by Susan Stoker
Chapter Three
Sadie was in the kitchen of the small apartment making lunch, trying to avoid Chase and figure out exactly what was going on between them, when he came in to help her. The kitchen wasn’t big enough for the two of them, but he didn’t seem to notice…or care.
When she turned to open the fridge, she bumped into his chest. He put his hands on her hips and smiled at her as he said, “Excuse me.”
Three minutes later, when she reached for the handle of one of the cabinets to grab a plate, Chase was there, his hand covering hers as he gently pushed her out of the way and got it down for her.
Minutes after that, when he put his hands on her hips and moved her aside so he could get to the sink, Sadie’d had enough.
“Chase, this kitchen isn’t big enough for the both of us. I got this. Go…sit or something.”
He tightened his fingers, and Sadie swore she could feel his thighs against hers. “I wanna help, Sparky.”
“It’s only sandwiches,” she said, clenching her eyes tightly closed and praying he’d step away before she did something stupid, like turn around and throw herself at him. “Maybe you can check with TJ and see how Milena is doing?” she asked, trying to think of something he could do outside the kitchen.
“I can do that,” Chase said quietly. Then he leaned close and whispered in her ear, his warm breath against her neck sending goose bumps racing down her arms. “I like mayonnaise on my sandwich.”
Shit, she was so screwed. Her body reacted as if he’d said he wanted to rip her clothes off and take her right there in the kitchen, instead of telling her how he wanted her to make his lunch.
She couldn’t get his earlier words out of her mind.
You’re mine. And I’m personally going to make sure that asshole is wiped off the face of this earth so he can’t look at what’s mine anymore. So he can’t touch what’s mine. So he can’t even think about what’s mine. Then, when he’s dead, I’m going to marry you—and spend the rest of my life making sure no other asshole thinks he can do the same thing.
The words were just as shocking now as they’d been before. He hadn’t done anything inappropriate since, and hadn’t brought it up again. But the space he’d been keeping between them when she’d been at his apartment was gone. He been touching her constantly since he’d declared she was his. Brushing his shoulder against hers. Touching her hand with his when they walked next to each other. If she was honest with herself, she had to admit she loved his touches, although she wasn’t sure how she should respond, and that left her confused.
Sadie nodded stiffly to his comment about mayonnaise and held her breath until he backed away and his hands dropped from her hips.
It wasn’t until he’d left the kitchen that she let out the air she’d been holding. She finished the sandwiches before heading out of the kitchen. She put the plate with Chase’s sandwich on it next to his right elbow and went to sit on the other side of the small table.
“Sit here,” Chase ordered, not harshly. “I want to show you what TJ sent.” He gestured to the open laptop in front of him.
Reluctantly, knowing she hadn’t had enough time to shore up her defenses against him, Sadie put her plate down and pulled a chair closer. The delicious smell that emanated from Chase filled her nostrils, and she tried to tamp down her body’s reaction. Leather and peppermint.
The leather was easy to understand, because of the jacket he’d taken off when they’d arrived at the apartment. But the peppermint was harder to explain. She hadn’t seen him eating any mints and she didn’t think he was the kind of man who would wear any cologne, let alone something that smelled like peppermint.
After she’d settled into her seat, Chase reached over and pulled her chair closer, then turned the laptop so she could see the screen.
It was open to an email from TJ. She quickly scanned the short note.
Chase,
Things are calm at the moment. Milena and JT are doing good. Don’t tell anyone, but she’s pregnant. We’re beyond thrilled, and Milena wanted me to make sure Sadie knows.
We haven’t seen or heard from Jonathan, but I’ve been keeping a careful eye out since the FBI received that tip that he’d been spotted in the area. I appreciate you getting your commanding officer and the post general involved in what happened at the school…I’ve been officially cleared of any consequences for killing Jeremiah.
Oh…and please tell Sadie thank you from me again. She didn’t have to stay once the school was shut down. She’s a good woman and is always welcome in our home. She’s tough as hell and I’m glad Milena has a friend like her.
~TJ
PS: Tell Sadie that Milena wants her to stand up with her at our wedding. No date yet, but as soon as Jonathan is caught, she should be prepared to come back down here because I’m not waiting a second longer than I have to in order to make Milena officially mine.
Sadie swallowed hard to try to keep the tears at bay. She’d only done what Milena would’ve done for her if the situation had been reversed. “Did you reply?” she asked Chase, trying to keep her voice normal. She wasn’t like this. She didn’t fall apart.
He eyed her for a long moment, but finally nodded. “Yeah. Told him you said hello and were worried about Milena. Also told him I agreed you’re tough, but that I was pissed I didn’t get to you before Jonathan’d had a chance to touch you.”
“I’m no tougher than anyone else would’ve been in the same situation. I just did what needed to be done.” She reached for her sandwich and opened her mouth to take a bite. Her eyes strayed to Chase—and she halted mid-bite at the look on his face. “What?”
“When you wouldn’t tell me what happened in that room, I made inquiries on my own.”
Sadie paled, but refused to rise to Chase’s bait. He might be bluffing. He might not know what she’d done. But his next words dashed her hopes.
“You gave a complete statement to the Feds. I pulled some strings and got a copy.”
“You had no right,” Sadie said, looking down at her sandwich rather than at the man next to her. She’d never wanted anyone to know everything that had happened between her and Jonathan.
Something occurred to her then. She whipped her head up and stared at Chase in a panic. “You didn’t tell my uncle or TJ, did you?” Only the Feds knew what she’d gone through during her hours trapped alone with Jonathan Jones. And she’d meant for it to stay that way.
But not even the Feds knew everything.
“No, Sparky, I didn’t tell anyone.” He reached out and turned her chin so she had no choice but to look him in the eyes. “Why? Why’d you do it? You could’ve gotten away. You had the chance.”
“There was no way I was going to leave Milena at the school with Jonathan and his father. What kind of person would I be if I left her to suffer the consequences of my escape?”
Chase ran a hand over her hair and left his warm palm resting on the side of her neck. “Tell me what happened,” he ordered.
“You already know,” she protested.
“Tell me anyway.”
Sadie struggled with herself. She wanted to put it all behind her, but how could she when Jonathan was still looking for her? When she was living in someone else’s apartment and being guarded for her own protection? She wouldn’t be able to put it behind her until she knew for sure that Jonathan wasn’t ever going to pop out from behind a tree and force her to do everything he’d threatened.
“I woke up from whatever drug Jonathan had knocked us out with and saw Milena next to me, still unconscious. He’d untied us, so I got up, falling a couple of times before I got my balance back, and wandered over to a window. I realized we were at the school and tried to come up with a plan to get us out. I probably could’ve gotten out the window and disappeared into the night, but I couldn’t leave Milena there by herself. Then I heard Jonathan and his father talking nearby.” Sadie shuddered, hating the memory of how helpless she’d felt.
“They were talking about h
ow Jeremiah was going to take Milena’s son down to Mexico and start a new school, right?” Chase asked.
Sadie nodded. “Yeah. Then Jeremiah asked Jonathan if he thought he’d be able to ‘get it up’ long enough to impregnate me. Jonathan told his dad that he’d lifted my shirt and looked at my boobs, and while they were way too big, he could close his eyes and picture the babies I’d give him, and that would ensure he’d be able to get hard.”
Taking a deep breath, Sadie closed her eyes, trying to control the nausea that nearly overwhelmed her at the thought of Jonathan Jones looking at her body when she’d been unconscious. Out of everything he’d done, that alone had the power to break her.
Well, that, and what he’d told her when he was handcuffing her to the bed in one of the rooms at the school.
“You’re perfect,” Chase said softly.
Sadie’s eyes popped open and she stared at Chase.
“You’re not too big. Your tits are perfect.”
She wasn’t sure how to respond for a moment, but humor finally won out. Sadie rolled her eyes and chuckled before responding. “Thanks. I think.”
They shared a smile before Chase said, “Go on. What else?”
Sadie sighed. She’d tell him only what she’d told the Feds, leaving out the things she’d never told anyone—and swore she never would. “Jeremiah said he’d reconsider making Jonathan go to Mexico with him, if he would agree to give him one of my babies at some point down the line. They got into an argument about it, a loud one, and Jonathan threatened to hurt Milena. So I made sure they knew I was awake by pounding on the door. That distracted them, and Jonathan came in and hauled me out of the room. That’s it. That’s all I did.”
“That’s it?” Chase said, incredulously. “You could’ve snuck out of there while they were arguing. But you didn’t. You stayed. And you obviously antagonized Jonathan until he decided, instead of disappearing with you immediately, he’d take the time to try to rape you right then and there! You shouldn’t have antagonized him, Sparky. That wasn’t smart.”
“I know, I know. He got sick of me struggling and mouthing off and tied me up again. I guess he was waiting for his dad to finish doing whatever he was doing with Milena. He…he knocked me out and…when I woke up, he had fun trying to scare me by telling me what my future was going to be like. Then he dragged me into a room, where his father had Milena and JT. They said goodbye to one another, and…Jonathan took me into that room, the one you found me running out of. If you think you’re an expert, what should I have done differently, Chase?”
Chase eyed her for a long moment. She tried not to feel guilty about the stuff she’d left out of her narrative, but she didn’t want to think about what she’d done. She certainly didn’t want to tell Chase. She kept her gaze on him, letting him see she really did want to know what he thought she should’ve done.
When he didn’t answer immediately, she asked, “Chase?”
His lips were pressed together in a grim line, and he finally shook his head. “I don’t know.”
His answer shocked Sadie. She thought for sure he was going to tell her she should’ve run, or tried to hide, or tried to find a weapon…something.
He continued. “If I had been in your situation, I probably would’ve done the same thing. Especially when it came to keeping JT safe. I don’t like that you had to put yourself in danger though. And I hope to Christ you aren’t ever in that kind of situation again.”
“Because I’m a woman?” Sadie knew what Chase’s thoughts were on women in combat situations. He was opposed. They’d had this conversation before; it had irritated her then and it irritated her now.
“I know you don’t understand or approve of my stance on this, Sparky,” he began. “But will you let me tell you why I feel the way I do? And not interrupt me and try to change my mind this time?”
Sadie blushed. She had done that last time. Every time he’d begun to explain his thought process, she’d cut him off. It was juvenile of her and she regretted it. She wanted to know more about who he was as a person, including his principles. “Yeah.”
“You know I’m in counterterrorism.”
She nodded.
“And you know my sister was caught in that coup over in Egypt a while ago, right?”
Sadie nodded again.
“Right. I was deployed overseas not long after that. I had asked to be attached to a Special Forces unit, a team of Delta Force men. I wanted to understand Ghost a little better since it’s obvious we’re eventually going to be related to each other. The team I was imbedded with was given intel on the whereabouts of a kidnapped soldier. She was a truck driver. Had been minding her own business. Not in a combat position at all. But because she was a woman, the convoy was singled out. They killed the men with her and kidnapped her. The Delta Force team got intel on where she was being held and off we went.”
Sadie got a sick feeling in her chest about where the story was headed. She put her hand on Chase’s thigh in support. He covered it with his own and kept talking as if he didn’t realize what he’d done.
“Everyone knows that America doesn’t rest until they do all they can to get their MIA soldiers back. The enemy was counting on that. They purposely allowed the leak about the woman’s location, then they laid in wait. We headed out, and before we could get anywhere close to the coordinates, the Humvees we were in were blown to pieces. The terrorists didn’t even wait around to make sure we were dead. There were body parts and blood everywhere. Men I’d gotten to know and respect, gone, just like that.”
He snapped his fingers, making Sadie jump in her seat at the sound.
“As far as I could see, there was only one man left alive besides me. But I didn’t think there was any way he could survive. He was trapped under one of the vehicles and bleeding badly. I certainly wasn’t in any shape to help him. I passed out, and when I came to, the man was gone. I guess the terrorists came back and found him and took him captive. I have no idea what happened to him because, since I wasn’t officially in the unit, I didn’t have the clearance to be informed. I tried to look him up in the Army system when I got back, but I don’t have the clearance.”
“But you’re an officer, right?” Sadie protested, her heart breaking.
“Yeah, but that doesn’t automatically mean I’d get information, even if I was working with the team, especially since he was Delta Force.”
“How’d you get out of there?” Sadie asked, tightening her hand on his leg.
“Eventually another Army unit passed by, saw the carnage and found me.”
“Does your sister know?”
“No one does. I haven’t told anyone about it. Just you. Rayne knows I was injured, but I didn’t let her know how close I’d come to being dead. Anyway, my point is that I have no problem with women being in the military. In a lot of ways, I think they make better soldiers than men. They’re more level headed and cautious, which can be a good thing when you’re dealing with volatile situations.”
“But?” Sadie asked.
“These are my thoughts,” Chase said. “Not the official Army stance. First, there’s a matter of physical ability. There are some jobs, combat positions included, that just aren’t physically suited to women. Not because of something they’ve done or not done, but because of body makeup. Some women could come to harm simply because of the physical requirements. But it’s more than that. The threat of being abused by the enemy is always an issue.” He held up a hand to forestall the argument he knew was coming. “I realize that both male and female soldiers are at risk of torture and rape, but the fact is, misogynistic terrorists may be more willing to abuse female prisoners. It’s not the woman’s fault, I’m not saying that at all, but the possibility is very real. It happened to my own sister when she was taken captive in Egypt. And it happened with that truck driver the Delta unit was trying to rescue.”
Sadie didn’t know how to respond. She was honestly floored. She’d met some amazing warriors when she was working
at McKay-Taggart. And she knew they’d argue until their dying days for their right to defend their country in the same way men did. She understood that for someone like Chase, the thought of a woman being abused, his sister or otherwise, had to be a form of torture itself, but she was still struggling with his views. But she could admit that the more honorable the man, the more abhorrent the kind of situation he described would seem.
As if he could read her mind, Chase said, “I’m a traditional kind of man. I can’t help it. I’ve had women superior officers and I respected the hell out of them. But if I went into combat with one of them… I know myself. I’d constantly be checking to ensure she wasn’t in the line of fire and I’d do whatever was necessary to make sure she didn’t fall into the hands of the enemy.”
“But don’t you think she’d do the same for you?” Sadie asked. “I know I’d do anything I could to help any one of my uncles, or the men and women who work at McKay-Taggart, if we were in a volatile situation.”
“I know you would. But how effective do you think your uncle would be if he was constantly worried about you getting hurt?
“But what about me?” she asked again, trying to turn the argument around. “If I was in a situation where Sean, or Ian, or anyone from McKay-Taggart, was in danger, don’t you think I’d be worried about them getting hurt too? You’re looking at this the wrong way, Chase. I know you’re protective, and I actually like that about you, but if the only thing between you and certain death was a woman, wouldn’t you want her there to help you? To allow you to get home to your sister and those you loved? And you know what? Men can be raped if they were taken captive too. It would be just as horrifying for them as it would be for a woman. Maybe even more so because men don’t normally worry about that sort of thing in their everyday life.”
Sadie knew Chase’s beliefs came from a position of concern for the opposite sex, not because he felt superior or wanted power and control over women. He hadn’t complained about her little pink pistol in her purse that she carried everywhere. Hadn’t bitched that she wanted to be kept up to date with information about Jonathan and his whereabouts. But she still thought he was wrong.