Free Two Weeks With a SEAL (The Wakefield Romance Series) by Theresa Marguerite Hewitt Page B

but he was a big kid, running into my dad and surprising him, yanking
the shotgun from his hands and swinging back to face my dad. My mom screamed at
Randy as tears streaked his cheeks, my father's laughter mocking him as his
hands trembled. "Do it," my father yelled, pressing the barrel to his
forehead, "you don't got the guts you lil' maggot. Go on, do it!"
    In that moment, my
brother had turned from a boy to a hero in my mind, as he pulled the trigger,
the click ruminating throughout the room, making my dad's mocking laughter
rumble even louder. Back handing Randy, my father yanked the gun free throwing
it to the bedroom floor, slapping my mother on the way out of the room, leaving
the three of us to cry with each other as I presume he went to get high. My father
was a worthless piece of crap and I could care less if he died today, it would
only do the entire world a favor.
    Snapping back to reality
I notice that Rosa is talking to me, her face displaying annoyance, "I'm
sorry, I wasn't paying attention, what did you say?"
    She rolled her eyes,
smiling as she repeated her question, "I said, do you wanna come to the
condo sometime, we could do a girls night or you can stay the weekend?"
She looked hopeful as she painted Kendall's nails. Kendall even nodded and I knew
that she liked this new friend of ours.
    "Well, yeah, I'd
love that," I say, putting my arm around her shoulder. We sat in silence,
the only sounds being hushed conversation from the den, the men's voices barely
audible over the crackling of the wood in the stove. It worried me that they
were being so silent all of a sudden and I turned my creased brow to Rosa,
seeing that her eyes were looking down the hallway as well. Her hands stopped
painting Kendall's nails, her eyebrows knitting together, her lips pursed and I
knew that it wasn't good. She took my hand in hers, interlacing our fingers,
her eyes never leaving their spot on the den door.
    "Bad news,"
she whispers, footsteps causing her eyes to snap back down to doing Kendall's
nails, a look passing between the two of us as we looked over her dark
ponytail.
    Chad was scratching his
beard as he came out from the den, his hand moving to rub the back of his neck.
His eyes looked tired as he gazed at me, pulling the rubber band from his hair,
he scratched his skull, nodding for me to meet him upstairs. His long legs
propelled him up the wooden steps, Reno coming to the back of the couch,
whispering in Rosa's ear that he needed to talk to her. My legs felt like lead
as I lowered them to the floor, my knees feeling like they were rusty as I
stood. I followed Reno and Rosa up the stairs, turning to my room as Rosa sent
me a sad look. Chad was sitting on the bed, his face in his hands with his
elbows propped on his knees as I entered the room, my heart falling through the
floor and into the wood stove below, going up in flames. "What is
it," I ask, afraid to move.
    He motioned me over to
sit by him and when I couldn't move he stood, pulling my arms till I was down
on the bed, snuggled up to his side. "We ship out on next Tuesday,"
he said, his lips on my forehead and I wrapped my arms around him tighter, my
eyes closed tight to ward off the tears. "I have to be back on base a week
from Monday night." His fingers traced my jaw lightly, tilting it up so
that he could see my face, his lips meeting my eye lids. "Look at
me," he whispers, my eyes opening to find raw emotion in his, a light red
edging in them as moisture gathered on his lashes. My thumb runs over the
stubble on his cheek, my index finger lightly tracing the skin under his ear
and Chad's eyes close for a second, letting me know he's enjoying it. "You
can come with me, they'll let loved ones on the tarmac the day of
departure." That last word, it breaks the thin wall I was trying to keep
up, my tears falling like a river as I imagine all the bad things that could
happen to this man that I love.
    I crawl over top of him,
our faces nose to nose, locking my