Strength of Love

by D. Anne Paris

  She looked up at him. "How is someone capable of being so evil?"

  "Sometimes people have demons inside of them that control them."

  "You’ve met a lot of people like that, haven't you?"

  "Yeah," He lifted his pants to show his prosthetic. "This is an everyday remainder of that."

  Elle stared at his prosthetic. She’d heard about it from her friend Jeri, who was now dating Keith. She never saw it up close and never wanted to ask him about it so she didn't offend him. She could only imagine the pain he endured when it happened.

  "I'm sorry," she whispered.

  He put his pant leg down. "Don't be. No one can change people like them. The only thing we can do is try and stop them, which is what you did. Don't let the guilt consume you, Elle." His lips formed a smile. "You need to save all that energy for keeping Tiny in line."

  Her eyes sparkled when she laughed. "Yeah, you're right. Thanks Keith."

  "Any time."

  Keith grabbed the bottles and headed out of the room. Elle stood for a minute and let what he told her sink in. She shouldn't feel guilty she’d stopped a psychopath, but that wasn't going to stop these sleepwalking episodes. Her hand went to her pant pocket and felt the outline of her cell phone. The feeling gave her some satisfaction, so she went back to the kitchen to finish her roll and see how she could help her aunt with dinner.

  Chapter 7

  Tiny walked down the hallway of the East wing. Jeri told him Elle went to take down the wallpaper in room 215. Walking down the hallway reminded him of the old lodge that his dad would go to. 70's wood paneling lined the hallway and paintings of wooden cabins and various animals hung everywhere. Occasionally a stuffed elk or deer graced the aged decor.

  He didn't need to look at the numbers to find her. A woman singing called out to him like a siren. His feet moved towards the melody. It was a song that was in a chick flick years ago that won a ton of awards. When he heard the song on the radio he would switch to another station. He hated sappy love songs, because he didn't believe he'd ever be in love. But now as Elle sang the song the words meant something.

  He stopped in the doorway and leaned against it. Elle grabbed the edge of a piece of wallpaper and pulled it away from the wall. Her hands were small, delicate like porcelain. Yet that didn't stop her from taking hold of that wallpaper and ripping it off the wall. With the way she was yanking that wallpaper he could tell she was agitated at something and was using the paper as a way to vent her frustration.

  Rip! Another piece came off the wall and landed onto the floor. The motion didn't stop her singing, it actually helped her keep up the pace. As she sang and ripped Tiny realized that he could just stare at her all day. Her jeans curved all the right places, and even in a bulky sweatshirt she looked downright sexy.

  She tore another piece of wallpaper and dropped it on the floor. She turned around and jumped, knocking over a bucket full of water when she saw Tiny.

  "You scared me!" she yelled at him as she grabbed a rag off the side table and began to mop up the water.

  Tiny looked around and saw another rag on the floor by a lamp. He took it, dropped it in the puddle and kneeled on the floor to help her mop up the mess.

  "I should say I'm sorry, but I just wanted to hear more of your beautiful voice." The rag was completely saturated and he wrung it back into the bucket. "Why didn't you become a singer? Your cousins had all the connections you needed to make it big."

  Elle wrung her rag over the bucket. "It's not me. The tours, the fans, the paparazzi. I saw what Missy and Anne had to deal with." She put the rag back on the puddle and let it soak in more water. "I didn't want that. I'm a healer, not an entertainer."

  Tiny took his rag and wrung it over the bucket. "I admire that. Not many people would walk away from an opportunity to be famous."

  "Seeing my patients healing because of the care I provided is enough for me." She ran the rag over the puddle and soaked up more water.

  Tiny kneeled down beside her and wiped up the rest of the spill.

  "You just seem to be too perfect, Elle." He got up and wrung the rag again into the bucket.

  Elle laughed as she wrung her rag over the bucket. "Don't ever try my cooking."

  He froze. "You're a bad cook?" He dropped the rag onto the floor. "Well, than that's a deal breaker!" He waved his arms above his head and put on his most serious face. "I need a woman who can feed me!"

  Elle's eyes narrowed. "That's a sexist statement!"

  Tiny couldn't keep up the charade. "I'm kidding!" He picked up the rag and started to laugh. "You really thought that I'm a chauvinistic pig?"

  Elle turned red and looked like she was going to choke him. "Well, I just thought from the stories..."

  "Don't believe it." He bent down and picked up the rag. "Except for the part that I'm great in bed, that part's true." He grinned at her.

  Elle grabbed a dry rag, crumbled it and threw it at him. "You're impossible!"

  When he caught it, the smile on his face grew even bigger. He loved to rile her up. She was so cute when she got angry. "Admit it, Angel...you can't stop thinking about me that way."

  Her mouth opened and then closed as her cheeks flushed even more. She turned her attention back to the wall and started to wipe it. "Are you going to help me or keep teasing me?"

  Tiny couldn't help but stare at her nice jean clad ass. God, she was perfect in so many ways.

  "It's much more fun to tease you, but I guess we should get some work done." He grabbed a wet rag and started to wet the wallpaper from the top.

  Elle started to peel another section of wallpaper, but it tore in the middle.

  "Arg! This has made me hate wallpaper!" She tossed the paper on the floor and wet the remainder that still clung to the wall.

  "Wait until we need to remove the wood paneling!" Tiny grasped a section of the wallpaper he was working on and pulled. It too ripped in the middle. "Damn it!"

  Elle laughed as he tossed the paper aside and rewet the remainder. "I told you that you'd start to hate it."

  "Ok, so we won't put up any wallpaper in our house." He grasped the wallpaper again and slowly ripped it away.

  Elle froze and stared at him. "What do you mean 'our house'?"

  "Damn it!" Another chunk of wallpaper remained on the wall after Tiny pulled it away. He threw it on the ground and gave her his million dollar smile. "Come on, Elle. You're telling me that you didn't feel anything after our kiss by the fire pit?"

  Elle grabbed a scrapper off the table and turned back to the wallpaper to scrape it off. "It was just a kiss."

  Tiny moved closer to her and wrapped his hand around her small one holding the scraper. He pushed the metal under the remaining wallpaper and slowly scraped it. His body slowly moved behind Elle and his other hand moved to her other side, caging her between him and the wall. Their hands slowly removed the wallpaper away piece by piece. He moved his body closer to hers but yet not touching it. His hand gave hers the extra strength she needed to scrape off the stray pieces of paper. She began to shiver under his touch and the closeness of him. He leaned in closer and a whiff of cinnamon pounded his senses and awoke his body to a sensation of pure, raw need. No one else had the ability to make him feel like this by just being close to him. He didn't care what anyone said. She had the power to make him desperately want her.

  Elle couldn't breathe. The heat from Tiny's body sent shocks through her. Every inch of her body was covered with the delicious heat. She bit down on her lip as it grew inside of her with each movement of their hands against the scraps of paper. As they took off the last piece her body felt like it was in flames and the main inferno pooled between her legs. Having his hand on hers wasn't enough. She wanted more of that succulent heat.

  His head leaned close to her ear. "You feel it, too, don't you?" He softly blew some hot air on her neck and her body responded with shivers. "And we're not even kissing."

  She closed her eyes. His warm breath caused a sensation to travel
down her neck and to the apex of her desire. Her knees buckled and he grabbed hold of her with his arm. They dropped the scraper and his arm twisted her around to face him. His body pinned her against the wall and he stared into her eyes.

  "Don't lie to me, Elle."

  His sky blue eyes held such heat that she swore he could burn her by just looking at her. "I..."When her hands touched his chest she felt the bandages there. Reality sank in. This was Tiny, Mr. Love 'em and Leave 'em. She couldn't be with him. She was Little Ms Innocent. She didn't know the first thing about how to make love to a man. She'd disappoint him, leave him unsatisfied, then he'd leave her and it would hurt.

  Her arms shook when she pushed him away. "Can't. I can't." Tears filling her eyes, she ran out of the room. He said he wanted a long term relationship, but she doubted she could give it to him. She ran up the flight of stairs, her legs still shaking from the pent up desire. Her foot caught a step and she stumbled onto the stairs. She pushed herself up and ran up the rest of the stairs She bolted into the room and slammed the door behind her. Leaning her body against the door, she listened to see if Tiny followed her. She only heard silence. She slowly slid down the door and sat on the floor. Tears streamed down her face. Her body longed for Tiny's touch. She couldn't give in to this feeling. She couldn't turn into her mother. Her mother became a monster who only cared about getting laid. She wiped the tears from her eyes. Even though she’d agreed to be friends with Tiny, she knew she needed to stay away from him. He was a seductive soldier who could tear down her defenses with one blazing look, and that scared her to her core.

  Chapter 8

  "Okay, now let's try it again," Keith barked the order.

  Dean grabbed Jeri in a choke hold and Jeri swung a punch to his ribs and then up to his nose. Dean feigned getting hit and let her go.

  "I don't think it's a good idea to have siblings practice self-defense on each other," Christina said with a smirk.

  "Yeah, I don't want to be paired with her." Evan pointed to Christina.

  Tiny couldn't help but laugh. If he had a brother or sister he wouldn't have wanted to be paired with them, either. He heard some of the sibling stories that his teammates told, and some were not pretty.

  "It doesn't matter who you are paired with," Keith told them as he stood in the middle of the large now empty living room. He, Dean, George and Kenneth decided that everyone with non-military experience needed to learn a certain amount of self-defense and hand to hand combat. Tiny agreed with them. They got lucky with their last encounter with Karen. There wasn't that much security, but there could have been more and everyone on the team needed to know how to defend themselves. His eyes moved over to Elle. With her spandex Capri pants, tank top and tied back golden locks she looked extra enticing. He imagined grabbing hold of her and running his hands down her curves and bringing him closer to his body. His lips would kiss that soft neck and trail down into her tank top. His pants started to feel tight. He adjusted his long t-shirt over his growing arousal and turned his focus back to Keith.

  "The key is practice. Whenever you have free time, grab whoever else is free and practice these techniques. Dean!" Dean walked over to him and Keith feigned having a knife. Dean grabbed his arm, stepped closer to him and elbowed him under the ribs to disarm him. He grabbed Keith's arm and moved it over his shoulder to show that he would proceed to flip him.

  "We didn't learn this overnight," Dean told them as he walked over to Anne, who at eight months pregnant looked completely exhausted after the hour lesson. Dean hid the worry he felt for his unborn child, but Tiny knew that it was there. Hell, he'd be scared shitless if he had a kid right now. The Agency was still a new enemy to them and they had to keep hidden until they figured out who was in the organization and their motives.

  "I'll keep working with you, Anne. You need to know this, too, to protect our baby."

  "I know. I'm just so tired." She wiped the sweat off her face with the back of her hand.

  Dean walked over to her, wrapped his arm around her shoulder and kissed the top of her head. "Go take a shower and a nap. I'll be up soon."

  She nodded and waddled out of the room.

  Dean walked over to Elle. "Want to give it a try, Elle?"

  "Sure."

  "That's my girl!" Tiny exclaimed.

  "I'm not your..." Her sentence was cut off as Dean put her in a chokehold. Elle quickly kicked inside his shin then slammed her elbow into his ribs. When he released her she faked hitting him in the balls.

  Tiny's eyes bulged out. "That wasn't in the training."

  Her eyes threw daggers at him as she stood beside Dean. "I improvised."

  "Ok, let's pair up."

  Christina walked over to Dean, while Evan went to Jeri. Daniel paired up with Missy. Elle started to go to Keith, but Tiny grabbed hold of her arm and twisted her around to face him.

  His lips curled in a smile that stole her breath. "I know you want to beat me up." He leaned in closer so she could smell his purely male scent mixed with cedar. It screamed of long wild nights of sex and endless pleasure.

  He whispered in her ear. "Or do you just want to spank me?"

  His words were lost to her since she could only feel the slow passionate fire that began to burn inside of her. A strong urge to claim his lips overcame her, but pain started grew from her nails biting into her palms because she clenched her hands so tight. Reality hit her again. There was no way she would let desire take control of her again and make her a puddle in his arms.

  Anger, she needed to channel it. She thought of her mother and her mother's boyfriends. Their faces flashed in front of Tiny's- her mother screaming "You're nothing to me! An accident! That's all you are!" Her mother's boyfriend Tyson "Get out of here you little piece of shit!". The blows from them hitting her and kicking her outside in the cold wet rain like a discarded animal.

  She’d shed tears back then, but now those tears were replaced with sheer raw anger. A deep roar emitted from her. She twisted out of Tiny's grasp. "I told you to stop hitting me!" Her body turned back towards him and her hand slapped him across the face. The sound resounded in the room and everyone stopped and stared at her.

  The sound broke through Elle's angry state and her eyes widened as she realized what she did. "Oh my..." Her hand went up to her mouth. Tears began to fill her eyes. "I'm sorry..." Her body shook and she willed her legs to run as fast as they could out of the room.

  Tiny turned towards the others his mind in utter confusion. "I never hit her. I..."

  "It's not you." Daniel walked over to him. "Elle is not a violent person. It's really against her nature."

  "She was probably trying to get angry to help with the self-defense," Missy chimed in. "She probably thought of her mom."

  Tiny stared at her in shock. "Her mom? Her mom hit her?"

  "Our aunt really wasn't a good person," Missy told him.

  "Neither were her boyfriends." Daniel stood next to Tiny. "If her mom didn’t hit her, they did. She had a really bad childhood before our parents were able to get custody of her."

  Red hot anger churned in his gut. His Elle, his beautiful, caring Elle was beaten as a child. The anger boiled even more. "What kind of assholes hit little girls!?" Tiny screamed at no one in particular.

  Dean was the first to speak. "You've seen a couple of them in the Middle East."

  "Yeah, but..." His mind raced as the anger started to roar through his veins. The thought of anyone hitting Elle made him want to lash out. He ran over to the nearest punching bag and slammed his fist into it, once, twice, three times. It didn't help. He twisted and kicked it then punched and kicked again. Elle was beaten. That explained why she was afraid to get close to him. Her psycho mother and her sick-fuck boyfriends hurt her. He wanted to find all of them, every single one of them, and give them what they deserved. Her mother was already gone, but he'd find the others. He'd make sure that they wouldn't hurt anyone ever again. Crap! He’d teased her about her beating him! He hit the bag again and ag
ain. He didn't know how long he did this, but he ended up on the floor on his ass. Christina was the first by his side, checking his vitals.

  "Tiny, stop it! You're still recovering," she scolded him.

  Tiny brushed her off and slowly tried to stand up, but his body felt weak. He plopped back down on the floor. "I need to go talk to Elle."

  "Leave her alone for a while, Tiny," Jeri suggested. "Let her come to you. Don't force her to talk about this."

  Christina nodded as she finished measuring his heart rate. "It took her years to open up to any of us about it. She's only known you a couple of months."

  "No."

  Jeri knelt down in front of him and squeezed his hand. "Tiny, please. Trust us, we're her best friends. At least wait until tomorrow to talk to her."

  He looked up at the both of them. "I told her to beat me! That makes me look like a fucking asshole!"

  "You didn't know, Tiny." Dean held the punching bag. "The only ones who knew are her family and close friends."

  He raked his hands through his hair. "Shit!"

  Keith extended his hand. "Come on, Tiny. Go hit the shower. You can talk to her tomorrow."

  Tiny took his hand and lifted himself off the ground with a groan. His body screamed at him. He overdid it and he was going to regret it tomorrow.

  Chapter 9

  The knife glistened in the bright white light.

  "This may hurt a bit." Evil laced the feminine voice.

  Tiny tried to flex his arms, but he was pinned down. There was nowhere to go, he was trapped. He held in a scream as the knife penetrated his skin and pain spread through him.

  Tiny bolted up from the bed, covered in sweat. Another nightmare, just like the other nights. He looked down and saw the bandages covering his chest. He wiped his hand across his face and sighed. When would this end? Slowly he moved to the bathroom and turned on the water to splash his face. When he toweled it dry he stared at the mirror and sighed. There were bags under his eyes. He was clearly exhausted.