34. Frankie
34
FRANKIE
I woke when the bed shifted.
Opening my eyes, I fought off my sleepiness. The first thing I noted was the light seeping from the bathroom.
Then I realized Reath was thrashing on the bed.
“No, no .” He groaned.
The hoarse sound made goosebumps rise on the back of my neck. So much pain.
“Reath?” I was careful not to touch him. “Reath?”
He went still. “Frankie?”
“Yes. It’s all right. You were having a nightmare.”
He sat up and let out a long breath. I knew he’d probably prefer I ignored this, but I could practically feel his pain.
I sat up as well and shifted behind him. I wrapped myself around him and pressed my lips to his shoulder. His skin was clammy.
He shuddered. Then his hand snapped up and grabbed mine. I entwined our fingers.
We sat there in the darkness, just breathing and holding each other. I didn’t push, didn’t question.
“You make me want to share things I’ve never shared.” His voice was deep and raw.
I pressed another kiss to his shoulder.
He let out a rough exhale. “My nightmares never make sense. They’re just a jumble of crap collected over my lifetime. It always starts with seeing my parents dump me in that box. I don’t even know what they looked like, but in my dreams, my father looks like me. They laugh as they dump me like trash.”
“That’s on them, Reath, not you. You were an innocent baby.”
“I relive parts of missions from when I was in the Army. I ended up in Delta Force for a few years. Some of the missions were…tough.”
I pressed my cheek against his warm back. “It’s because men like you serve that we get to sleep free and easy in our beds. Thank you for doing the hard things.”
He let out a small laugh. “How do you know the right things to say?”
“I don’t always.”
“The worst nightmares are of the final foster home I was in. Where I met my brothers.”
I hated the flat tone that crept into his voice. I tried to keep my body relaxed. “Tell me.”
“They were an older couple. The Tuckers. They said they specialized in caring for and disciplining unruly teenage boys.” He swallowed. “What they meant was they liked treating us like shit. And Harvey Tucker particularly liked beating the crap out of us.”
I gasped. “They were supposed to take care of you!”
“It’s where I met Dante, Beau, Kav, and Colt. I’m the youngest of the five of us. We bonded in that house, intent on surviving together.” He paused. “Tucker hated me the most. He took any opportunity to beat me. He was a racist son of a bitch, and sometimes when he looked at me…he gave me the creeps.”
“You mean sexually?” Anger swelled inside me. “Did he abuse you?”
Reath squeezed my fingers. “Settle down, tigress. He never did, but he might have one day.”
“How did you get out?”
“Tucker was beating me badly one night. The others broke the door down and beat him back. We all took him down. Then we left.”
I could hardly imagine five traumatized boys who’d had such a hard start to life going out on their own as teenagers.
“We were determined to make something of ourselves. And that night, we decided to be brothers. Not because we shared blood, but because we’d spilled it together. We were all so angry, and that’s how we picked our name. Fury. We became the Fury brothers.”
I hugged him tighter. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that, Reath. But I am glad you found your brothers.”
He patted my hand. “Me too.”
“You all made yourselves into incredible men. Thanks for telling me.” I paused. “What set the nightmare off tonight? Is there a trigger?”
He shrugged a shoulder. “Not always, but tonight, Auclair called me. Talked shit.”
About me. Baiting Reath. “I feel like this isn’t even about me anymore,” I said carefully.
“It’s not. He wants revenge.”
“Why?”
Reath swiveled to face me, his face swathed in shadows. “Remember I said I crossed paths with him when I was with the CIA?”
I nodded.
“His team was planning to blow up the US Embassy in Berlin. I was working undercover there. I stopped their plot by killing the woman planting the bomb.”
“You saved lives. How many would have died if the bomb went off?”
“A lot.” He pulled in a breath. “Frankie, that woman was Auclair’s wife.”
My heart sank. “Oh, God.”
“That’s right. He blames me for her death, and he’ll do anything to get revenge. This isn’t about your project anymore, it’s about me.”
I cupped his cheeks. “We aren’t going to let him win. There will be no stealing my project, and no hurting any of us.”
Reath’s lips quirked. “So fierce.”
“That’s right.”
He stroked my cheek. “I will keep you safe, Frankie.”
“I know.” And I’d do everything I could to keep him safe as well.
“We should try and get some more sleep.”
I could tell there was no way he’d get back to sleep easily. “Any chance you could make me some of that whiskey-laced hot chocolate?”
He rubbed his thumb over my lips. “Yeah, I could do that.”