Her Dominant SEAL(6)

“What grade?”

“Kindergarten. I’m a teacher’s aide right now. I missed school yesterday, and the class I was supposed to help in.” Drake hated how sad she sounded. Meanwhile, he was just angry. What the fuck was going on? He knew that years ago, Piper had witnessed their dad kill a man, but he’d already been convicted of that and done his time. Why would he want to harm his daughter now? But then again, who the hell knew why Norville Avery did anything?

Then there was Wanda Avery. How could she let him in her house when he was intent on doing her daughter harm? It made his heart hurt and his head about ready to explode.

Piper reached over and placed her hand on his thigh.

“Don’t think about it, Drake. I try not to.”

“Think about what?” he pretended to misunderstand.

“About Mom. She just loves our dad so much that she can’t help herself.” He squinted against the sun, it was causing his eyes to water. He wasn’t going to admit to the fact that he was tearing up at the fact that he had a mother who was turning her back on her children.

“Drake, think about Granny.”

That stopped him short. He hadn’t thought about Granny Laughton for at least a year. But driving up and down the hills of the highway and looking at the evergreens sprinkled with snow, he thought back to the days in his grandmother’s kitchen. She had been his mother’s mother and a refuge for the Avery children for years. She’d died two years ago. When Trenda tried to call him and let him know, he had been on a mission and unreachable. He’d have given anything to have been stateside. For her funeral, he would have come back to Tennessee.

“I’m surprised you remember Granny Laughton,” Drake said.

“She gifted me her books. Mom kept them in a box for me in the attic, I took them over to Trenda’s last year and looked online. Some of them are really rare, one of them has been auctioned off for over a thousand dollars. Some of them aren’t. A couple I’ve read and used this year to study for class.”

Drake whistled. “I can’t believe Dad never got his hands on those.”

“They were frickin’ books,” Piper snorted. “It never occurred to either Mom or Dad that books could be valuable.”

“True.”

“With the money from these, I can go to college.”

“You were always going to go to college,” Drake said firmly.

The hand on his thigh tightened. “You do too much for us. One day you’ll want to start a family of your own.”

“What are you talking about? You are my family.”

“You haven’t even seen us in over twelve years. You shouldn’t be here. Sheriff Arnold and the Judge Comey said if you came back they’d press charges and you’d go to prison.”

“The statute of limitations is long past. I’d like to see them try.” But Drake knew they’d be looking for some way to make him pay. It wasn’t just his dad who’d gone away back then, it’d been the judge’s son too, and he’d died while at the Pikeville State Prison. After he’d testified against his dad and the judge’s son, the sheriff had manufactured a charge of assault with a deadly weapon against him. He would have ended up in prison too if it had gone to Judge Comey’s court, but Judge Kirkland presided over it and said he had to join the military. He’d also advised never setting foot back in Jasper Creek.

“Trenda said it was dangerous for you to ever come back,” Piper persisted.

“I should have come back years ago,” he muttered under his breath.

“What did you say?”

“I said, call Evie, see if she’s found us a place to stay.”





Chapter Two


Drake laid down his credit card on the front desk of the Elk Condominium Rentals and was stunned at the rate they quoted him for a three-room condo.

“Excuse me? For a condo with three bedrooms?” The rate sounded like something he’d pay for the roadside motel that Piper had originally suggested.

“Drake, it’s good to see you again. Eva called ahead, she said you were coming. I’ve got you signed in under an assumed name.” The man winked at Piper.

“Do I know you?”

“You played ball with my nephew.” He eyed Piper who still had the blanket wrapped around her. “You better get her inside. I have the heat set to seventy in the rooms, but there is also everything you need to start a fire in the fireplace. The kitchen is fully stocked. If you need anything, and I mean anything, call me.”

Drake shook the man’s hand. “What’s your name again?” Drake looked him up and down. It was clear that the man had served.