Free Adam by Kris Michaels

she cares for you. Clint isn’t who she’s interested in. It’s always been you.”
    Tori stuck her two cents in. “My sister has been gone on you since the two of you stayed at the line cabin. I don’t know what happened. She’d never tell me. Only that you didn’t want her.”
    “She was sick! For God’s sake, I told her we couldn’t. How the hell was I supposed to…”
    Doc staggered and sat down hard on the chair, dropping the glass in his hand. It shattered, but nobody noticed. Nobody moved. He held his hands in front of him. Both shook uncontrollably. Memories collided, violently filling the void that had haunted him. He knew… everything. He remembered it all, the mission, the ranch, the move of the cattle down to lower pastures.
    He lifted his eyes and whispered, “Oh fuck. I remember… oh God…”
     



Chapter Eight
    Adam stared out the copilot’s side window of the G6 jet. The bright glare of the morning sun at 35,000 feet forced him to squint. Oh, hell, he could put a pair of sunglasses over his eye patch, but he’d be damned if he was going to add insult to injury. Literally.
    “We may have a problem landing, Doc.”
    Adam’s head whipped to the left. Jason King, his pilot, and one massive, mean son-of-a- bitch, hit several buttons on the weather system screen.
    “The storm is moving in faster than forecasted. Blizzard conditions already in Denver. If I push it, we can make it into Rapid City. That small airport doesn’t have C3C.”
    At Adam’s questioning expression, Jason elaborated, “Instrumentation only landing. And I won’t even try landing at the ranch. No one from Guardian has been at the training facility for days. The runway won’t be cleared.”
    Adam noticed his leg was bouncing and consciously stopped the annoying movement. “Push it, then. I’ve got to get back to her, Jason. For two years, she’s thought I… Man, I fucked up so bad. I have to make this right.”
    Jason glanced towards him and nodded. After a couple minutes, he reached out and put his huge hand on Adam’s thigh for a second, stopping the leg’s repetitious movement.
    “Don’t need a hole in the floor of my jet.”
    “Sorry man, I do appreciate you flying me back to the ranch.”
    “No problem. It was an excuse to leave the wedding and impromptu family reunion. It was just getting around to the ‘inevitable questions’ phase. Now that Jacob and Joseph are married the pressure is on. Let Jared and Justin field the ‘When are you going to settle down?’ questions from Mom.”
    Doc gave a distracted nod and once again started bouncing his leg.
    Jason took a deep breath and slowly exhaled before he spoke. “Dude, I can’t pretend to understand what you’ve been through. Lord knows I’m not good with this personal crap, but I’m here if you want to talk about it. We have nothing but time.”
    Adam rubbed his palms against his face and held his head in his hands. “Keelee and I didn’t see eye to eye on something. I wish I could tell you I was trying to protect her from a life tied to a transient Guardian. No offense.”
    “None taken.”
    “Of course, my past with women hasn’t exactly prepared me for someone honest. I didn’t believe her when she… oh, man I fucked up. I tried to do what was best for her.”
    “Doc, haven’t you learned not to think for women? It’s too fucking dangerous.” Jason shook his head before he continued. “Women don’t think like we do, man. Their wires have no schematics. There is no straight path from ‘a’ to ‘b’ for them. What possessed you?”
    “Fuck if I know, man. Fuck if I know. I remember going to the ranch now—the first time, I mean. We were helping out with a cattle drive. Jacob’s wife, Tori… hell, I guess she was his girlfriend then, wasn’t she… anyway, they took the herd down the mountain to meet up with the girl’s dad. I stayed up at the line shack to take care of Keelee. She was sicker than a dog. Pneumonia.”
    Doc