Inevitable (Destiny Series Book 2)

by Lea Hart

  “Do you?”

  “Love him?”

  Andi huffed out a breath. “Yes, Claire. Do. You. Love. Brady?”

  “I might,” she replied as her throat got dry. The well of emotions that erupted with the confession was surprising. Saying it aloud to her friend made it seem real and that wasn’t anything she was ready to handle on the day after she got shot. Tears slipped down her face and she felt Andi take her hand. Just like she always had when things got tough.

  “I say let the emotions marinate for a while. Let your body and mind recover from the trauma you’ve experienced, and when you’re stronger, you can take those lovely feeling out and share them with the man who has brought you happiness.”

  “Good idea,” Claire replied quietly. She was probably still high on some pain medication and whatever else they were giving her, and she needed to be clear-headed and strong when she confessed her love to Brady.

  Time.

  Best let it pass before she let her feelings out to roam free.

  ***

  Brady looked out the window of Claire’s hospital room and saw that the sun had almost set. He checked his watch and noticed it had been close to twenty-four hours since they walked into the damn mall, and in that short amount of time his life had completely changed.

  Running his hand over his arm, he shook his head. That wasn’t completely accurate…the change had been coming. Last night’s events just solidified his feelings. Made them sharp and clear. Meeting her had allowed him to let out the metaphorical breath he’d been holding since his mama passed. In a way, he’d been waiting to see if God was going to bless him with someone who would stay by his side, or curse him and take that person away. Last night had answered it for him and he knew God was a benevolent force.

  It had been rocky there for more than a minute when he thought that Claire had been taken from him, but it had all worked out. Which was good news because he would never survive losing her. Or really want to.

  When he’d found out she’d pulled through surgery, he knew he’d been given the person he was going to keep, someone he could love forever.

  Claire was the one he’d been waiting for.

  She was his and he was hers. At least, that’s how it worked out in his mind. So exactly how did he express all that in a way she could understand, in a way that wouldn’t freak her the hell out?

  He picked up her hand, pressed his mouth to her soft skin, and knew it was something he was going have to figure out. There was an inevitability to their union and all he had to do was convince her of that.

  Looking down at her face, he grinned. “Get ready, darlin’, because I’m not going to hold anything back from here on out.”

  When her eyes flickered open and she smiled, he felt everything in his world click right into place. “Hey.”

  “Hey,” she croaked back. “How long was I out for?”

  “About two hours. After they took you down for the MRI, you were exhausted.” He saw her eyes flick over to the window. “What?”

  “You should go home and get some sleep. It’s probably late.”

  “Nope. I’m staying here until I get to take you home.”

  “I’d try and talk you out of it, but my brain feels real fuzzy and I don’t think I’d get enough thoughts together to make any sense.”

  “Go back to sleep, and when you wake up, I’ll be here.” He felt her squeeze his hand and then watched a small smile light up her face.

  “I like the sound of that,” she said quietly as her eyes closed.

  “Good thing, because my face is the only one you’re ever going to wake up to.” He leaned back in the recliner and rested his head. He was going to make sure that Claire came home with him after she was released, and he was going to do everything he could to make sure she wanted to stay.

  Everything.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Friday, September 1st

  Claire pushed her chair back from her desk, walked over to the new table in the middle of her office, and studied the information scrolling across the screen. Quinn had sprung for the Microsoft Surface hub and she had her very own Command Central table in her office. She felt like she was in the middle of a Hawaii Five-O episode. As soon as she could integrate the new FlickIt technology to the tablets, she would be able to send information to the guys with a flick of her finger.

  All of this new equipment was making her tech nerd heart sing. The experience she had last month in the mall had inspired her to upgrade the technology the company was using. Being trapped in the dressing room and trying to get intel to Brady had been frustrating as hell. She knew there were faster, better ways of disseminating information and she had talked Quinn into investing in them.

  Speak of the devil, she saw her cousin striding down the hall toward her office. When he walked in, she swept her arm around. “Welcome to Command Central. The upgraded wall monitors got mounted last week when you were out of town.”

  Quinn whistled as he looked around the room. “Damn, girl, this place reminds me of the fiefdom you had back at Langley. Did I buy you every toy you ever wanted or is there still something out there?”

  She walked over, lifted her good arm, and squeezed her cousin’s waist. “I think we got most of it. The tablets will be ready by the end of the day with the FlickIt tech, so when guys are on operations, they can relay information almost instantly. Kane told me they were using something similar when he was still on the Teams and it was invaluable.”

  “We never had all the latest cool toys when I was still a Ranger.”

  “Prepare to be amazed.” She handed him her tablet, then stepped closer to her table and typed a string of commands into the clear keyboard. Once she had the information on one of the screens, she let her finger swipe across it and push it to the wall-mounted monitors and the tablet in Quinn’s hand. She watched his smile and knew she’d been right to push for the upgrade. “Well?”

  “This is fucking cool,” he said as he studied the tablet in his hand. “These are small enough to fit into one of the pockets of our kits, which is perfect.” Slinging his arm around Claire’s shoulders, he nodded. “This investment is going to pay off and allow us to market ourselves to a whole new segment of business.”

  “That was the idea. With my brain and the team’s brawn and experience, TRG is going to be the only place to call.”

  Quinn handed her back the tablet and then kissed her head. “Thank you, cousin.”

  When she looked up at Quinn’s face, she noticed that he was studying her. “What?”

  “Just checking to see that you’re okay after the shooting. We haven’t talked about it a whole lot and I want to make sure that you’re doing the work emotionally as well as physically to recover. I see that you’re excited about the new stuff, but don’t let it distract you from the real work.”

  Holding up her arm, she wiggled her fingers and smiled. “I’m seventy percent recovered and the PT I’m working with believes I will get to a hundred percent. Worry not, cousin. I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing.”

  “That’s only half the equation. How are the nightmares?”

  Walking around to the other side of the table, she crossed her arms. “Is Brady tattling on me again?”

  “I asked him and he gave me an honest answer. Don’t be pissed because he’s worried about you.”

  “That’s pretty much all he does. Worry from morning till night. He’s fussing like an old biddy and it’s making me crazy. I’ve got to tell you, it’s a bit suffocating.”

  “The guy saw you shot. What do you expect him to do?”

  Claire studied her nails and shrugged. “I don’t want a fussy nurse who is constantly hovering.”

  “Tell him, Claire.” He walked around the table and lifted her chin. “Don’t make the guy guess what’s going on in your mind because he never will. We are not sophisticated creatures, so we need things spelled out plainly.”

  “You’re right,” she replied as he released her chin
and nodded. “It’s time we have a heart-to-heart before I lose my mind and my temper.”

  “Yeah, that might be a good idea.” He turned and started to walk out of the room. Before he stepped out, he spoke. “The guy is ass-over-teakettle in love with you, so don’t expect him to back off very much. Guys like us don’t really know how to operate in the middle. We’re either two hundred percent in or two hundred percent out.” He rapped his knuckles against the doorway and then walked away.

  Claire blindly looked down at the information scrolling on the screen and thought about what her cousin had said. Two hundred percent of Brady’s attention was overwhelming and she didn’t know if it was something she could handle for too much longer. Maybe if she could get him to back down a little and run at a hundred and fifty, she could. Which was certainly worth trying because they had to find a way back to some kind of normal. Otherwise, she would go nuts.

  ***

  Brady was in the indoor shoot house waiting for the group he’d been running drills with to return from lunch. It was his and Kane’s job to make sure the people could clear the structure confidently by the end of the day. It was part of the READY program that Quinn had started the company with. People could learn everything from hand-to-hand combat to shooting a gun with proficiency and clearing a structure with confidence within their facility. The idea behind the program was that they could train civilians to be ready for anything.

  Each operator took a turn running the classes, and he and Kane were the instructors for the day. Turned out, he liked this part of his job as much as being in the field. Something he never would’ve guessed four months ago when he started with the company. He’d figured it was just something he’d have to do to get to the good stuff. The good stuff being fieldwork.

  But teaching civilians how to protect themselves, their families, and their homes was almost as satisfying. It also kept him near Claire, which he had really appreciated over the last month because being within spitting distance of her had been important for his mental sanity. He liked to check in with her several times a day and see if she needed anything. Which he was fairly certain was driving her crazy.

  No matter how many times he instructed himself to back off, he never seemed to manage it. Even her annoyed response to his many visits wasn’t making a difference. He drained his soda, threw it into the can, looked down the hall, and thought he probably had enough time to run across the street and see how she was doing.

  “No,” he quietly instructed himself. “Don’t do it because she’ll be pissed.”

  Kane came up behind him and slapped him on the shoulder. “Who the hell are you talking to?”

  Brady spun around and punched his friend in the arm. “Make some damn noise when you come up behind me.”

  Kane rocked back on his heels and snorted. “Not possible, my friend. Too many years of training won’t allow it.”

  “Whatever.”

  “Were you telling yourself not to go over and check on Claire for the five hundredth time today?”

  “Fuck you,” Brady replied. “I only go by a couple of times a day.”

  “Is that the lie you’re telling yourself?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Good luck, then. Don’t think she’s going to put up with it for too much longer.”

  Brady leaned against the wall and adjusted his ball cap. He knew Kane was right, but he hadn’t managed to back off yet. Something had fundamentally changed for him during the ambulance ride to the hospital after she was shot. Something that might never change back. He was scared out of his mind of losing her. All the memories of what it felt like during the two years that his mama battled cancer had come roaring back into his head. He was so young that all he could recall was the helpless, devastating feeling of knowing that the most important person in the world was about to leave him.

  Seeing Claire shot had triggered feelings of panic and helplessness. They had settled in his bones, his heart, and his mind and he couldn’t shake them loose. Somehow, seeing Claire hurt threw him back twenty years and he felt like that little kid again. Which made him hover, cling, fuss, and generally make a nuisance of himself with the woman he loved.

  Long-term, that was not going to work. All he had to do was get his brain and emotions to cooperate before he annoyed her so much that she pulled away. The fear that was ruling his behavior had to stop. And the sooner he could figure out how to do it the better.

  It had never been a big part of his life and he didn’t want to give it a permanent home by any means. So, he had to find a way to deal with it and become reasonable again. If he didn’t, he had no idea what Claire would do. And he wasn’t real interested in finding out.

  “Here come our students,” Kane said as their group approached. “Head in the game, Brady. These people need our best, so when it comes time to face the unimaginable they’re ready.”

  “Roger that,” Brady replied as he stood up and shook out his arms. “Ready,” he said to Kane as much as to himself. It was time to get his shit together.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Saturday, September 2nd

  Claire stood in Brady’s kitchen and made deviled eggs for the tailgate party they were going to later. Today marked the start of Ragin’ Cajun Football season and she was beside herself with excitement. They had a couple of hours before they had to be at Cajun Field and she wondered if his brothers were coming here or if they were going to meet at the game.

  She hoped to have enough time to start moving her things back to her house. She’d been staying with Brady since she got out of the hospital, and now that she’d mostly recovered, it was time to go home and get back to her regular routine.

  Brady had been beyond generous and the last thing she wanted to do was overstay her welcome. And, if she was being honest, she needed to be independent again. If, for nothing else, just to prove to herself that she could. The last thing she wanted to happen was to let the shooting affect her life any more than it had.

  Wiggling her fingers, she silently thanked the PT she’d been working with for being so relentless. If she was lucky, the nerve damage the bullets had caused would be minimal. Hearing Brady’s footsteps, she wished the same was true for him. Bracing herself, she got ready for Nurse Brady to begin his fussing. Which was about all he had to offer lately.

  Another reason for her to move back to her house and get a break. Maybe if he saw her back to her old self, he would start acting like his old self, and they could get their relationship back on track. Because, as far as she was concerned, what they had going wasn’t very appealing.

  She wanted relaxed, sexy Brady back, because the uptight, boring one wasn’t all that much fun to be around. They barely had been intimate in the last couple of weeks since she’d been cleared for activity and it made her incredibly sad. Maybe he wasn’t attracted to her in the same way he had been before and didn’t know how to tell her.

  If there was a reset button for relationships, she sure would like to find it, because they were in need of one desperately.

  A small basket slid across the counter and Claire looked up to see a thunderous expression on Brady’s face. “Why are you about to spit venom?”

  “What the hell is that?” he roared.

  She carefully filled the last egg and then wiped her hands on a towel. Looking into the basket, she shrugged. “My stuff that was littering your bathroom counters. I’m getting ready to go back home.”

  “You are home.” He crossed his arms and ground his teeth. “No way you are going anywhere.”

  She opened the box of Saran Wrap, pulled out a sheet, and hoped to God she got control of herself by the time she covered the plate of eggs. When the sheet got stuck together, she let out a little growl of frustration. “I’d like to meet the damn person who invented this. It never comes out easily. It’s like it was made to test our patience.” Raising her eyes, she looked at Brady and smirked. “Kind of like you.”

  He walked over, pulled the crumpled piece of plastic out
of her hands, and threw it in the trash. “That’s why there’s foil. It works much better.” He pulled the box out of the drawer and handed it to her. “Why are you trying to leave me?”

  Setting the box down, she studied him. No way could he think that she was trying to leave him. She was just moving back home. Did Brady see this as her abandoning him? “Brady, I don’t want to overstay my welcome.”

  “There is no damn welcome. You are home, where you should be. With me. In the house. Together.”

  “Not to put too fine a point on it…but, what the hell are you talking about?” Seeing his expression made her wonder if he’d lost his mind. Did he think that when she came here after being released from the hospital, it was a permanent thing?

  Because she’d never thought that.

  For her, this was temporary. But seeing his expression made her believe that he was on a much different page than she was. Or perhaps a whole different book in another library, in a different city.

  Brady ran his hand over his jaw and then looked up. “I thought we were moving forward in our relationship, and living together was the next logical step. I never guessed that you’d want to move out. I’d hoped it was permanent.”

  Seeing his earnest expression made her feel like she had missed a whole conversation. Like the one that outlined what they were and where they were going and what all this meant. Maybe they’d had it and she was heavily medicated and forgot the whole thing. Kind of like when she drank tequila. Whole hours had disappeared from her life and maybe this was sort of like that. “Did we ever actually discuss this?”

  He looked down at his feet and shrugged. “Not specifically…in so many words. It was just sort of…assumed.”

  “In an alternate universe where I do not reside,” she replied. Sweet baby Jesus, this man was making plans in his mind and not letting anyone know. For a hot second, she’d actually thought she had agreed to something and had totally forgotten. But, in fact, Brady was making his plan and keeping it to his own damn self.