Last True Hero

by Diana Gardin

  Chase throws his head back and groans. “I did not miss your dry-ass sense of humor. At all.”

  I stare at him, waiting.

  “I mean it. I didn’t just make a bad bet, Dare. I hadn’t been gambling for a while. I got my shit straight. And then I met this girl.”

  Now it’s my turn to groan. I want to take both sides of my hair and just pull.

  “A girl.” I shake my head, sending droplets of water flying in all directions from my saturated hair. I’m thinking the worst.

  “Yeah, a girl. I met her when I was playing a sanctioned poker game. I was trying to go legit. You know, playing the circuit whenever I could. Poker’s the only thing I’m good at, Dare. I’d just finished my game, and…there she was. This beautiful redhead. She smiled at me, and I was done. Then I bought her a drink, and talked to her. She was bright and open and full of this light that I’ve never seen before.

  “The way I’ve seen you look at Berkeley? I know I must have had that dopey-ass grin on my face the night I met Shay. We talked all night, until the place was closing. And then…then her boyfriend showed up.”

  My groan was lost in the waves, but Chase didn’t miss the way my eyes screwed up and my fist went to my mouth. The word idiot came to mind, but I restrained myself.

  “He grabbed her, Dare. Hard. Jerked her up by the arm, and I was out of my seat. I got in his face, told him to let her go and stop talking to her the way he was. Then she looked at me…she looked at me, and the look in her eyes told me that she was leaving with him, and that if I didn’t stop what I was doing it was going to be so much worse for her. And then they left.

  “I asked around about her after that. All I had was her name, but it didn’t take too long before I got her story. Her boyfriend is a major dealer and loan shark back in Florida. He uses her like he owns her, and roughs her up all the time. He has her doing dirty work for him most dudes wouldn’t do, Dare. She’s also not the only chick he stakes claim on. So I made it a point to get in on one of his games.”

  I’m shaking my head, staring at Chase like he’d just descended from the sky on the end of a rainbow. I’ve never heard him talk this way. He’s usually only out for himself, and trying to see how far he can stretch whatever little bit of luck he’s run into. The way he’s talking about this girl is totally new and unrecognizable to me. I think my mouth is hanging open, but I’m too worried about what his next words might be to push it back into place.

  “I bought a place at the table and showed up early. I had my eye out, but I didn’t see her until about halfway through the game. She came in the door, and I thought her eyes were going to pop out of her head when she saw me. I folded immediately, and met her in a back hall where we could talk.

  “I asked her about her boyfriend. His name is Chavez, and he treats her like shit. He holds an old bet of her brother’s over her head, threatening every time she wants to walk out on him to make good on collecting. She’s stuck, and she’s miserable. She deserves better.

  “So then…you’re not gonna like this part, Dare.”

  I sigh. I don’t like anything about this story, so I can only imagine that the next part is going to spin my head around in circles.

  “I started seeing her. Behind Chavez’s back. We would just, you know, chill. Eat lunch or dinner. Watch movies. We just spent time together. And every time I saw her…I fell harder for her. So I came up with a plan.”

  I bury my head on my arms then. Never, never has Chase come up with a plan that ended well. His plans were often the reason why I ever got into trouble growing up. He comes up with these ideas that he thinks are foolproof, and then they end up coming around to bite him in the ass.

  “I know that this guy, Chavez, loves money more than he loves Shay. So I made a bet. I told him that I’d win in the poker tournament that was running through town at the time. And when I won, I’d turn the money over to him. In exchange for Shay.”

  I suck in a breath. As I level my gaze at Chase, disbelief runs rampant through my head. “You bet her? Shit, Chase, I thought you said you cared about this girl.”

  He nods firmly. “I do. That’s why I had to get her freedom. She’s like a prisoner with Chavez. I had to do something.”

  “Well, obviously, things didn’t go like you planned. You didn’t win?”

  Chase shook his head, anger coloring his face. “Fucking Chavez rigged the game.” He spoke animatedly, using his hands to demonstrate his agitation.

  “He rigged the game?”

  “Yeah. He rigged it. So I lost everything, including Shay. And now, I know he’s hurting her. I owe him the money, but of course I don’t have it all. That’s why I came to you. It’s not just another dumb-ass scheme I was trying to work. Shay’s life depends on this. If I can get enough money together, I want to try again. To free her.”

  I blew out a breath I didn’t know I was holding and shook my head slowly. “Damn.”

  He finally tore his dark eyes away from mine and stared out at the ocean. “Yeah. Damn.”

  We let a few minutes of silence slide by, just watching the waves, the horizon beyond, the clouds shifting lazily in the too blue sky. I close my eyes and try to imagine what I’d do if Berkeley were the one in trouble. If she were being controlled by someone, unable to escape her situation. The thought sends anger burning through my blood, causing my skin to become fiery and slick with a sheen of sweat. I would never let anyone hurt her. By nature, for whatever reason, all I want is to protect her. For her to be safe and happy. It’s funny to think about. I’ve never needed to protect anyone but myself, and Chase when he needed it. My brothers in my Ranger Battalion didn’t need protecting. We all just watched one another’s backs. Somehow, Berkeley broke into my bubble of independence and singularity. If what Chase feels for Shay is even a fraction of that, I understand his sentiments fully.

  “Stay here while we figure it out,” I hear myself saying. Drake might murder me, but this Chase, this protective, focused Chase, isn’t the Chase I grew to know. He’s different, and his reason for needing my help is legitimate. I won’t turn my back on him.

  He nods, visibly relieved.

  “We gotta be able to outsmart a thug like Chavez, right?” I give him a half smile. “We need to get out of here. I need to get cleaned up so I can meet Berkeley later.”

  We pick up our boards and set off for the little bungalow just behind the beach.

  I enter See Food and earn a giant smile from my new friend Lenny. She’s evidently a big encourager of Berkeley and me, and I’ll take all the cheerleaders I can get. Judging by the look on Berkeley’s mother’s face the day I dropped her off and from what I hear of her father “the Admiral,” I’m not sneaking in under the radar where they’re concerned.

  “How ya doin’, Dare?” she asks kindly.

  “Not too bad, Lenny,” I say, returning her smile. “Is our girl almost ready to clock out?”

  Berkeley comes around the corner from the kitchen then, busily untying the apron strings around her waist. When her eyes collide with mine, her face breaks into a gorgeous smile that sends my heart flipping around in somersaults.

  Fucking dimples.

  “All done, Lenny!” she calls brightly as she makes her way toward me. I restrain myself, stopping just inside the entry to the restaurant and opening my arms. If I had let myself, I would have run to her and scooped her up. I still have some semblance of my self-respect, even though more time with Berkeley is likely to send it crumbling to pieces.

  “What are we doing tonight?” She breathes as she folds perfectly into my arms.

  Sliding her arms around my waist and looking up at me with those big brown eyes, she’s causing my thoughts to muddle, making me forget exactly what I have planned for tonight. I shake my head slightly.

  I slide my arm down until it’s around her shoulders as I guide her to the door, holding it open while I push her through gently.

  “Did you remember to pack a change of clothes?” I ask her as I open the
passenger door on my truck.

  She hops up with my assistance, then grins down at me from her perch on the seat. She nods excitedly. “Yeah. What are you up to, Dare?”

  I reach up and brush a thumb across the little wrinkle in her forehead. “We’re going camping.”

  I shut her door and let that sink in as I walk around to my side of the truck and climb in. After I’ve started the ignition and back out of the parking spot, I turn to her as I pull out onto the road.

  “Camping?” Her mouth forms the word as if it’s foreign to her.

  “You’ve never been?”

  “Of course I have,” she says, smiling. “I just…didn’t expect it. Just you and me?”

  I nod. “You can call Mea if you want.”

  She shakes her head, her smile lighting up the truck in a way the lights on the dash never do. “Just us is good.”

  She shoots me a bemused glance as I pull into the driveway at Drake’s.

  “We’re camping in your bedroom?” she asks, her eyes glittering.

  “No, smart-ass. We’re camping on the beach.”

  Her eyes widen, and I smirk as she nods. She’s surprised, and the sparkle in her eyes lets me know it’s a pleasant one.

  We bypass the inside of the house and weave around the side yard and into the back. We follow the walkway down to the sand, and Berkeley’s gasp is all I need to feel alive and fierce, like I’m the man she needs in her life. The feeling leaves me almost drunk with joy.

  “You gotta stop surprising me like this, Dare,” she murmurs as her eyes reflect the flickering light from the torches. “I’m going to end up spoiled.”

  I roll my eyes. “Have to keep treating you to the life you’re accustomed to, Berkeley.”

  The private beach behind Drake’s is set up with a small tent. I had the camping gear already. Sleeping outside is second nature to me, although I’ve never done it on a beach. I know that Berkeley feels smothered by her parents, and I wanted to give her a sense of sleeping outside, with not only the great big sky above her, but also the big, wide ocean stretching out beside her.

  I reach out for her and wrap her in my arms. She leans back against my chest, staring at the tent and the pile of wood I’d set up just in front of it.

  “This is amazing,” she whispers. “Thank you.”

  I nod, nuzzling my lips into her neck. She smells so sweet, I’m tempted to nibble on her warm skin as an appetizer. But I’ll wait. The night is young.

  “You sit on the blanket,” I say, nudging her back toward the plaid spread I’ve set beside the little fire pit. “No beer tonight. You can open that bottle of wine and pour us some glasses, and I’ve got some cheese and French bread in that basket over there.”

  She gets busy on the task while I light the fire. The night is warm, but a cool breeze has kicked up down here by the ocean, and I want every excuse to be able to keep her wrapped up in my arms.

  “So,” she says, when we’re settled and staring at the fire. “Did your parents take you camping a lot when you were a kid, or is this solely a product of the U.S. Army’s training?”

  The question is completely innocent and natural, but my body tenses at the mention of my parents. I’ve never shared my story with a female, I can’t even think of a time that someone has asked about my family. I take a deep breath and let it out slowly.

  “Dare?” Berkeley tilts her head back to look up at me from where she’s situated against my chest. “What’s wrong?”

  I shake my head, glancing down at her. “Uh, nothing. No, my parents didn’t take me camping. They probably would have, if they’d gotten the chance. My parents died in a car accident when I was seven.”

  Her bottom lip disappears instantly into her mouth, and the crease in her forehead deepens. “Oh, Dare. I’m so sorry.”

  I bend down and kiss the top of her head. “I should have told you the night you met Chase. It’s just not an easy subject to talk about.”

  “Who raised you and Chase?” she asks tentatively. “Grandparents?”

  I bark out a laugh, harsher than I intended. I can’t remember how many times in my screwed-up childhood I’d wished for grandparents to swoop in out of nowhere and take me away from this foster family or that one. I’ve heard there are some great foster homes out there, but I was never lucky enough to be placed in one. I saw way too much violence and heartbreak at way too early an age, and it forced me to build walls around myself for my own protection. It made me strong, but it also crippled me emotionally.

  “No. Actually…Berkeley, Chase isn’t my blood brother. He’s my foster brother. We met in the same for-shit home when we were eleven, and he’s been like blood ever since.” I glance at her out of the corner of my eye, gauging her reaction. If there’s pity in her eyes, I’d rather not face it head-on.

  “You don’t have to talk about it, Dare. Not if you don’t want to.”

  God, I don’t want to. I grab her offer like a life raft and change the subject.

  “Your parents are the ones who took you camping?”

  She shakes her head, a rueful smile playing on her lips. “Hardly. Can you picture the Admiral, camping with his family? No, we vacationed, but it was usually in the middle of some base tour he was taking. He didn’t have time to disconnect and hang out in the woods.”

  I nod thoughtfully, trying to picture Berkeley as a little girl. She probably adored her father, and craved his attention. My heart aches thinking of all the times she probably didn’t get it.

  “So who, then?”

  “I went a couple of times with friends’ families. I haven’t been much.”

  “Ever camped on the beach?”

  She shakes her head. “Nope. This is my first time doing this.”

  I lean down and whisper in her ear. I feel gratified when she shivers in response. “Me, too.”

  “So, um…,” she begins. “I’ve been meaning to ask you, you know, if you’re seeing anyone else right now? Because if you are, I don’t have any reason to, you know…” She pauses, and then rushes on the way she does when she’s nervous. I know what she’s asking, and I could put her out of her misery. But she’s just so fucking cute. “It’s fine if you are, I just wanted to know upfront. Because I’m not, you know—”

  I grin, because I can listen to this girl babble for the rest of the night. Her modest sexiness knows no bounds. But I can’t let her keep going; I have to tell her how I feel. No matter how cute her babbling is.

  “Berkeley,” I interrupt.

  Her face colors, and I know she’s embarrassed. The thought sends a giddy burst of energy through me.

  She looks up. “Yes?”

  I tilt her head back with my index finger under her chin and catch the nape of her neck with my other palm. When her startled eyes are staring up into mine, I answer her question.

  “How could I be seeing anyone else when you are all I think about, every single day since I’ve met you? I’m way too into you, Berkeley, to want anyone else. And you saw how I reacted when I thought you were seeing someone else. So…no. This? It’s fucking exclusive. Okay?”

  “Okay.” She has time to breathe before my lips find hers.

  The kiss is deep and intense. I always mean to go in soft and gentle when I kiss Berkeley, but somehow, the message gets lost in translation. The connection we share is something that sizzles with electricity and heat, and I can’t contain the fervor my body feels to be melded with hers. Her lips move against my mouth just as ardently as mine, and we’re matched perfectly. She tastes like redemption and bliss, and I can’t get enough.

  When she pulls back, gazing up at me, I feel something inside of me shift. We just declared exclusivity, which means Berkeley is mine. No matter what her overbearing father says, no matter what her friend Grisham wants, she belongs to me. The idea sends me soaring off somewhere among the stars, and my chest constricts with the seriousness of our declaration.

  Have I ever belonged to someone? Not since my parents died. And never in t
his capacity. It leaves me feeling…changed. This girl is altering me from the inside out. And I like it.

  Suddenly, with a gasp, Berkeley is under me, on her back against the blanket. I search her face for a second, asking silent permission, before I lower my head and trail my lips along the line of her jaw.

  “This,” I murmur roughly as my lips find the sweetest spot in the curve of her neck and suck. “This is what I think about, when I’m in bed at night without you.”

  She moans, and shifts under me so that her hands are free to rove my back. She bunches up the shirt under her fingers, and I decide it’ll be easier for her if I just rip the damn thing off. When it hits the sand behind me, I return to the sweetness that is this girl.

  “And this,” I inform her as my mouth finds the delicate angle of her collarbone. My hands are acting on their own, one finding its way under her shirt and raising it upward. I glance down, and all I can see is miles of bare skin and lace-covered mounds of heaven.

  “Fuck,” I mutter. “I need this off, Berkeley.”

  She lifts, and I remove her shirt just as quickly as I did my own. Then I lower my mouth over one perfect, hardened nipple.

  “Oh, God.” Her voice is silk in my ear, and her taste is like the ripest, plumpest piece of fruit I’ve ever had. I suck, bite, and lick until she’s a writhing mess underneath me.

  But I remember what she said that night in my bedroom. I move to her other breast, not wanting to play favorites, and she utters my name like she’s about to disappear into sweet oblivion. I remember that she isn’t ready to give herself to me, so I stay north of the snap on her shorts.

  “Dare.” She sighs as my mouth plants hot kisses along her rib cage.

  “Mmmm.”

  “Touch me.”

  I still, hovering in place on top of her. I glance down, and her whiskey-colored eyes are boring into mine with fierce seriousness.