Chapter 15
CHAPTER 15
Gretchen
Making love to Ben was a million times different than anything I’ve ever felt before. After, we fell asleep in each other’s arms. However, now, I have an empty bed and I’m not sure if he left.
I get up, toss a T-shirt on and head toward the kitchen.
“Shit!” I hear his deep voice and pause.
There’s some banging, more curse words, and then something that sounds like eggs cracking.
Oh, Lord.
“Good morning,” I say as I peek my head around the wall. “You doing okay?”
He chuckles and shakes his head. “I really suck at cooking. I was attempting to be cute and again, woo.”
“You wooed enough, babe.”
Ben steps over and wraps his arms around my middle. “Yeah?”
“I think so.”
“Good. Maybe we can woo again tonight?”
How different is this man from the last? It’s like night and day. I would’ve been rushed out, just in case someone might have seen us or called. If the phone rang, he would rush out. For a while, I wondered if he was married, but...well, I can investigate like every other woman when she’s on a mission.
“I’d really like that, Ben.”
He smiles down at me. “I really like you, Gretchen.”
“It’s a good thing that you’re so good at the wooing, then.”
“Damn right it is.”
I lift up at the same time he leans down and kisses me.
“I could get used to this,” I say against his lips.
“I really hope you do.” His phone rings, breaking the moment. Whatever the ringtone is causes Ben to flinch. “I have to take this.”
“Okay, I’ll clean up.”
Ben moves to his jacket, pulling his phone out and I can see the stress in his back. He’s tense and keeps clenching his hand.
“Pryce.” His voice is clipped. He starts to pace, and I quickly move things around the kitchen. “Yes. I understand. Does Mark know?” He nods. “Okay. How long ago did we hear from them?” A long pause. “Has anyone had any contact since then?” He closes his eyes, and I move toward him.
Something is wrong.
Ben shakes his head. “I’ll be on a plane in twenty minutes. Don’t touch anything until I get there.”
He doesn’t say anything to me as he makes his way to the bedroom. “Ben?”
“I have to go.”
“I understand that, but is there anything I can do? Are you okay?”
His eyes are filled with regret. “I don’t know. My team is missing. They didn’t check in last night and I didn’t fucking know because I didn’t hear the phone ringing a hundred times!”
“I’m sorry.”
Guilt fills me because he didn’t answer because we were too busy with each other. I don’t know anything about the military, other than what I’ve dealt with Cat and Ashton, but I know loyalty. I understand the bonds of friendship and how hard it is when someone you care about is hurting.
I would do anything for Catherine and Ashton and I imagine it’s a lot like that.
“I’ll call when I can.”
“Okay.”
Ben tosses his shirt over his head and heads to the door. He doesn’t leave, though. He turns, grabs me in his arms and kisses me. “Last night meant everything to me. I’m not leaving because I want to.”
I touch his chest. “It was everything for me too. Go. Go be badass and take care of your friends.”
He kisses me once more and then he’s gone.
* * *
“Tell me everything!” Catherine squeals and grabs my hand.
As happy as I am that my best friend is here, I was not prepared for an interrogation.
“Uhh...” I’m at a loss for words. Somehow , she and Natalie figured out that Ben didn’t answer his phone because he was with me. “Nothing really to tell.”
“The hell there’s not!” Catherine scoffs. “His car was outside the house all night. He left from there. Sooo ...”
“So, none of your business.”
She and Natalie share a look and then she starts in. “Do you know how many Froghoppers have tried to get Ben since he’s been back? The line is long, my friend.”
I’m not sure if that’s supposed to make me feel better or worse. “Okay...”
“I’m just saying landing a SEAL is always their goal, but an injured SEAL is gold to those bitches.”
“There are women who troll SEALs?” I’ve never heard of such a thing. Why? What’s the end game?
Natalie snorts. “Girl, they don’t care if they’re married or not. If they have the trident, they’re in. You know about my ex-husband...”
She’s so much better off. Liam loves Natalie beyond reason. Her first marriage was hard, but what she went through in the last few years has been impossible. However, she found a man who not only adores her, but her daughter.
“You definitely got the better end of that bargain,” I joke.
“For sure, but I’m just saying that it’s part of the shit women do. Hell.” Natalie claps her hands. “His ex-wife is a Froghopper! She left him as soon as he wasn’t titled the way she wanted. She’s...not liked.”
I’m glad she isn’t somehow embedded in this group. Although I know these women and they would never be okay with the way she treated Ben.
“Did you know her?”
“Unfortunately. Ben and Liam were on the same team. I don’t know if you know that.”
I shake my head.
“That’s how he ended up at Cole. When he was injured, they offered him an admin job, allowing him to stay active, but, for these guys, that’s the equivalent of death. I know it’s dramatic, believe me.” She rolls her eyes. “I tell Liam all the time how ridiculous they sound, but they’re men who want to serve. They need to be out there, doing the things no one else can or most of the time want to. Having to sit at a desk and watch his brothers go out to do combat would eat him alive. Which is why I don’t think Jackson understands what he gives to guys like Ben.”
Catherine smiles and her eyes fill with love. “He really loves them. It’s why we were on a plane in the middle of the night to get here.”
“They’re devoted to the company, too, Cat.”
“I saw it today.” I jump in, wanting her to know how Ben felt. “He was distraught about not being there for the guys.”
“That’s how they are. They’re loyal to a fault to their team. I just wish they were all to their wives, but that’s another day,” Natalie says with a hint of frustration. Then she takes a sip of her coffee, tucking her legs under her. “But let’s get back to you and Ben bumping uglies.”
The three of us sit on Lee’s deck, drinking coffee, laughing, and talking about the men in our lives. There’s no point in trying to keep it from them, they’ll just pester me or worse, ask Ben. After a few hours of chatting, her kids demand her attention, so Cat and I head out.
“You know,” Catherine says with hesitation, “in the last few years, I felt like you’ve disappeared. I understood that you loved someone and there are times where love can consume you, taking you away, but with you, I didn’t see that. It wasn’t like you were deliriously happy. You were...distant. Today was the first time I felt like my best friend was herself again.”
“Cat...”
“No, I’m just saying, maybe you getting stood up at the alter was the best thing for you.”
I let out a small laugh and shake my head.
The thing is, I agree with her. If I had married Harold, I would be a shell of who I feel like I am right now. I’m free. I’m alive. I’m happy and that has to do with a choice that wasn’t mine being made for me.
“Maybe his epiphany was actually good.”
“I think it was.”
“I have to thank you and Jackson, though. If it weren’t for this job, I would’ve stayed in New York, worked for some other law firm, hating life, and probably pining over a man who didn’t love me.”
Catherine takes my hand. “I’m so happy for you, Gretch. I’m so glad you found Ben, too. It’s like a love story we dream of.”
She’s such a romantic at heart. I love her for it.
“It was like time never passed for us, you know?”
Her phone rings and she looks down. “It’s Jackson, give me one second.”
I nod.
Catherine talks for a few moments and then she goes silent for a few heartbeats, before her eyes meet mine and I can see the fear. “I understand. I’m with Gretchen now.” Jackson must speak and her hand covers her mouth. “We’ll be there as soon as we can.”
“Cat?”
She hangs up, tears fill her vision and I know. Deep in my gut, I know it’s Ben.
“We have to go.”
“Where?”
She straightens her back. “It’ll be okay. We just have to go.”
I grab her arm. “Tell me.”
“It’s fine.”
“Then tell me!”
Her hands grip my wrists. “There was an incident. Ben was hurt, but Jackson doesn’t have information. We need to go. Okay?”
My heart seizes and I want to fall to the ground. He can’t be hurt. He’s not even in the military. Ben shouldn’t have been out there anyway. Just a few hours ago we were fine, happy, making love.
“Is it bad?”
Her lips purse. “I don’t know. I know it’s enough Jackson wanted us to get on a plane.”
I get in the passenger seat, close my eyes, and say a prayer to let him be okay. I would never recover from losing him.