by Vivian Wood
He growled. “Go away.”
“I’ll just say this,” she said with a wide smile, “be careful of those Thorntons.”
He swore under his breath at her parroting his words, and before he could throw something at her, she ran from the restroom. She did hear some more swearing from inside before she returned to work.
She might be Heath’s younger sister, but that didn’t mean Rose wouldn’t use any leverage against her brother whenever he tried to tell her what to do.
Some hours later, Rose walked home, yawning multiple times as she walked the few blocks back to her apartment. She didn’t have money for a car, although luckily, she didn’t live too far from her work.
Despite her tiredness, she remained alert to any strange noises or movements. She wasn’t stupid: she knew Johnny or Rich or some other crony could appear at any time. Johnny might have said he was going to Seattle, but that didn’t mean a damn thing.
When a figure appeared from the shadows only feet from her door, she reached inside her jacket to pull out her gun. Until she realized it was Seth.
“Now you must be stalking me,” she groused. She was halfway tempted to point her gun at him anyway.
He had his hands up, although he didn’t look scared. Of course not. Rose was fairly certain nothing scared Seth.
“What are you doing out here?” she asked when he said nothing.
He shrugged. “I couldn’t sleep. It’s nice out. I thought I’d say hi to my neighbor when she got home. The usual.”
“Uh-huh. Well, you’ve said it, and now I’m saying goodbye. I need to let Callie out before I go to bed.”
“Then I’ll walk with you.”
She wanted to stomp her foot, she was so frustrated, but she had a feeling that would only make it worse. Sighing, she went to get Callie, ignoring Seth even as he walked alongside her.
Callie, to Rose’s annoyance, decided she was not going to do her business quickly. The dog wanted to sniff every bush and every mailbox, and despite Rose’s continued commands, Callie ignored her entirely.
“Do you carry your gun everywhere?” Seth asked quietly as Callie sniffed a hydrangea.
“Why do you want to know?”
“Curiosity.”
“Yes, for the most part. I’m legal, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
That made him smile. “I wasn’t. You seem to know how to handle a gun regardless.”
“You sound surprised.”
“No, merely impressed.”
Pride filled her, and she ducked away so he wouldn’t see her smile. Coming from a military man, she considered that to be a high compliment.
She suddenly wished she could tell him the reason why she carried a gun—why her memories forced her to protect herself the best way she knew how. Under the night sky, the moon heavy and low, it seemed as if they were the only two people in the entire world.
“So what happens now? Is this how you’re going to live your life forever?”
His voice was calm, like he was asking the time, yet she felt the tone stiffen her shoulders. She didn’t need another man judging her for her choices. She had Heath for that, thank you very much.
“Here’s a real question,” she countered, “why do you care?”
Seth didn’t answer right away, and Rose barely restrained herself from looking away from his intense gaze.
Finally, he muttered, “I don’t know.”
Callie did her business, and Rose brushed by Seth to return to the apartment. They’d only walked a block, although it had felt much farther.
“Rose.”
He caught her by the elbow, forcing her to slow down. Her back was to him, yet she felt his touch like a brand. She gripped Callie’s leash harder.
“I don’t know why I care,” he admitted into the night air, “but I do. I can’t explain it.”
She let out a laugh. “Maybe you should figure that out first.”
He brushed his other hand down her arm until he embraced her from behind. Now Rose trembled, and she felt her body go hot and cold at the same time. His breath heated her cheek.
“You feel it too. I know you do.” His stubble brushed her cheek. “Tell me I’m wrong, princess.”
“Don’t call me that.” Her voice was barely above a whisper.
He turned her head so she met his gaze. Although he had his arms around her, she had the feeling that if she pushed him away, he’d let her go. It was that realization that burst something inside her, something she couldn’t yet understand.
When he bent down and kissed her, she was certain her heart would explode inside her chest. He tasted like spice and something she couldn’t identify, and within a moment the kiss turned heated, like a fire catching on dry tinder. She opened her mouth to his invasion, and his grip tightened around her waist.
Rose had been kissed before: some kisses had been good, others had been worth forgetting. This kiss, though, turned her inside out. Her heart beat in her ears; a flush traveled from her chest to her cheeks until she was thankful for the darkness around them. She moaned as he kissed her, licking inside her mouth, making her tremble even harder.
When Callie yanked on the leash, Rose returned to herself. Turning, she pushed Seth’s hands away. Like she’d thought, he let her go.
“I need to take Callie inside,” she explained. Callie, for her part, just wagged her tail and didn’t seem at all concerned about going inside. Rose tugged on the leash until Callie got up to follow her.
Seth didn’t say anything as she left him standing there. She heard him go inside his apartment, and she listened as he walked around. She wished he would go to sleep, because until he did, she’d never be able to close her eyes.
But when she did finally fall asleep, all of her dreams were of Seth anyway.
Chapter Six
Seth hated the dreams the most.
They always started innocuously enough: he was back in the deserts of Afghanistan, the heat and the sand palpable. He heard his fellow soldiers laughing and joking around as they returned from some mission. Seth had moved up the ranks to corporal by the time he’d gone on inactive duty, and although he hadn’t been in charge of anyone, he had acted like a mentor to the newbies by the time he’d started his second tour.
In this dream, Seth watched as his best friend and fellow corporal Max Meyers waved at him to join him. They were in the middle of the desert, and Seth didn’t know what Max wanted to show him. He jogged up to Max, who pointed to something in the sand.
“I can’t see anything,” Dream Seth said, confused.
Max grinned. Max had a smile that you’d never forget, his teeth crooked yet his grin infectious. He was the jokester of their group, always trying to keep people’s spirits up. Seth had found Max annoying when he’d first joined, but through sheer force of will, Max had gotten Seth to be his friend.
Dream Max pointed at some spot in the sand. “Can’t you see it? It’s right there.”
“What’s right there?”
“Seriously? Come on, Seth, you’re pulling my leg here.”
Seth was about to tell his friend to fuck off when Max stepped forward onto the spot. Then, before Seth could warn Max, or warn anyone around them, the spot exploded.
The sound was deafening. Seth flew into the air, and it was like time had stopped. When he finally landed on his back, the breath leaving his body, he felt the spray of blood on his face. He tried to scream Max’s name, but his voice was caught in his throat.
Crawling, unable to see with the smoke and the sand obscuring his vision, Seth found something warm. It was an arm, slick with blood. As Seth’s vision cleared, he saw in horror that it wasn’t Max: it was Rose.
Rose, lying in the sand, bleeding her life away. She gasped something, and Seth tried to get her to stay still and quiet. He yelled, but it came out as a hoarse groan. And then, right before his eyes, Rose closed her eyes and breathed her last.
The scream caught in Seth’s throat emerged as a shout that w
oke him from a sound sleep. Gasping for air, his entire body covered in a cold sweat, Seth took in lungfuls of air. His heart beat so fast it felt like it would beat out of his chest.
It was a dream. Just a dream.
He wondered if he was going to puke. Sometimes he did, depending on the nightmare. Other times he lay in bed, not wanting to return to sleep. Having your dreams haunt you made sleep unbearable.
Seth rose from his bed, the sheets damp with sweat, and he stumbled to the bathroom to take a shower. He let the water run until it went cold, but even then, he felt dirty.
This had been the first time his dreams had featured Rose. He couldn’t stop seeing her dead in the sand, her life bleeding away as he could do absolutely nothing for her.
It was close to five a.m. Seth started a pot of coffee and sat down on the couch, knowing he’d never get back to sleep.
Seth had seen Lizzie fall apart after she’d gotten pregnant with Trent’s baby and then subsequently miscarried. Seth hadn’t known about the pregnancy until Trent had called him one night in February, telling Seth that he was afraid Lizzie might die from her miscarriage.
Seth had driven to Seattle in a terrified trance. The only thing that had kept him from losing it was the desire to punch the living daylights out of Trent for doing this to his twin sister.
Lizzie and Trent had broken up after that, and Lizzie had run away to be a musician, abandoning not only Trent, but Seth, too. Seth had been more hurt by her abandonment than he’d ever admitted to anyone. He and Lizzie, as twins, had done everything together as children and teenagers. Then Trent had entered the picture, and everything had been destroyed.
Seth had worked a few jobs in Fair Haven before moving to Seattle, not wanting to hear his parents complain about his throwing his life away. He had a few friends from high school working in Seattle, and he’d moved in with them. Sometimes there were women, but mostly, Seth struggled to find a purpose.
He’d never been a great student. He’d enjoyed woodworking, but after Lizzie had left, somehow he couldn’t do that anymore. Maybe it was because she’d encouraged him to do it in the first place.
Then he’d gotten a knock on his door from a recruiter that had changed his life.
Seth had joined the Marines just short of his twenty-first birthday, serving three tours in five years. He’d moved up the ranks, and he’d quickly become close friends with a number of other Marines. Max had been his closest friend.
But then Max had been killed by an IED during Seth’s last tour, and everything about his involvement with the Marines seemed pointless. Max had left a wife and little girl behind, but worst of all, Seth had survived when Max had not.
Seth had walked away with only some cuts and bruises, but Max had been too close to the IED. He’d been killed instantly.
So Seth had told his CO, Staff Sergeant Felix Loyd, that he was going on inactive duty instead of signing up for another tour, despite the fact that he’d have been close to attaining sergeant status if he’d stayed on active duty another year or two.
Sergeant Loyd hadn’t been happy with Seth’s decision. He’d called it a total waste. “You’re one of my best and brightest,” he’d said. “What the hell are you going to do back in Nowhere, Washington?”
And in a way, Sergeant Loyd had been right. Seth hadn’t known what he’d do back here in Fair Haven.
He drank his coffee, and then around seven o’clock, he got dressed and went down to the shop to get some work done.
Alan wasn’t there yet, but Seth didn’t mind. He had a table he wanted to finish, and although Seth appreciated Alan’s input, sometimes it was easier not to have the old man hovering.
He didn’t even hear Alan enter, he was so deep in his work, and after he’d finished the last leg of the table, Alan gave him an appreciative slap on the shoulder.
“Great work, son. I’m impressed.” Alan inspected the table. Although Seth called him Old Man, Alan was no more than fifty. His gray beard lent him an older air, and Alan had embraced the title without protest.
Seth stood up, wiping his forehead. “Thanks. I need to polish it up, but it should be done by tomorrow.”
“I’m still impressed you could return to woodworking after years of not doing it and be this good. I’m not sure even I could do that.”
Seth shrugged, embarrassed. He was so used to the military, with its no-nonsense commands and lack of straightforward praise, that hearing Alan’s compliments now made him uncomfortable.
“At this rate, I’ll be hiring you full-time.” Alan gave him an assessing look. “Unless you have other plans?”
“Not particularly.”
“Excellent. We’ll talk about it later. I need to finish up this chair today.”
By the afternoon, Seth had almost forgotten about the nightmare that had awoken him that morning. Working with his hands, feeling the grain of each piece of wood, sent him into a kind of trance. He’d forgotten how much he’d enjoyed this work.
His idyll ended, though, when his phone rang and he saw it was none other than his CO calling him. Seth frowned. What the hell did Sergeant Loyd want?
Seth knew very well that, even though a reservist could be called up at any time, generally speaking, it was pretty rare. Yet seeing Sergeant Loyd’s name flash on his phone caused him to feel—panicked? Excited? He didn’t know how to identify this particular emotion.
“This is Thornton,” he answered, stepping outside for some privacy.
“Corporal, hello—how’s it going? Where are you again? Bellingham?”
“Fair Haven.”
“Right. Never been there. I wanted to call you because I have an opportunity that I thought you’d be perfect for.”
Seth leaned against the wall of the building, his heart hammering, wondering what the hell Sergeant Loyd had in mind this time.
“We need more guys—guys like you, Thornton—and I’ve wracked my brain to find somebody else, but you’re the man I need. I could get you reinstated to active like that if you accepted.” Seth could hear him snap his fingers. “Then you’d be on tour again by October.”
Seth couldn’t believe it. It was one thing to be called up again while on inactive duty; it was another to have a choice in the matter.
“What’s the job?” he asked.
Sergeant Loyd gave him the lowdown, telling him again that Seth was one of his best guys, and if he took this last tour, Seth could be promoted to sergeant if he wanted.
“I know you’re on inactive, but I told you that was a total waste. I think you know it, too.”
“When do you need my answer?”
“The sooner the better. Let’s say by July fifteenth. That’s when I have to turn in my paperwork.”
Seth assured Sergeant Loyd he’d give him his answer by then, and then he stood, staring at nothing, as he thought. He couldn’t help but agree with his CO: what was he doing in Fair Haven? Woodworking and hanging around? He’d excelled in the Marines, moving up the ranks with ease, and the only reason he’d decided not to take a fourth tour was because he’d thought he was done. Max’s death had changed his outlook: life was such a fragile thing. Could he really test the limits of his own mortality a fourth time?
But now that he was basically a civilian again, he felt lost. Adrift.
Then he thought of Rose, of her pointing a gun at him, and his vow to keep her safe. He rubbed the back of his neck. What would happen if he left her, and this ex-boyfriend of hers hurt her? Or worse?
The thought was unbearable. Even though he’d only known her a short time, she’d affected him deeply. She’d made him want to do more than just drift along in life without any purpose.
And what if another tour ended up being his last?
If Rose had known that Seth Thornton, her seemingly unassailable neighbor, suffered from nightmares just like she did, she might have just laughed. It was too ridiculous, too melodramatic.
But that night, she didn’t know of Seth’s dreams. She only knew of her
own, and she wished that she could be rid of them once and for all.
She always dreamed the same dream: the day when Johnny had brought her to his apartment and told her he had a deal for her. She’d been all of twenty, naïve and sheltered, and Johnny had charmed her the moment she’d met him. He was handsome and witty, and he told her she was beautiful.
When you grow up with a brother and no parents, and that same brother tries to hide you from the world in his best effort to keep you safe, it ironically creates a situation where you become vulnerable to people. People like Johnny.
She knew this dream well. Johnny handed her a glass of wine before touching her cheek. She trembled and could barely contain her tears, because her brother had been arrested for drug charges that would send him to prison for a long time if he was convicted. She knew he was innocent; he would never jeopardize his future like that, or hers. He was going to be a teacher, for God’s sake. What kind of a teacher gets arrested for dealing heroin?
“Don’t cry,” Johnny soothed. He lounged in a chair across from her, his legs crossed. “I’ve got it all worked out.”
She gasped in relief. “How? Do you know who did it?”
He shook his head regretfully. “No, but I know people, and I can get your brother released and the charges dropped and erased.” He snapped his fingers. “Just like that. But I need something from you.”
Her gut twisted at the tone of his voice, but Johnny had been kind to her. He wanted to help her. She wanted to believe he could set everything right.
“I’ll do anything,” she breathed.
He smiled. Rising, he sat next to her and set his arm on the back of the couch behind her. He didn’t touch her, but he didn’t need to. She felt the gesture in her heart: it was a gesture of ownership.
She gripped her wineglass harder.
“If you want your brother to go free, you’re mine. Do you understand?”
“I’m already your girlfriend.”
His lips quirked. “Yes, you are.” He brushed her throat with his fingers. “But you won’t let me touch you. Still a virgin, aren’t you, Rosie?”