by K. C. Lynn
I curse my curiosity when misery flashes in his eyes. I’m just about to apologize when he surprises me by answering. “Because she slept with a white ribbon in her hair, every night for as long as I can remember.” The gruffness of his voice, laced with pain, has my throat burning with emotion.
Swallowing thickly, I lean over and place my mouth over his. “I’m so sorry,” I whisper against his lips.
Instead of responding, he infuses his mouth with mine and gives me a deep, long kiss that sucks the air right out of my lungs. Groaning, he pulls back but keeps me snug against him. “Go to sleep, Red, before I end up fucking you again when I know you can’t take anymore.”
Smiling, I rest my cheek over his steady heartbeat and try to commit the strong rhythm to memory, knowing I will most likely never hear it again. I spend a long time trying to fall asleep, and even manage to nod off here and there, but the more hours that fall away, the heavier my heart begins to feel.
Eventually, I decide to give up, knowing if I stay much longer I’m going to crack and ask him for things I promised him I wouldn’t. Quietly slipping out from under him, I’m careful not to wake him, then slip on my dress and necklace. I look down at my shredded panties lying on the floor and a wave of heat passes through me, remembering how he tore them from my body. Knowing there is no way I’m going to salvage them, I sit down on the side of the bed and take the pen that’s on the small stand. I glance around for something to write on and pull a crumpled napkin, that looks relatively clean, from his garbage and begin to write my goodbye.
Cade,
Thank you for what I know will always be the best night of my life. I am so glad our paths crossed and I got the chance to meet you. I know I said I didn’t expect any promises and I mean that. But here is my number in case you ever make your way to Montana, or maybe you can just send me a text to let me know how you are doing and that you are safe.
You will always hold a special place in my heart, and, more than anything, I want you to know there is someone out there who loves you and cares what happens to you. I will keep you in my prayers, always.
Take care, Cade Walker.
Love, Faith
Tears stream down my cheeks as I write down my cell number. After I put down the pen, I bury my face in my hands and make sure to keep my sobs silent, not wanting to wake him.
Eventually, I’m able to gather some measure of control, and as I dry my wet cheeks with the back of my hand, a glimmer of silver catches my attention. Looking at the music note on my anklet, that Papa bought me for graduation, I instantly know what I want to do. Bringing my knee up, I unclasp the small, dainty chain from my ankle then place it on the napkin, wanting him to have something to remember me by.
Looking back down at Cade, I watch him for a few moments. His face is soft with sleep, and for the first time I get to see what he looks like unguarded. He looks just as beautiful as always, but more peaceful. Struggling to keep my emotions in check, I take a deep breath then lean over and give him a very gentle kiss, praying he remains asleep.
“Stay safe, Cade Walker. I’ll remember you forever,” I whisper softly against his warm lips.
Knowing there is nothing else I can do but leave it in God’s hands, I gather as much courage as I can and reluctantly walk out the door. As I traipse through the pitch black, I cry the whole way back to camp, feeling a huge hole in my heart. Please, God, let me see him again, or at least hear from him.
As I enter my camp, I’m so caught up in my grief that I don’t realize something is wrong before it’s too late.
“FAITH, RUN!” Beth’s scream pierces through the dark night just as a gun goes off and I’m grabbed from behind.
Panic floods my body, and a hand slams over my mouth with brutal force to cover my scream. Orders are shouted behind me as I fight with everything I have to get away from the tight grip someone has on me. I briefly register my name being yelled, but my heart is pounding too loud with panic to grasp what’s being said.
In the midst of my struggle, the back of my head connects with the person’s face behind me. There’s a grunt of pain before I’m spun around and backhanded across the face. The powerful blow sends me to the ground and my vision darkens from pain. I land next to Beth’s lifeless body, and realize the gunshot I heard, only moments ago, killed her. An agonized sob rips from my throat and terror washes over me.
My head is brutally yanked up by my hair, and there, in the black of the night, my blurry gaze lands on a terrified Aadil. He struggles against a man who is holding him back while tears stream down his swollen and bruised face. He screams my name and begs the men to let me go. The sound of his sobs has agony ripping through my already tortured heart.
Big boots walk in my line of vision, blocking him from my sight. Leaning down, Aadil’s father comes into view, and my panic escalates at the malicious smile on his sinister face. “It’s payback time, bitch.”
Oh no!
Raising his fist he slams it into my face. Aadil’s begging sobs are the last thing I hear before darkness takes me.
CHAPTER 5
Cade
“You may as well talk to us, man, you know I’m not going to let up about this.”
I glare at Sawyer and take another drink of my beer. Since watching Faith walk out the door in the middle of the night, while I pretended to be asleep, I’ve had this excruciating pain in my chest, which escalated when I saw her note and fucking bracelet.
…more than anything, I want you to know there is someone out there who loves you and cares what happens to you.
I pretended to be asleep when she left because I knew I wasn’t going to be able to say goodbye to her. I would have fucked up and made her promises I know I can’t keep. Which is exactly what I almost did when I felt her crying beside me. I’m still feeling like a dirty bastard for taking her last night, tainting her innocence with myself, but fuck if I’ll regret it. I can’t, she felt too incredible.
I never went back to sleep. I stayed up all fucking night, doubting myself and debating what to do. By morning, I was so overloaded with emotions that I had gratefully packed up my shit and couldn’t wait to get the fuck out of here.
Except, once I walked out of my room, I ran into Drake as he walked out of his. He had a smug smile on his face, and the ballsy motherfucker asked me why I hadn’t shared my hot piece of ass. His comment sent me over the edge and I fucking snapped. I started pounding him into the ground, and it took both Sawyer and Jaxson to pull me off. The Admiral lost his shit and told them to take me away until I calmed down.
As they hauled me away, Sawyer had suggested we grab a quick beer while we wait. The bar is more of a whorehouse than anything. It’s a place that is close to the Army bases, and caters to the soldiers who are on breakups but can’t leave the country. It’s the same place the kid’s mom works, which is why I agreed. I’m hoping I will spot him again and tell him to go see Faith tonight, because I know she will be waiting at that fucking clearing for him. But so far, not only has there been no sign of the kid, his mom isn’t here either.
I glance at Sawyer and Jaxson, who are both waiting for me to answer Sawyer’s first question-well… too bad. They are going to be waiting a long fucking time because I am not telling them shit.
“Okay, fine,” Sawyer says, as if he’s giving up but I know better. “At least tell us how the fuck you stumbled upon some church girl. Because I have to tell you, buddy, that is what I’m most shocked about right now.”
After another drink of beer, I’m just about to tell him to mind his own fucking business when the bar door slams open. The kid I’ve been hoping to see comes running in, with tears streaming down his swollen and bruised face.
What the fuck?
The three of us shoot out of our chairs, ready for trouble, but what Jaxson and Sawyer don’t realize is that I know him. As soon as the kid spots me, he bolts straight for me. He shouts in Arabic something I can normally understand if I pay close enough attention, but he’s so hyste
rical I can’t understand anything.
“Hurry!” he yells pulling on my arm, switching languages. “You have to help her. He took her. They are hurting her right now.”
His few English words have my blood running cold and ice rushing through my veins. I grab the kid by his shoulders and give him a shake. “Who? Who do they have?” I already know the answer, but I’m hoping with everything that I am, that I’m fucking wrong.
“Faith,” he sobs, “my dad took her at her camp in the middle of the night. They shot her friend.”
Terror grips my chest like a tight vice, making it impossible to breathe. It’s a feeling I’ve only known one time, and it was one I had never wanted to feel again. Amongst my fear was the darkness that I’ve kept locked away since that awful morning ten years ago, and it was threatening to claim me again.
I grab the kid’s arms with desperation. “Take me to her, show me where she is, okay?”
The kid nods, yet there is hesitancy in his eyes that I shouldn’t have ignored, but I did because all I cared about was getting to her.
I let Jaxson convince me to go back to camp to get backup before going off half-cocked. Only, the Admiral refused to let us go in after her because of the other mission he had lined up, and said he would notify the proper authorities. Sawyer and Jaxson both had to restrain me from strangling the son of a bitch.
The three of us rushed back to our rooms and loaded up with our weapons. That day we made a decision and walked away from the one thing we thought we would do for the rest of our lives. And instead of going on the mission that was assigned to us, we led one of our own, and it turned out to be our biggest one yet.
For me, I had walked into it with only one goal: to find her and kill every fucking person who dared to hurt her. Only the closer we were led to our destination, the more we realized something wasn’t right, and by then it was too late. The ambush came out of nowhere. There were thirty of them and three of us. We had managed to kill over half of them before they got the better of us.
The last thing I saw and heard, before darkness took me, was the kid crying out an apology. “I’m so sorry. He said he would kill her if I didn’t do this.”
That day my life irrevocably changed for the second time. I, along with the two men I considered brothers, had managed to live through what would be the worst week of our lives. And the only thing I regret was not realizing the set-up sooner. Because I knew if I had to live through it all over again, to save the only girl who ever mattered to me other than my sister, I would do it again in a fucking heartbeat.
CHAPTER 6
Faith
2 Years Later
A horn blares from outside, letting me know Katelyn has arrived. I rush down my stairs and scoop up my water from the kitchen table. I decide to forgo a jacket and my wallet, figuring I won’t need either. Even though it’s only May, the weather is much warmer here than what I am used to in Montana, and Katelyn said the self-defense class we are taking is free, since it’s a trial run by her friends’ husbands.
Heading out the door, I lock up behind me and start down my steps toward Katelyn’s little Honda Civic. The sun shines bright and warm with a promise of a beautiful day, and the moment my cousin comes into view a big smile graces my face. She wears a matching one of her own.
As soon as I get in her car, and close the door, she wraps me in a hug and gives me a big kiss on the cheek. I squeeze her back and feel my throat go tight. I have missed her so much and I’m so glad we are finally back together again.
She leans back with a bright smile. “You ready for this? I promise the view will be delightful. Wait until you get a load of these guys.”
I chuckle, not surprised by her comment. “Yes, I’m ready. Is what I’m wearing okay?”
She takes in my usual workout gear: yoga shorts and matching tank, before giving me a nod of approval. “You look perfect. Like always.”
I roll my eyes. Yeah right. The two of us may be cousins, but we look nothing alike. Where I have dark red hair, she has dark brown. My skin tone is lightly sun-kissed, hers is golden. Where my eyes are green, hers are a chocolate brown. She looks like an Amazonian and I look like, well… the opposite. I start braiding my long hair over one shoulder in a loose braid as she backs out of my driveway.
“Don’t roll your eyes at me. You are flawlessly beautiful and you know it. What I wouldn’t give to look like you without makeup. Hence why I am wearing makeup to a self-defense class.”
“You don’t have to wear makeup either, but you do. And I only look as good as I do thanks to your beauty advice.”
“That is true,” she agrees, making us both giggle. She looks over at me. “Girl, I still can’t freaking believe you are here; that we are once again in the same town. I know it’s been three weeks but it still hasn’t sunk in yet.”
“I know. It hasn’t for me either.”
“How are you settling in here? Are you liking being on your own?”
“I’m really liking it. My parents and Papa are finding it difficult, but I see them almost every day, which makes it a little easier. They know how important it is for me to do this. The town itself seems great, from the little I’ve gotten to see of it. And the best part is being close to you again. I am so glad this opportunity came up for Dad. I really needed this change,” I admit truthfully.
She reaches over and covers my hand. “Things are going to be great here, Faith, a fresh start for you. And you will love my friends. I know I tell you how hot their husbands are, but seriously, my friends are just as beautiful, inside and out. You will fit in with us perfectly.”
“I’m so excited to meet them. From everything you have told me about them, they sound wonderful. So it’s their husbands who own the gym we’re going to, right?”
“Yes. Well one is a husband and one is a fiancé. The other guy is their friend, and, let me tell you, the man is dead sexy. He might be the best looking one of them all, but he is also one scary dude.” I quirk a brow at her.
“Seriously. I normally try not to make eye contact for fear he might murder me on the spot.” I burst out laughing and shake my head. “Whatever, you will see what I mean. Anyways, how is the church coming along for you and your dad? I feel terrible I haven’t been there as much as I’d like to help.”
I wave away her guilt. “Don’t. You’re a businesswoman now and have your own things to worry about. The church is coming along nicely; it will hopefully be finished in a couple of weeks. I’ve gotten to meet a lot of the youth in this town, thanks to their parents who have been sending them to come give a hand.”
“What about that other kid? Is he still showing up to do his community service?”
I think about the angry fifteen-year-old boy who reminds me so much of someone else I met a couple of years ago. Someone who I try not to think about on a daily basis. “The boy’s name is Christopher, and yes, he still comes, not that he has any choice in the matter.” I pause for a moment. “I feel bad for him. You can tell he’s a good kid; he’s just in a bad place. I’ve tried to reach out to him but he acts like he would rather eat nails than associate with me.”
Katelyn glances over at me. “You can’t help everyone, Faith, but I know if anyone can reach out to him, it will be you.”
I smile over at her. “Thanks.”
“Did Cooper ever tell you what he did to get community service?” she asks, talking about the very attractive sheriff I’ve gotten to meet twice so far.
“Not really. Cooper did check in the other day, and asked me how he was doing. He agreed that Christopher seemed like a good kid, but that he’s also an angry one. I told him I would keep him up to date. Cooper seems like a great guy and like he really cares.”
Katelyn smiles genuinely, “He is seriously the best. He watches over everyone in this town, but especially Kayla’s friends. He has done a lot for me. You will love Kayla too.”
Hearing about all the amazing people Katelyn has met here, and how well she is doing, makes me so h
appy. She did not have it easy growing up. Her parents—my aunt and uncle—are not good people.
“Okay, we’re here,” Katelyn announces, pulling me from my thoughts. We park in front of the tall, brick building that’s just off the main drag in town. It’s one of the few areas I haven’t been yet. I’ve been so busy with getting settled in at my new place and helping at the church that I haven’t got to venture out much.
“I am so excited for this. I can’t wait to kick some ass,” she squeals excitedly as we get out of the car. “Kolan has shown me some moves, but you know him, he would rather beat people up for me than have me do it myself.”
Oh yes, her brother is as protective as they come, and he’s a natural born fighter. Which is probably more because of my asshole uncle, who gave him no other choice if he wanted to survive. My stomach churns and I try to push the nasty thought away. I’m just about to ask how Kolan is doing, but as soon as we walk in the gym doors we come face to face with some of the prettiest girls I have ever seen. They all rush up to Katelyn to give her a hug. I shift uncomfortably and wait patiently, with probably what is the most awkward smile on my face.
A brunette girl with bright aquamarine eyes walks up to me, while everyone else takes turns hugging my cousin. Her warm smile instantly settles my nerves. “Hi. You must be Faith. It’s great to finally meet you. Katelyn has told us so much about you.”
I’m just about to respond when Katelyn walks over and slings her arm around me. “Yup, this is my cousin and best girl,” she responds cheerfully, giving me a big dramatic smooch on the cheek. Her introduction warms my heart.
“Faith, that’s Julia,” she says, pointing to the girl who just approached me. “Kayla,” she points to a blond girl with dark blue eyes, who I know is Cooper’s fiancée. “And that sweetness right there is Grace.” The other blond girl with warm amber eyes waves shyly. Her cheeks now tinged pink with a blush at being called sweetness. If I recall correctly, she’s the one with the pie bakery I haven’t had the chance to visit yet.
