His hands shook the whisky glass and I was certain it was going to break. “How dare you, you cocky son of a bitch? Come into my house and threaten me? No one would believe you.”
I laughed. “Try me.”
His posture slumped and he ran his hands through his hair. “I don’t know what you think you know but you’re wrong. I tried everything to save her, they couldn’t find her, that’s the God’s honest truth.”
“You can lie to me all you want. But you left her there to die. I’m not an idiot, something didn’t sit right with me. We have eyes everywhere, remember that.”
“What do you want, Walsh?”
“Simple, won’t cost you a penny. Stay the fuck away from Annie. If I hear that you so much as text her, I’ll come after you. I’m not sure if your wife is in on this, but if she reaches out to Annie, that’s fine. I’m making this easy on you. Tell her that you can never accept me as her husband and make her chose between you and me. She’ll chose me. The only reason I’m not telling Annie the truth is to protect her, not you. It would crush her, and she’s been through enough and I refuse to add to her pain. I’m deploying soon, but Annie will be safe here with my buddies. If I find out you try to hurt her in any way, you won’t live to regret it. Understood?”
He nodded but wisely remained silent.
“Good talk.” I walked out of the room. Annie’s mom was talking to her about throwing a wedding reception.
“Come on, Annie. Let’s go.”
“Already? I haven’t packed my stuff.”
“I’ll buy you new stuff.”
Annie’s dad walked out of his office. I gave him a stern look.
“He’s right, Annie. Leave. We don’t want to see you again. I can never accept Pat into this family. You made your choice when you married him. You’re dead to us.”
Bastard had probably been waiting to officially declare her dead.
Annie bit her lip, but she didn’t break down. It was almost as if she expected this.
“I love Pat and if you can’t accept him, I don’t care. I learned to live without you once, I’ll do it again. Sometimes I think you both wish I never came back. I was worth more to you dead than alive. Pat’s the only one who loves me. Don’t ever contact me again.”
She clutched on to me and we walked out the front door. I hoped we never had to see them again.
We got into my truck and cruised down to my place. She looked out the window. I didn’t know what to say.
“I’m sorry, Annie.”
“It’s not your fault. I meant what I said in there. I love you and I don't care what they think. He'll never accept you and I don't really care."
I placed my hand on her thigh. I was all she had now. I wasn’t one of these men who wanted to isolate his woman from her family and friends. I wished Annie’s family were decent people and I was fine if she wanted to maintain contact with Chris. But as long as I lived, no one would ever hurt Annie again.
28.
Deployment day was here. I didn’t know how long I’d be gone, but at least seven months. Annie and I had spent a great month together. We were assigned a wonderful housing off base in Point Loma, near Liberty Station. It was a three-bedroom townhouse with a small yard for Trigger. I introduced Annie to all the SEAL wives and of course they loved her. They saw her just how I did. As a survivor. The SEAL wives had promised to keep her busy while I was away. Maybe I had been wrong about marriages in our community. Yes, most fail. But the ones that worked, were because of the strongest, most loyal women. And I knew Annie was stronger than them all.
Annie started taking college classes again. She was majoring in sociology, which sounded depressing and useless to me, but who was I to judge? I had a high school diploma and had no need for a college degree. Annie also threw herself into yoga and volunteering at the animal shelter. Our love grew deeper by the day and for the first time since I’d become a SEAL, I dreaded deploying and leaving her.
Kyle and Vic would be deploying with me. They were both still tragically single, which was ironic since I was the one of the three of us who’d been most dead set against a relationship.
Annie stood outside on our tiny balcony. The breeze blew Annie’s hair off her face. She was wearing a sundress that showed off her tan skin. She looked up to me, and her crooked smile that I’d first noticed in the brothel melted me.
“I’m going to miss you, Pat.”
“Me too.” I kissed her slowly. I need this kiss to take me through a long deployment.
Her arms wrapped around me. She held me tight, and nibbled my ear. I loved it when she did that. She reached out and grabbed my hand and led me to the bedroom.
I was about to undress her and make love to her for the final time before I left. But she stopped me and knelt in front of me on the bed.
She took me in her mouth, and I gasped. No condom, no barrier between us. I felt guilty receiving pleasure from her, so I hadn’t let her go down on me since the night in the brothel.
I stopped her and made her look at me. “You don’t have to do this Annie.”
“I want to, Pat. I missed you so much it hurt. I love you. I want to please you. I’m your wife.”
She wrapped her lips around me, her tongue dancing again. My mind flashed to that night in the brothel. We’d come full circle. Same girl, same amazing technique. But this time, instead of imagining that she was my faithful, loving, girlfriend, that she lived for pleasing me, and that being with me even for just a few months out of the year was worth enduring the loneliness when I was gone, it was real. She was real. She was mine. She respected being a SEAL was my calling, and she didn’t want to change me.
I pushed her off me. I had something to tell her.
“I love you, Annie.”
She squealed, probably thought she would never hear those words coming out of my mouth. Hell, I never thought I’d say them.
But I meant it. I loved her.
She was no longer my mission.
She was my wife.
The End
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the love of my life, my husband, Roger, a real Marine hero. Thank you for being such a wonderful husband to me and the best daddy to our sons. For watching the boys while I write. For keeping me caffeinated during late night writing sessions. I love you.
To Nicole Blanchard. This book would not have been written without you. For your initial blurb challenge, to your endless tolerance for my what ifs, your social media prowess, your sex scene edits. But mostly for being such an amazing woman and friend.
I would like to thank my amazing editor, Deborah Halverson, for the fast edits and endless support.
To my two beautiful sons, Connor and Caleb for your smiles, your laughter, your hugs and kisses.
To my betas: Erin, Mia, Geri, Margreet, Feifei, Stacia, Linda, and Carly: thank you all for your honest critiques and making this the best story it could be.
My sister-in-law Susie Chulick, for motivating me to finish this book.
To all the wonderful bloggers who have promoted Invincible: Totally Booked, Aestas, Sinfully Sexy, Lezley-Lynn’s Book Blog, and the countless others that have posted about my book.
To Indie Sage Promotions for handling all the promotion for the book.