I went to therapy and I had dealt with my issues. Apparently not.
When me and my team were taken a few months ago, it took all I had not to fall back into that dark place.
When the Salingers rescued me and it was apparent I was struggling, Nick sent me back to therapy, suggested I recover at Hope’s Haven and offered me a job.
My time in the Marines was drawing to a close, but the operator in me was not ready to retire.
It made sense to accept what Nick was offering.
Well, I accepted the offer of a place to recover. The job I was still iffy about.
The Salinger siblings ran a tactical training and security company.
They had the best training facilities in the country.
Besides having access to medical professionals, I was given time in their state-of-the-art gym, their pistol and rifle ranges and obstacles courses.
They had more tactical training facilities that I would become familiar with soon, provided I accepted the job that Nick had offered me.
He’d mentioned something about a man needing to provide for more than just himself and refused to take no for an answer.
So there I was, standing barefoot with my faded jeans and dark blue T-shirt in front of a full-length mirror, putting together a plan to get out of Company Family Day. I wasn’t even properly employed yet, for fuck’s sake. Surely, he couldn’t force me to go?
A knock at my bedroom door pulled me from my thoughts and before I could answer Nick walked in. “Hey.” He looked down at my feet. “You’re going to need shoes. We usually end up playing some sort of game.”
“You know.” I scowled at him. Nick and his team were among the few people who were not intimidated by me, though. “It’s customary to wait to be invited in after you knock.”
“Get used to it.” Nick rolled his eyes. “And if you’re going to get busy in your office, lock the damn door. I’ve walked in on both Mason and Oliver with their women. My eyes will never recover.”
“I’m thinking you deserved the trauma and cost of therapy.”
He shook his head and sat on the bed that had miraculously been made while I’d been at breakfast that morning.
My room at the B&B wasn’t the biggest. But it was enough for a king size bed, a dresser, and a desk and chair.
Nick leaned his forearms on his thighs and pierced his stare at me. This can’t be good.
“Look, I need you to know that I’ve seen your file and probably know more about you than I should.”
“Because Jared and Tex are good at what they do?”
Tex was legendary and he obviously saw enough in Jared to want to mentor him. Not something the man did often.
“They do very thorough background checks.” Nick smiled and the gesture transformed his face. “There was a lot riding on it.”
“Is there a reason why you’re bringing this up now?
” I turned back to the mirror, keeping an eye on his reflection.
It made sense he ran all sorts of checks before he’d hired me.
He probably checked it out before he rescued me and my team.
There was no reason to tell me about it.
It was part of what made him the best in the business.
Nick opened his mouth to speak. Closed it, then started again. “No. Just know that I know things, and you wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think you could handle what will be thrown at you.”
With that he stood and stalked out of the room. I stared after him, not bothering to decipher his cryptic message. That was a detail for another day.
Fifteen minutes later, feet planted into my boots and baseball cap backwards, I headed out to where everyone had gathered.
Cars were parked at the B&B with picnic tables down at the other end of the field.
Beyond the huge expanse, with toddlers running about, was the Salinger Security offices and facilities.
I seemed to have walked into the middle of some kind of water fight.
“Hey, Moore, catch.” Jared threw a plastic water gun - or water rifle in my direction. I easily caught it and raised a brow. “Salingers vs Non Salingers. You, me, and Skylar against Bex, Oliver, and Nick.”
Bex was Nick’s younger sister, and Oliver was his brother. I had met all the Salingers during my recovery and even met some of their spouses.
“Who’s Skylar?”
“Me.” A young girl, maybe eleven or twelve beamed at me. Her smile seemed to come from within and lit up the whole world. “Even though Grandma Hope is like an honorary grandma. I’m still not a Salinger. Not for this war, at least.”
It took me a moment to take in the girl.
There was something familiar about her. The way she spoke reminded me of someone I had tried hard to forget.
Someone I promised myself I would look up one day when I got out.
And I might’ve kept that promise if I hadn’t come back broken.
Finding Everly was just not meant to be.
Water hit my arm and I ducked down, pulling Skylar with me. “What are the rules? One hit and you’re done?”
“Oh, no.” Mischief written all over her face. “There’s no real winner. We just try to get the other team as wet as possible.”
I peeked over the car that was between me and Nick. Bex was approaching from my left and who the fuck knew where Oliver was. I turned to Jared. “Go right. Skylar, when I give the signal, I want you to shoot at Nick for as long as possible. Okay?”
Nick was a great sniper. The stories about him and his brother Mason were the things legends were made of. Still, I could hold my own.
“Sure.” She leaned up and moved her cheek against the plastic. “Do what you need to, old man.”
There was something weirdly comforting about hearing her call me old man. Still, I couldn’t just let it slide. Seeing Oliver appear in my periphery, it was obvious what needed to happen. “I'll show you old. Go. Now, Skylar.”
I twisted and aimed the water gun at Oliver, making sure he was soaked from head to toe.
Skylar got a good portion of water aimed at Nick and naturally Jared hit Bex.
Of course, all three of us got good and soaked in the process as well, but for the first time in a long while the weight on my chest lightened.
Skylar’s laugh was contagious as she jumped around and declared our team the winners. I couldn’t help but stare at her. She looked at me and curiosity infused her happiness. “What? You’re looking at me funny?”
I shook my head, not wanting people to catch me staring at a young girl. “You remind me of someone I used to know.”
“Girl or Boy?” Skylar’s eyes narrowed.
“A woman I met a long time ago.”
“Well, it can’t be my mom.” She handed the rifle to Nick, who looked more tense than I had ever seen him. “I don’t look like her. She has blue eyes and blonde hair. As you can see, I have brown hair and brown eyes. Nothing special.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “I have brown hair and brown eyes.”
There was no way to miss Nick stepping closer. Except for Skylar who wasn’t paying attention and carried on speaking. “My mom loves my eyes. She says they’re soulful, like my dad’s.”
Her words gave me pause. Someone has said something similar to me. “Your dad?”
“Yeah, I’ve never met him.” Skylar’s face turned sad. “Mom said he was a hero who had to fight for our country. But I hope one day she’ll give me more information.”
No. It couldn’t be. My chest tightened but I needed to ask. I glanced at Nick whose face had hardened. “Skylar, what is your mother’s name?”
“Everly Hale. Though a lot of people still think of her as Eve Halle because she had a hit album many years ago.”
My breath caught in my lungs. “Wha—”
Then Nick stepped up to Skylar. “Sweetheart. Your mom looks to be running late. But Grace just arrived.”
“Grace is my best friend.” She smiled up at me, then she was off in the direction of the picnic tables, and I glared over at Nick.
“Did you know?”
Without hesitation he nodded. “Everly was meant to be here by now. It’s not like she’s avoiding you. She didn’t know you were going to be here.”
I scowled at Nick. “You were going to blindside her?”
“I did—”
Just then a phone rang and Bex, still glaring at her brother, reached into her pocket. She nodded before answering. “You’re late.” Her body stiffened and eyes narrowed. “Where?” Another pause and she rolled her eyes. “Of course, I know where that is. I’ll be there in thirty. Stay in your car.”
She disconnected the call.
I suspected who was on the phone. “What’s going on?”
“Evvie’s car broke down on Highway 1. Said there’s smoke coming out of the engine.” Bex pocketed her phone and started walking towards where the rest of the cars were parked. “She called Triple A but I want to check it out.”
“I’m going with you?” There was no other option.
Bex held up her hand. “I don’t think—”
“All due respect, Bex, what you think is not a priority.” I had to remind myself that Bex likely didn’t know what her brother was up to. The blatant glare in his direction made that obvious.
Nick waved her off. “Bex, we're not going to stop him. But maybe we take two cars.”