Raging Hard(76)

They’d seen what I could do. I needed them to clean my mess up and get the fuck out, and that was all. They were more useful alive than dead.

Which was why I needed the battle calm. Otherwise, I made dumb decisions, emotional decisions that could cost me more pain in the future.

I retraced my steps and climbed calmly back through the window. Claire looked at me, and I flinched at the fear I saw there.

“You look . . . horrible.”

I looked down at myself. I was covered in blood, some of it my own.

“Shit. Sorry.”

“Untie me, idiot.”

I quickly did as she asked, and she threw her arms around my neck, crushing her body against me. I didn’t think I deserved it, but I returned her hug, breathing her smell deeply. What was left of my violent rage completely dissipated, returning to wherever it normally hid.

“Fuck, I’m so happy you’re okay,” I said to her.

“I love you,” she blurted out.

I pulled back, my eyes wide. She looked away, clearly embarrassed.

“I love you too,” I whispered.

And in that moment I knew I always had. Even when I first got a taste of her back in the club, before I knew who she was, I had loved her. When my bitch mother asked me to stay with them, I decided to do it only because I’d be closer to Claire. Because I loved her, I realized, and wanted to be near her. She was the only one I was willing to do anything for, to go so far for.

I kissed her, hard, and she kissed me back, wrapping her arms around me. I’d never been so uselessly and hopelessly intertwined with another person before. In the SEALs, you didn’t get close with anyone, because your future was totally controlled by Uncle Sam.

But with Claire, I had no choice. I couldn’t say no to her, just like I couldn’t predict my own future.

Finally, the kiss finished, she looked up at me with these wide eyes.

“Take me home, stupid,” she said.

“Okay.”

I whipped her up into my arms, and she laughed, hitting my chest. I carried her out of there, avoiding the bodies, and took her back home.





Chapter Nineteen: Claire





One Year Later



“I should have seen this coming.”

I was nervous, practically shaking, as my dad stared at us from across the table. Never in my entire life had I dreaded a conversation more than the one we were having. Even when those men took me over a year ago, even that wasn’t as bad.

But at least I had him. I looked over at Nathan and he smiled at me, squeezing my hand.

“I know, Jonathan,” he said. “It wasn’t something we planned.”

Dad sighed and looked down at his hands. “I suppose it doesn’t matter now. The divorce is only a matter of time.”

“I know, Dad,” I said softly. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“Damn right, Jonathan. Lucille is a complete wreck of a human. You had no chance.”

He nodded thankfully at Nathan. “Well, I guess I can’t stand in your way. What do I know about love?”

My heart suddenly swelled. It wasn’t the glowing endorsement I had secretly hoped for, but it also wasn’t the total freakout I had really expected.

“Thank you, sir,” Nathan said. “And believe me when I say this: I love your daughter more than anything. She’s safe with me.”

Dad gave him one long look. “You know,” he said finally, “I never did ask you what happened with Joshua and his people. They just disappeared one day.”

“I figured you didn’t want to know.”

“I heard some rumors, some salacious stuff. Nothing that could be true.” Dad paused and smiled slightly. “You wouldn’t know anything about them, would you? About some psychotic ex-Marine, or maybe he was a Navy SEAL? Either way, he took out a bunch of guards and saved some poor kidnapped girl.”

Nathan smirked and shook his head. “Sounds completely made up, sir, like a stupid fairy tale.”

“Well.” Dad smiled broadly. “We haven’t been bothered since that day, at least.”

“And I hear your hotels are doing better than expected.”

“Damn right they are.”

We all laughed, and I felt my entire body relax in a way it hadn’t since the moment I first met Nathan.

So much had happened since that day in the warehouse, and yet it felt like nothing had changed at all. I’d gone back to school, and Nate had been called up on a mission. We spent a few months apart, and then suddenly he was back, waiting on my doorstep. It was horrible living without him, and every day I imaged that he had been shot to death in the desert somewhere.

I’d never forget what he said to me when he appeared out of nowhere: “I’m back, princess, and I’m not going anywhere for a long time.”