Chapter Eight #2
She sipped her water then set it down on the counter before silently sneaking back into the bedroom.
Her lover from last night was still fast asleep as Paige made her way into the room’s walk-in closet.
Inside was just as unremarkable as the rest of the place.
A few suits hung on hangers, along with dress pants and dress shirts.
Shoes lined the bottom on the floor, ranging from dress and casual to hiking and running.
Up top were several boxes stacked neatly along a shelf, unadorned and unlabeled.
She pulled one down, quietly set it on the floor, and opened it.
What she found inside surprised her. On top was a green beret with some type of crest on it.
She instantly knew it was from the military, having had some exposure to such things in the past. At Alabama she dated a guy who was in the National Guard.
He was nice enough at first but quickly became different. Violent.
She looked again at the beret, and it reminded her of a picture she had of her uncle, who had also served in the army.
Even the black crest with the yellow and red stripes looked the same.
But her uncle had been in the Special Forces, and she used to overhear him telling stories about his time behind enemy lines.
Could the man she just slept with be the same thing?
Paige kept digging. Underneath was a large knife in a sheath that she carefully set aside.
Next were several small boxes, the kind that necklaces came in from jewelry stores.
She opened the first and saw what appeared to be some type of award.
It was a large bronze star with a small silver star in the center, hanging from a blue, white, and red ribbon.
She had no idea what it was and set it aside.
She opened the next box and knew instantly what that was.
Her uncle had a Purple Heart, the award given for injuries sustained in battle.
Opening the next one she found a second Purple Heart and set it down beside the first.
It had been dark last night when they had undressed each other, and in truth she had been a little tipsy herself.
She didn’t remember seeing any overt scars, but then again, she probably wouldn’t have.
And Nate hadn’t said anything about having been in the military, much less injured in combat.
But why? She heard Nate stir in the bedroom and froze.
Paige didn’t know if he would be angry if he caught her snooping.
After a few seconds of holding her breath, she heard him snore again and relaxed.
Returning to the box, there were several more small cases and she gently lifted them out.
Underneath was a binder full of plastic sleeves.
She opened it and instantly all her questions were answered.
Certificates for Special Forces training, Military Freefall School, the Combat Diver Qualification Course, and several others were present.
She thumbed through and found award certificates and looked around in surprise as she closed the binder.
Paige peered into the box to see if anything was left.
There appeared to be a mess of pictures strewn about haphazardly on the bottom.
She pulled them out and began to flip through them.
After a few, she recognized one heavily bearded individual as Nate.
He looked different with facial hair, and she wondered why he had grown it out considering how handsome he was clean shaven.
Going through several more pictures she began to notice a pattern.
There was a man with a big red beard in most of the pictures, and another tall man who looked as if he broke legs for a living.
There was also a man with a shaggy brown beard who wore a different uniform with a British flag on his shoulder.
These must have been his friends in the service, she thought to herself.
It was strange that the pictures were at the bottom.
Come to think of it, it was strange that all these items were in a box and not displayed somewhere in the sparsely decorated apartment.
There must have been a reason for it. She quickly returned all the items to the box and put it back where she had found it.
Paige walked back into the bedroom and peered at Nate, who was still sound asleep.
Her mind raced as she thought back to her ex-boyfriend.
She’d met him not long after he returned from Syria.
At first he was cute, sweet, and even charming.
They went on three dates before they slept together, and shortly after that, he changed.
He became angry, aggressive, and violent, especially when he drank.
And he had only been in the National Guard and done one tour overseas that she was pretty sure consisted of a whole lot of nothing.
And yet anytime he mistreated her, his deployment was always the excuse.
The man sleeping in front of her had clearly endured much more and had experienced the horrors of war several times over.
Sure, he had been nothing but sweet to her so far, but it could be that was just how it started.
Paige was loath to even chance reliving that.
Nate had seemed like a nice guy, but he hadn’t mentioned anything about the military, which was clearly a large part of his past. Was he as disturbed as her ex?
Would she bear the brunt of his demons? She had no plans to find out.
They had shared a nice night, and that was how she wanted to remember him.
If he had a dark side, she didn’t want to see it.
Very carefully, Paige quietly gathered up her belongings, cautious not to wake the slumbering warrior before her, and silently slipped out of the house into the early morning.