The man he’d prayed for. Cried for. Pleaded for. The man he’d left behind sat ten feet away. His very presence threatening Ranger’s sanity.
Amy stiffened and he closed his eyes, unwilling or unable, to watch the love of his life slip through his fingers.
“Shane?” Her voice was thin, reedy. Trembling from the inside out.
Ranger clenched the sheets, fighting not to touch her. His every instinct screamed for him to hold her, shield her from her husband.
“Good morning, wife.”
Horror crept down Ranger’s spine, and his eyes opened, staring at Shane back from the dead. This couldn’t be real. Not now. Not when he’d given his heart away.
Amy paled, her deep brown eyes going stark with shock. “Shane, is that really you?”
Ranger’s heart skyrocketed into his throat when Amy’s gaze cut to his own. He saw it all there. The confusion. The question. The shock. But under all that he saw something that gave him hope. He saw her love.
Ranger took a deep breath and forced himself to think. He grabbed Amy’s free hand. Shane had been gone for over a year now. He wasn’t going to give up Amy to a fucking ghost.
“How touching. My wife and my best friend. How long did you wait? Or did you even wait?” Ranger watched as Shane finally showed some emotion. His deadened responses had reminded him of a corpse. Now his calm façade cracked. “Were you fucking before we even went on deployment?”
Anger. That, he could deal with. He knew how to fight that. “Don’t you dare talk to her like that.”
“I’ll talk to her any damn way I please. She’s my wife.” Shane’s words whiplashed through the room.
“Was your wife. You were declared dead.”
“Something I intend to rectify.”
“Over my dead fucking body.” Ranger couldn’t stop the fury rolling through him. He’d fought so long for her, just to lose her? No way. Not now.
“I can arrange that.” Shane rose from the chair, his lean physique even more obvious. His clothes were clean, pressed, but his hair and face dirty with grit.
“Stop it.” Amy rose up on her knees, clutching the sheet to her nakedness. “Both of you.”
Tears streamed down her parchment white cheeks. Ranger’s heart clenched in the noose of her obvious pain. He forced the vehement response back. She was hurting. They were all hurting. Amy held up a hand and took a shaky breath. “Shane, please, give me a minute to think and get dressed. Then we can all sit down and have a conversation.”
Shane didn’t move a muscle. His eyes hardened and his lips twisted into some sort of sardonic smile. “Are you telling me to leave my best friend alone in bed with my naked wife?”
Every muscle in Ranger’s body went tense, ready to spring. “I warned you.”
Amy’s ice cold hand squeezed his, pulling his attention. She needed his support right now. Needed him to be her rock.
How could he be her rock when his foundation was crumbling? He tried to imagine what kind of shock it must be for Shane to come home to this. No one thought he was coming home ever again.
Ranger had buried him. Cried over him. Mourned him. And now here he was, sitting at the end of the bed as if he still owned the place. How was it possible for him to show up, alive and in one piece?
Ranger had been there when the box containing two of Shane’s fingers was delivered to Captain Grey. He’d seen the DNA test results confirming Shane’s identity.
“We’ll settle what’s between us later. I’m not asking you to do anything but give Amy a minute of privacy. You can do that for her can’t you?”
Murderous rage flashed across Shane’s features. His eyes bloodshot, his cheeks hollowed out. Ranger waited on the attack, but Shane didn’t move, his normally quick temper hadn’t reared its ugly head. That was one of the reasons they had been best friends. Ranger was the slow burner, a joker and a good time guy. He balanced out Shane’s quick temper nicely and was usually able to talk him down from fights.
Ranger knew he wouldn’t be able to talk him down from this.
Small sniffles interrupted his thoughts. Both men turned to Amy. Ranger watched as Shane’s gaze softened a fraction. Amy cried silently, tears streaming down her face.
Shane nodded once, and abruptly strode from the room. Ranger didn’t take his gaze from the dead man walking until the door shut behind him. Something was off here. Something not quite right.
Shane had been ambushed and taken hostage before Ranger’s very eyes on their last mission. Then he’d been confirmed dead. Killed by the terrorist Al Seriq. So how was he here now?
Amy dove into his arms, her silent tears turning into broken sobs. He clutched her tight, part of him wondering-would this be the last time he held her?
He couldn’t sit back and lose her. He leaned back and brushed the strands of hair from her face. “We’ll figure this out.”
“Ranger…”
He didn’t know what else to say. He couldn’t lie to her. He couldn’t tell her everything would be okay. He didn’t know that himself. So he did the only thing he could. He kissed her. Kissed her with every ounce of love and support he possessed.
Amy returned his kiss with desperation, digging her nails into his shoulders, and then she ripped away from him. Her hand flew to her mouth. “We can’t do this now.”
His shaky foundation shifted. No. He wouldn’t let her go. “What do you mean?”
She shuddered, each of her teardrops taking a chunk out of him. Helpless fear took root. What would he do if she chose Shane?
“I…I don’t know. I can’t think. I need to get dressed. Oh, my God. He’s alive. What am I going to do? He saw us.” Her words tumbled out in jagged uneven shards, cutting through his heart. Ranger watched, powerless to do anything to fix her pain, as she stumbled from the bed.
Choose me. Please, choose me.
“Amy, calm down.” Ranger stood and approached her, careful to go slow. She looked ready to fall apart.
“I. Can’t. Breathe.” Amy doubled over, catching her hands on her knees. Ranger dove for her, lifting her upright before she fell.
“Easy. Breath with me. That’s it. Slow.” Ranger wrapped his arms around her, fighting the urgent shudders working through him. He wanted to cry. To scream. To rage. But more than any of those things, he wanted to comfort Amy. “I love you.”
He would do what it took to make her happy. Even if it meant his doom.
When her shaking subsided to a tremble, he took a step back and wiped the tears from her face. “I know you’re shocked. Me too. But I’m not going anywhere unless you ask me to, okay?”
She held onto him, nodding after a minute that felt like an hour.
“Good. Now, go get dressed. I’ll be right here.” When Amy disappeared into her closet, Ranger yanked on his jeans. She returned a minute later, covered in a pink sundress. She looked beautiful. Beautiful and shell shocked.
Ranger held out a hand, waited on her to take it, and pulled her down to his lap. He couldn’t shake the niggling sensation that something was off with Shane. “Amy, I’m not leaving you. I meant what I said. Promise me you will stick by my side, at least until you know he’s…okay.”
A fresh wave of tears immediately tumbled from her eyes. “What do you mean?”
“If he’s been held prisoner this long, he could have been tortured. Men don’t just reappear a year after their disappearance, the same as they were when they left.”
“Do you think he’s not safe?”
“I don’t know what to think. But I want to be cautious until we do know.”
“And what if nothing is wrong? What if he escaped and has been alone all this time, thinking about me.”
“We’ll find a way. I promise. I love you.” Tears threatened his own eyes and he tucked her head against him, needing to hold her. He took a minute and got his emotions under control. She needed him to be strong.
He would be her warrior.
They entered the living room together. Shan
e sat on the couch staring out the window, lost in his thoughts. A love seat and recliner separated by a coffee table faced the couch.
Ranger stared at the man he considered as close as a brother. So many emotions overwhelmed him. The sense of joy that his friend was not dead. And the sudden shock of having his future plans possibly ripped out from beneath him.
Amy drew attention when she squeezed his hand and let go. He felt proud of her bravery. Amy took the first step forward, leaving Ranger with his feet glued in place.
“Shane?” She said his name softly, as if testing her ability to speak.
Shane stood and Amy approached him, stopping when she stood right next to him. Ranger couldn’t help when his muscles tensed. Shane, although much leaner than before, still towered over her.
Shane reached a hand out and gently touched his wife’s face and then Ranger saw it. Saw tears on his friend’s face and his anger and tension drowned under a wave of guilt. He’d been so busy thinking about himself and his needs that he’d purposely ignored Shane’s.
Ranger took a step back, the outsider intruding on a reunion between husband and wife, a moment that should be private. Not shared. He watched helplessly as Shane took Amy in his arms, hugging her as a shudder worked down his mangy frame. Doubt assailed Ranger. How could he expect their relationship to just…continue?
How could he try to keep Amy? Not from his best friend, not from Shane. How could he ask her to choose between her husband and himself? That he deserved her? But seeing them embrace, jealousy ate at him, burning in his gut. Mine. Just as that thought hit, another trailed on its heels. His.
Unable to stand there and watch his plans unravel, Ranger crept silently to the kitchen and gave them a moment of privacy. Staying close enough to hear everything.
Amy’s sniffles passed through the open doorway. Ranger paced the kitchen, restless. He should be holding her. She needed time. He didn’t want to give it to her. He stopped by the counter and put his head in his hands, trying to hold himself together. Pain. Anger. Jealousy. Love. Hurt. He didn’t know what to feel first.
Jealousy won. It destroyed his altruism. He wanted her. He knew he had no right to want her. No right to feel this way. She wasn’t his wife. It was eating him alive the jealousy he knew he had no right to feel. She wasn’t his wife. But God he wanted her more than he wanted to breathe.
Images of her pleading beneath him. Her nails digging into his back. Her skin. Her sweet smell. The taste of her lips driving him crazy. Then the image twisted into one of Shane kissing Amy and he nearly lost control.
Ranger stalked back. Shane pressed his mouth to hers. Ranger’s world shattered.
Ranger’s feet carried him to the couple, standing behind Amy. She broke the embrace and stepped back. Ranger couldn’t see her face, see if she enjoyed that kiss. But he saw Shane’s.
He saw the fury.
“We need to talk.” Ranger grabbed Amy’s hand and attempted to pull her away.
“Let go of my wife.” Shane took a menacing step forward.
“She’s not yours anymore.” Ranger advanced.
“Stop it!” Amy pushed her hands out, keeping herself bodily between them.
Ranger’s composure slipped, his ability to separate his emotions from logic disappeared. He balled his hand into a fist, ready to attack his friend for touching her.
Shane leaned forward, crowding her between them. His nostrils flared and his lips fell into a tight line. “Are you deaf?”
“You can’t expect her to jump back into a relationship with you after you’ve been dead for so long.”
“Newsflash asshole, I wasn’t dead. So technically she’s still mine. She’s always been mine.”
“Please, I can’t take it if you fight, please stop.” Amy pleaded trying to keep them apart. Ranger glanced down, saw her distress, and backed off slightly.
“I always knew you had the hots for her. Every time you came over you were sniffing around her. You couldn’t wait to get in her pants.” Shane spewed his venom, spit flying from his lips.
“You son of a bitch, I never touched her. I would never disrespect you or her like that.” Ranger knew he was shouting now but he couldn’t stop.
Shane sneered, “Yeah, you had enough respect to wait until I was gone before you fucked my wife.”
Ranger threw a punch, landing a solid blow to Shane’s unguarded jaw. He flew backwards to land in a heap in front of the fireplace. Shane scrambled to his feet and Ranger shoved Amy behind him. “Stay behind me.”
Amy tried to sidestep, but Ranger countered her move, keeping himself between her and Shane. She pounded on his back. “Stop it Ranger. Don’t do this. If you love me, you’ll stop.”
Amy’s words were a bucket of ice water, freezing him in place. Ranger shook his head, clearing the red haze that had slid over his vision. The man standing before him was broken. His friend. His narrowed chest rising and falling with the force of his heavy breathing. Fists clenched at his sides.
“You come into my house, screw my wife and have the nerve to punch me?”
Ranger backed up a step, unease trickled down his spine. He herded Amy behind him as Shane advanced. “Amy, get out of here, now.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” She dodged his heels, not giving an inch.
Shane threw a punch and Ranger took it, staggering back a step, unable to defend himself without risking hurting her.
“Amy, for the love of God, get out of here.”
Ranger lifted his fists in front of his face, elbows down, shielding his body. He felt her move back, chanced a quick look over his shoulder to see her edge to the side. Not out of the room, but out of the way.
Ranger refocused on his friend. “Shane, stop. I don’t want to fight you. I shouldn’t have done that.”
Shane kicked the coffee table over out of the way and advanced, as if he hadn’t heard a word Ranger had said. The man advancing on him wasn’t his best friend. He was hard. Wild. Unpredictable.
“Brother, listen…”
Shane leapt forward, threw a punch. Ranger ducked down and came up with an upper cut to Shane’s stomach. He doubled over at the waist and then fell to his knees, gasping for air. Ranger quickly stepped back, keeping on his toes, fists up. Ready for the next attack.
Amy ran past him, her dark red hair flying behind her and knelt on the ground next to Shane. She touched his shoulder and looked up at Ranger, her face flushed. “Please stop this now.”
Tears continued to stream down her face and Ranger lowered his fists, remorse settled heavy on his shoulders. He wanted to defend himself, tell her he tried not to fight. He had more control than this. He was acting like a lovesick, horny teenager, fighting with his best friend over a girl.
But not just any girl, Amy was his girl. They were meant to be together. He knew that with the certainty the sun would rise in the morning. He also knew with a certainty he couldn’t go on living without her.
“Get out.” Shane rose on his knees, his voice harsh with finality.
Ranger lifted his chin and looked at Amy. He’d made her a promise. He wouldn’t leave her unless she asked him to go.
Her gaze wavered with indecision. “Ranger.” She took a breath. “Maybe you should go.”
It was as if a 50-caliber bullet lodged in his chest. He took an involuntary step back.
“I’m not leaving here alone.” Shane might have been a friend since childhood, but Ranger knew somewhere down deep inside that something fundamental inside him had changed.
Amy rose and tucked her hair behind her ears, her eyes still moist from crying. She walked toward him, and he reached for her. Rubbing a thumb over her soft cheek. “I can’t leave you. Not until I know you’re safe.”
Amy grabbed his hand and kissed his palm. He felt it all the way to his heart.
“We will sort this out.” She glanced over her shoulder as Shane got to his feet. “But I think it would be better if you left. At least until everyone calms down some.”
As if summoned from hell, Shane spoke from behind her, “I’m her husband. This is our house. The only one who doesn’t belong here is you.”
Ranger kept his gaze locked on Amy, hoping she would say something different. Pleading with his eyes. She bit her plump lower lip and took a small step back.
“Amy, he started cheating on you before the deployment. He betrayed you. Betrayed us both.” The affair with Ranger’s sister was a blow not likely to ease anytime soon. Regardless of that fact, he had to make Amy see. Had to make her realize her husband wasn’t the man either of them thought.
“Ranger…”
Shane placed his hand on Amy’s shoulder.
He had to try one more time. “Please Amy, you don’t know this man anymore. Come with me.”
“I promise I will call you in a little while. Please try to understand. Just give us some time to talk.”
The pain was too much. The .50 cal in his chest exploded. His body went numb. He remained standing, but he was empty. Dead.
“You heard her, she asked you to leave,” Shane said.
“If you hurt her you son of a bitch, I’ll put you right back in the hole you crawled out of. Only this time, you won’t come back from the dead.”
40
Chapter 40
Amy watched Ranger walk to the door, trying to distance herself from her ground up emotions. She stood on the threshold of something momentous. A decision that could alter her. Alter the two men now in her life.
Shane’s hand on her shoulder felt…heavy. Not right. What are you doing?
Was she really going to stand there and watch the man she loved walk out of her life? Sacrifice her heart for a promise made to someone that had been dead to her for so long? Someone who had clearly not honored their marriage vows?
Shane had not only disappeared, he’d screwed her. And he’d screwed Ranger.
Shane’s grip tightened and she flinched. She’d asked the wrong man to leave. Ranger grabbed the door handle. No.
Resurrection River: Men of Mercy, Book 2 Page 23
