CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER
EIGHT
It took several minutes for him to gather his thoughts and focus before he could wake up. When he opened his eyes, his first sight was of a scared Lana, with tears streaming down her face.
His second sight was both the kids and Lana’s dark-haired friend with her arms around them. Both kids had fear in their eyes.
Those looks gutted him. He was no good to them, broken like he was.
“Sorry. I’m okay. I’ll, um, call Peter to come get me and take me home.”
“No. Come here you two,” Lana softly told the kids.
Jayson watched as both kids slowly came their way. When Lana moved to sit on the bed, he didn’t move at all.
The feeling of her touching him warmed him. He hadn’t realized how cold he truly was.
“He’s okay. Remember how I told you your dad was out there taking care of the bad guys so you two were safe?”
“Yeah.”
Jayson inhaled deeply, his eyes closed at their soft response. Where was she going with this?
“Sometimes that leaves boo boos inside which can cause nightmares.”
“Like you have now and then, Mommy?”
Jayson’s eyes immediately went to Lana, who didn’t even attempt to look his way. Their kids were smarter than he’d ever realized.
“Yeah. Like Mommy’s sometimes. You know what makes Mommy feel better?”
“Yeah! Our hugs and kisses!” both kids yelled at the same time.
“Yeah, your hugs and kisses. Are you okay sharing those hugs and kisses with your dad?”
“He’s our daddy? He looks different than the picture in our room.”
Jayson was literally flabbergasted at his son’s admission. She actually gave the kids a picture of him.
“Because that’s an old picture of him. But, yes, this is your dad.”
“Can we give you a hug and kiss, Daddy?”
Jayson fought the tears that were fighting for freedom. He couldn’t let them see him cry.
“Y-yes. I’d like that very much,” Jayson answered his daughter.
Both kids scrambled onto the bed and enveloped him into a hug and gave him a kiss on each cheek. All he could do was hug them back and hold them tightly.
When they started giggling, he couldn’t help the smile that broke out on his lips. He reluctantly let them go to get his first good look at them.
“Thank you. I feel a lot better now.”
“Okay. Auntie Rocky is going to tuck you two in. Mommy needs to talk to Daddy for a moment.”
Jayson watched as they followed Lana’s friend out of the room. Leaning his back against the headboard, he closed his eyes to relieve the pressure he felt with the tears. When he felt Lana touch his arm, he was afraid to move.
“Hey, you okay?”
Jayson opened his eyes and stared at Lana for several minutes. God she was so fucking beautiful.
Her blue eyes weren’t as bright as they used to be, but damn she still took his breath away. She’d lightened her hair to a blonde with mahogany streaks.
“I’ll get there. Takes me a little bit after a flashback,” he finally answered, rubbing his face with his hands.
“How long have you been out of the Army?”
Jayson looked up at the ceiling on a heavy sigh. “Some days it seems like it was so long ago and then the days like tonight, hours ago. Reality, I was medically discharged three years ago.”
“How many didn’t make it?”
“Lana…”
“How many, Jayson?”
“Five didn’t make it. Myself and another guy, Jeffries, were injured. We fought off the enemy until our rescue got there. The enemy knew we were coming.”
“Damn. I’m sorry. Bad intel or possible leak?”
“We think it was both. But not enough proof of either one. On the surface, it looked like bad intel.”
“But you don’t think it was.”
“Jeffries thinks it was a hit on our team, and they got to the intelligence officer.”
“Jeffries? I don’t remember his name on your team roster.”
Jayson smiled at her statement then her blush as she suddenly went quiet. She had been damn good at her job when she was an intelligence officer.
“I was assigned to a new team after you left roughly six months later. I then went Delta Force shortly after joining the new team.”
“So, you did make it.”
Jayson’s heart squeezed at the smile on her face at the news he’d made Delta Force. She was actually happy for him.
“Yeah, I made it to Delta,” he answered softly, his smile matching hers.
“She said I was holding you back. I guess she was right after all.”
Jayson looked at Lana in confusion when she mumbled her statement about holding him back. What the hell did she mean by that?
“What the…”
When she cleared her throat in the middle of his question, he shook his head. He had to stop himself from reaching out to pull her back down onto the bed when she stood up.
“I’ll let you try and go back to sleep.”
“I’m fine, Lana. I won’t be able to go back to sleep. It’s very rare for me to go back to sleep after a flashback like that. I’ll call a cab and get out of your hair so that the rest of you can rest.”
“I’m awake myself. I can take you home. Let me go get dressed.”
“You okay with LuElle’s for breakfast? My treat?” Jayson offered. “Plus, we can get our talk out of the way so we can work out visitation and child support. I want to be a part of their lives if you will let me.”
“LuElle’s is still around? Yeah, I’ll take you up on that one. And yeah, I’m perfectly okay with you in their lives, Jayson. They need you and your parents in their lives.”
Jayson nodded at her as she turned to walk out of the room. Sighing heavily, he got up and got dressed in the clothes he wore earlier in the day since he would need a shower before he put on clean clothes.