by K. L. Donn
The minute they touched down at BWI, Dom ushered Dee off the plane and straight through customs into his waiting truck. He’d texted the garage to bring it around as soon as they could after departing the plane.
She’d slept most of the flight and been scarily quiet the rest. He knew she had a lot on her mind. More than any one person should have to handle. But he wished she would talk or scream or cry or do something other than the cold silence.
He didn’t even think she knew she was doing it. It was one of those things that just was. So much had happened in such a short time, he figured she was still processing.
“What are you thinking, Princess?” he tried asking.
Sighing, she looked at him with haunted eyes. “I want to see him.”
Not what he was expecting.
“By him, I assume you mean Brock?” Nodding her head, her eyes seemed to plead what her words couldn’t. “Why?” He needed a good fucking reason to intentionally bring her that kind of heartbreak.
“I need to know if he knew.” Determination laced her words.
“Are you sure? What if you don’t get the answer you want? I don’t want to see you hurt, Princess, and I can’t guarantee I won’t kill his ass for upsetting you.” Just the thought of it had him on edge.
“I need to know if there’s anyone who ever gave a damn about me, Dominic.” Tears gathered in her eyes, threatening to spill over.
“I do,” he told her grabbing her hand and bringing it to his lips to kiss her knuckles sweetly.
“I know you do.” She smiled at his actions.
“So does Case.”
She barked out a harsh laugh at that. “Please. Case thinks I have a big mouth and would probably be happy to see me gone after everything that’s happened.” Her face showed her hurt at that thought.
With a growl in his voice, he told her, “Much as I hate to say this—because you’re my woman—that fucker loves the hell out of you. I went to seen him after I found out where you’d gone, and he was ready to leave the hospital to help me. So have no doubt. That ass loves you like crazy.”
They fell into a companionable silence after that. She didn’t deny or accept his words, so he figured it was a small victory. He didn’t want her going to see Brock feeling like she had no one to care about her. She had an entire family of men that would move heaven and earth for her if she’d only let them.
*****
“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Dom asked her for probably the tenth time since they parked at the hospital. He’d called in a favor to make sure she got to speak to her biological father before he was taken to lockup.
“Not at all,” she told him honestly, “but I have to know.”
With a firm but reluctant nod, he walked up to the guard at Brock’s door and introduced himself. After the man verified who Dominic was, he let them through. Taking a fortifying breath, she followed Dom inside.
What greeted her was not something she’d expected. Knowing Brock for as long as she could remember, he’d always seemed so big. Larger than life. Like an unswayable tower. Now he looked old and washed out. Of course, being shot would do that to a person. Like this, handcuffed to a bed with an IV in his arm and slightly pale from pain, he didn’t look quite as scary. Which made what she had to know so much easier.
Before he could say anything to her, she blurted out, “Did you know?”
“Know what?” he snapped at her.
“Watch it,” Dom growled back.
“I know about you and Mam. Did. You. Know?” She was losing her own patience.
“What the hell are ya talking about?”
“Me. You and Mam had an affair.”
He seemed to pale a little more at that. Shock and hurt colored his dark eyes.
Could he have not known?
“What are ye saying, Deidre?” Desperation colored his words.
“You, Brock, are my biological father. You didn’t know?” He still hadn’t answered.
“No,” he uttered quietly in horror.
Looking at Dominic, she needed to know what he thought about the man’s obvious torment. She was inclined to believe him because a person couldn’t fake that kind of reaction. But if Dom thought he was lying, then she would trust his instincts.
The light shake of his head was her answer. Dom believed him. So for now, she would, too.
“Why did you come after me? Why did you shoot at us?”
He was visibly shaken at the reminder of what he’d done. “Bradshaw instructed us to bring you home. That’s what he told me, at least. The mission was to bring you back no matter what.”
“Even if that meant injuring or even killing others? There was a little boy with me! A man who has given far more to his country than anyone should have to! How could you think that was ok!” Her upset was so severe that tears were rolling down her face.
“I didn’t know.” He tried to defend himself.
“It doesn’t matter! Do you know that the little boy that was with me is his son?” She pointed to Dom. “How he hasn’t killed you yet is beyond me because I sure feel a murderous rage burning in my gut to do just that for even scaring him.”
If she were to kill anyone, she was pretty sure it would have been him. Or Bradshaw.
“I’m sorry. I was strictly instructed to bring you back to England.”
“Why? Why does Bradshaw want me so badly? He should be happy to be free of me by now.” She was still incredibly confused as to why he wanted anything to do with her.
“You know him, Deidre. He keeps everything close to the vest.” What Brock said was true; he’d always been quiet about some of his harsher decisions.
“So you just do as you’re told without a reason why?” Dom snapped at him.
“Loyalty is everything in my world.”
“Blind loyalty gets you killed,” Dom told him angrily.
She had one more question for Brock before she washed her hands of him. “When’s the last time you saw or spoke to my mam?”
“She tried to contact me on your birthday. Nothing since, though.”
“Could Bradshaw have her?” Dom asked him.
“I wouldn’t put it past him.” Brock seemed to wilt at the thought that Bradshaw could have his hands on her again.
“Let’s go,” she told Dom, spinning around to leave. She still wasn’t sure how she was going to proceed with their newfound relationship.
“Deidre!” She stopped but refused to turn. “You have to believe I didn’t know about you. If I had, I would have found a way to take you and Maureen away from him.” She wanted to believe him so bad.
“He wouldn’t have let you,” was all she said in response.
*****
She was vibrating as they left his room, whether from anger or sadness she didn’t know, but she was overwhelmed with both emotions.
“Is Casey still here?” She wanted to see him before they went home.
“Should be ready to discharge today, so maybe,” he told her, pulling her into his own body. “You all right?”
Such a loaded question that she had no answer for. “I’m mad, sad, my world has imploded, and all I want to do is cry. But then I want to hit someone for fucking up my already fucked up life even more.”
Pressing his forehead to hers he said naughtily, “You’re hot when you’re mad.” She snorted in laughter at his light-hearted comment. It was just what she needed. “Seriously, Dee, I’m here. For anything. Scream at me, cry on my shoulder, fuckin’ hit me if it’ll make you feel better. You got me?”
“Yeah, Dom, I got you.” She smiled up at his handsome face, loving his crooked smile.
“Good. Let’s go get this whiney friend of ours before the nurses charge him with harassment or some shit.”
She knew he was kidding but wouldn’t put it past Casey. He was an eternal flirt.
A short elevator ride later and they were walking to his room just as he was being wheeled out by a s
eemingly pissed-off nurse.
“There’s my girl!” he called out. A smile immediately lit his face and any fears she had about him being angry at her for anything diminished.
“Casey,” she sighed, happy to see him.
“Watch that sighing shit, Princess,” Dom growled at her, shooting Casey a dirty look as he stood up and pulled her into his arms.
“Hey man, we all know she’s smitten with your grouchy ass. I can get one or two of her gorgeous smiles for myself while I’m injured.” He winked at her while Dom did his growling about the flirting.
“So glad you’re here to take him off my hands,” the cranky nurse announced. Not entirely serious, but also not kidding.
“I was a great patient!” Casey countered.
“Yeah, so great, all my best nurses refused to deal with your grabby hands.”
“I tried to warn you not to give me that loopy shit. Ain’t my fault you didn’t listen to me.” He smiled sweetly at the nurse.
Dom snorted at his obviously fake sweetness.
“Casey?” she asked, wanting to distract him so the nurse didn’t clobber him with the clipboard she was holding like she seemed to want to do.
“Yeah, Double D?”
Shaking her head at his very odd nickname for her, she asked, “Are you ready to go home now?”
“Is that a proposition?”
Dom cuffed the back of his head with his hand.
“Hey, man! She said it not me.”
“She wasn’t offering you shit other than not to get creamed by the nice nurse. Now shut your big mouth and let’s go,” Dom cursed out.
“Oh.” He looked between the nurse and Dom like he was trying to figure out who he’d rather take his chances with. Leaning towards her, he whispered not so quietly, “You’ll save me from him right?” Ducking just as Dom swung to hit his head again.
Laughter rang out behind them as Dom pushed his wheelchair and Dee walked beside them.
Eighteen
“So Miss Double D, what have you got to say for yourself for leaving us like that?” Case blurted as soon as they were in the truck.
“Christ sakes, Case. Shut your damn mouth.” His friend was in rare form it seemed.
“No chance, Dom, the girl ran. I wanna know why she’d break my heart that way.” Yeah, he was pouting; it wasn’t pretty.
As Dom was about to tell him off again, or maybe cut his head off, he wasn’t sure which, Deedee smiled sweetly at them both. “Because you got hurt because of me. Jaxson could have been hurt so much worse, and I had no idea what else to do. So yes, Casey, I ran. I ran because people I’ve come to care about more than myself were getting hurt left, right, and center, and I refused to be some sort of catalyst to a major tragedy. I left to protect you all.”
Dom looked in the rearview mirror at Case to see him looking his body over before he answered. “You’re just a tiny thing; you seen the size of me?”
Oh shit.
“I don’t need some li’l girl to protect moi!”
“From where I was sitting, yeah, you did,” she told him quietly.
Dom could still hear the worry and fear in her voice. Case seemed to quiet down at her words. She didn’t say much, but they held an impact. The further they drove, the quieter it seemed. Case’s meds had finally knocked him out, and he was drooling on the back seat while Dee seemed to be staring off into space.
For the longest time in his life, he’d believed he would be alone forever, made peace with it years ago even. But now, he had this incredibly selfless and vulnerable woman to take care of, and he was often left confused as to how he could possibly be enough for her.
He’d done a lot of bad things in his life—killed, cheated, stole. He wasn’t perfect. He was simply just a man trying to survive. All those missions for the Rangers had left some sort of stain on his soul for the longest time. He hadn’t always agreed with what they were ordered to do, but like so many other men and women, he was a cog in the wheel, only worth something if he was doing what he was trained to. And so he did it, no matter how questionable or noble, he did it.
He was damn good at it, too. Until his last mission in Haiti. They’d been sent in to rescue an American diplomat when things went FUBAR. The hostiles not only took the man we were sent to rescue, they also took an entire village of hardworking Haitians hostage.
While Dom’s team had been organizing and planning everything, the insurgents had been raping and torturing woman and children. Tying the men up to poles and forcing them to watch. His team had never been informed of anyone other than the diplomat, so they had no clue they were about to walk into something nightmares were made of.
Heading in to rescue their target, the scene that greeted them had made even the hardened soldiers sick. They were supposed to be the baddest of the bad but seeing so many small children chopped up and bloody, violated; they had all been shaken to the core.
When they’d contacted their unit leader, he told them to stick to the mission. Nothing else was their problem. That hadn’t sat well with any of them. They’d successfully completed their mission, though. Once the diplomat was on a plane back to wherever he was so important, they’d defied orders and gone back to the village to see if they could rescue any of the people left alive.
In the twenty-four hours it had taken to get the man they’d rescued on the plane, a lot, they learned, had happened.
The village had been burned to the ground.
Its people burned alive.
The smell of burning flesh was something etched into his brain’s synapses for life.
*****
The silence was a welcome relief from Casey’s inquisitive questions. She had a hard time fully explaining where her head was at when she’d decided to leave, so hearing the hurt in his voice was painful. She’d caused it, though, so she owed him the small explanation she gave.
Spending a lifetime trying to protect those she loved, it had come as second nature to want to protect them, too. Only she’d hurt them all while doing it. Now, remorse would be her companion.
Turning to Dom, she noticed he was looking a little pale but a lot pissed off.
“Dom?” she asked quietly not wanting to disturb him but needing to know he was all right, and where his head was at.
It took him a moment to come back into his head before he answered her. “Yeah?”
“Are you okay? You have this look on your face…I don’t know how to explain it.”
“Just thinking.” His answer was short, sharp.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
He pondered her words for a moment. Looking to her, he grabbed her hand squeezing it lightly. “It’s not something you ever need to hear about, Princess.”
“Oh. Ok.” It kind of hurt that he would dismiss her so easily. He demanded everything from her and more. It was the first time she’d had the opportunity to really help him, and him shooting her down stung.
“Just thinking about the past, Princess. Trust me when I tell you it’s not something you’d ever want to hear about. Nothing good came from it then, nothing good will come from it now.”
“Talking about it will be good for you, though.”
“Are you always so damn logical?” He laughed.
“Only when it comes to someone I love.”
Shit. Did I just say that out loud? Please don’t notice, she begged in her mind.
“Are you saying you love me, Princess?” His tone of voice had no give, so she didn’t know if the idea made him happy or what.
“Of course she is you idiot,” Casey commented from his drool-filled bench.
“Shut the hell up, Case,” Dom snapped at him. Staring back to her, he asked again, “Princess?”
She smiled at him, not wanting to have such an intimate conversation with an audience, even a partially passed out one. There was a lot she wanted to say to him, and the fear of him not reciprocating held her back from experiencing th
at humiliation where she couldn’t run away.
“That’s all right, I can wait,” he whispered to her.
Needing to change the subject, she asked, “Is Jaxson with Angela still?”
“Yes. Larry is with them, and I think it’s best it stays that way until we find out what Bradshaw wants.” She understood his point, but it hurt nonetheless. She was excited to see Jax but knew him staying away from her until the danger had passed was for the best.
“Can I call him when we get home?” she asked timidly.
“I think he’d love that.” Dom smiled at her.
The rest of the way was driven in silence as Case snored in the back seat. Once they finally pulled up to Dom’s house, she immediately noticed a black SUV parked beside the house. Not hiding but trying to blend in she supposed.
“Stay here, Princess,” he told her. Leaning over the seat, he shook Case’s shoulder telling him, “Wake up, sleeping beauty, we got company.”
Casey popped up far more alert than she’d have thought possible. “Ahh, man, not again,” he grumbled seeing the SUV, but he dutifully followed Dom out to where they stood sentry in front of Dom’s truck, waiting for the occupants of the other vehicle to exit.
Who she saw stole her breath, seizing any rational function as she saw the man from her nightmares.
Bradshaw.
*****
Oh, he was pissed something fierce. As soon as Bradshaw exited his vehicle, Dom drew on him, a Glock in each hand. Case was slightly unsteady on his feet but his aim was true, so he knew his back was covered.
“Whatcha’ doing here, Bradshaw?” Dom asked lazily.
“I came to collect my daughter.” His nasally, stuffed shirt British accent grated on his nerves so badly.
“Not happening.”
“That was the deal. You bring her to me one time after she turns eighteen, then she’s yours.”
“You’re fucked up, man,” Case supplied helpfully.
Bradshaw ignored him. “Tell her to come out here.”
“She already knows everything. What torment do you need to lay on her now?”