by Casey Hagen
He thought back to the day Cole approached him at Lou’s. He’d just climbed out of the ring, sweat soaking through his shorts and running in his eyes. He didn’t have one fucking clue what he was going to do with himself beyond rookie MMA and training. Cole asked him if he missed being part of a team.
He did.
And maybe he’d finally found a way into the SEALs, even if it was unofficial.
He’d been spinning his wheels for six months since leaving the Navy and now he knew why. Maybe it was his mother’s spirit, maybe it was fate…or maybe, it was destiny.
He’s spent maybe all of thirty minutes with Destiny.
Thirty. Fucking. Minutes.
Just like that, with her strength and determination, her eagerness to save herself, she’d become important.
Too important.
What the hell was he supposed to do with all of it?
Dylan put the phone on speaker and called Tex next. He laid out the situation, minus the personal shit Jake had inadvertently purged just minutes earlier.
“I have to hand it to you, you guys are getting really good at surprising us every time you call,” Tex said, his southern drawl a welcome distraction from the direction of his thoughts.
“Just trying to keep you young,” Slyder said with a laugh. “Melody was chatting it up with Nebraska the other day. Word is that you’ve started groaning like a geriatric whenever you get out of your recliner.”
Tex coughed and cleared his throat. “Hey, man, secrets go both ways. What was this I heard about a possible case of gout?”
Slyder’s smile slipped. “It wasn’t gout. I dropped something on my foot. That’s it.”
“Uh huh. You just remember, with our women talking, those secrets go both ways. Now let’s see what I can find out about our guy,” Tex said. He groaned and the telltale sound of a recliner closing echoed, making them grin.
Evan stopped tapping his pen, Cole stopped drumming his fingers on the table, and the faint sound of Tex tapping away at his computer keys came through the line. Eventually the silence took over so much so that when Tex spoke, Josie jumped.
“Here’s the bastard we’re looking for. Carter Pierce, career, forty-two, a prosecutor for the Navy,” Tex said.
“Of course he is. No wonder she’s going up against him. Who’s going to believe her over a military lawyer?” Cole said, his voice laced with venom.
“I don’t begrudge an officer becoming a lawyer, but I can’t tell you how much I hate the idea that I would have given life, and I did give limb for this country, while this fucking guy is sitting in a warm, comfortable office all day and beating his wife at night,” Tex growled.
“Yeah, and he’s prosecuting others for their crimes while he’s skating by on his own behind closed doors. Tells me everything I need to know. I’m half hoping Destiny kills him with her bare hands,” Evan said, leaning back in his chair and tossing his pen on his legal pad.
“I think we all are,” Slyder said.
“Did Destiny say when she reported him? It would help me track who she might have talked to. So far I see that he’s had three officers above him over the past ten years,” Tex asked.
“No, she didn’t,” Jake said.
“Well, if you get a chance to find out, it’ll help me while I do some digging. Either way, I’ll find him and we’ll make sure he sees justice as well,” Tex said.
“I’ll see what I can do, but she doesn’t know I was going to look into this. I don’t know her very well, but something tells me she wouldn’t appreciate it,” Jake said.
“Understood. So, does this all have a something to do with the email I got from Mozart about fifteen minutes ago with a proposal to invest in a wildly expensive domestic violence facility in Long Beach?” Tex asked.
Dylan smiled. “The facility came first. It was Jake’s proposal.”
“Interesting how these things work out, isn’t it?” Tex said.
They finished up the call, and everyone disbursed for the day, leaving Tex to do some more digging and Jake to prepare for training Destiny that night. He spotted Josie heading to the door and jogged over to her.
“Hey, Josie. You got a minute?” Jake asked.
“Sure. What do you need?” she asked, hitching up her belt.
“Can you come out tonight to meet Destiny?”
Josie’s lips split into a slow smile. “Sure, I can protect you.”
“Cute. I’m thinking that it might make her more comfortable to work with me if you’re nearby,” Jake said.
“It’s actually very considerate of you, and I’d be honored to be there. What time?” she asked.
“Quarter after seven. Thanks,” Jake said, feeling a whole lot more confident about the night ahead.
Chapter 6
Destiny pulled in and spotted Jake right away in front of the gym. He was a hard guy to miss. His body, thick with sinewy muscle, put her on edge and at ease all at once. But it was the easy smile and the way his eyes softened with understanding, but not pity that tugged at her.
It’s a look she thought she had seen in Carter a thousand times over before they walked down the aisle.
Now she noticed the subtle differences. The way Jake’s smile warmed his green eyes and the way his shoulders remained relaxed while he moved with ease, seemingly confident in his strength in a way that he didn’t need to flash it or overpower someone with it.
Older, wiser, and scarred, she recognized a whole lot more about men, women, power, and balance, but she had so much more to learn. So much of her had been programmed with the wrong information that she wondered if she’d ever be able to find any semblance of normal again.
But she had to try.
She shifted her gaze to the woman standing next to him, a woman about her height with warm, brown hair, a kind smile, and a gun on her hip.
She turned off the engine and popped open her door. By the time she stepped out, he was there, his hand resting on the doorframe.
She nodded toward the woman. “Who’s she?”
“My friend, Josie. I thought you might be more comfortable having a woman around.”
“Your friend?” she asked, adjusting her hat. God, why did she say that? It was none of her business and with her baggage, she had no business being interested in Jake for anything other than training.
He closed the door and nodded his head toward the gym. “Yeah, come on, I’ll introduce you.”
“I can’t wait,” Destiny muttered.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“Looking forward to it,” she lied.
A cool, salty breeze kicked up, lifting the ends of Josie’s hair. She caught the strand fluttering against her mouth and laughed. “It’s nice to meet you, Destiny. I hope you don’t mind that I’m here.”
“No, it’s fine,” she said, infusing fake enthusiasm into her voice.
“Good.” She nudged Jake’s arm, the movement catching Destiny’s eye. “Jake thought you might feel more comfortable if it were two against one.”
“Yes, the gun is, uh, comforting.”
Josie smiled and held open the door for her. “You’ve got attitude. I like it, and you’re going to need it. Let’s get started.”
They filed in, and Jake flicked the deadbolt behind them.
Her heart fluttered wildly, which was silly. It was just a lock. And with a quick twist, it could easily be unlocked.
Plus, Josie was there.
And Jake wouldn’t hurt her. She felt it to her core. She had no reason to trust any man ever again, but deep down, her tattered instincts told her he was one of the good guys.
She peeled off her flannel that she’d taken to wearing to ward off the chill swept in by the wind brushing over the Pacific. Exhaustion from the night before tugged at her. The pressure, the anger, the new fear for her mother, and the dread that she might be too late, that this whole plan may have been for nothing, threatened to drown her in the violent turbulence.
But Josie said she had at
“The first thing I want to work on is your confidence,” Jake said.
“I came to see you the other night alone. You don’t think I’m confident?” Destiny asked.
Jake glanced at Josie.
Her lips twitched, but she stayed silent.
“This is a trap. I know this is a trap,” he said with his arms out in surrender. “Look, it took balls of solid steel to come to me like you did last night. I want to build on that. I want to make sure you don’t freeze up when it’s most important,” Jake said. His calm voice dripped as though laced with soothing honey.
She nodded. The racing of her heart began to slow, and the smallest blossoms of hope unfurled inside her.
“I did freeze up. I’m sorry. I know better,” she said.
“No apologies, remember?” he said as he lowered his head, making it so she didn’t have to crane her neck to look at him.
“I remember,” Destiny said.
“What did you mean by that?” Josie asked.
“By what?” Destiny asked.
“You said you know better. What does that mean?” Josie said.
“I, well—” How the hell could she admit it out loud when she had a hard enough time accepting it herself?
She hadn’t just stayed with her abuser. She’d fallen in line with his every command and let him drill into her to never react. She’d let him crush all of the emotion out of her in those moments, as though she were no more than a machine with an on and off switch.
“Destiny, you’re safe here,” Josie reassured her.
Destiny blew out a rough breath. “He trained me to take it. No crying out. No whimpering. No cowering from him.”
Josie froze, her mouth pinched, and her eyes narrowed. “What happened if you whimpered?”
Destiny had never told another living soul about the horrid details. It was one thing to go to the authorities and say your husband hit you or pushed you around.
Exposing just how much of a monster she had married with words just made it all more real. Maybe if she had dared to be specific with his superior officer, something might have been done.
“He’d cut me to the point of needing stitches. And then he’d tie me down to force me to be still while he stitched as slowly as he saw fit.”
Cords in Josie’s neck flexed, something Destiny had never seen in a woman. “And cried out?” Josie asked.
Destiny pointed to her front teeth. “Two crowns.” She didn’t dare turn to see Jake’s expression. She wasn’t quite ready to witness that kind of anger in a man. Not just yet. Not before she got it all out.
“And if you cowered?” Josie asked.
Destiny swallowed the bile that rose into the back of her throat. “He’d take out his revolver and load one bullet.”
She flicked a quick glance to Jake despite her fear just to see the blood leech from his face. He laced his hands behind his head and pulled his elbows in, as if to cover his ears, and shuffled on his feet, but he was listening loud and clear, and from the way he bared his teeth, he was trying not to lash out in front of her.
He was protecting her from his anger.
“He’d make me roll a die. Whatever number I rolled, was how many times he’d take a shot at me. I’ve been lucky.”
“Whoa, okay. I—uh, Jesus,” Josie muttered.
“Lucky? You call that lucky?” Jake seethed. His chest heaved with his labored breath. He stood there, his hands curled into dangerous-looking fists.
Her fingers itched to touch them. Here, with Josie in the room, she thought she might just be able to do it.
She took a step toward him, her heart hammering in her ears. “I’m not dead,” Destiny said with a shrug.
“He tortured you,” Jake said with his chin just shy of resting on his chest as he stared down at her. Those shoulders coiled tight, his muscles and veins straining against his skin.
“He did.” She reached for his hand. His skin, rough from years of hard work, the Navy, and MMA, heated under her touch. His index finger twitched as though he wanted to take her hand in his, but he didn’t. He let her glide over his knuckles with her fingertips, all the while, his focus locked on the sight of their hands together and the way she explored him. “You’ve never touched a woman in anger.”
His eyelids drifted shut. “No.”
“And you wouldn’t, would you?” Destiny asked.
His eyes snapped open. “Never.”
“I feel something in you. You want to fight my battles for me,” Destiny said.
“Yes,” he whispered.
“You can’t. You know that, right? I have to do this, but I can’t do it without you. I need to be fast. I need to be able to endure. And I need to know how to strike.”
“I have a whole team behind me. They can have eyes on your husband every minute. We can all be witnesses to anything he tries. We can make sure he’s put away for a long time. It doesn’t have to come down to a battle to the death between the two of you if you’d just let us help.”
“He’ll find a way to slither away from justice. And I don’t want to live my life in fear. It has to be my way,” Destiny said, linking her fingers with his.
“We’re going to talk more about this, but right now, we work. We don’t have a second to waste,” Josie interjected.
Chapter 7
“Where do we start?” Destiny asked, letting his hand go and taking a step back. She needed to break that connection. She needed to clear her head and focus.
“Hits. Hitting hard, fast, and smart. Come on,” Jake said, leading her to a row of heavy bags.
The moment they’d slipped into vanished with Josie’s words. It was better that way. She could only handle so much. She didn’t know what was happening between them. Maybe he was waking her up to possibilities.
To freedom.
But if she ever wanted to know what kind of life was out there for her, to know what opportunities might lie ahead, she needed to break the ties that bound her to a dark life filled with pain, guilt, and regret.
“I want to test your endurance. I’m going to hold the bag, and I want you to hit hard and fast for as long as you can. Let’s see what you’ve got.” He reached out and handed her a set of gloves. “To protect your knuckles. We’re going to be putting them through one hell of a workout.”
She stretched the leather over her hands and snuggly closed them with the Velcro strips at the wrist. With a few flexes of her fists, she stepped up to the bag. Jake held his closed fist up and smiled.
She bumped her leather-covered knuckles against his and smiled back with a renewed energy and focus.
Destiny turned to Josie. “What will you do?”
“I’ll keep my eyes on Jake. Someone needs to keep him on the straight and narrow,” Josie replied.
“And if he gets out of line?” Destiny said.
“I’ll shoot him,” Josie said with a shrug.
“I can’t tell if you’re joking,” Destiny said.
“She’s not.” Jake braced himself with the bag between his hands and the bottom propped against his knee. “Whenever you’re ready,” he said with a nod.
She hit once, twice, three times, testing out the weight and hardness. The sound of her fist hitting the bag different, but then in some ways, the same as the sound of Carter’s fists on her.
She let the sound pull her into another time, another place. She saw Carter’s face in her mind. The cruel twist of his mouth every time he put his hands on her.
The first hit, when she took a bite of her meal before he had taken a bite of his. It came out of nowhere, in her peripheral vision for a split second before the world went dark and she woke up, the side of her face in her food and Carter chewing nonchalantly next to her.
Thwack!
Thwack!
Thwack!
Her hand connected with the bag over and over. Her muscles heated with each movement. A fine sheen of sweat formed along her hairline.
; The second time he hit her…
She’d come home with flowers. Carter expected fresh flowers in the entryway and the center of his dining room table at all times. Really, she had been the one to start bringing them home from the market, but he’d gotten used to them. And when the time came that she had to throw out the wilting flowers with no fresh bouquets to replace them, he’d smacked her.
He’d stared at her in that unnerving way of his as he twirled his Navy ring. The sound of the clock ticking over the doorway grew louder, each tick becoming one step closer to the tension between them snapping and the flat of his hand, with the ring turned under, making solid contact with her cheek.
The sharp gold edge sliced open her cheek. She whimpered. So he took out a knife and sliced open her biceps.
Thwack!
Thwack!
Thwack!
Sweat ran in rivers down her neck, the sensation the same as the blood that ran down her arm. Salty perspiration bled from her pores, soaking into her tank top. The bag blurred before her until she was in their living room, surrounded by leather, chrome, and glass.
Curled on the floor, she clutched her stomach in an effort to protect their unborn child. She’d just gone to the doctor that day. They had called her to reschedule her appointment for the following week, but during the call, had a cancellation pop up for that very day. With her afternoon free, she took it.
She went to the appointment without Carter.
She came home with the sex of their baby tucked in an envelope for them to open together. This was it. This would finally turn the man she’d married back into the loving man she’d met and banish the monster who’d replaced him.
With an exuberance she hadn’t felt since before the first time he’d hit her, she bounded into the house with a plan to make his favorite meal.
He’d arrive home and rib roast with herbed potatoes would be hot and waiting for him.
She skittered to a halt when she saw him sitting at the dining room table. “Where were you?”
“The doctor called. They had to cancel next week’s appointment and had an opening today. I figured—”
“You. Figured. What?” His tone, his demeanor, the way he drummed his fingers. God, no! Not now. Not today. Not ever again.
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