Short of locking her in my home and shooting at her stepdaddy, I can do nothing but acquiesce, though God knows it hurts when I step back and let her go.
All I can think right now is that this is just like Rachel.
Chapter Thirteen
Nick
“You are such a fucking fool; I would feel sorry for you if I didn’t want to kick your ass so bad.”
I grunt over at Lex and keep my sights trained on Lenny where she’s pacing back and forth in front of her bedroom window, talking to herself animatedly.
I can’t hear a word of what she’s saying since Jericho and Lex refused me an ear piece, saying I could get fucked or eat a bullet, but I get the gist of her rantings.
It took me a few hours of feeling sorry for myself before I pulled my head out of my ass and realized that Lenny, my unwavering, pride-filled little hellion, chose to leave before her pride crumbled even more beneath my boot.
Of course the woman loves me! She has to…because I will not accept anything else at this point, not if I want to stay sane and keep my will to live. My breaking point came when Blaze showed up, punched me in the face, and started yelling at me about foolishness and letting the past cloud my judgment.
I realized then that I wasn’t pushing Lenny away to focus on the mission; I was doing it because I was afraid, and I was using Rachel’s example as an excuse to tell myself that getting involved too soon was a bad idea.
Believe me, my head is on straight now, and I am thinking clearly. Clearly enough that, although Lenny answered my call with a “Screw you, Storm” and slammed the phone down in my ear, I am still determined to get to her.
The only problem is, her parents have become violent about protecting her and, barring storming their mansion, all I can do is watch her, keep her safe like I know how to, and wait for the rest to come.
So here I am, day three after Lenny left me, and I’ve got my sights on her, trained on anyone who so much as makes a move her way. The charity thing is tonight and that’s my only opportunity, so I will wait and bide my time while my comrades verbally attack me and stop just short of kicking my miserable ass.
I will admit one thing though. I got the hell out of Dodge before Mama turned up and started kicking my ass. That woman scares the bejeezus outta me.
“What the hell is she saying now?” I hiss at Lex, silently pleading with him when I hear Jericho laugh and mutter a “hell, yeah” at my girl.
“Bro, you do not want to know.”
“Come on. I just need an earpiece, you assholes.”
“Trust me, you want your balls to stay attached. You don’t listen to a word she’s saying.”
My grunt is short-lived, followed by a curse when she crumples to the window seat and swallows so hard, I can see it from here. Lenny looks ready to cry, and all I want to do is be there so I can comfort her.
***
Lenny
I feel like shit, and the need to cry is so strong after three days of trying to resist it that my head feels like a pressure cooker, and my brain wants to ooze out of my ears.
“Stupid! What a dunce. What a complete idiot. Great going, loser. You should have stayed there and kicked his butt into shape. Who leaves a man after the things he can do with his tongue? I mean, honestly Lenny, honestly, the man had skills and you just left because your stupid feelings got hurt? Pathetic.”
Yeah. I am so at remorse and kicking my own butt right now as I pace my room and rail at the universe for this mess. The only bright spot thus far is that I finally remember that face. I dreamed last night after hours spent raking my brain so hard Mama slipped me a pill while I wasn’t looking—sneaky heifer—and I slept so deeply I dreamed.
I must have been really open to it though—because I saw that face as if I’d seen it just minutes ago, and I just know I know him. I just can’t say how. Weird, huh? I was so convinced that once I remembered him I would automatically know him and could crack this case wide open.
What I do know though is that he’s about five ten in height, has graying brown hair, hazel-gray eyes, and a beard that is mottled with gray in this cute way that makes me want to slap myself for noticing.
What I am terrified about, though, is not his face, nor the suspicion that I know him, but the clear and screaming evidence that he knows me. Something I remember, now that fear and a head injury aren’t dogging me, is that he looked horrified when he saw me and even whispered a faint “no” before he snarled and ploughed his fist into my face.
I’m terrified knowing that I know that man, but it just plain makes my heart stop thinking that he knows me. That in and of itself is making me sweat like hell because, though Mama and Pete have started making it known that I am suffering from amnesia due to an attack on my person at work, I have no guarantees that this will work.
All I can do now is try to stay calm and prepare to play the airhead tonight when guests converge on us en masse.
Pete and Jeth, his head of security, have been over this with me countless times, begging me to let them call Storm and the other Watchers as backup, but I refused.
I need to finish this on my own terms and then, maybe, when I’ve shored up enough courage, I can go to Storm and lay things out for him.
One thing is clear though. I’m done with this life. I accepted Pete’s help to pay off the last of the debt, and I’ve officially resigned from the hospital, something Chief Jakes sped up for me since he considers my extra shifts and too long hours enough to stand as my resignation period.
So I’m now free of that last shackle I held onto for so long and, after this, I am totally ready to move on. Part of me knows it may not be with Storm and, while it hurts, I can deal. What I do know is that I will move to a town—please let it be that one near Storm—and I will get at least one thing I want.
I’m looking up right now, and I have Storm to thank for that because, while it hasn’t been all sunshine and roses, this wild ride and sex-blazing adventure has shown me that I need to live right now because I never know when it could all end.
“Oh, honey. You look like hell! Come on now, Leo; let’s get you bathed and ready for this fiasco. Oh! Are you sure we shouldn’t just cancel right now? I don’t like thinking of you being at the mercy of whoever comes in tonight. What if you’re right and that animal is coming to the party?”
“Oh Mama. Hush yourself and sniff some of them salts you carry around; I will be fine. Pete and Jeth are ready, and I told you not to worry too much. It’s not like the man will attack me in the middle of the freaking ballroom,” I huff, praying I’m right.
“Land sakes, girl. I hope you’re right.”
It takes a total of four miserable hours for Mama to scrub me, shove me at the stylist and makeup people, and squeeze me into my dress. But I feel sort of armed as I look at myself in the mirror and see the strong woman staring back at me.
It may be an illusion, but I will so take it as I make my way downstairs and into the throng that has already formed. Pete is on me in moments, and I giggle a little when he practically curls over me and sends scowls at anyone who so much as glances my way.
“Pete, calm down,” I mutter out the corner of my mouth.
“Fuck that, Baby Bear. I’m ready to kick ass if one of these assholes makes a move. You see him yet?”
I spend the next hour scanning the crowd to no avail, as Pete hovers and Mama bares her teeth like a rabid animal. I’m well into migraine territory when I look up to see a glaring Storm stalking my way.
“Are you out of your fucking mind?”
My heart is tripping, and I have to fight the urge to laugh and throw myself into his arms as he grabs my hand and starts pulling me into his chest.
“Dammit, Storm. I’m working here, you idiot. Stop that and, and…” I trail off as I glance over his shoulder and come eye-to-eye with my target, my breath stalling when it hits me who it is.
No. Dammit, I must be wrong, I think as my head starts aching and the room starts closing in on me
.
“I need to pee. And maybe oo too,” I whisper, blinking and ignoring Storm’s scowl.
The crowd really starts pushing then and, before I can blink, I’m out of their reach and on the outskirts of the room as Storm starts cursing and yelling for me.
I want to say that I’m okay as my pounding head starts pounding harder, but I am so not as I stumble up the stairs in a fog and fall into the first room I come to. Pete’s private library.
I can’t even begin to fathom that what I…that face …
It’s Uncle Jed, Mama’s cousin twice-removed, or whatever. I can’t think straight right now as it all starts hitting me. Mama was rambling not six months ago on one of our rare visits about some idiot she’s related to getting into office and being chummy with the chief of staff on the mayor’s team.
I wasn’t listening too well, I have to admit, since that tripe bores me to tears. Plus, we all know that I can fall asleep standing straight up, and that’s basically what I did when her rambling got too much.
What I do remember though, is her tittering about the chief of staff and his scandalous affair with that socialite she can’t stand. And then, oh dear Lord, what is wrong with me, she so much as told me that Jed was involved with trying to cover the affair before it hit the news rags.
The coincidence of it all is so startling and yet, as I think about everything else that has happened, I can’t help but accept it. My Uncle Jed tried to kill me.
That rat bastard!
“You should have stayed away and hidden, Lenny, honey. I couldn’t get at you, and it gave me an excuse to keep the wolves at bay.”
I whirl around and swallow as Jed slips in and locks the door, his gaze soft and regretful even as he advances on me slowly.
“You scumbag. You swamp slime,” I gasp, looking left and right for an escape as fear takes hold.
Jed’s smile is menacing as he grabs a pillow from the seat to his left and keeps stalking me, pinning me to the spot when I back into a desk.
“You should have kept pretending not to remember, Lenny. That’s the only reason you’ve survived this long. You don’t know what the hell you did, stumbling in on me that night.”
“I know I stopped you from killing an innocent woman!”
He laughs and keeps his eyes trained on me as he shakes his head.
“She’s nothing but a mouthy whore, is what she is. She was all in with the money aspect of things till Joe refused to leave his wife. All of a sudden, she’s meeting with the DA and threatening to spill the beans if he doesn’t leave his fifteen-year marriage for her. The little sneak thought she could blackmail us? We showed her, I guess. Too bad she survived the wreck, or none of this would have happened.”
That’s true, I think, as I inch to the right and look for an escape. I wouldn’t have ever gone into that room, I wouldn’t have needed protection, and Storm never would have come to me. Talk about karmic destiny on the back of a bad deal.
Right now, despite it all, I feel as if I lucked out…this moment notwithstanding. I go to inch right again and make a run for the door, intending to scream at the top of my lungs, when he tackles me suddenly and pushes me to the ground. His weight knocks the breath from me, the pillow lowers even as I drag in a frantic breath to scream.
I choke on it a second later when he covers my face and leans in with all his weight, cutting off my air supply so suddenly I feel stark panic just as claustrophobia sets in and I start fighting. I kick and slap at any part I can reach, my nails scratching at his hands in desperation as the need to breathe hits me and I start to go limp.
I know this stage. I’m about to pass out just a minute after he pinned me because I have no oxygen. I was never able to drag in that breath after having my wind knocked out.
Oh God. Oh God. I’m gonna die here, I think wildly, as I kick and buck so hard my shoes go flying. My feet make squeaking sounds against the high-sheen wood floors and flop around uselessly as my mind starts floating and the fight leaves me suddenly.
“You fuck!”
I can’t say if I’m imagining that roar or not, but it’s music to my ears as suddenly I’m free and the pillow is ripped away. I see Lex’s concerned face hovering over me as the sounds of fists and wild roars reach my ears.
“What …?”
“She’s claustrophobic, you fuck!” Storm snarls, hitting Jed so hard and fast all I hear is meat striking bone and Jed’s unconscious grunts.
I want to point out that, since dear Uncle Jed was trying to kill me, he wasn’t too concerned about my claustrophobia. But hell, I’m woozy, and Storm looks like he’s having so much fun…
Chapter Fourteen
Nick
I’m pacing like a caged beast as Lenny’s parents stand beside her bed and stare tearfully at her sleeping face. I’m not sure if I should sit and glare at the stubborn ass, or fall on her and beg her never to do that to me ever again.
Jesus, my heart has not stopped beating since she got separated from me and I couldn’t find her. In those few minutes, after the way she looked over my shoulder, I was terrified that she’d be lost to me before I could get to her.
You can imagine my rage when I came upon a panting Jeth, and he pointed me at the library where the door came up locked. My leg still fucking hurts from the force of kicking solid mahogany open with one kick.
Like I care. For as long as I live, I will never forget the sight of Lenny’s arms and legs flopping lifelessly and that fat fuck pinning her beneath that pillow.
Ask me if I care that I broke his jaw and fucked up his left eye for life. Go on. Ask me. Ahhh. I see you feel me.
“Why won’t she wake up?”
“Now, now, darling. She’s just getting some rest, is all. Don’t fret none. Our Lenny girl will wake as soon as her stubborn ass is ready.”
“Stop insulting me, Pete. Doncha know I’m fragile,” she grates, opening one eye to glare up at the man lovingly.
They fall on her, all hugs and kisses, before she shoves them away and tells them to skedaddle so she can sleep without creepers staring at her all night.
I’m grateful that they look to me and acquiesce so easily, kissing and hugging me to death before laying one more kiss to Lenny’s brow and shuffling out to tell the others she’s awake.
“Hey, Storm,” she mutters, wincing at the pain in her throat.
I can well imagine it must hurt after the way she was hollering, so I finally sit and pull the chair closer, not wanting her to strain herself talking and looking up at me.
Her little hand is small and warm in mine as I take it reverently and blink back tears.
“Dammit, Coleman. You scared the ever-loving shit outta me. Don’t you ever do that shit again or I swear to God, I will tan your little ass till you can’t do much else but lie in bed. Our bed.”
Those green eyes go soft before she narrows them on me, and I want to laugh at this show of strength because it proves that she’s okay, that I can finally breathe again after almost losing her to that sack of crap.
“Don’t you be making assumptions, Nicholas Storm. What happened to distancing ourselves from the situation?” she sneers, slapping my head with force before falling back and glaring. “You hurt my feelings. I should cut your nuts off for that alone, and then you go and do something dumb like show up and ruin my thunder?”
“Thunder! Woman, you were a breath away from dying. I saved your ass.”
“Oh, please. I had it all under control. I was gonna play dead and then kick his fat ass when he got up,” she huffs, sniffing indelicately.
“Coleman.”
“You better be here to apologize to me and take back all those things you said, Storm, or I will let Pete kick your ass. What happened to “you better marry me now?” she mocks, sucking at her teeth. “Well, I’ll tell ya. You’d better not hold your breath for that to happen any time soon since I am not ready for all that yet. I’m going to open my practice first and maybe enjoy a relationship with you for a while. Eh, eh,
eh, let me talk. If, if I forgive you for being an ass, I will expect you to respect my needs and wait on me for the marriage and children thing. I’ve spent too many years not living my dreams; you can wait a hot second before tying me down now.”
Hell. I guess those condoms are looming in my future.
“I love you, woman.”
“Hmmm. That’s darn right. Of course you love me. Now do something so I can get some rest. It creeps me out, the way y’all been staring at me all damn night.”
“Woman, you could sleep on a horse track and not wake until your pager went off,” I mutter.
She keeps protesting for all of a second before shrugging and conking out in that weird way she does.
Damned woman.
***
Lenny
Oh, to be in love and living the dream, I think as I watch Jill sweep up the last of the dirt and swipe her hands on her pants with a satisfied sigh.
“There, that should so totally do it, Len. We are officially up and ready to open those doors tomorrow,” she huffs, cracking her neck with a groan that I feel all the way from my toes to my nose.
“God. Now if only I could get my boyfriend to stop shitting himself about letting me out into the wide small world of small town Tennessee,” I huff, glaring at Storm where he’s sitting in his truck outside in the parking lot.
I finally lost patience with him two hours ago and chased his ass out of my office when he refused to let me polish my desk…for fear I’d get a hangnail.
The man has turned into a damned old woman where I am concerned. He’s not let me out of his sight since Jakes discharged me from the hospital, though God knows I was mighty grateful for that when Dr. Bates strolled his ass into my room and started jabbering all sorts of nonsense about liking me and wanting to ask me out.
Fool thought I’d be open to that shit, since he just “knows how I’ve been panting after him for years.”
THE WATCHERS: 6 Military Romance Bundle Page 12