Rescuing Kassie: Delta Force Heroes, Book 5

by Stoker, Susan

* * *

  To: Kassie

  From: Graham

  Subject: Don’t apologize

  I’m sorry I freaked you out. It wasn’t my intention at all.

  Real life romances don’t work out for you? You are who is depicted in your profile picture…right? Because I find that woman fascinating. You look like the girl next door…and I have to tell you, I had a crush on my next-door neighbor all the way through elementary school. She was in middle school, wore glasses, and would sit on her back deck and do homework every night. *grin*

  All I’m asking for is a meet. We’ll take it from there.

  And don’t think I didn’t catch that there’s something else going on with you than what you wrote. I’m pretty observant, and can read between the lines. But we’ll keep it low-key. Yeah?

  I hope you had a good week at work and didn’t have to shoot anyone. :)

  ~Graham

  * * *

  To: Graham

  From: Kassie

  Subject: No shooting

  You’ll be glad to know I didn’t have to shoot anyone today…but it was close. *grin* We probably shouldn’t be joking about that, you know (but I think it’s funny anyway).

  Thanks for understanding about the meeting thing. I’ll continue to think about it.

  Do you happen to watch Criminal Minds? It was crazy creepy last night. I have a pretty warped mind, and see bad guys behind every corner, but that was insane! Garcia is my hero though. There’s no way in real life information can be gotten as easily as she gets it, but it’s still fun to watch (and yes, I remember what you said about everything being able to get hacked and tracked, and it might be sick of me but I think that’s pretty cool…especially because if you kill me, all our messages will be around for someone to find and track you down). *grin*

  Okay, I’m exhausted. I’m going to keep this short. Hope your week went well.

  ~Kassie

  P.S. Do you have a nickname? I’ve been thinking about it and in all the movies and shows I’ve watched, military guys have cool ones. :)

  * * *

  To: Kassie

  From: Graham

  Subject: Nickname

  I do have a nickname. It’s Hollywood. You know how these things come about, right? Usually it’s something embarrassing a soldier does or says, or how they look, and their buddies christen them with a name and it sticks. So yeah, Hollywood. I was told once that I was so pretty I should be in Hollywood. Of course one of my asshole friends overheard it, and that was that.

  I didn’t see the episode of Criminal Minds the other night, but I’m gonna look it up online now. If you got freaked, I wanna know why…so I can keep the monsters at bay in the future. And you’d be surprised at how much information can be at someone’s fingertips…

  I need to go to a friend’s wedding today, but I wanted to send you a short note and let you know I was thinking about you. Have a good weekend.

  ~Hollywood

  * * *

  To: Graham

  From: Kassie

  Subject: I like it

  I like your nickname. I examined your profile picture again (okay, I admit it…I’ve looked at it quite a few times), and even though you’re wearing a baseball cap and it’s pulled down low over your eyes, you do kinda remind me of Colin Egglesfield. :)

  I’m sorry I haven’t been around. Work’s been crazy.

  ~Kassie

  * * *

  To: Kassie

  From: Graham

  Subject: Checking in

  I just wanted to check in. I haven’t heard from you in a while. Everything okay? I miss our messages.

  ~Hollywood

  * * *

  To: Graham

  From: Kassie

  Subject: Just busy

  I’m good. Just busy.

  That’s kinda a lie. I’m a mess. You should delete all contact info for me and forget I exist. Seriously. For your own good.

  ~Kassie

  * * *

  To: Kassie

  From: Graham

  Subject: I can’t

  I can’t forget about you. Somehow you’ve crawled under my skin and I can’t stop thinking about you. And now I’m worried. What’s wrong? You can talk to me. I’m a good listener.

  ~Hollywood

  * * *

  To: Kassie

  From: Graham

  Subject: Army Ball

  Hi. I don’t have long, so I’ll keep this short and sweet. We’ve been talking long enough now for me to know that I really like you. You’re funny, sweet, and I’d love to meet in person. I don’t want you to feel threatened though. There’s an Army Ball in a few weeks. It’s a dress-up thing, and it’s being held in Austin. I thought maybe you might want to meet me there? We could see if the chemistry we have online transfers to face to face. If so, great, we can go from there. If not, no harm, no foul. What d’ya say?

  ~Hollywood

  * * *

  Kassie Anderson looked down at her phone in trepidation as it dinged in her hand. She was hoping to hear from Hollywood again, but was also afraid of what he’d say. She was in over her head, but didn’t know how to get out of the situation she’d found herself in.

  Seeing the email wasn’t from Hollywood, Kassie wanted to shut the phone off and ignore it, but she couldn’t. She knew it. She clicked the email open, not surprised by what she read.

  Jacks is pleased with your progress. Time to step it up. Report back ASAP.

  Kassie wanted to throw up.

  Her ex-boyfriend wasn’t going to leave her alone. Ever.

  She’d thought when he’d gotten arrested for kidnapping and assault, she could finally relax. That she was done with him. But she’d been deluding herself. It didn’t matter that he was behind bars. He had enough friends to keep tabs on her. If she didn’t do what he wanted, she’d pay.

  Her phone made another dinging noise. Another message.

  This was the one she’d been expecting from Hollywood.

  Kassie read the email twice, her eyes filling with tears. He wanted to meet her. Because he liked her. Not only meet, but take her to an Army Ball. She’d read about them online when she’d been obsessively Googling everything she could about the Army. They were a big deal. And he’d invited her.

  Richard hadn’t ever taken her to a formal ball, but he’d made her go to one of his own military get-togethers. He’d told her what went on at the fancy military formal balls, and he’d “recreated” one at his apartment.

  The worst part was drinking from the grog bowl. Richard had told her it was tradition, that everyone who attended had to drink…and if you couldn’t answer a question, you had to drink…and if you looked at someone the wrong way, another drink.

  And it was horrible. Awful. Richard had put in any kind of alcohol he had on hand, as well as hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and anything else that would make it unpalatable. The grog was meant as a punishment, and he’d taken great delight in punishing her as often as he could…asking questions he knew she couldn’t answer and laughing as his friends held her still while he forced it down her throat.

  Kassie shivered and hoped like hell Hollywood wouldn’t make her drink from the grog bowl at the ball.

  But the bottom line was that Hollywood didn’t deserve what she was doing to him. The shit thing was, she honestly liked the man. He didn’t seem at all like her ex, or what Richard’s friend told her he’d be like. She felt the chemistry between them. And if it was this potent online, what would it be like in person?

  What had started out as a revenge thing at the request of her ex had turned into something else entirely. All she was supposed to do was get Hollywood interested in her so Richard’s friend could set him up for whatever they had planned, but she’d gone and screwed that up too.

  Kassie wanted to tell Hollywood no, that she didn’t want to see or talk to him anymore, but that was impossible. Jacks was holding all the cards.

  She slowly typed out a response, hating herself with every word.<
br />
  I’d love to. I can’t wait to meet you. ~Kassie

  Chapter 2

  “I love that you’re finally going out again,” Karina said with a huge smile on her face as they thumbed through a rack of dresses.

  “It’s not that big a deal,” Kassie told her little sister for what seemed like the hundredth time.

  “It is,” she countered. “You haven’t been out with anyone since Richard. I was beginning to think you never would.”

  Kassie tried not to sigh. Her parents and sister knew some of what she’d gone through with her ex, but not all of it. It was embarrassing that she’d stayed with Richard for as long as she had. And she felt dirty and disgusted with herself that she still couldn’t seem to move on with her life. Of course, it wasn’t by choice.

  Karina continued to let Kassie know exactly what she thought about her upcoming date to the military ball. “I mean, Richard was cute and all, but it wasn’t fair that he wanted you to sit at home and wait for him while he got to do whatever he wanted. If I ever date a military guy, there’s no way I’d stay here in Austin while he goes off and does his thing. I’d insist on him marrying me and I’d move to wherever he was stationed.”

  Kassie flinched at the dig. She knew her sister didn’t mean it in a derogatory way, but that didn’t stop the words from hurting. Richard had stated over and over that he wanted to marry her, and when they did she’d move to wherever he was stationed, but that hadn’t happened. After he’d been injured, talk of marriage disappeared and he became more possessive of her. Kassie would’ve married him in a heartbeat…before the accident, but even if it made her a bad person, she was relieved she hadn’t because of the man he was now. After the horrible incident with the grog bowl at the fake military get-together he’d had, she’d slowly tried to distance herself from Richard…to no avail.

  “I can’t believe you actually agreed to go out with another Army guy,” Karina went on. “I mean, you’ve been so adamant that you’d never date anyone in the military ever again.”

  “I know, but I realized it wasn’t exactly the military that I didn’t like…it was Richard himself.”

  “Oh my God!” Karina suddenly exclaimed loudly, scaring the shit out of Kassie and making the three women standing near them whip their heads in their direction. “I found the perfect dress!”

  Karina took a dress off the rack and held it up, showing it to her sister.

  Kassie was speechless.

  She and Karina were close. Even though they were thirteen years apart in age, Kassie made a point to talk to her sister almost every night and go over to their parents’ house to see her at least once a week. They had similar tastes, even if the younger girl was much more outgoing and gregarious than her older sister.

  The dress her sister was holding up was beautiful. Kassie’s hand reached for it before she knew what she was doing. It was a deep purple, almost black. It had short capped sleeves and a vee neckline in the front and back. It looked like it would be snug around her upper body, but then it flared out at her waist with what looked like miles of wispy material. Kassie could almost imagine it swirling around her legs as she walked. It was the most beautiful dress she’d ever seen.

  “It looks like it’ll be too long,” she said softly.

  “Try it on,” Karina urged. “You can always get it altered.”

  Kassie nodded then swallowed hard. The whole I’m-going-to-a-military-ball thing hadn’t really sunk in until right this moment. Being around military guys was intimidating, especially after meeting Richard’s friends. Talking with Hollywood on the computer was one thing, but being face to face with him was another altogether. She liked him, yes, but she was also deceiving him, and that ate at her.

  She’d only written to him because she’d been forced to. But the fact that she liked him was almost worse. If he’d been an asshole, it would’ve made what she was being forced to do easier.

  “Come on, silly. Get a move on,” Karina urged.

  Kassie looked at her sister and nodded. They walked side by side to the dressing room and Kassie didn’t even hear her sister’s idle chatter as they moved. Karina looked a lot like her, but Kassie knew she’d never been as pretty as her sister. Karina was a cheerleader, had played on the volleyball team, and participated in a couple of plays. She didn’t let anyone pigeonhole her into a stereotype and had friends from just about every walk of life at school. She was outgoing, friendly, and didn’t have a care in the world.

  And Kassie wanted to keep it that way.

  The thought of Richard’s friend, Dean, getting his hands on her made Kassie want to throw up. When Richard went to federal prison up at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, Kassie had thought his reign of terror over her was finally finished. But apparently if you were an obsessed asshole, bars and barbed wire couldn’t stop you.

  He’d gotten his longtime friend to take up where he’d left off. Dean was around six feet tall, muscular, with dark brown hair that he kept long in the back, like an eighties mullet. Most of the time he pulled it back in a ponytail. It hung limp down his back, and more than once Kassie had wanted to take a pair of scissors and chop it off it was so gross.

  He had thin lips that he pressed together when he was upset, making it almost look as if he didn’t have any in the first place. His nose was long and skinny and if she had to describe his eyes, she would’ve said they were “beady.”

  He wasn’t attractive, but he was strong. She’d learned that the hard way when he’d held her while Richard made her drink the disgusting grog concoction.

  Dean followed her everywhere. Kassie wouldn’t be surprised if he was lurking outside in the parking lot of the mall, watching and waiting for her and her sister to emerge. He knew who she spent her time with, and the one time she’d tried to go on a date after Richard went to jail, he’d shown up at the restaurant and had sat at the bar near the table she and her date had been sitting at. He’d taken pictures of her with his cell phone throughout the evening.

  The next day, Dean had called and told her that Richard wasn’t happy after hearing she’d tried to cheat on him.

  Kassie wanted to move away from Austin. Away from Dean. Away from the memories of Richard. And she’d almost been ready to do it when Richard raised the stakes.

  He no longer used Dean to threaten her; he’d turned his sights to her sister. When Kassie did something Richard didn’t like, Dean kept her in line by threatening Karina.

  She wanted to go to the police, but she was scared to death of what Dean would do. So she kept putting it off, hoping Richard would get too busy with his new life behind bars and he and Dean would forget about her and her family.

  When Dean said that Richard wanted her to get close to one of the Army guys who’d “ruined his life” so he could get insider information to figure out how to bring them all down, Kassie had outright refused. She didn’t want any part of being a spy, and bringing any more grief to the group of soldiers Richard had already terrorized. The fact that he’d kidnapped a woman and child sickened her.

  Yet here she was. Trying on a dress for a military ball. Exactly what she didn’t want to happen. But she’d do whatever it took to keep Karina safe. Even face her fears by going to this type of function.

  “Come on! Hurry up!” Karina ordered from outside the dressing room. “I want to see!”

  Kassie let her jeans fall to the floor and stepped into the dress. She zipped it up and turned to the mirror.

  The dress fit perfectly. As if it was made for her. It wasn’t too long at all. If she wore a pair of heels it would be the perfect length. The vee in the front came down low enough to be sexy, but not enough to show too much. Kassie had always felt she was too curvy, but this dress accentuated her curves and somehow made them sexy rather than making her feel fat.

  She turned and eyed the back of the dress. The material dipped low, exposing her bra strap. She made a mental note to stop by the lingerie section before leaving. A regular bra just wouldn’t do with this dress
.

  Kassie spun, and the material billowed out in a swirl of purple, then settled around her legs once more. Her brown hair did as well, brushing against her breasts as she stopped. She had thick, lush hair. It took forever to dry, but Kassie secretly loved it, considering it one of her best features.

  For the first time in a long, long time, Kassie felt pretty.

  Apparently done waiting, Karina opened the door to the dressing room. “You’re too slow, so I— Oh my God. I knew it’d fit!” she said excitedly. “We can put your hair up and you have that necklace that will be perfect for this. You know, the one that has the dangly thing at the end; it’ll dip down into your cleavage, bringing attention to your assets.”

  Kassie rolled her eyes at her sister, but she continued without pause.

  “We need to find you a bra that’ll push up your boobs, but you can’t see the strap in the back. And stockings. You can’t wear a dress like that without them. Thigh highs, definitely. You’ve got that pair of black heels that’ll work with it too. Oh my God, Kass. I love it!”

  Kassie grinned. “Me too.”

  The sisters smiled at each other.

  “I can’t wait for my dance next month,” Karina said.

  “Has anyone asked you yet?”

  Karina shook her head. “No, but it’s still early.”

  “Got your eye on anyone?” Kassie teased.

  “There’s a new guy in school who is extremely hot.”

  “Yeah?” Kassie asked absently, her eyes trained on her reflection in the mirror. She could hardly believe how nice the dress looked on her.

  “Yeah. He’s got sandy-brown hair that falls over his forehead. When he tosses his head to get it out of his eyes, I just wanna swoon. When he looks at you, it’s as if you’re the most important thing in the world. His blue eyes just bore into you. It’s intense and awesome. Oh, and he’s tall and muscular, but not all bulgy, which would be gross. He’s a senior and looks a lot older than eighteen.” She shrugged. “The rumor is that he had to sit out a year or two because of family issues. But he just moved to Austin and wanted to get his actual diploma rather than a GED. Anyway, enough about me. Get that dress off, and let’s go see if we can find you some undies!”