Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
He pulled me down to his chest, and I let loose. Telling that story just brought everything back. I’d only thought about it in bits and pieces in the last few years, but explaining everything all at once… it killed. The only thing saving me was Graham. Being there in his arms.
I cried about never having my dad’s hugs or my mom’s kisses when I was in the hospital, and then I sobbed even harder as I remembered all the times I wanted to tell someone about what had happened when I returned to Tennessee but couldn’t.
Thank God for Graham Wallace.
“Let it out,” I heard Graham croon as I finally started to get myself under control. God knows how long I had been crying. I started to hiccup.
“Do you need a glass of water?” he asked quietly.
I nodded, my forehead resting against his shirt. I opened my eyes and saw a big wet stain on his chest and wondered just how much of it was snot, then sighed.
Classy, really classy, Joy.
Graham was somehow able to lift out of the recliner with me in his arms.
He turned around and set me back down in the chair.
“I’ll be right back.”
I nodded again. Before I knew it, he came out of the kitchen with a bottle of water and a plastic shopping bag. Then he went down the hallway and came back with a roll of toilet paper. I looked up at him and gave him a soggy grin.
He shrugged. “I figure it was better than paper towels.”
I giggled. It felt good. “You thought right.” I blew my nose and threw the tissue into the plastic bag. Then I drank down half the bottle of water.
“How are you feeling?”
“Kind of embarrassed.”
Graham crouched down in front of me and snorted. “Liking pineapple on your pizza? Now that you should be embarrassed about. This shit? No way.”
“I don’t know, Wallace. Wiping snot on your shirt is pretty damned embarrassing…” I took another look at the big wet mark on his T-shirt.
“Well, I can sure as hell top that. For a while, my nickname during training was ‘Crack Operator.’”
I was confused. “Wasn’t that a good thing?” I asked.
“It could have been. But not in my case.”
“Why not?”
He sat down on the arm of the chair and put his arm around me. “Believe it or not, back in my younger days, I was kind of competitive.”
This time I was the one who snorted. “Really? Are you trying to tell me you aren’t anymore?”
“Hush up. This is my story. No smart-ass comments allowed.”
“Anyway, back in California, I was making my best time ever on the SEAL Team’s obstacle course.
I had a real shot at beating my classmate, Steve Lotts, and I was giving it all I could.
The thing that normally got me was the Slide for Life obstacle.
It came near the end of the O-Course, but this time I literally breezed through it.
I got up to the platform and slid down the rope, smooth as silk.
It burned a little, but it didn’t matter, I knew I was going to beat Lotts’ time.
” Graham looked down at me, and I snuggled close. He gave a weary sigh.
“Then what happened?”
“Since everybody in my class knew I was gunning for Steve, most of them were watching. I got to the next obstacle, which was the Rope Swing. My hands were fatigued, so my grip wasn’t the best, but I made it.
When I was running for the Incline Wall, I realized that the guys in my class were laughing.
But I tuned them out. I needed to focus.
The second to the last obstacle was a bitch and a half.
It’s called the Spider Wall. You have to grip small sections of wood that are spread far apart and get to the end.
I lunged for the last wooden grip and swung my leg around. That’s when I felt it.” He paused.
“Felt what?” I prompted.
“The California beach breeze, flowing across my junk.”
“What? What are you talking about?” I knew my eyes were wide as saucers. I couldn’t help it.
Graham slid his hand over his face, then shook his head.
He continued. “I found out later from one of my classmates that while I was on the ‘Slide for Life,’ my fatigues had torn open at the crotch. It was only a little tear, but as I’d continued through the course, the tear got bigger and bigger.
Thank God the Navy insisted you wear underwear, otherwise I would have been dangling in the breeze. ”
I laughed so hard I started to choke. “That didn’t really happen, did it?” I wheezed out my question.
“Oh yeah, it did. But even though I realized my pants were split open, there was no way I was going to let it stop me from finishing the course. I had to end with the Vaults obstacle and then do fifty pushups. By the time I was done, it wasn’t just my classmates who were watching.
I had two more classes who were checking me out and four senior chiefs. It was miserable.”
“What’s a senior chief?”
“You know what a drill sergeant is, don’t you?”
“Yep.”
“That’s what a senior chief is, only ten times worse,” Graham said.
“Worse? I’ve seen the drill sergeants in movies, they’re awful.”
“Joy, these senior chiefs are training us to be Navy SEALs. Our BUD/S training, which stands for Basic Underwater Demolition / SEAL, is six months long. I’ve heard of classes where only ten percent of the men who start end up finishing.”
“That’s just wrong.”
“No. That’s good. We have to put our lives in the hands of one another. We want only the best of the best working with us.”
“How often did you—”
“Nope, we’re not going there. I told you all of this so I could let you realize why you shouldn’t be embarrassed about a little snot between friends.
I wanted you to know the embarrassing reason that for the last four months of my Navy SEAL training, I was known as Crack Operator.
Now, do you realize that there is nothing you can do that will be more embarrassing? ”
I grinned. “I see your point.”
“However, I am going to go change my shirt.” His eyes crinkled as he smiled.
“I need to use the bathroom,” I said quickly before I begged to watch.
He put one arm around my neck, then kissed my temple. “Meet you on the deck?”
I nodded. “You really need furniture in here.”
He rolled his eyes.
Graham was talking as soon as I walked out onto the deck.
“I’ve called Hart Laramie. He’s going to pull a few strings and see what the folks in London have to say about your stalker.”
“Hart?”
“Yeah, he’s got quite the colorful background. He’s got a friend in Interpol, so he’s going to find out what happened with your case.”
Graham held out his hand, and I sat down next to him on the outdoor couch.
“I can’t afford to pay, Onyx.”
“He doesn’t want payment. This is just a friend helping out a friend. He’s just asking a few questions.”
I looked him dead in the eye and could see he wasn’t trying to pull a fast one like he did with Miss Laverne, but still. “Graham, I need to make something very clear.”
He grabbed my hand and laced our fingers together. That was something I noticed about him. He always liked to be touching me. I loved it.
“Okay, Doll. Spit it out.”
“I pay my own way. Yeah, on a date, I’ll let you pay, but I enjoy picking up groceries for the meals I make for you. And I’ll definitely want to pay for any security firm that is working on my behalf.”
He pulled my hand so that our tangled fingers rested on his rock-hard thigh. “I see we need to talk this out.”
I sat up straight. “There’s really nothing to talk out. I have a job, I live within my means. However, if something big comes up, I’ll find a way to pay for it. I won’t be relying on my new boyfriend.”
“Joy, I’m not just your boyfriend. I’m your man.
We’re building something here. Something strong.
I will never trample over you or your feelings.
Your self-worth means the world to me. But you need to understand, when it comes to your safety, I need to put everything I have and everything I am on the line for you.
You come first in my world. That’s just the man I am. Are you going to deny me this?”
Shit, when he put it like that, how could I let my pride stand in his way?
I reached out and cupped his jaw, his beard tickling my hand. “I understand, Graham. Okay, for this, you get to take the lead.”
He gave me a grateful smile, and I snuggled even closer. “So, what do you want to do for the rest of the day?”
He lifted an eyebrow. “Besides that,” I laughed. “Anyway, weren’t you due at Onyx today?”
“I’m taking the day off,” he informed me. “So, you tell me, what do you want to do?”
“You are? Why would you do that?”
“You’re kidding, right?”
I shook my head.
“For God’s sake, Joy. You have a stalker here, and it could be the guy from London or somebody new here in Tennessee, but we need to start figuring things out. I want to start doing that today. So, for the next hour or two, I’m yours.”
“This goes with the whole taking care of me, right?”
“Damn right it does.”
I wrapped my arms around his waist and leaned my cheek against his chest. I heard the steady beat of his heart, and it soothed me.
“In that case, I want to go to Miss Laverne’s for a change of clothes.
Two days in a row in the same clothes makes me feel icky.
Plus, I want to go check in on her. If someone’s after me, I’m afraid they might target where I live, and she might get caught in the middle. ”
He stood up and held out a hand. “Good thinking. We should definitely give her a heads-up.”
I took his hand and stood up. “The thing is, I don’t want to worry her. What’s more, she’ll tell Little Grandma.”
Graham gave me a look. I knew what it meant. “You’re thinking I need to come clean with my family, aren’t you?”
He nodded as he steered me into the house.
I sighed. I didn’t see any way out of it. Not if I wanted to warn Miss Laverne.
“I’ll tell you what, Doll. Let’s let Hart do his thing, and for the next couple of nights, you and I will stay at Miss Laverne’s.”
“That would be perfect! With you working days and me working nights, we’ll have her covered 24/7.”