Chapter 2
Chapter Two
JETT
MIDDLE EAST
Every blow broke my armor a bit more.
While every moan, howl, or shout of agony from one of my men—those that were left—pierced my soul.
And every time one more of them died, something inside of me died right along with them.
Even if I escaped the hell I was living, I’d never be the same. With all my broken pieces— physically and mentally—I knew that I could no longer be the man Patience needed.
Or deserved.
She, along with Griffin, were meant to have nothing but the best. I’d been the biggest fool not expressing the truth of my feelings a long time ago.
Now it was too late.
I’d never be able to fully give my heart, body, and soul to the woman I loved when I knew I was damaged goods. How could I tell her that she was my everything, and had been since the moment we’d met, when I would never be enough? Not for her or for Griffin, who I loved as if he were my own.
But he didn’t need a broken man for a father.
And yet, even though I knew this, they were still the ones keeping me alive.
As the sounds of another marine—one I consider a friend—being tortured somewhere nearby ripped through the old, deserted building, I squeezed my eyes shut and conjured one of the best memories of my life. Something I could get lost in to drown out the horror around me.
The kiss.
It was at the stroke of midnight, surrounded by everyone we knew. I’d laid my lips to hers, the first and only kiss we've shared—unable to control myself any longer. I could practically feel her pillow-soft lips pressed against mine as she hitched in a surprised breath before sinking into the kiss.
Remembering the soft rhythm of her heart—so full of love—picking up speed as our breaths mingled, had my soul settling just as I’d hoped it would. It had been everything and still not enough. I wanted more. For years, I’d been her best friend, her champion, and her supporter.
But there was one thing I hadn’t been.
One thing I’d always longed to be…
The man she loved, the one she went to sleep with every night and woke up next to every morning.
At first, we were too young, then it was hard because I joined the military and left. After that, it never seemed to be the right time to confess my feelings. But after the kiss, things started to change.
Our conversations, when we got a chance to talk, seemed more intimate and flirtatious; the longing in her voice when she told me she wished I was there with her suddenly held a deeper severity.
I groaned, realizing I didn’t even sound like me. Maybe I had taken too many knocks to the head, but I knew without a doubt my feelings for Patience went deep. And I thought she felt the same.
That’s how I’d known the plan I’d put into motion, the surprise nobody knew about yet, would have been the right one. It would have taken me home to Patience and Griffin. To all my family.
Forever.
But that plan died when I was captured.
Possibly buried for good.
Maybe along with me.
Deep, agonizing screams yanked me from my thoughts as the sounds coming from my buddy tore at my heart. Then in a flash, everything went silent.
And I knew.
My friend was gone.
A light whimper came from beside me, and my battered body tightened.
“I’m not going to make it,” the last of my group besides myself whispered. “I need you to tell—”
I couldn’t listen to it.
“Stop. You are going to make it home!” I demanded. “You hear me, Dusty. You fight!”
A huff of pain echoed through the stinky, damp space we resided in.
“Jett. You know the only reason that I am alive is because you saved me back there after we were ambushed, and because you keep taking the heat off me when they come to get one of us.”
Ragged breaths, full of agony, filled the small space. “But it’s only you and me now. You can’t keep doing that any longer.”
With a sharp intake of breath, the truth I knew none of us liked to admit came. “I’m scared.”
Anger boiled in my veins at the bastards that took the others from me, and how they’d hurt the only survivor left beyond myself, stripping them of any belief of going home.
Fuck this.
Just as I was about to say more, the pounding of feet made their way toward us. I heard the door being unlocked, before it flew open, and the ugliest, meanest asshole I’d seen since we’d been taken hostage stood in the doorway, a sinister smile on his face.
He stalked our way with purpose, roughly grabbing my friend, and yanked them into the air from where we lay on the floor. A cry of pain rang throughout the room.
“Looks like it’s your time to play,” the evil fucker said, laughing. “Maybe we’ll have a little extra fun this round.”
My arms may be zip tied behind my back, but the idiots hadn’t bound my ankles. I kicked out with my leg, hitting him in the shin and he went down, releasing his prisoner on a dime.
“You want to fucking play? Take me, you sick bastard!”
This is what I’d been doing any time I could to try and save my buddies. It worked for a few days, and my fractured body was proof of that. I’d become a human punching bag. I may have been struggling, but I wasn’t done fighting.
Though, with only two of us left, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about how long I could hold out.
But I had to try because Dusty was in no shape to endure a beating after being shot and all the loss of blood sustained.
Fever had set in, along with infection, and I’d been surprised that my friend was even still with me.
I was going to do everything in my power to keep it that way.
From my seated position, I mustered up all the energy I could, and brought my leg up, kicking out again.
Hitting the shithead in his temple, he hit the ground with a thunk.
That seemed to put all of his attention on me.
Pissed as hell, he jumped to his feet and pulled me up, so I was standing face to face with him.
“Fine, your turn first.” He laughed wickedly, spittle flying in my face.
When he started roughly dragging me toward the door, I didn’t fight back. I needed to get out of the room and keep the focus on me.
An ungodly wail ripped from Dusty’s throat. “Nooooo!”
I turned my head over my shoulder and looked at the woman lying in a lump on the floor.
“You fight,” I told her like I had moments before. “Stay strong.”
She tried pushing herself up on her hands and knees. “Not without you.” Her body was too weak, and she crashed back to the floor with a moan. They hadn’t even bothered to tie her up in her condition. She posed no threat of helping any of us or getting out on her own.
Beaten and bruised, my shoulder was now being yanked out of its socket as the man wrenched me through the threshold into the hall.
“Fight!” I yelled. “It’s too late for me.”
And that’s when the lights went out, something exploded, and the sounds of gunfire rang out.
Suddenly, I was released, but before I could move, my assailant somehow swung out, hitting me in the head with something hard. I fell back into the room onto my ass and managed to kick the door shut with my feet before scooting my way across the dirt-covered floor toward Dusty.
Blood dripped from my head into my eyes as splinters gouged into my skin even through my filthy clothes. When I made it to her, I covered her body with mine the best I could. Just in case my suspicions were wrong, I needed to protect her.
But I felt it in my broken bones.
We were getting out of there.
“Dusty Blu Baker,” I said, emphasizing her full name like a parent would a child. “You fucking hold on. I think the cavalry has arrived,” I whispered just before everything went black.
GERMANY
Come back to me.
The whispered words tickled my subconscious, stirring me from the grogginess that worked to pull me under like quicksand.
Patience.
That voice, it was sweeter than honey.
I fought like hell to open my eyes so I could see her. I wanted to take her in; her silky, brown hair, flawless, girl-next-door face, and her kind brown eyes that, if she flashed my way, could get me to say yes to anything.
And the image of those few freckles, plastered across her cute button nose, along with her radiant smile that could warm you up on a frigid winter's day, had the need to see her pulsing through me even more.
When my heavy lids opened, disappointment sunk deep into my soul.
She wasn’t there.
A nurse was bustling around, fiddling with the bag of fluids that drained liquid through an IV into my arm and the truth crashed around me like a ship hitting an iceberg in an ocean full of rage.
“Well, hello. So nice to see you awake,” the chipper nurse said, flashing me a smile.
It wasn’t the smile I wanted to see.
“Is Patience your girl? You kept saying her name just now before you woke up.”
My heart ripped in two. She would always be my girl but could never be my girl.
Shit, I’m making no sense.
Head pounding, body aching, and my mouth as dry as the desert, I felt like shit. But it didn’t compare to the pain as the flashes of memories, of my buddies, of the torture, and why Patience could never be mine flooded through my body, drowning me with sorrow.
I pushed the thoughts down deep and let her question go unanswered.
With a scratchy voice that sounded as if I’d swallowed gravel, I asked, “Where am I?”
The woman—somewhere maybe early to mid-forties—paused what she was doing and gave me a tender smile as she picked up a cup from the bedside table next to me. “You’re at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany.”
She brought the Styrofoam cup to my lips, holding the straw steady so I could get my mouth around it, and I managed to take a sip of water. The icy cold liquid moistened the inside of my mouth as it slid down my raw throat.
“How long have I been here?” I asked after she pulled the water away and placed it back down.
After some hesitation, she patted my hand and started toward the door.
“Let me just grab your doctor and let them know you’re fully awake.
” Just before she left, she called back over her shoulder, “I’m Officer Fischer by the way.
” Giving me a little wink, she added, “But as long as no one else is around, you can call me Lina.”
Pulling in a deep breath, I winced at the discomfort in my chest that I realized was bound with a large bandage. I knew it was probably supposed to ease the pain, but it didn’t seem to have helped much.
When I tried closing my eyes, images once again began to flash behind my lids, and I snapped them open.
“O-Dusty,” I croaked.
Had she made it?
My pulse rose at the idea of her dying along with everyone else.
I noticed an MP on guard at the door as Officer Fischer walked back in with a gentleman. I tried sitting up, needing to find out what happened to Dusty during the extraction. I’d done my best to shield her, but she was in bad shape, and I’d blacked out. Everything from then on was fuzzy.
The nurse rushed to my side, clucking her tongue. “Now, now, lay back down,” she scolded but still able to sound soft and nurturing as she placed her hand behind me, guiding me back down toward the bed.
Once settled, she moved to the other side of the bed, and the major, judging by the insignia on his uniform, took up the position she’d vacated.
“It’s wonderful to see you awake and alert, Corporal Adams. I’m Major Altmann, your attending physician. I’ve been tending to you since you were brought in three days ago.” He looked down at the chart in his hands. “I’d like to check you out again and go over your prognosis.”
Before that, I had to know some things.
“Please tell me first what happened to Dusty.” I grimaced at the pain in my head, trying to gather my thoughts. “I mean, Corporal Baker, and if my family has been informed that I am here?”
With a sympathetic smile, the doctor stood next to my bed and told me what he could. “I can’t give you details pertaining to Corporal Baker, but I can tell you that she is here and stable.”
A breath of air I’d been holding, causing more pain in my chest than what was already there, whooshed out of me at his words.
“As for your family, they were told right away and are anxiously waiting to hear from you.”
The ache was back, and I slowly moved my hand to rub the spot over my heart. I never wanted them to worry, and yet I knew they would do nothing but that. I was glad someone let them know quickly.
God, I wanted to talk to them. I longed to hear Patience’s voice, but I didn’t know if I could. Yet I knew I shouldn’t deny her or my family the ability to hear for themselves that I was alive.
But…
How was I going to explain to them that a part of me was dead?