If You Leave: The Beautifully Broken Series: Book 2

by Courtney Cole

  Hey, Maddy. This is Tony. Like I wouldn’t recognize his voice. I smile. Have you heard from Jacey? She didn’t show up for work and she didn’t call.

  Unfortunately that’s not unusual lately. She’s probably sleeping it off from the club last night or something. So I call him back and tell him that, then I click into my e-mail.

  I’m breathless when I see one from Gabe.

  As I read the words, my heart pounds.

  He misses me.

  My fingers shake as I type out a reply.

  You left me. You made this choice. Now we both have to deal with it.

  I stare at the hateful words and they pull at my heart, twisting it round and round. So I delete them.

  I wish you hadn’t left. But you did.

  Tears fill my eyes as I stare at the new words, as they bleed together as my eyes fill up. Fuck it. I press the backspace hard, deleting the words.

  I miss you, too.

  Out of all the things I feel, this is the thing I feel the most. But I can’t tell him that. Because then it would make it seem OK that he left, that he treated me like nothing. And that’s not OK.

  I delete the message, my fingers heavy as a stone as I close the laptop.

  If you don’t know what to say, nothing is always a good choice.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Gabriel

  Do you feel that you need to be ever-alert, or always on guard?

  Is your opinion of the incident based on fact?

  Are you easily startled?

  Brand wasn’t fucking lying when he told me that this shit sucks. It sucks big donkey balls and every dumbass question that I’m asked pisses me the fuck off.

  Day two is no better than day one was. In fact, it might be worse. The questions that they’re asking me, both in group and in the dumbass individual therapy session, are ridiculous.

  They start out talking about the seemingly innocuous questions from the work sheets, but that evolves into talking in depth about whatever incidents put us here, the things we fear the most.

  It’s like a sticky therapeutic web of bullshit.

  I am dejected as I walk back to my room after my individual session. I don’t feel like going to the cafeteria for dinner, so I’ll grab something from the vending machine later.

  The first thing I do after I close my bedroom door behind me is check my e-mail. As I punch my password in, I realize that I’m holding my breath… I want to see Maddy’s name. But there’s nothing but a note from Brand.

  Gabe,

  Day two really sucks, I remember. Hang in there. It doesn’t seem like it’s worth it or that it’s working, I know. But trust me, it will. Just keep your chin up, bro.

  —Brand

  I appreciate Brand. I do. But all I wanted was to see an answer from Maddy. And the lack of one is an answer in itself.

  I fucked up and I’ve lost her. Losing her feels every bit as bad as everything I went through in Afghanistan. Every fucking bit. And there’s nothing I can do about it.

  My stomach growls, so I close down my computer and venture out to the commons area where the vending machines are. I choose a sub sandwich and chips before turning around and finding Annie the army nurse behind me, holding a handful of quarters.

  “So, today sucked, right?” She glances up at me. “It was day two for you, wasn’t it?”

  I nod, knowing that she has no fucking clue exactly how bad it was for me. “Yeah. It seemed pretty pointless. My friend e-mailed me and said that it will get better. Or it’ll at least seem like it has a point soon.”

  Annie nods in agreement. “Yeah, it does. It doesn’t get any easier, but it will at least make sense.”

  “How many sessions do you have a day?”

  “Only one,” she tells me as she feeds her quarters into the machine. “I’m on light duty here at the hospital during treatment, so I have a shift that I have to work around. You?”

  “Two a day,” I answer. “And right now it seems pretty pathetic. But here’s hoping that tomorrow will be better. ’Night, Annie.”

  “ ’Night,” she calls after me.

  I can feel her watching me as I walk away. Her attention makes me a little uneasy, since I don’t know exactly what she wants from me. I feel like she’s almost put me on a pedestal, since I was with the team that rescued her. And I sure as hell don’t deserve that.

  After I eat my sandwich, I open my e-mail one more time, not breathing as I look. But I release my breath on a slow exhale.

  There’s nothing. My in-box is empty.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Madison

  I finish the call with the contractor I hired to work on my house and Tony stares at me from the chair in front of my desk.

  “You using Mathis and Son?” He raises an eyebrow. “Because I know Derrick Mathis. Tell him to give you a discount.”

  I smile, in spite of the way I don’t feel like smiling yet.

  “I know him too,” I remind Tony. “Trust me, he’s giving me a good deal. He’s painting every room in my house and laying new floor and tile, and he’s doing all of that work in one week’s time. Once I decided to do it, I just wanted it done. Like now. So he’s sending in several teams to get it taken care of. I’m going to stay with Mila and Pax for a few days while it’s being done.”

  “Good plan.” Tony nods, his burly hands flipping through the work schedule. “We’ve gotta talk about Jacey, Mad. This is the second day in a row she hasn’t called in. What the hell is up with her?”

  I sigh. I texted her last night and didn’t get an answer… and that always means that she’s doing something she knows I wouldn’t approve of.

  “Well, let’s find out.” I sigh again as I pick up the phone. I dial her number and it rings five times. I’m just thinking it’s going to voice mail when she finally answers, surprising me.

  “Hey, Maddy,” she says brightly, as if she hasn’t been MIA for two days. “What’s up?”

  “You tell me,” I answer sternly. “You’ve missed work two days in a row. What the hell, Jacey? I need you here. Business is picking up for the season and I need a full staff.”

  There’s a pause and a rustle and a voice in the background.

  A man’s voice. A familiar man’s voice.

  “Who is that?” I demand suspiciously. “I know that’s not who I think it is.”

  Another pause, pregnant and long.

  I feel the blood boiling, up into my ears, spilling out into my cheeks, flushing them bright red.

  “Jacey, what the fuck is Jared doing at your house?”

  Tony snaps to attention in front of me, scowling at the phone. He holds his hands up to question Jacey’s motives and I shake my head.

  I have no idea, I mouth to him.

  “I know,” Jacey finally sighs. “I know you’re mad and Gabe will be mad, but Jared came to see me the other night and he apologized for everything. He was only being an ass because he missed me so much, Mad. Deep down he’s a good guy. He just needs to change some things. He really does love me.”

  Oh. My. God. My stomach drops into my toes and I can’t even think.

  “Jacey, he does not. He only cares about himself. I know you have acceptance issues. But you don’t need his acceptance. He’s an asshole. He’ll always be an asshole. He’s not going to change that. And isn’t he pissed that you lied about him to Gabe? I would think he wouldn’t just forget that.”

  Tony is standing now, a thunderous cloud above me. He can’t believe this shit any more than I can.

  “I apologized for that,” Jacey says weakly. “He understands that I was just messed up. That I missed my brother.”

  My head falls back and I stare at the ceiling as I count to ten, breathing heavily.

  “Mad?” Jacey asks hesitantly.

  Eight.

  Nine.

  Ten.

  I take another breath.

  “Jacey, I love you. But you’re seriously fucked up. If you need attention this bad, so bad th
at you would run right back to a psychopathic asshole, then you need some serious help. I love you. You’ll always be my best friend. But you’re fired. I have to have someone here that I can count on to come in when they’re scheduled. When you get your head on straight, you can come back.”

  She protests, but I hang up on her.

  Tony and I look at each other.

  “I’m sorry.” I shrug. “Sometimes you gotta use a little tough love. This is really stupid. I can’t believe she’s doing this. And I can’t even tell Brand and Gabe because they’re gone. I could e-mail Gabe, but I know he doesn’t need this shit right now. Not while he’s at Walter Reed.”

  I’ve never seen Tony as angry as he is right now, his big hands clenching into fists as he stands over me, his mouth contorted into a grimace.

  “Text her and tell her to stay put. I’m going over there to talk to her. She needs a swift kick in the ass, and I’m just the person to do it,” he tells me as he heads out the office door.

  “Don’t get into it with Jared,” I call after Tony. “He’s not worth it.”

  I jump up and run after him.

  He turns and looks at me. “Don’t worry. I’m only going to talk to Jacey. And to kick that little punk out of her house.”

  I sigh. That’s what I was afraid of.

  But there’s nothing I can do but watch as Tony lumbers out the door.

  * * *

  Gabriel

  From what you’ve described to me, you killed an innocent person who was sent to kill you in a coordinated effort to kill a hundred other people. Tell me, Gabe. Do you really feel like you murdered that girl—or all those other girls and women? YOU. Not the US military, not your unit, not the girl’s uncle… but YOU?

  I want to punch my therapist’s fucking teeth down his fucking throat. This individual session has lasted three hours today, three grueling hours.

  So far, over the last three days, I’ve had to write about what happened, talk about what happened, and think about what happened. In depth. In a way that I haven’t made myself examine it, ever.

  But this morning I had a breakthrough.

  I realized that one thing is the root of my issue. I can deal with the fact that Mad Dog died, even though I feel like I should’ve prevented it. I’ve seen other men die before and I had to deal with it.

  What tortures me the most is the thing that gives me nightmares.

  The girl.

  She needed my protection and I failed her. I killed her instead of helping her. Because I couldn’t figure out how to help in the split second that I had to make a decision.

  I failed.

  That’s the crux of it. I wasn’t trained to fail. But because I failed, people died, and I can’t get past that guilt. The girl symbolizes my failure to me.

  Once we make that discovery, Dr. Hart, my therapist, makes me talk about everything I know about her.

  Her name was Ara Sahar. The army told me that.

  She was ten years old. The army told me that too.

  Her uncle was a Taliban rebel who kidnapped her and sent her to destroy my Humvee. Yet another thing the army told us.

  She was terrified and needed my help. No one had to tell me that, I saw it in her eyes. And that’s what I can’t forgive myself for. I didn’t see the other girls and women while they were still alive. But I saw Ara Sahar.

  “Until you forgive yourself, you aren’t going to move past this,” Dr. Hart tells me solemnly. “I’ve seen this kind of thing a thousand times.”

  I stare at him with a heavy, heavy weight on my chest.

  “How am I supposed to forgive myself for failing a child?” I ask him painfully. “For failing a hundred children? If you were me, could you? If you would’ve smelled them burning, could you forget that?”

  Dr. Hart stares at me thoughtfully.

  “If I were you, I would try to think of something, anything, I could do that would give me peace. Sometimes we just have to trick our minds into believing what we tell it. Have you ever considered writing Ara’s parents a letter? Explain what happened, then ask for their forgiveness. I’m sure the army can help us figure out where to send it or tell us if her parents are even still alive.”

  Jesus Christ. The idea of even talking to that girl’s parents sends my stomach plummeting into my shoes. I’m sure I’m the last person they want to hear from.

  But maybe they do deserve an explanation. An apology.

  At the very least.

  I gulp.

  The therapist pushes a notepad and pen toward me.

  “That’s your homework,” he tells me.

  I stare at him rigidly before I finally sigh and take the notepad.

  That night, as I sit in the darkness of my room, I stare at the blank page for at least an hour before I can think of what to say. Finally, I start scrawling.

  Dear Mr. and Mrs. Sahar,

  You don’t know me, but something I did has changed your lives… and mine.

  My name is Lt. Gabriel Vincent and until recently, I was a United States Ranger. I was with the convoy that was involved in the Humvee explosion that killed your daughter.

  I’m looking at the words that I just wrote and they are very black-and-white—very matter-of-fact. But in reality, what happened is far from black-and-white. I think about your daughter every day. Every day, I wish I could have stopped what happened, that I could’ve helped her. Every day, I hate myself for not being able to.

  I don’t know what to say to you except that I’m very, very sorry. Sorrier than you’ll ever know. I doubt that I’ll ever be able to forgive myself for what happened, so I can hardly ask you for forgiveness. So I won’t. But I do need for you to know that if I could change what happened that night, I would.

  I am very sorry for your loss.

  My deepest condolences,

  Lt. Gabriel Vincent

  US Army Rangers, Seventy-Fifth Regiment

  I read and reread the letter, then finally decide that there’s nothing else I can say. I fold it up and stick it back in the notepad to give Dr. Hart tomorrow.

  And then I think about Maddy. Thinking so much about forgiveness makes me think about her. Out of everyone, she’s the one I should beg forgiveness from the most. I made her trust me, then I just left. It must’ve crushed her, a thought that crushes me.

  My fingers fly across the keyboard and I don’t care if I look weak or like a pussy. I just need her to know, to really know, that I’m sorry. Even if she can never forgive me, I want her to know.

  Dear Maddy,

  I just wrote a letter to the girl’s parents… the Afghan girl. And it made me realize something. I haven’t asked you to forgive me for leaving you the way I did.

  I promise you, I only wanted to protect you… from me. I hurt you, Maddy. I could have killed you. But when I left you without an explanation, I know that hurt you too.

  You didn’t deserve to have me come into your life and stomp on it. I’m so sorry for that. I’m sorry that I offered you something that I shouldn’t have—because at the time, a life with me just wasn’t possible.

  I’m here now at CPT, hoping… praying… that they can pick up all the wrecked pieces and put me back together again.

  But it fucking sucks here. I hate it and every day I don’t even know if I can stay. The therapy sort of breaks us back down so that they can build us back up, teaching us the right way to deal with shit. It’s terrible.

  I don’t know if I’m strong enough.

  I’m sorry for dumping that on you. I miss talking to you.

  All I really wanted to say was that I’m sorrier than you’ll ever know. And that even though I don’t deserve it, I hope that you can forgive me for hurting you.

  Love,

  Gabe

  I feel completely wiped as I close the lid of my laptop. It’s like I’ve touched upon every emotion that I’ve ever had today and I decide that I have time for a nap before my last session of the day.

  As I drift into sleep I see Ara Sah
ar’s dark eyes. She’s watching me curiously, but there is no blame on her face right now, which is a break from the usual.

  But the nightmares still come.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Madison

  As I wait for Tony to come back, I idly scroll through the Internet on my phone, avoiding the urge to check my e-mail. Something, deep down, tells me that I might find an e-mail from Gabe.

  And if he keeps e-mailing me, I just don’t know how long I can resist answering him.

  I miss him.

  I miss him.

  God, I miss him.

  But I can never open myself like that again. When I do I just get hurt and there’s no way I’m going through this again. Ever. The Band-Aid has been ripped off now, the worst part is over. I just have to stick it out.

  But I’m weak.

  Not two minutes later, I check my e-mail.

  And I was right. There’s a message from Gabe.

  My heart beats loudly in my ears as I read each painful word.

  Oh my God. Reading that he thinks he’s wrecked almost wrecks me. No matter what he did to me by leaving, I can’t deny that he’s strong and brave… and hearing him like this makes my heart break. Seeing that he wants my forgiveness makes my heart ache.

  I hit the Reply button and hesitantly type, You are strong enough. That’s it. No “Dear Gabe” or “Love, Madison.”

  My finger hesitates above the Send button, shaking. I don’t know whether to send it. I don’t want him to quit. He needs the help. I honestly want him to be whole again. Even if I can’t be with him, he needs to be whole.

  My finger twitches.

  And then my phone rings, interrupting me.

  Jacey’s number flashes on the screen and I roll my eyes. She’s the last person I want to talk to right now. Seriously. If she wants to be so stupid, I can’t sit around and watch her do it.

  But even still. As I glance at the phone, as I look at her name, something in me says to answer it. That I need to answer it.

  I pick up the phone hesitantly.

  And my ear is instantly filled with Jacey’s screaming.