When Love Comes Back Page 22

  “Everything okay here?”

  “Yeah, fine. Beating level seven right now.”

  “Awesome. I’m going to go check on London.”

  “’kay.”

  The scene looked similar in London’s room, except she appeared to be both watching something on her iPad while also reading a book. How did that even work?

  “Hey, London,” he called since she had ear buds in and didn’t hear her bedroom door open.

  She glanced up in surprise and gave him a slow, knowing smile. “Did you have fun at Felicia’s?”

  “No comment. I just wanted to let you know we’re back. She’s still worn out and sore from the crash yesterday, so we may lay down and take a nap for a while.”

  “Whatever you want to call it is fine, Dad. We’ll stay out of your hair.”

  He almost said something to contradict her, but he wouldn’t lie to his kids if he could help it. Felicia was going to be around for a good long while, so the reality of them having sex would become obvious soon, if not today.

  “Thanks, London.”

  He pulled her door shut, laughing to himself at her stunned expression as the door closed. She must have expected him to lie to her, too. But that’s not how he would ever treat his kids. Respect needed to go both ways.

  But right now, he had something else to focus on...a sexy woman, naked in his shower.

  HE DIDN’T KNOW HOW much later it was when London gingerly shook his shoulder, waking him up. He hadn’t meant to fall asleep, but from the look of the darkened room, he’d been asleep for a few hours.

  Luckily, Felicia still appeared sound asleep. He was glad that they’d both dressed before napping.

  London started to speak, but he lifted his finger to his lips and carefully slipped out of the bed. He followed her out of the bedroom, but stumbled to a halt in the hall before the glaring countenance of his AMXS commander, Steven.

  “Is she in there?” Steven asked, his furious voice barely more than a harsh whisper.

  “Yes,” Gage said as he pulled Steven away from the door. He didn’t want them to wake her up. When they were a safe distance away, he asked, “How did you know she was here?”

  Steven rolled his eyes. “We both live on base. Hell, I only live a block over. How long did you think you could keep her presence here a secret?”

  “It wasn’t meant to be a secret.”

  “Is she okay? Someone said she looked bruised.”

  Gage ran a hand over his face, trying to get awake enough to have this conversation with Felicia’s ex-boyfriend.

  He glanced over Steven’s shoulder to London. He sure didn’t need to have this conversation with his daughter looking on. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s go out back. I don’t want to wake up Felicia, and no one else needs to hear this.”

  Steven gave him a curt, unhappy nod but followed him as they walked to the screen door.

  As soon as they were outside and the screen door safely shut, Steven turned on him with a harsh glare. “It didn’t take you long to get her into your bed.”

  Gage wanted to say it wasn’t what Steven thought, but it was exactly that. While he felt bad for the other man, he wouldn’t pretend that Felicia didn’t mean everything to him even if it hurt Steven.

  He ran his hand through his hair. “Steven, I’m sorry that this hurts you, and so is Felicia, but you have to know I love her. I never stopped.”

  Steven’s hands balled up into fists, and the huge guy looked intimidating as hell, but Gage didn’t think he’d lose control here, no matter how upset he felt.

  “And does she feel the same?”

  Gage nodded. “I hope so.”

  A bleak, haunted expression flitted across Steven’s expression before he masked it.

  Gage hated this, hurting this man who he truly respected. He’d just never liked Steven on principle because he was his competition for Felicia. “I know that isn’t what you want to hear. I’m sorry for that,” Gage said in a quiet voice. He would never celebrate hurting someone like this.

  It took a moment for Steven to gain control, and then he squared his shoulders, all business again. “What about the bruises?”

  “Whoever’s been attacking her upped his game yesterday.”

  Every muscle in Steven’s body tightened like a panther getting ready to pounce on its prey.

  “She was in a car accident. He hit her in an intersection, and her truck flipped three times. She’s okay, considering the severity of the crash. She just has a minor concussion and a lot of sore, bruised muscles. I plan for her to stay here where I can keep her safe until this guy is caught.”

  Steven’s lips compressed into an unhappy line. “They still don’t know who he is?”

  “No. The Bronco he hit her with was found a couple of hours later, abandoned. It had been stolen from a junkyard down in Las Cruces. They’re looking for some sort of DNA evidence that might give them a clue, but we don’t expect much since the vehicle was wiped clean of fingerprints.” The detective had called with the information early this morning.

  “Fuck,” Steven muttered.

  “Exactly.”

  “But I think she’ll be safe here. As you know, my neighbors keep an eye on things. They’ll notice if someone is lurking around. The good news is...she doesn’t have her truck anymore, so she can’t argue with me taking her and picking her up from work.”

  Steven snorted. “Yeah, good luck with that. She’s stubborn.”

  “I’m well aware,” Gage said, trying to keep the unhappy growl from his voice. He didn’t want any reminders that Steven probably knew this more mature version of Felicia better than him.

  Steven started to say something, but he stopped. He rolled his shoulders before turning back to Gage. “I know it’s awkward, but can you let her know that she can call me anytime. I don’t want her to get hurt any more than you do, and I would protect her with my life. Hell, I would have spent my life protecting her if she would have let me.” His throat worked as if trying to control his emotions. “Just let her know.” Steven’s voice cracked, and he turned and rushed off, leaving through the side fence rather than through the house.

  Gage sank onto the chair on the deck. Watching Steven struggle had been hard. He knew how tough it was to lose Felicia, so he understood that pain all too well.

  He would also do anything to keep from experiencing it again, so that meant he needed to go in and feed his girl. Then he needed to call the police to see if they had any new leads. Their future was endangered as long as her life was in jeopardy, and that was unacceptable.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  When Gage pulled his Jeep into the parking lot at the clinic early the next morning, Felicia gasped in surprise as she turned and narrowed her eyes at Gage. “What did you do?”

  She waved her hand at Briggs, who stood outside the clinic with a large duffle bag slung over his shoulder, waiting. “He hates working the early shift, and he never works Mondays.” Briggs had said Mondays were against his religion...the one that required he sleep until noon on the first official day of the workweek.

  “Briggs and I came to a mutually beneficial agreement,” Gage said innocently.

  She glared at him as he got out of the Jeep. While she loved that he wanted to protect her, he couldn’t change her staff’s work schedule. They each were scheduled at certain times for a reason, and money was tight enough without paying someone overtime.

  But he’d already taken time out of his schedule to bring her here. She’d deal with this between her and Briggs...after Gage left. She took a deep breath.

  As she approached the two men, they were speaking in low tones so she couldn’t hear them. She crossed her arms over her chest and scowled at the two of them. “I don’t know what you two are hatching, but I’m thinking it needs to stop right now.”

  They both looked at her with blank, innocent expressions that didn’t work on her in the least.

  Gage turned back to Briggs and shook his hand. “Okay, well I
need to get to work. You’ll take care of things, right?”

  “Yep,” Briggs agreed and avoided looking at Felicia again.

  Gage cautiously approached her and wrapped his arms around her. “I just want you to be safe when I can’t be here.” He kissed the top of her head.

  “I know. I get that—”

  “Then don’t give Briggs a hard time. He’s doing this for me. I need you to do this for me, too. If not, then I’ll have to take leave until they catch this guy just for my peace of mind. Please, Doc. If something happened to you—something more anyway...” He brushed his thumb across the bruise on her temple. “I’m not sure I’d survive it.”

  She hated the fear in his eyes. “Okay, I give in. Whatever you have going with Briggs will be fine. I’m assuming he’ll tell me the plan, right?” She aimed that comment at her traitor of an assistant who’d been carefully avoiding her gaze.

  Instead, Briggs looked to Gage for guidance.

  Felicia barely resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

  “Yes,” Gage said. “He can tell you the plan.”

  Felicia shook her head. “What am I going to do with you?”

  “I’m thinking you can keep me for the next fifty years.” He leaned down and kissed her.

  When they finally came up for air, she didn’t even remember what they’d been discussing.

  “Stay safe today,” Gage said.

  “I will.” She nodded. “Thanks for the ride. I’ll be ready to go at around six thirty or seven.”

  That would give her a little bit of time to make sure everything was taken care of before the nightshift came in for the boarders. When they’d come in yesterday, she’d rearranged the schedule so that she wouldn’t be covering any of the night shifts. That had been her one compromise to the situation she found herself in; she wouldn’t be here late at night when she’d be more vulnerable.

  With one more hug and kiss, Gage reluctantly let her go, jogged around to the driver’s side of his Jeep, and left.

  Felicia turned to Briggs with a reluctant smile as she threaded her elbow through his to walk up to the clinic.

  “Now...” she said, debating about how much she wanted to torment the young man who’d sold her out to impress his love interest’s dad. “Let’s hear this plan you and Gage have hatched. And then I need to know what you’re getting out of it. I’ll see if I can make it a better deal for you.”

  Briggs smiled in relief. “And that’s why I like you best.”

  “Of course you do. I’m the one who signs your checks.”

  Briggs cleared his throat uncomfortably. “And I really, really appreciate that and hope for it to continue.”

  Felicia just laughed, adding a bit of evil to the sound of it. There was no reason to let the kid know he wasn’t off the hook yet.

  Briggs swung to gape in alarm.

  Instead of reassuring him as she unlocked the clinic doors, she asked, “So, what’s in the duffle bag?” She wasn’t ready to let him or Gage rest easy. Not yet. While they’d done this to help take care of her—and she could readily admit that it made her feel cared for—it was more than a little controlling and heavy-handed of both of them.

  “Um...” He glanced down at the bag like he’d forgotten he’d been carrying it. “Oh, they’re bats.”

  She stilled and raised her eyebrows at him. “Bats? Don’t tell me you guys voted to give into the chamber’s pleas and have formed a baseball team for the clinic.”

  Briggs laughed. “Uh...no,” he said emphatically. “Definitely not.”

  Good. She’d been worried there for a moment. They’d been dodging that mandatory fun bullet for as long as she’d been working in Terravista. The town did like its rec leagues. She shuddered. No, thank you. “So, what’s with the sudden interest in baseball?”

  He leered at her for a moment. “Just to set the record straight, I have never had an issue with baseball. Um...have you seen those tight pants? I’m a season ticket holder for the Geckos.”

  She shook her head. “Such an unfortunate mascot.” The local minor league team had obviously been drinking when they’d chosen that one.

  “True that. One of my friends helps out with the team, and I borrowed them from him. They’re actually for your protection. We’ll keep one in every single room of the clinic. That way you—or whoever may be in a room with you—will never be without a weapon on hand. I called everyone, and no one has a concealed carry license. This was my next best idea.”

  Slowly she nodded. She would have had a problem with a handgun in the clinic, but for some reason the idea of having a bat on hand...everywhere...was actually reassuring. “Okay, I can get on board with that. Now, why don’t you explain your presence here on a dreaded Monday morning?”

  “Easy. Mr. Winston...”

  “It’s probably should be Colonel Winston,” she corrected.

  Briggs flushed red. “Damn, you’re right. Thanks.” He cleared his throat. “Colonel Winston said if I made myself available whenever you were here, he would let Austin out of his grounding a week early, and I could have permission to take him out.”

  And of course, Briggs jumped right on that. It was actually kind of sweet that he liked Austin enough to give up Monday mornings and sleeping in for him. And it was incredibly sneaky, if not diabolically smart, of Gage to offer the one thing that Briggs wanted most right now.

  “Briggs, I can’t afford to pay you to be here whenever I’m here. That’s just not in the budget.”

  He shook his head back and forth emphatically. “Oh, no, I don’t want you to pay me. This is a volunteer job. I talked to everyone. We all agreed that I’d stick by your side this week...an extra set of eyes and ears to offer an extra layer of protection. I know I’m not bodyguard material, but maybe if you have someone with you all the time, this guy will think twice about messing with you again.”

  That was actually very sweet. All the behind the scenes plotting and planning made her feel more than a little cared for, even if it had been a little sneaky and underhanded to go behind her back that way. She had a team on her side, and they wanted to make sure she was safe. It was all a little overwhelming. Her chest tightened.

  She swept Briggs into her arms for a huge hug. “You know what? Austin’s a very lucky guy. And I’m pretty lucky, too. Thanks, Briggs.”

  She’d have to remember this feeling when she saw Gage again. He’d been the instigator of all this. No matter that she felt a little stifled and smothered, she also felt so much safer than she would have otherwise. That was wholly down to him...taking care of her. It was nice.

  AS THE MAINTENANCE group filed into the wing conference room and sat around the large conference table, Gage watched Steven, looking for any indication for how he was doing today. But Steven pointedly avoided meeting his gaze.

  Gage squared his shoulders and stifled a sigh, not happy to have so much personal and professional strife between the two of them. It made for a really uncomfortable work environment for everyone involved.

  Five minutes later, Gage cleared his throat. “If everyone will quiet down. We’ll get this meeting started and put us all out of our misery.”

  The maintenance group—specifically Steven’s squadron—had put together a plan of action so that they could get both the maintenance and flying schedule back on course without ruining everyone’s summer.

  Gage nodded to Steven. “Major Hardesty, since I think most of this is your baby, I’ll turn it over to you.”

  Steven acknowledged the shift of attention and addressed the group. “The maintenance group command structure worked all weekend long, trying to hash out a plan that would work for both maintenance and operations. There may be some choices that seem a bit unprecedented, but I hope you all will hear me out.” Steven looked around the room, meeting every single commander’s gaze. “We’re trying to take care of the mission and our people, because in the long run, the mission will suffer if the people are suffering.”

  Several of the commander
s nodded.

  “So, if you’ll open your folders, we’ll go over the plan.” Steven had opened his navy blue file folder that looked identical to the other ones in the room. But when he glanced down, he gasped, his face paling to an unhealthy shade of gray.

  Gage waited for him for a few seconds and then prompted, “Major Hardesty, is something wrong?”

  Steven looked up at him, his expression nothing short of shattered. “Um...yes.” He slammed his folder closed. “I need to talk to you in private right the fuck now.”

  For a moment, there was stunned silence, broken as a few people muttered in confusion. Gage glanced over at his second in command, Carter, who shrugged.

  “Okay,” Gage said to the room. “I’m sorry for the delay. Everyone, take five and grab another cup of coffee. Major Hardesty and I will be right back.”

  He led Steven out of the room and around the corner to his office. Steven followed right at his heels. When he turned to get an explanation, Steven still had that file in a white-knuckled grip. Gage closed the door, figuring they needed privacy for this discussion.

  “What’s going on?” he asked.

  Instead of saying something—which might have been difficult since from the bones standing in stark relief on his cheeks his jaw was clenched tight—Steven shoved the folder into Gage’s hands.

  He flipped it open, and his mouth dropped open. The first page was a huge, enlarged photo of him and Felicia in the forest as he fucked her against the tree. The picture was clear, and there was no doubt who the two people were. Written across the bottom in red marker were the words, The WHORE deserves to DIE!

  Ice cold sweat formed on Gage’s back. He flipped the page and then to the next. Every single piece of paper in the folder revealed another photo of the two of them...all from the forest. The same words were written on each one.

  Although he hated to do it in front of the already furious and pain-filled Steven, Gage quickly examined each photo, looking for any clue about who this psycho might be.