Ha! I have a lot to tell you.
I am all ears, but you should come to the Hospital. The guys from the VA are here and filled us in on everything that happened there.
Oh, Lord. That isn’t even the half of it.
Get your ass over here.
“Yes, sir.” I muttered out loud.
Shaking my head at the conversation, I hopped off my feather covered bed and got dressed. Taylor and Leigh Ann read the conversation over my shoulder and offered to come along.
After thirty minutes, we were on our way to the only hospital within a hundred miles of Whitetail. Jason texted me the room number and told me Lawson would meet me at the front entrance.
Parking the car in visitor’s parking, I spotted Lawson waiting for us. He changed out of his kangaroo legs and looked almost normal.
“What, no kangaroo legs?” Looping my arm around Lawson, I gave him a side hug and introduced him to my girls.
Lawson winked at all of us and led us inside. “I didn’t want to draw any attention. I mean some crazy lunatic called me Kangaroo Legs when we first met.” He circled his finger around his left ear, showing the universal sign for crazy.
Smacking his chest, he led us to the fifth floor. All the guys from the VA and Mason were present. They seemed to be in a heated discussion when we arrived. Taking a look around, I noticed Ryan, John and Matt were missing.
“Where is Ryan, John, and Matt?”
Leading us to the group of ex-military, I plopped in a chair between Weatherford and Prosser. Prosser had dark skin, and Weatherford was a bit on the lighter side. They both had square jaws and eyes that would make a woman’s toes curl. If my heart wasn’t stuck on Ryan, I would bet my hoo-ha would love a round with these two.
Prosser was busy reading a magazine, when Weatherford answered my question. “They went to check out the farm. Mike barely made it out alive and they want to know who did this.”
“What’s at this farm? Who would attack you guys?” My mind was racing with questions. What could they possibly have that would spark someone’s attention. They are soldiers for God’s sake, they defended our country and made sure this town was safe.
“Ryan can tell you when he gets back.” Weatherford rested his hand on my knee and gave a tight squeeze. The look on his face told me he wanted to tell me something, but knew he shouldn’t. Man, are all soldiers this infuriating?
“Right, trying to get information out of that thick-headed skull is like pulling teeth out of a rattlesnake’s mouth. They are terrifying and when you anger them, BAM you’re dead.”
“Brianna, it’s not what you think. Just let Ryan...”
“BRIANNA! Where have you been, girl? Mike wants to see you.” Jason had his arms crossed and was tapping his foot, acting like he had been waiting for hours. I gave Weatherford a slight nod, then followed Jason to Mike’s room.
“When he found out what happened at the VA, he had to see you. A man who gets blown up, normally wants to kill the fuckers who did this and rip out their spines. But noooo, he finds out you kick the guys’ asses in Battlefield and crawl into a tunnel screaming “Don’t just stand there, spiders will attack me!” his tone changed and he needed to hear the story from the woman herself.”
Hearing Jason recapping what happened today, it sounded like I had lost my mind. If I was back home, I never would have done anything like this. I would be home snuggled in bed with my cat, watching one of my favorite shows or getting lost in a good book. That was always the highlight of my Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. Jack, my best guy friend back home, would do whatever he could to get me out of bed. Some days it would work, but others I would fight him and refused to go out. But that never stopped him. He would drag me over his shoulder and take me to the clubs in whatever I was wearing that night. For a small dude, he was ridiculously strong and the biggest pain in my ass. Speaking of, I needed to call and check up on my cat.
Rounding the corner past the nurse’s station, Jason opened the door to Mike’s suite. Mike was laid up in a hospital bed with several wires sticking out of his gown, and two separate bags of fluid hanging on the post. There was a small bathroom in the far side of the room with a window overlooking Glacier. He had a forty inch TV and several movies stacked next to the DVD player. It was cute, but turning my attention to Mike, I almost faltered.
His left eye was bandaged up, with several cuts along his cheek. His left arm was in a cast from his wrist to his upper forearm and I could vaguely see bandages on his ribs. He looked lucky to be alive.
“Mike, what happened?” Walking to the edge of his bed, I sat on his right side, making sure not to hurt him, and grasped his uninjured hand.
“I’m fine, Brianna. Nothing a few painkillers and a good night’s sleep can’t fix.” How in the world was he so calm?
Jason seemed to have read my mind. “He is on a morphine drip. If he wasn’t, he would be hobbling down the hall, determined to find out who did this.”
“Who would do this? Why was the farm attacked? What-“
Mike placed his finger over my lips to shush me. “Anyone ever tell you, you talk too much?”
Pushing his hand away from my mouth, I was about to say something when Jason cut me off.
“Just tell her, Mike.”
“I can’t. Ryan will skin me alive and feed me to the wolves. I made a pact that I would not say a word.”
“Fine, I will tell her.”
“Jason!”
“Sue me. She needs to know.”
Mike growled in protest, looking like he wanted to say something, but held his tongue and looked at anything, but Jason. Whatever I was about to hear was going to shatter my world.
CHAPTER 13
“I never knew Ryan before the war. He was sixteen when the World Trade Center went down and he vowed since that day, he would avenge those who died and bring peace back to America. He enlisted when he was eighteen and served for ten years. He did five tours and never once wanted to leave. His life’s mission was to serve and protect. But one day, things took a turn for the worst.
His squad was on patrol, doing rounds at the local town, making sure all was in order. They had just finished building a new school and supplying the kids with everything they needed to better their education, when the unspeakable happened. The enemy swarmed the town and opened fire. Ryan and his men returned fire, all the while making their way back to the school. They refused to let anything happen to the kids.
Ryan and his men were able to destroy the attackers, but there were a few casualties. Two of his men were shot while protecting the children. They believed if they could bring hope into their lives that maybe, just maybe, the evil of this world would vanish and light would once again spread throughout the lands. A few of the children received a few scrapes, but the sacrifice of his men insured their survival.
Ryan wished to take their place, but the children looked up to him and he knew he had a job to do. Escorting the children home, they heard a child scream. We ran to check it out.”
Jason paused and looked at Mike. Without realizing it, my hands were clenched tight, waiting to hear what happened next. Tears flowed down my face and my heart was racing. Those men sacrificed their lives to save a school full of innocent children. They may have been born on the enemy’s side, but the soldiers didn’t care.
“They-“
“We ended up finding one of our own taking advantage of a child. I shot him without thinking and ran to help. She held onto me for dear life and cried out for her mother. I knew what I had done was treason and would get me dishonorably discharged, but I didn’t care. We were there to protect the innocent and put an end to this war, not to take advantage and do what we wanted.”
I turned to see Ryan leaning against the door with a haunted look on his face. I tried to say something, but nothing came out.
“Wha-“
“I submitted my report and waited until my tour was over. My commander found out what happened and discharged me from the arm
y.” Ryan walked over to the window and sat in the open chair. “I had been on five tours and seen things that no one would wish on their worst enemy. But that was the one thing that broke me.”
“Ryan-“
“When I was discharged, I contacted a few of my buddies who left the Army a few years before and put things in motion. Seeing that innocent girl, helpless, afraid, and petrified. I knew there were others out there and someone needed to help find them.”
My mind was trying to wrap my head around everything he just told me. “What do you mean, put things in motion?” Walking over to Ryan, I took my time and waited for him to answer. He never once told me what happened when he was on tour. Looks like I was about to find out.
“John, Matt, and myself set up a safe house for those who were a part of sex trafficking. We rescue those that have been a part of the system and do what we can to give them a new identity and hide them from their former masters. We’ve been successful with a few cases, but others have proven to be a bit more challenging.” Ryan hesitated for a moment and rubbed his hands together roughly. “But there is something I need to come clean about, Brianna.”
Kneeling before Ryan, I placed both hands on his to stop him for torturing his hands and planted a kiss on his thumbs. “Tell me.”
“That night I left you-“
Biting my tongue, I waited. I knew if I cut him off or said anything, he wouldn’t tell me. But something about his tone told me I already knew what he was going to say.
“One of the girl’s pimps found her and tried to bring her back. I left my brother’s widow and went after him. I have never been so angry in my life, Brianna. I took one look at his face and knew he needed to die. I hit him so hard, his skull cracked, but that didn’t stop me. She screamed for help, but that only made it worse. I was angry at my brother for not talking to me and for taking his life. I was angry that men would sell a human being for pleasure. I was angry because the one person I wanted in my life didn’t know the real me and if I told her what I do and told her about the demons of my past, she would run. So I did what I know best and blocked everyone out.”
“And how well did that work out for you?” I said, trying to keep the sarcasm out of my voice.
“Fucked me in the ass. I lost the one person in this world who meant the most to me.” Ryan pulled me onto his lap and buried his nose in the crook of my neck. His 5 o’clock shadow made my skin tickle.
“Sounds like you have a lot of groveling to do. Especially after tonight.” Running my hands through his soft hair, my fingers worked their magic on the back of his neck.
“If you didn’t pull that stunt that you did, I wouldn’t have freaked out.” Ryan snapped back.
“Whatever. At least you didn’t have to defend yourself against a swarm of hairy black spiders. I could have died.” Pretending to be offended, I looked to see Mike holding his laughter in, while Jason hung his head trying to hide the smile on his face.
“Sounds like a terrible ordeal.” I felt teeth graze my neck and my inner vixen roared to life. Lips touched my skin, causing my breathing to become labored. My sweet spot was my neck and this man knew it. A soft moan escaped my lips.
Jason snorted, trying to recover from his outburst. “I think you need to take your woman home, Ryan. She is about to combust on your lap.”
Fuck me. I could feel Ryan’s erection rise to attention and knew he was no better off than me. “Zip it, smartass.”
“Bite me, nerd.”
“You might enjoy it too much.”
“Try me.”
Blowing Jason a kiss, I turned my attention back to Ryan. My inner vixen would need to wait just a little bit longer. I still have one question that was left unanswered. “What is Funny Farm?”
“Funny Farm was created as a safe house for those we rescued. We created these places and recruited men from all over the world. We have men in New Zealand, Australia, even Ireland. Funny Farm was one of the twelve safe houses built in the US. We just transferred six girls and one boy to their next stage of transition, when someone blew the place up.”
“What happened?” I asked, praying the kids made it out alive.
“I’m not sure yet. Matt, John, and I went to check it out, but we got a phone call saying our women were at the hospital causing a ruckus. So we left and came here.” Ryan said with his trademark smirk. I kissed him on the cheek, wanting to get the hell out of here and do something naughty.
“I would never do such a thing. I’m an angel.” I said, pretending to play innocent.
“Right, and I’m King of Mordor, Killer of Orcs.” Rolling his eyes, he entwined our fingers, giving my hand a tight squeeze. Did he just make a Lord of the Rings reference?
“Did you-“
“I did.”
Throwing my fist in the air, I squealed. “I’m about to fuck Aragorn!”
Mike and Jason lost it. Laughter echoed off the walls, causing my face to go ten shades of red. Did I just say that out loud?
“Come on, Arwen. Let me show you what my sword is capable of.”
~*~
Ryan stole my heart when he quoted Lord of the Rings. How in the world can a girl say no to man who just quoted her favorite movie? My inner vixen was in complete agreement. Who knows, maybe one of my fantasies was going to come true.
The night was young, but pitch black outside. Back home in Seattle, it wouldn’t be dark until ten o’clock, but here in Montana is was barely eight and the stars were shining up in the sky. Ryan spoke the entire time we were in his truck. He talked about the three years we have been apart and how he was coping with being out of the service. For three years, he threw himself into work and tried to focus on something that didn’t remind him of me. But that never worked.
After two years of giving up, he received an odd email from Leigh Ann and everything fell into place. She planned this trip with Ryan, making sure we met at the right time and were never apart. She told Ryan how I was doing with everything after he left me and knew we were meant to be, even though he was a giant ass for leaving me in bed and not telling me what the hell was going on. But that was in the past.
Fate has a way of bringing people back together, when they are meant to be. Ryan may not be perfect, but he was my soldier. Broken, but was full of love and undying loyalty.
Focusing on Ryan’s stories, I lost track of time and wondered where we were going. We originally were on our way to the cabin, but this was new territory for me.
“Ryan, where are we going?” I asked, trying to decipher where we were at.
“I’m taking you home.” Ryan took a right turn, heading down a small dirt path. Looking out the window, all I could see was a vast amount of thick trees and pitch black. The stars were hidden from sight and the only light we had was from Ryan’s truck.
’Home?’ What did he mean by home?
Ryan didn’t say a word and focused on the road ahead. A small cabin with lights on all throughout the house started to come into view. The closer we got, the more the small cabin started to look not so small.
“Welcome home, Bree.” Ryan grinned from ear to ear. Opening the door to his truck, he walked around the front, to open my door.
“Ryan, it’s beautiful.” The cabin was out of this world. Okay, coming from me that probably doesn’t say much. But a cabin in the woods, with French doors acting as the entrance to the cabin, flower pots decorating the wrap-around-porch, and custom made wagon wheel railings on the staircase. Who wouldn’t love this place?
Ryan wrapped his arm around my waist and guided me up the steps. Instead of heading to the front door, we walked around to the back of the cabin. Not fully prepared for what I was about to see, my foot caught on something, causing me to tumble forwards.
Strong arms tightened around my waist, catching me before my face slammed onto the deck and I lost a tooth.
“I can’t take you anywhere, can I?” Ryan chuckled softly and put me back on my feet. He kissed my temple and I turned my attention back t
o what I was looking at before I stumbled.
The cabin had a straight view of Glacier National Park’s mountain range. You could see the top of the mountain range stretching as far as the eye could see. The moon’s light glistened off the mountains, allowing anyone to see the beauty of nature. I could only imagine what it was like when there was snow packed on top.
“Wow.”
Strong arms wrapped around my waist, causing my body to melt against his chest. Leaning my head back against his chiseled chest, I let my body relax, for the first time in ages. The past three years have been a roller coaster. Who knew fate would bring us back together and give us another chance.
A shiver wracked my body, causing Ryan to tighten his hold.
“Come on. Let’s get inside. I have something planned for tonight.”
CHAPTER 14
Walking inside the cabin, I couldn’t believe my eyes. How in the world did a soldier keep his house this immaculate? There was not a thing out of place. The living room held a curved sofa that could hold ten people, a coffee table and end tables carved from the tree trunk of a large oak tree. Pictures depicting Montana hung on every wall in the house. But what caught my eye the most, was the kitchen. I thought I was in a magazine. A steel stove with eight gas burners; pots of the finest quality hung above the island; a fridge with double doors piled full of food, and a walk-in pantry that made me wish I lived here. This was a cook’s dream kitchen.
“Do you live here all by yourself?” I asked in wonder. If he did live here all by himself, how the hell did he eat this much food and where did it all go?
“Matt and John stay over most of the time. Not to mention, the guys from the VA crash after a mission, sometimes. It’s a safe home for them.” Ryan took a seat on one of the bar stools and watched me peruse around his kitchen. I could die today and be in complete heaven.
“This… Oh, I just want to touch it all. This is a baker’s dream.” My fingers itched to touch everything around me. I’ve dreamed about having a kitchen like this. Looking at Ryan, he shook his head and just watched. Running my fingers over the counter top, I squealed at the top of my lungs when I noticed he had a brand new stand up Kitchen Aid mixer in royal blue. I’ve been trying for months to get that color, but everyone says they sell out within minutes.
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