Chapter 24
Tessa
Stormwatch Landing without Zane feels empty. Kind of like my life did until I found my way back here again. He’s only been gone a handful of hours, but when I look out through the window of Garrison’s apartment, I know he’s not out there.
And that stings more than I thought it would.
Garrison is seated at the kitchen table, his gaze focused intently on the laptop in front of him. He’s been there most of the morning, taking a handful of calls and responding to what looks like some pretty intense emails.
He’s incredibly friendly, and not once has he treated me with anything but kindness. Not that I would expect anything else. I know Zane wouldn’t have left me with him if he weren’t safe.
And there I go, jumping right on in to blindly trusting him all over again. I smile. Zane Knox has my heart in a chokehold, and I hope he never lets go.
Garrison pushes back from the table and stands to stretch. “I could use some coffee. How about you?”
“I can always use coffee,” I reply.
He flashes a smile. “Great.” He moves around the island that separates the kitchen from the dining room and turns on a large machine with way too many buttons for me. “Zane said you like lavender vanilla, right?”
My heart flips in my chest knowing that he thought of me. “I do.”
“Great. Anastasia dropped off some lavender and vanilla syrups yesterday.”
“That was thoughtful of her.”
“She’s like that.” He goes to work prepping the coffee, so I head over toward the open balcony doors. It overlooks the ocean, and I smile as I close my eyes and let the salty sea breeze toy gently with my hair.
Home.
I’ve missed it dearly. And even though the danger hasn’t passed yet, I can’t help the peace that settles over me like a comfortable blanket. No matter what happens, I’m staying in Stormwatch Landing.
Because this is my place.
My home.
“Here you go.” Garrison steps up beside me and offers me the mug.
“Thanks.”
“No problem.” He takes a sip of his coffee. “I’ve been a lot of places, and this is my absolute favorite.”
“Is that why you settled down here?” I ask.
He nods. “After we were discharged from the military, I didn’t really have anywhere else to go. I’d planned to do twenty years and then retire on a beach somewhere to live out the rest of my days.”
“Alone?”
He shrugs. “My aunt raised me, and she passed away right before I enlisted. I didn’t have anyone and didn’t see that changing.”
“Zane told me that he’s the only one Brenda can control. That you guys joined in of your own volition.”
“We did. All of us were there that day. And like we told him, there isn’t a single one of us who would have made a different choice.”
“He told me what happened. I think he’s a hero.”
Garrison smiles. “He’ll never see himself that way.”
“Trust me, I know.” I laugh. “When I was a kid, I’d been so alone.
Having friends meant having to explain bumps and bruises, or why I wasn’t at school after I’d broken an arm or leg.
Then Zane.” I sigh and shake my head, the memory one I will never forget.
“I’d gotten caught stealing food from the General Market and was hauled down to the police station to wait for my dad.
Zane was there, waiting for his to get off his shift, and he just looked at me.
I don’t know how to explain it, but when his gaze locked on me, it was like I was being seen for the first time ever.
That probably sounds crazy,” I add with a laugh, then take a sip of coffee.
“Not crazy at all,” Garrison replies.
“He was just—everything. I tried to push him aside so many times, but he wasn’t having it.
He’d just show up. Outside the school when I got out of class, whenever I went anywhere, he was there.
And it was more than that. He’d actually talk to me.
Or, try to, anyway. I wasn’t overly social back then. ”
“What changed?”
I smile. “A vanilla shake at Maddie’s place.”
“Really?”
“Really. I was there, working part-time to try to get some money for food, and he came in. He ordered two vanilla shakes, then just sat in the corner. I was so frustrated at this point because he’d been coming in alone and ordering two shakes for weeks, so I went over to confront him.
I yelled at him for following me and told him to leave me alone. You know what he did?”
“What?”
“He smiled at me. Said his name was Zane Knox, and we were going to be friends. Then, he scooted the vanilla shake toward me.” I laugh.
“I was so stunned that I just stood there, staring at it until Maddie came over and wrapped her arm around me, told me to take a break, then gently guided me into the booth. After that, we were inseparable.”
“That’s a great story.”
I glance up at him. “Thanks. I think so, too.”
“Choosing to leave the way you did must have been hard.”
The all-too-familiar knot in my chest tightens, constricting my breathing. “It was.”
“As a man, I can understand how angry Zane might have been that you didn’t give him the chance to take care of you. But as his friend, I understand your desire to keep him safe.”
“I wish I could go back and make a different choice.”
“Would you?”
I consider. “I don’t actually know. He would have killed my dad, Garrison. Or lost his life trying. Either way, I’d lose him. But maybe if I’d gone to the police sooner, it wouldn’t have happened.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. You’re here now, and that’s what really matters.”
“I hope so.”
“Zane is the best man I’ve ever known. He cares about people. About how they feel, their needs. He deserves someone who will do the same for him.”
“I will.”
He offers me another smile, then turns his attention to the water once more.
There’s a faint scar hidden beneath his short beard, and while I want to ask about it, I decide against it.
There are plenty of scars of my own I’d rather never discuss, so poking at someone else’s just isn’t something I’m comfortable with.
“So, Demo, huh? Did you really get that nickname because you like to blow stuff up? Or was it something else that branded you with that?”
He barks out a laugh. “Kind of. Our first mission, I set the charges a little too close to where Ryker and Sawyer were set up. They were fine, but everyone started calling me Demo after that.”
“And what about Ryker? You all call him Tank, right?”
“Yeah.” He chuckles. “He’s practically indestructible. A mission we were on six months ago, he had to be bound with chains because he snapped their ropes.”
I gape at him, trying to imagine a scenario where anyone could break free of ropes. “Who chained him up?”
“It took three of them. And the only reason they were able to is because of the gun to Cap’s head.”
My stomach plummets, the imagery settling into my mind like a horrible nightmare. “Cap is Zane?”
He nods. “It all turned out okay, though.”
I try to shove the image of Zane with a gun to his head out of my mind. Lord, please protect him. The prayer comes so easily to me that it nearly catches me off guard, but there’s a warmth that settles in my chest. A familiarity that feels an awful lot like coming home.
“Why do you guys call him Cap? Was his rank Captain?” I ask.
“Nah. But we always said that, if anyone could get promoted to captain early, it was him. Captain is equivalent to an Army colonel,” he explains. “He was a lieutenant commander, on track to be a commander.”
“Wow. Lieutenant Commander Knox. Has a good ring to it.”
He grins. “Yeah, we thought so, too. But everyone he trained with just called him Cap or Captain. Of course, only when no one higher up was around.”
“I imagine they wouldn’t have taken too kindly to you guys promoting him.”
“Nah, not at all.” He finishes the rest of his coffee. “I have to get back at it. You good with the diner for dinner? Or I can see if Anastasia minds bringing something over?”
“I don’t mind at all. The diner sounds great.”
“Awesome.” He takes my now-empty cup and heads back inside, leaving me standing on the porch overlooking the ocean.
Lieutenant Commander Zane Knox.
He’d been advancing in the Navy before one choice ripped it all away from him. I can’t help but draw similarities to the decision I made eighteen years ago, when one decision ripped my future away from me.
Then again, he’d been saving lives when he made his choice.
Was mine truly about anyone but me? About my own shame for going to that trailer and trusting my dad when I should have known better?