Chapter 12
Chaper Twelve
Jericho
I wasn’t sure how to explain the shit I’d been through to Sean, so I didn’t.
I hopped out of the stolen truck and hurried inside to be sure Mom was okay. I had no idea who had brought my truck home or who was in the SUV behind it, but I hoped to hell it was someone from Golden Elite Associates-America.
“Wait, Jeri!” Sean was running behind me to catch up. I stopped abruptly and turned, catching him as he ran into me.
I kept him from falling into the grass, but I held him in my arms just for me. “Look, I’m not ready to talk about certain things with you. Why would you care, anyway, Red?” My voice was louder than necessary, but my mind was at war with itself.
Yes, I had been diagnosed with PTSD, and working with the horses was the therapy that worked best for me. I didn’t have the desire to analyze it any further than I’d already had to do in rehab and with my therapist. I was trying to determine the best way to live my life.
For reasons I was still trying to reckon with, I wanted to let down my guard and tell Sean all my secrets, feelings, fears, and desires. I’d only known this man for a little over a week. What the fuck was I thinking by opening my soul to him?
“I’m sorry. I don’t want to lose you as a friend, Jeri. You’re like no one I’ve ever met before, and I enjoy spending time with you. You kept me alive, Jeri, and you reminded me that I have value. I can do more for our queer community by doing my job, but I can’t do it from here.”
In my gut, I knew he was right. His job wasn’t to hang out at my farm while I worked with the horses.
Bethany had gone back to southern Virginia, and I had nobody to take over for me.
I couldn’t follow him back to DC as I wanted.
My heart felt hollow—like after we went inside to face reality, I might never see Sean Fitzpatrick again.
I knew it would be a huge loss if that was true.
Grabbing his hand, I led Sean to the steps of the front porch, pulling him to sit next to me. As we faced the rising full moon in the sky, I considered what to say to him that wouldn’t sound like I was playing taps on the relationship I thought we were starting to build.
“I don’t want to lose you either, Sean. If you leave here, I can’t go with you. I know you need to work, and I appreciate the work you’re doing for our community. I’m selfish, okay? I don’t want you to leave...” I left out the “me behind” part of my sentence.
Sean placed his hands, much softer than mine, on my cheeks. “I don’t want you to leave me behind either. Maybe this is transference because I have a case of hero worship when it comes to you. You’re a beautiful man who exudes strength and calm under pressure. That’s extremely attractive to me.
“You kept me safe, and I’m grateful, but it’s more than that, Jeri. There’s more between us. Or maybe it’s just how I feel. I don’t want my returning to DC to be the end of us.” His expression was one of pleading, and god knew, I didn’t want to let him down.
“No. I don’t want that either, but we have to figure out what that means, Red. There are a lot of moving parts to this. Let’s go inside and see who’s here and what we need to do,” I suggested.
I took Sean’s right hand and kissed it, tugging him up with me. Before we walked in the back door, I stopped and turned him to face me. “Don’t make any decisions about returning to DC until we have more details, okay?”
With my truck parked in the driveway, I was certain the SUV belonged to someone in Lawry Schatz’s organization. Did they have more information on who was after Sean? I sure as hell hoped so.
My attraction to Sean was one of the most surprisingly good things to happen to me in a long time. My need to protect him had sunk into my bones, and it wasn’t something I could deny.
We walked to the back of the house, and I opened the door, the smell of Mom’s pasta sauce hitting me immediately and causing my stomach to sound off about how hungry I was. Even though Sean and I had ice cream earlier, I’d missed lunch, so I was starving.
When we entered the kitchen, Sean gasped. “Congressman!” He hurried around the table where a handsome man was eating my mother’s spaghetti with a smile.
The giant redhead next to him gave us a scanting glance before his face morphed into a smile, a fork full of food in his right hand and a baby held in place against his broad chest with his left.
“You boys hungry? Raleigh and Ben were waitin’ for y’all to get back. How was town?” Mom asked, not mentioning the reason for us going to town. I appreciated her discretion.
The man Sean addressed as Congressman stood and the two of them hugged. “It’s so good to see you, Sean. I’m sorry to learn the circumstances of why we’re reunited. Are you okay?”
Sean grinned as he released the congressman. “I’ve been lucky enough to have a Green Beret looking out for me.” He tilted his head toward me, and I felt my cheeks flush.
The large man with the baby put down his fork and stood, a bright grin in place as he held out his massive right hand.
“Raleigh Wallis. You stayed at our condo in Bethesda. This is our daughter, Rachel Abra. We just had her christened in North Carolina. Casper brought me up to speed on everything happening to you. So sorry.”
“Congratulations,” I said as I gazed at the little one resting against him, bright-eyed.
The beautiful little blonde girl had the biggest green eyes and tiniest little hands I’d ever seen. She fussed quietly against the big man’s chest, but he didn’t seem bothered at all.
What came over me, I’ll never know. I held out my hands to take the little girl, and Raleigh chuckled and extended her to me, her eyes sparkling as I took her. “Hello, Rachel. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Jeri.”
The little girl squirmed until I put her over my shoulder and patted her back. I glanced at Mom, who had the biggest smile on her face, and I wondered if I’d just created a grand-monster. Would she start hounding me about having kids of my own?
Sean stepped over and gently patted the girl’s back before brushing his fingers over her apple cheek. “Hi, sweet Rachel. I’m Sean. You are a true beauty.”
A booming sound echoed through the kitchen, and the smell that followed took away my appetite. “Oh man, that’s gonna be a big one. Let me go change her,” Congressman Ben said, an embarrassed grin on his face.
Mom laughed. “No, please, let me. It’s been a while since I’ve had a baby in the house. Come to me, baby girl.” Mom held out her hands in a grabby motion. I handed the baby over, and Ben grabbed the diaper bag, following Mom down the hall.
The redheaded giant chuckled. “How are you guys doing? We brought your truck, and I talked to the owner of the construction company working in our building. The guy was pissed at first, but we talked it out, and he finally agreed not to file charges against you for borrowing his truck. I’m going to drive it back to Bethesda and deliver it to him.
” That was a relief, especially with the emphasis on borrowing versus stealing.
I nodded. “If you have the keys, I can fix the damage. It wasn’t much.”
“Before we undertake that task, do you remember Heath Palmer? There’s a guy in our crew who suggested you guys might have crossed paths at some point, so Casper dug into it and found that you and Heath trained together at Camp Mackall.
He was new, and you were probably doing some qualification training before deployment,” Raleigh explained.
“Heath Palmer? God, I—”
“Not a big deal if you don’t remember him.
There was a post on social media about this young guy who is missing in North Carolina.
Came up on Benji’s feed while we were all down there for the christening.
Heath’s a former soldier, so we always check things out in our group of friends if it involves anyone in the military.
Anyway, Smokey seems to have an eidetic memory when it comes to people he met during his time in the military.
He doesn’t remember personally crossing paths with you, but he knew your name, and he knew Heath from a short deployment with him in Serbia.
Casper found Heath’s information and tried to call him, but the guy never answered.
He then called the guy’s mom, and she said she hadn’t heard from Heath or his cousin, Harper, in a few days.
It’s suspicious because she said they were supposed to be staying at a place in Southern Pines.
“Casper traced the Defenders of the Faithful to that area, and Heath’s mother said Harper, the cousin, was excited about a lead on a story about a hate group.
Also, she said Harper’s gay, so the fact that he’s missing is a huge red flag for us, especially with what’s happening to Sean and the possibility it’s because of the Defenders. ”
I searched my memory for the name Heath Palmer, and after a few seconds, it clicked. I remembered his bright blond hair and easy smile.
Heath Palmer was just starting out with Special Forces operational training as a sniper when I was getting my recertification for live-fire exercises before deploying to South Korea.
Heath was a nice kid who didn’t seem to want to be there but was determined to make the most of it.
I tried to support him as best I could while we were both at Mackall, encouraging him on the range and offering tips here and there.
After I received my recert, I was off to South Korea, and we didn’t see each other again.
Be it a benefit or a detriment, I’d do anything I could for a brother-in-arms.
“Barely, but yeah, I remember Heath. Young blood, fresh out of boot. He was a crack shot though. We trained together, me acting as his spotter until they assigned him a partner. I was getting a recert before deploying. Is he okay?”