Chapter 2
Chapter Two
brYCE
Ihadn’t been able to focus on a damn thing. Since running into Tessa outside Alpha Omega earlier, I felt like I’d been shot with enough adrenaline to bring a goddamn elephant back to life.
I couldn’t sit still, but I couldn’t concentrate long enough to do any actual work. My mind had been firmly rooted in the past—a dangerous place for me—since that encounter, and it was screwing with me in ways I hadn’t experienced in years.
Giving up the ghost, I decided to leave the cases I’d been working on for another time and headed through the lobby of Alpha Omega’s offices to the stairs leading to the second level.
When my head got fucked up, I could take my frustrations out on the equipment in the state-of-the-art gym Lincoln, our boss and the founder of the company, had built upstairs.
And that was exactly what I planned to do.
I made quick work of changing in the small locker room, then headed for one of the treadmills. I’d start off with a ten-mile run in the hope of calming the swirling tempest in my head, and if that didn’t work, I’d beat the hell out of the punching bag, or hit the bench press until my arms gave out.
As I cranked up the incline, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. Already knowing who had joined me, I kept my eyes forward as my feet pounded out a steady rhythm on the belt.
“Kind of in the middle of somethin’ here. And before you ask, no. I don’t want to talk about it.”
“It was her, wasn’t it? Saw her through the glass and thought I’d spotted a ghost.”
I knew the feeling, more than he could ever understand. “We aren’t doin’ this right now,” I gritted out.
“Too damn bad,” Hunter said, coming to a stop at the front of the machine. “You didn’t really think we’d just go about our day like nothin’ happened, did you?”
My finger smashed the button on the dial, ramping up the speed. “That’s exactly what I plan to do.”
“For Christ’s sake, Bryce. She’s your—”
“I know what she is,” I barked, ripping the key from its slot and bringing the treadmill to an abrupt halt. “Fuck, man. You think I forgot? That I haven’t spent nearly every minute of every fucking day thinking about her?”
The sympathy in his eyes was almost too much to bear.
Of all the men I worked with, only Hunter knew the darkest secrets I kept locked behind a facade of charm and humor.
He was the only one who knew the truth. That it was all a lie, an act I put on every single day in an attempt to forget the pain lurking beneath the surface.
“How long do you plan on beatin’ yourself up, Bryce? It’s been years. What happened wasn’t your fault.”
Leaning forward, I braced my elbows on the front panel of the machine so we were almost at eye level. “Yeah? Tell that to Moss’s wife. Or how about you try explainin’ that to Danielson’s two kids. You tell them it’s not my fault they barely have a memory of their dad?”
Hunter’s jaw ticked as he clenched his teeth. “They don’t blame you, and you know it.”
“Well they should. And so should you. Christ, Hunt. It was because of me you lost—”
“Damnit, Bryce!” he thundered, slamming his fist into the treadmill. “That’s not on you, so stop carryin’ that weight. It’s not yours to have.”
Shadows danced over Hunter’s eyes, leaving a vile, acidic taste in my mouth.
All he’d suffered, whether he was willing to admit it or not, was because of me.
Hunter McCann was a born fighter. The smartest, toughest man I’d ever had the pleasure of knowing.
He was a SEAL to his very core and would have gladly served his country until old age took him from this earth.
Unfortunately, an RPG had cost him half his leg and nearly his life, effectively ending the career he’d loved.
“Christ, you’re one the most hard-headed sons of bitches I’ve ever met.”
I lifted a single brow. “Thank you?”
He let out a huff and rolled his eyes. “That wasn’t a compliment, asshole.
” With a weary sigh, he reached up and ran a hand through his hair.
“This self-imposed punishment you’ve been inflicting on yourself has to end, man.
I don’t know why your girl’s back, but it appears you got yourself a second chance, and I’ll be damned if I’m gonna sit by and watch you waste it. ”
Standing tall, I gave my head a shake. “It doesn’t matter.
This isn’t the second chance you think it is.
” My gut twisted at the memory of her face, that lost, sad look that filtered across her expression before she covered it with hatred so thick it bled from her pores.
“She doesn’t want anything to do with me. ”
“So change her mind,” he said, like it was the simplest thing in the world. His lips stretched into a shit-eating grin as he added, “You might be one ugly fucker, but you have a gift for charmin’ the panties off any woman you meet. That’s the only reason you landed her in the first place.”
A surprising bark of laughter burst from deep in my chest. “I’m better lookin’ than you, asshole.”
“Not even on your best day,” he replied with a scoff before those shadows in his gaze returned. “Look, just think about what I said, yeah? One of us should get the woman he wants, and we both know it’s not gonna be me. That means its on you, brother.”
With that, he turned and headed for the stairs, the subtle limp in his gait barely noticeable anymore.
He thought I didn’t notice every time he winced, every time he reached down to massage an ache that was only in his mind, but I did, and each time I saw it, another piece of me shriveled up and died.
The doctors had called them phantom pains, but for all the discomfort it caused him, the mangled limb might as well still be there.
I could still hear the sound of him bellowing, could still feel his body thrashing beneath my hands as I struggled to help nurses and doctors hold him down while he screamed in agony at the pain in a leg that was no longer there.
Once I was alone, I put the key back into the machine and cranked it back up, running the first few miles at a full sprint. I ran until sweat poured down my forehead and seeped into my eyes, causing a nagging burn. When that was done, I spent another two hours beating my body into exhaustion.
But it wasn’t enough. After a quick shower, I headed back downstairs.
The office had closed for the day, meaning everyone had cleared out, so I didn’t have to worry about being bombarded with a million questions.
Sitting at one of the many computers in Alpha Omega’s control room, I tapped the keyboard to bring the screen to life and started typing.
Xander Caine might have been our resident computer genius, but, fortunately, I was tech savvy enough to navigate my way around the web in search of what I needed.
I quickly became consumed, searching for every bit of information on Tessa Day I could find.
I was like an addict in desperate need of his next fix.
It was the reason I’d resisted doing this very thing all these years.
I knew if I learned where she was or what she was doing, I wouldn’t have the strength to keep from tracking her down.
But that wasn’t an issue anymore. She was already here.
And if I was going to do as Hunter suggested, I needed to be armed with as much knowledge as possible.
An hour later, after scouring the internet—some searches legal, others . . . not so much—I pushed away from the desk and headed out.
My body guided my truck out of the small downtown area as if it had a mind of its own.
Pulling to a stop across the street from Valley Inn, I slid the gear shift into park and stared out the driver side window.
The picturesque Victorian had been converted into a twelve-room inn several years back.
A gravel parking lot large enough to accommodate the guests stretched across both sides of the large walkway that led to the entrance.
I searched the lot for Tessa’s car but didn’t see it.
However, I was willing to wait her out. Leaning back in my seat, I rolled my shoulders and stretched out my neck, trying to alleviate some of the tension that had knotted up my muscles as I settled in.
Sure enough, thirty minutes later, the black sedan registered to her that I’d found in one of my searches pulled into one of the vacant spots.
My heart began knocking against my ribs with the force of a sledgehammer as I watched her climb from the car. Her hips swayed as she moved to the trunk. Those long legs, even encased in denim, were as curvy and enticing as I remembered, and I remembered a lot.
The memories of our time together were always there, and as I watched her now, there was one in particular that teased at the fringes of my mind, refusing to be pushed away.
We were on the fourth night of our week in Vegas, and so far, they’d been the best four days of my life.
Tessa had this light about her that became more and more addictive the longer I spent in her presence.
It had been such a short time, and already I couldn’t get enough of her.
Her laugh, her smile, everything about her was infectious.
I wanted to know everything about her. For four days and nights, I’d peppered her with questions, wanting to learn everything I could, to discover what made her tick.