Free Protecting Alabama (SEAL of Protection Book 2) by Susan Stoker

half afraid he’d be talking to himself when he called. He was pleasantly surprised. “It was good. I worked out with my team, sat in on a few meetings, then had dinner with my friend Wolf and his woman, Ice.”
    “Wolf? Ice?” Alabama asked.
    “Yeah, remember how I told you I was called Abe? Well, Matthew’s nickname is Wolf. His girlfriend’s name is Caroline, but she earned the moniker ‘Ice.’ Everyone on the team has a nickname. Most of the time it has to do with something about that person. Matthew earned the name Wolf because of the way he ate while training to become a SEAL. He’d scarf down all his food and come back for more. He was always wolfing down his food. The name stuck.”
    Alabama loved hearing Christopher talk about his friends. He had such passion in his voice. It was obvious he loved what he did and really liked the people he worked with. “Why Ice? Is she on your team too?”
    “Not exactly. We met her a little bit ago when we were flying to Virginia. She saved all the lives on the plane we were on. Terrorists had drugged the ice they used to make the drinks with and were planning on hijacking the plane. She’s a chemist and realized what was going on. Wolf happened to be sitting next to her and was able to let us know what was going down and we were able to foil the plan. They went through some other shit too, but all’s well that ends well. They’re blissfully happy and I’m proud to call both of them my friends.”
    Alabama smiled. She was scared to death to hear that he’d almost died, but happy he had such great friends. “I remember seeing that on the news. I’m so glad you guys are all okay. Why are you called Abe?”
    Abe laughed. “The guys started calling me that because I can’t stand it when people lie. I’d much rather people be honest with me. Even if it’s crap I don’t want to hear, I want the truth.”
    Alabama hesitated. She wasn’t sure she wanted to be one hundred percent honest with him. She was ashamed with her history. On one hand she knew it wasn’t her fault, but if her own mama didn’t want her, how and why would anyone else?
    “Sweet? You still there?”
    “I’m here.”
    “You okay?”
    “Yeah.”
    “You’re freaked aren’t you?” When she didn’t say anything Abe went on. “Please don’t be. I don’t expect you to spill your guts with me right off. I do want to know everything about you, but I don’t want you to lie to me. When you feel comfortable enough, you can talk to me.”
    “How do you know I have something to spill in the first place?”
    “Sweet, I’ve been around enough people with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder to recognize it when I see it.” When she started to interrupt him to protest, he wouldn’t let her. “No, it’s okay. I don’t know what happened to you, but it doesn’t matter to me. I like you. I like that you’re soft-spoken and think about your words before you say them. I don’t like that you look around the room to see who’s there before you speak, and I hope you’ll tell me about that someday, but rest assured, I won’t hold it against you. Okay?”
    “Are you for real?” Alabama couldn’t believe what she was hearing. How could this man know her, without really knowing her? It was eerie really.
    “I’m for real, sweet.” Christopher knew Alabama was getting freaked out, and it was the last thing he wanted to do. “Tell me about your day,” he changed the subject, hoping to make her feel more comfortable.
    Alabama talked to Christopher for two hours straight. They talked about nothing really, non-important stuff that most people spoke about when they were getting to know each other. She learned his favorite food was a thick juicy steak, and he learned that she loved to go the movies by herself on the weekends and get lost in a good thriller.
    “I’ve really loved talking to you,” Abe told her quietly. “But I do need to get going. I’ve got training in the morning and you need to