Unhurt

by Thomas, K. S.

  “That’s not how I saw it happen.” Bobby shrugged, then turned toward me. “Derek, you better get this piece of shit outside. Joss’ll be pissed if you get blood on her stuff.”

  I nodded, already pulling Travis back to his feet. “Let’s go.”

  A few minutes later, Bobby and I were both standing out in the driveway watching as Travis sped off in his crappy old Civic.

  “Why are you doing this?” He wasn’t even looking at me. Just staring out into the distance waiting for the maroon streak of Travis’s trunk to disappear altogether.

  “Because it’s the right thing to do.” It was the abbreviated version. The extended one wasn’t nearly as cut and dry although it boiled down to the same reason.

  “Bullshit. I know you’re a good guy and all, plus you SEALS probably live by some extra special code of heroism, but fuck, Derek. Marrying some girl you barely know to help her win her custody battle. And then that in there. I saw the look on your face. You would kill him. If he came close enough to hurting Joss or Wyatt, you’d straight up assassinate his ass like he was some target on one of your missions. Why? Why are you so invested?”

  I could feel the intensity of his glare on me and knew he had finally turned his head away from the road. I faced him, man to man, looking him straight in the eye. Bobby was my friend. I owed him the truth.

  “My final assignment before I was discharged...things went wrong. Really wrong. Innocent people were killed.” I stopped to take a deep breath before I continued, “It’s hard enough trying to live with that. I can’t add any more victims to that list. Even if they’re just people I’m meeting while passing through. If there’s something I can do to help...to save them....I have to do it.”

  Bobby studied me through squinted eyes. “Are you? Just passing through?”

  “I’ll be here as long as I’m needed.” I was like the fucking military version of Mary Poppins or some shit. Like I’d be moving on when the wind changed. Maybe that had been my plan in the beginning. Everything was different now. I was different now. Joss was changing everything. She was changing me. And she didn’t even fucking know it yet.

  Chapter Thirteen

  After the Travis incident, I was no longer in the mood to party. Thanks to the scowl on my face, it didn’t take people too long to catch on, and soon everyone except for Bobby and his date had cleared out.

  It wasn’t cold out, but my nerves were so fried I felt a chill all the way to my core. After checking on Wyatt for the hundredth time, I pulled a sweater over my dress and went back outside to look for Derek. Feeling the shivers run through me yet again, I wrapped both arms around myself and searched the side of the house for him.

  When I spotted him down at the end, I started toward him.

  “We got sloppy. All these fucking people in the house. That door should have never been unlocked!” I didn’t mean to be shouting. Especially not at Derek. But somehow I knew he’d just take it.

  “It wasn’t.” He was so much fucking calmer than me. Even after being yelled at for no reason.

  “What are you talking about? Then how the hell did he get in?” I was only a few feet away now and I was still speaking at a volume that suggested he was standing on the opposite end of a football field.

  “Not sure. Still trying to figure that part out. But it wasn’t through the front door.” He started moving and next thing I knew he turned the corner of the house and left me standing there alone.

  I hurried to catch up with him again. Wasn’t hard since he’d stopped already, this time at the bathroom window.

  “How can you be so sure he didn’t use the door?”

  He took his attention from the window to answer me. “Because it was still locked and latched when I went to kick him out. Most intruders don’t go out of their way to lock themselves in. Especially not if their defense consists of claiming the door was left open.”

  Confused, I watched his hands run the length of the window frame on both sides, then along the top and bottom. Suddenly, he stopped. Then, stunned, I saw him slide his fingers into a crack along the window and slide it up.

  “Here. This is how he got in.”

  I was shaking my head. “Not possible. That window is never open. It can’t. The lock has been busted since before I moved in.”

  “It’s busted alright.” His finger ran the edge of the metal sealing in the glass. “The whole thing is missing.”

  “What?” I almost fell into him in my haste to see for myself. “Oh my GOD! We have to check all the windows.” I began to stumble off like a drunk person trying to get into the bar for one more drink before last call. Derek had a hold of my hand before I got too far.

  “Joss, stop. I’ll check the windows, and the back door, too. Just go inside and try to calm down a bit. Wyatt is going to notice something is up and I know the last thing you want is for him to get scared. Trust me. I’ll handle this.”

  I nodded. “You can’t let him back into this house.” The words choked out as the instantaneous lump in my throat threatened to rob me of my voice completely. My eyes were already stinging from the pressure of my tears and I knew there would be nothing I could do to stop from crying in front of Derek.

  I felt like an idiot. As if it wasn’t enough to ask him to give up his life for who knew how long to help me win my case, and then rope him into being our bodyguard as well, now I was fucking crying in front of him as well.

  My lip was starting to burn with a dull ache from where my teeth were piercing through the skin, but I barely noticed. I was too busy scolding myself for all the mistakes I’d made that had led to this very moment, and I had plenty to keep me busy for a while. Except there was still Derek. Derek, who reached up in the midst of my silent unraveling to gently wipe the tears from my cheek with the side of his thumb. There was something strangely contradictory about the things I knew those hands to be capable of. I’d seen what they could do to inflict harm; now I was experiencing firsthand how they could heal.

  “You should run, Derek. I mean it. Get the fuck out of here. You didn’t sign up for any of this. I proposed a simple arrangement. One I knew all along would never stay simple. I mean, I’d hoped...but I knew. And I should have told you. I should have warned you about Travis and what he was capable of. It was wrong not to. Just like it was wrong to let you deal with him before. Wrong to ask you to take care of things now. And just plain unacceptable to subject you to my blubbering. This is not your problem.”

  He tilted his head down to catch my averted gaze. “I know that. I knew all of it actually. And I signed up for every part of it. On purpose. Eyes wide open. I’m not going anywhere, Joss.” Then he leaned in and kissed my forehead softly. Without thinking, I reached for him, clinging tightly to his body while the strength of it enveloped me, making me feel safe and protected, the way I was starting to depend on it to.

  “I’m not going to let him hurt you, Joss. Not you. Not Wyatt. Not ever. I promise.”

  And I believed him. At my core, in my gut, within my chained-up, broken heart, I knew he was telling the truth.

  He held me for what felt like an eternity and, when I’d finally stopped crying, he let go, smiled at me and reminded me that what mattered most was inside waiting for me.

  So, I left him to deal with the pleasantries of discovering all the ways in which Travis had trespassed into our home and into our lives while I went to hold my son and read him bedtime stories.

  Even after Wyatt had been asleep for a while, I lay there in his bed with him, curled up against his tiny body, unable to let go. It wasn’t until Bobby showed up in the doorway, quietly rapping his knuckles against the wood, that I pried myself away from my son and forced myself to leave him alone in his room, repeatedly reminding myself that Derek had checked the lock on his window several times to make sure it was secure.

  “Hey, you doin’ alright?” Bobby reached his arm around my shoulders as we walked out to the living room where Derek, Aunt Deb and his date Miranda were sitting togeth
er.

  “Been better,” I mumbled.

  He led me over to the sofa where Derek caught my hand and I left one kind embrace to find another. Curled up against his chest, I didn’t even care what everyone else thought of our relationship anymore. Shit, I didn’t even care what I thought about it.

  “So, the good news is, all the windows and doors are securely locked again,” he said softly into my hair.

  I lifted my head, slightly tipping it back for conversation sake. “What’s the bad news?”

  He sighed heavily. “The bad news is, Deb says the set of spare keys is missing from the kitchen drawer, which means first thing tomorrow I’m having a guy come out to change out all the locks, but in the meantime –“

  “Travis has total access.”

  He slowly swayed his head back and forth in an indecisive nod. “Not exactly. He may be able to unlock the doors, but I sure as hell won’t be giving him access.”

  Bobby was looking straight at me. “Neither will I. Miranda and I are going to crash here for the night. Derek and I can take turns keeping watch. If Travis comes back, he ain’t fucking leaving this time.”

  “You guys don’t have to do that, Bobby. You have shit going on at the bar, it’s a Saturday night for crying out loud! Not to mention, Miranda probably wasn’t planning on her date turning into a sleepover.”

  She shrugged. “I kinda was.”

  I snorted at her candidness. It was a pleasant change of pace to be around people who just came right out with their intentions. “Never mind then.”

  Aunt Deb had been quietly sitting in her recliner, staring blankly at the front door. “I just don’t understand why this is happening. Why is he so hell-bent on getting a child he didn’t even know he had? Why can’t anyone tell the difference anymore between a man who wants his son and a man who wants to be a father? A father would never put his child through this. A father would never threaten his child’s mother. This is just so wrong. And so sad. The whole thing, it just makes my heart ache.”

  I didn’t know what to say. Aunt Deb was always glass half full. She was the one I counted on to show me the brighter side of life. I needed her carefree spirit to lift my hardened soul. I was utterly inept when it came to filling her shoes and returning the favor. So I just sat there looking at her, both of us smiling at the other with tears in our eyes, unwilling to accept defeat.

  Derek’s hand landed on my knee, gently squeezing. “You need to get some sleep. You look wrecked.”

  “Gee, thanks. That’s just the sort of sweet talk every girl hopes to hear on her wedding night.”

  His lips twitched playfully, but he didn’t respond other than to stand up and pull me to my feet. Then, without saying a word, he continued out of the room and into the hall, leading me by the hand straight to our bedroom.

  It was strange being led through my own house. At the same time, it was a relief. I liked that I didn’t feel like I had to be the strong one. I didn’t have to take care of everything. The responsibility didn’t lay squarely across my shoulders because now, for some miraculous reason, I had Derek. Not only was he willing to take on my troubles, but I was willing to let him because I had faith in him. Faith that he would be able to stand up to the task. I could depend on Derek. Outside of my family, I hadn’t ever felt that way about anyone. No one else had ever given me any reason to.

  Once inside the bedroom, he took me over to the bed where I had a seat. He gestured for me to lift my arms and carefully tugged my sweater over my head.

  Next he took both of my hands and brought me back to my feet. The touch of his callused fingers tickled my skin as he moved along my arms up to my shoulders across to my back where he reached around and undid the zipper slowly down until my dress fell to the floor.

  The entire time, I just stood there watching him. My eyes devouring every detail of his face, the small changes in his expression as he undressed me. The gentle way his gaze traveled over me, like I was fragile. And beautiful.

  I’d never been seductive. Not in person. Not even in my wildest fantasies. It just wasn’t in me. The hottest thing I was ever gonna do to get some action was get naked. That’s where my sexy began and ended. Until Derek. Being seen by him was giving me a view of myself I’d never had access to before. I’d simply assumed it didn’t exist. I’d been wrong.

  ***

  There she was, emeralds blazing, setting my entire being on fire with a need for her I couldn’t even begin to explain. It was so intense and damn near uncontrollable, it fucking scared the hell out of me. How would there ever be a day I wouldn’t want this woman? And what would I do when the day came that I couldn’t have her anymore?

  So much between us was being left unsaid because it was too complicated and shit was already too messy as it was. Joss was scared. I knew that. Not just of Travis. She was scared of me. Afraid of the ways I could impact her life. Joss, wild and eccentric as she was, was still a raging control freak. Loss did that to you, I knew that better than anyone. But this, whatever was happening between us, before long, neither one of us was going to be able to control it.

  “Say something,” she whispered.

  “You’re perfection.” I could see in her eyes that she dismissed the words instantly. “Not perfect. Perfection. The way your full lips taste on mine. The dimple on your left cheek that only shows up when you’re trying not to laugh. And those eyes. God Joss, do they see right through me? Because it sure as hell feels that way.”

  The soft curve in her bottom lip told me I was right. I reached up to trace it with my thumb, then leaned in and let my mouth do the same.

  It was only a matter of seconds before there’d be no turning back.

  “I better leave.” The words came out, but my body didn’t respond. Neither did hers.

  “Why?” Even as she asked, her body was weaving itself around mine.

  “Because. I can’t protect you and Wyatt like this.” My mouth continued to trace various parts of her body, my hands doing more of the same. It was like a fucking out of body experience. My head was clearly telling me to stop and stay alert, but I could also feel every breath of hers against my skin, every tantalizing touch where her body met with mine to the point I felt like I might explode if I didn’t have her right then and there.

  “I have the baby monitor hooked up.” She sounded out of breath. Much like I felt. “We’ll be able to hear if he so much as rolls over in his sleep. Besides, Bobby is right outside of his room as well.”

  Finally I managed to hold still long enough to catch her gaze.

  “What about you?”

  She stared back with an unwavering certainty.

  “I could never be safer than I am at this very moment.”

  And I’d never been in more danger... than I was at that very moment.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The weeks that followed seemed to pass in slow motion. At least while I wanted them to move faster. Then, when we were mere days away from the first official court date of our case and I began to desperately desire to freeze time, time accelerated and suddenly the week went by at the speed of light.

  While Travis hadn’t shown up at the house since his little trespassing adventure at the wedding, he’d made his presence known in other ways. Leaving notes around for me to find. Not just at the house either. Several were left on my windshield whenever I was out running errands and left the car parked outside somewhere. They never said anything incriminating or even outright creepy. The creep factor came solely from knowing he was following me. Watching. Always lurking even when he seemed out of sight. Which was of course the point: to remind me how easy it was for him to get to me.

  Derek had reached the point he barely let me leave the house alone anymore. He’d had to pass on several jobs already just to be my babysitter, a gig he wasn’t getting paid shit for unless you counted the hot meals Aunt Deb provided on a daily basis, and I didn’t.

  Having Derek escort me everywhere hadn’t stopped Travis from tagging along.
Only difference was, now I always knew where he was. Derek’s crazy SEAL senses could spot him even from a mile away. But Travis didn’t know we were watching him just as much as he was watching us these days. Even I had to admit, there was something satisfying about having the tables turned for a change, although I still would have preferred not seeing him at all.

  After having turned up the heat to scorching between us that night after our wedding, Derek and I had both decided it would be best to simply let things simmer for a while. At least, I was assuming that’s what he had decided. We hadn’t actually discussed it, but there had been a definite shift in our relationship. Since I couldn’t be sure which one of us had initiated it, I’d decided the decision had been mutual because clearly, that was the most responsible thing to decide given the situation. This was no time for a ridiculous romance. Real life shit was on the line. There was no room for thoughts that made me want to believe my reality had suddenly morphed with some chick flick, even if it was currently cast with a man even Brad Pitt couldn’t compare to.

  As part of this new, sensible way of approaching our relationship, Derek had started sleeping out in the living room where he felt he could better keep track of the entire house versus being isolated in the far back bedroom where I was now back to sleeping alone. It sucked by the way. Sleeping alone blew big fat chunks and I seriously wondered how I’d gotten any rest at all over the years. I certainly wasn’t getting any now.

  It was three a.m. and I’d been tossing and turning for hours. Frustrated and anxious I threw back the covers and jumped out of bed. I knew for damn sure there was at least one thing that could calm my nerves.

  I nearly tripped over Hattie when I opened the door to the dark hallway. She’d been sleeping right outside of my room in between my door and Wyatt’s. Probably on Derek’s orders. I apologized in a hushed voice and leaned down to give her a quick pat on the head before I continued on to the living room.