RULES OF LOVE (A Navy SEALs Romance)

by Bella Grant

  “Eddie, you know the drill. Get back inside,” he said gently. His eyes narrowed as he stared from her to Beau. “What’s wrong?”

  “Jackie called. Something’s wrong,” she said. “We need to leave. Now.”

  “My orders haven’t changed,” Ted argued. “Go back inside, and I’ll call Reinhart.”

  “No!” she yelled. “Ted, listen to me. It’s Shane—he’s missing.”

  Ted frowned and laughed as he glanced over his shoulder. “No, he’s not. He’s right there.”

  Eddie felt Beau step closer behind her before he put his body in front of hers. Shane was out on the gravel drive, talking with a few of the other agents. “When did he get here?” Beau asked over her head.

  “Few minutes ago. Eddie, you alright? Maybe you should go lie back down. You’re pale.”

  “Ted, please just listen—”

  Eddie staggered backwards when Ted fell into her, blood pouring out of his chest as he gasped for air. Beau grabbed her and yanked her back inside, Ted’s body coming with them, before he slammed the front door. Yells erupted outside on the drive as Beau pulled Eddie down, covering her with his body while bullets whizzed overhead, taking out the windows and bursting through the front door.

  “Ted… Ted!” Eddie put her hands on the wound, but it was no use. His eyes found hers, shock and fear in them before they glazed over and his head fell back on the floor. “No! Stay with me, you bastard, stay with me!”

  “Eddie, he’s gone,” Beau yelled over the sound of gunfire. “Eddie! Look at me!”

  He grabbed her face between his hands and forced her gaze to his. He was right. She knew he was right, but she couldn’t register the thought of Ted being gone. He gave her a little shake as he drew his gun, and she struggled to keep it together. This was not the time to fall apart, not when their men were being gunned down outside.

  “We need to get to a vehicle and get the fuck out of here,” Beau ordered. “Eddie, are you with me?”

  She nodded and drew her gun, grabbing the keys from Ted’s pocket. Getting out of this alive… that was her priority. She was not going to watch him die before her eyes, and she sure as hell wasn’t ready to go yet. Not until she took her brother down.

  “The back. We might be able to sneak out that way,” she said hoping she didn’t sound as desperate as she felt.

  They stayed low, hurrying through the living area, but right when they reached the kitchen, the back door flew open and a man dressed in black rushed in, his gun blazing. Eddie ducked low, aiming for the shooter’s knees. He fell and the second man who came in behind him fell too as Beau took him out with a shot to the head.

  Beau finished off the first one with a shot to the head as well, then kicked their guns aside. A hail of bullets ricocheted around the kitchen as he fell to the floor, pressing his back to the kitchen cabinets. Eddie was forced back to the living room, bullets still flying through the shattered front windows and hitting in the wall above her head.

  She fired a few shots out front, aiming for the men she could see moving towards the house. Were the agents dead already? Her eyes found Ted’s body near the front door, and her rage consumed her. This was all because of Hugh, that bastard.

  When the gunfire paused from both directions, she rushed into the kitchen, taking cover beside Beau.

  “We can’t hold out forever,” he said. “Ideas?”

  “A few,” she said with a shrug, a sharp breath blowing the hair from her face. “You won’t like them.”

  “Says who?”

  Her lips twitched as she told him to cover her. She slid across the kitchen floor. Beau rose up and fired a few shots out the door as she dragged the two dead men’s bodies towards her.

  “Eddie, I think you and I are going to work very well together,” he said when she grabbed the flash grenades and lethal grenades from the men’s tactical vests. She handed him a few, taking the rest herself. When she sat back, he leaned over and kissed her fiercely. She pressed against him, needing to devour him, but it ended too soon.

  “Ready?” she asked.

  He nodded, his jaw clenched as his eyes were drawn to the grenade she held in her hands. She pulled the pin and threw it towards the front of the house. Beau turned to the back door with her, and they fired as they ran outside, Eddie gritting her teeth as pain tore through her left leg. Gunshots ripped around them, and Eddie felt red hot pain slice through her shoulder, but she kept moving. Beau tossed a flash grenade into the tree line, and a moment later, men’s yells met her ears.

  Beau grunted in pain, and Eddie saw blood spreading on his shirt. They reached the front of the house and peered around the side. Four men advanced on what was left of the front while several more headed around the side. Eddie gripped her Sig, knowing she was just about out of bullets. Beau nudged her arm, and together, they ran out.

  Eddie’s clip clicked empty, and Beau covered her back as they reached the Hummers. Ted’s was near the front of the line. Beau’s gun was clearly empty, but she saw him pull another flash grenade from his pocket and throw it behind them as they climbed inside the Hummer. Beau took the wheel as Eddie climbed over into the passenger side. He put it in gear and took off down the drive, bullets hitting every side of the vehicle as they drove.

  “Eddie? Stay with me, Eddie!”

  Her eyes closed again as she groaned in pain. Her left leg shook violently, and her shoulder throbbed, but she wasn’t the only one hit. “Your side.”

  “I’ll live,” he grunted. “We can’t go to base.”

  “No,” she agreed and forced herself to straighten, cursing as she did so. She turned to the back seat to find the first aid kit when she caught sight of the vehicles coming up behind them. “Beau, drive faster.”

  His hands clenched the wheel, and Eddie saw his eyes flicker closed for a long moment as his foot hit the accelerator harder. “Won’t stay awake too much longer,” he muttered.

  “Just hang on,” she said and climbed painfully into the back seat. The windows were bullet proof, and she hurried to find a way to get the trailing vehicle off of them. She clambered all the way to the back and the secured case. She punched in the code, grabbed extra clips for her gun, and picked up a grenade from underneath everything else.

  “Eddie,” Beau muttered.

  “Stay awake, Beau! Don’t you dare pass out yet!”

  The SUV chasing them was barely a car-length away. Its engine roared as it sped forward and hit the Hummer. Eddie fell back against the seat, gripping the grenade tightly in her hand as it backed off for another hit. She couldn’t shoot out their back window, so she climbed back into the second set of seats and threw open the door.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Beau yelled.

  “Keep going!” Shots hit the door, and she ducked back inside until they paused. “Swerve left!”

  The Hummer shifted, and Eddie had a clear view of the SUV’s windshield. Her Sig reloaded, she fired as many rounds as she could before the gunman leaned out his window. Her shots cracked the windshield. As more shots hit the open door, Eddie waited for her chance, grenade in hand.

  “Do it again!”

  Beau cursed, but the Hummer swerved. Eddie saw the gunman kick out the windshield so the driver could see. She pulled herself up to stand on the side of the Hummer, and gripping the top rail, she threw the grenade. She fell back inside and yelled for Beau to floor it. The Hummer lunged forward as Eddie reached out to close the door.

  A few seconds later, an explosion rocked them, and Beau struggled to keep the Hummer on the road as smoke billowed up behind them on the road.

  The Hummer steadied and slowed. “Eddie…”

  “Hang on,” she demanded, ignoring her pains, and crawled back up to the front. “Shit! Pull over and keep your damn eyes open!”

  Beau did as she ducked back again to find the first-aid kit. Once the Hummer was parked, she told him to get in the passenger seat. His breathing was ragged, and an
y second now, he would pass out.

  “Beau, keep your eyes open,” she snapped as he sank into the passenger seat and his breathing deepened. She grabbed the lever for his seat and shoved it back so he was flat. With the first aid kit at hand, she pulled up his shirt and checked his wound. The bullet was still in there.

  “Eddie…” His hand reached out for hers, and she held it.

  “This is going to hurt, but I need you to stay awake,” she said. “Bite this.” She gave him a roll of sturdy gauze, and he clamped it between his teeth. When she grabbed the large forceps in her hand, she glanced up at him. His gaze was focused on her face. “You trust me?”

  He nodded seriously, his eyes darkening with everything he trusted her with. Eddie took a deep breath, said a prayer, and hoped she managed to save his ass as many times as he’d saved hers.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Beau grimaced. Pain bloomed at his side, sharp and hot. He was moving, but lying down. In a car? He tried to remember what had happened, but everything was blurred in his mind. He cracked open one eye and realized he was in a vehicle. He tried to sit up too fast and grunted at the pain in his side.

  “Lay back,” Eddie’s voice said beside him. “You’ll make it worse.”

  “Eddie?”

  “Right here,” she said, and her hand found his on his seat. “You are never allowed to do that again. Ever.”

  He smirked and sat up more slowly. “Now you know what it feels like.”

  “I’ll never try to get myself killed again,” she said.

  “Where are we?”

  “In the mountains. I turned off our cells and pulled out the batteries so they can’t track us,” she told him. “I’m taking us to the middle of nowhere before we pull over.”

  “What about the GPS in the Hummer?”

  She reached for something in the cup holder and held up a small black square with several wires sticking out of it. “Took it out once you were stable.”

  They drove in silence for a few minutes, Beau watching the road turn and twist before them. They were still in the mountains somewhere, but Eddie didn’t seem to have much of a direction. She was just going where the road led until it ended and turned to dirt. The Hummer bounced easily over it, taking them through the trees until they saw an old abandoned house, overgrown by the forest around it with a dead vineyard to the side.

  “Stay here,” she said as she parked. “I’ll clear it first.”

  He wanted to go with her but was still groggy. He watched her in the headlights, noticing that she barely let her left foot touch the ground. She disappeared inside the old stone house. A few tense minutes later, she came back out to get him.

  “There are some supplies in the back,” she said once he was out and on his feet. “Can you make it inside alright?”

  He shot her a look and took the flashlight she offered. “I’ll be fine, Eddie.”

  “Be a hotshot later,” she snapped. “You were shot. Can you make it or not?”

  He frowned and nodded, watching her head to the back of the Hummer. The walk to the house did him good, though his side throbbed in pain with each step. Once in, he set the flashlight down so its beam shone at the ceiling, giving the room a bit more light. He lifted his shirt and pressed tenderly around the gauze where he’d been shot. Had she dug the bullet out? He couldn’t remember.

  “Stop touching it,” she ordered, coming up behind him. “Bad enough how much you flailed when I dug it out.”

  She set down the duffel and pulled out several glow sticks, cracked them, and tossed them around the small room. Bags shadowed her eyes, and her face pulled tighter with each movement. She turned, and Beau saw the blood staining her shirt on her left shoulder.

  “Were you shot?”

  “I’m fine,” she muttered. “It went through.”

  Beau pulled her into his arms, needing to hold her and feel her safe and breathing against him. Before all this started, he thought she was just another civilian who was in too deep, and now, he knew exactly who this woman was, knew what she was made of. She could’ve died again today. They both could have, and all Beau wanted to do was stay in that abandoned house and hold her close.

  They pulled a blanket from the duffel and set it out on the floor near the wall. Beau put his back against the wall and held Eddie close to him as they sat in near darkness, listening to the silence outside. His arms were tightly wrapped around her, and he breathed her in as his heart hammered in his chest.

  “You never told me,” she said quietly.

  He kissed the top of her head before he tilted his head to look at her. “Told you what?”

  “The woman before me who broke your heart.”

  Beau’s lips thinned. “She’s not important.”

  “No, but she hurt you. I could tell the first time we met… That chip on your shoulder wasn’t just from your job.”

  “She couldn’t handle my job,” he said quietly, remembering the last night with her. “Told me it was too hard for her, not knowing when I’d be leaving and coming home or if I’d come back at all.”

  Eddie shrugged in his arms, leaning against him. “Not everyone can deal with it.”

  Beau nodded. Brittany had been her name, and he’d almost proposed to her. The night he came home from a four-month job to find her bags packed and a plane ticket in her hand had killed him. He’d tried to convince her to stay, but she’d ignored him and walked out the door without glancing back once. Two years later, he saw her again in the city with a man on her arm. He drove a Lamborghini and wore a tailored suit, and Brittany wore more jewels than he’d ever be able to afford in his lifetime. After that, he’d been happy she’d walked out of his life.

  Beau’s gaze turned to Eddie, the woman in his arms with her tight jeans, muddied boots, and bloodied t-shirt. Even the holster over her t-shirt gave him a smile. Then he was laughing quietly until Eddie moved enough so she could see his face.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “Just realizing how perfect we are for each other,” he said, quietly amused at the thought.

  She grinned with him. “Well, we’ll never be bored if people keep trying to kill us. And you’ll never have to worry about me leaving you.”

  Her words, mirrored by the seriousness in her eyes, wiped the smile off Beau’s face. “Even if we spend half the year apart?”

  “Even if you come home and can’t tell me what you were doing,” she said. “As long as you eventually come home, Savage. This is who we are. We can’t change that, and I don’t want to.”

  He leaned down and kissed her, unable to say everything he wanted or to explain how much he wanted her and would never leave her side. Their lives would be hard, he knew that, but for once in his life, he knew where he belonged. At Eddie’s side, from now until he was taken from her. His hands hugged her hips, her skin fire beneath his touch. If not for both of their bullet wounds, he’d have her on the floor of this old, abandoned house, and he could tell she knew it.

  When he slowly let the kiss end, his lips lingering for that last touch, he saw her pushing her tongue behind her lip. “What are you thinking about?”

  “How we’re going to get out of this alive.”

  “We’ll think of something,” he said. “I’m not letting go of you that easily.”

  “I don’t know who we can trust,” she said. “If Shane is compromised, he’ll be feeding everything straight to Hugh.”

  Beau’s arms tightened instinctively around Eddie at the mention of that bastard. “And we still have no idea where he is. I would’ve killed him by now.”

  “We can’t just run. He’ll track us down eventually.”

  “Unless we get him first,” Beau mused quietly.

  Eddie glanced up at him, her face drawn in confusion. “How? We haven’t been able to find him in all this time.”

  “Then we let him come to us… Draw him out.”

  Eddie’s eyes narrowed with a smile th
at would’ve worried him if it was on anyone else. He knew exactly what she was thinking because his thoughts were already there. “You want us to be the bait.”

  “You want to kill Hugh for what he did to you,” Beau reminded her, his words quiet and filled with the pent-up rage he’d felt since he found out the truth of what happened between Eddie and that man. “And I want to beat him to a bloody pulp before you put a bullet in his brain.”

  “The first safe house. It’s already mostly destroyed and our teams have left it alone.”

  “You want to draw them there?”

  “Single way in,” she announced. “We don’t know how many men he’ll bring with him, if this works.”

  Beau pictured the old house. The front entrance was completely destroyed, so there’d be no guarding it once they got inside. It would take picking them off one by one and drawing them in enough to get Hugh.

  “And if your brother shows up?”

  She stiffened in his arms, but her eyes were cold when they looked up to meet his. “If Shane is working with Hugh, I’ll kill him.”

  He wasn’t going to argue with her because if she wasn’t going to, he would, for dragging the woman he loved into this mess in the first place. Silence fell over them again. They didn’t even know who they could trust anymore. Someone needed to know so if they didn’t live—no. Beau would make sure Eddie lived, if nothing else. She would survive. His arms tightened around her as she sighed contently against him. He didn’t know what the morning would bring, but he was going to enjoy holding Eddie in his arms and praying he’d never have to let her go.

  ***

  Jackie stormed down the corridor, searching for Reinhart while Gareth filled out the official report of the ambush at the pull-off. She’d tried to get ahold of Eddie again, but her cell was off. No one would tell her anything, and she swore the next person who told her he couldn’t give her answers because of orders she was going to deck.

  “Sir,” Jackie said, turning into Reinhart’s office. “What the hell is going on?”