*** "Stop being so nervous, everything is going to be fine." We were about an hour out from the wedding on the beach and she was the one reassuring me. I don't know why, but now that we were down to crunch time I have this fear that some shit is gonna go wrong. Maybe because I know that she's the best thing that ever happened to me. Or maybe it's because I still don't think I deserve her. Whatever it is, I have this feeling that some shit's gonna go wrong. "Come 'ere." I wrapped my arms around her and felt myself settle. "I love you, I'm not nervous about marrying you, I just don't want anything to go wrong on our big day." I hope Ty the fuck isn't lurking around somewhere listening to this or he'd ride my ass for sure. "Nothing's gonna go wrong, now go be with your brothers while I finish getting dressed." Dani and Gaby had been pounding at our cottage door for the last half an hour trying to get me to release her. The women were getting dress
"Where are you taking me?" I struggled against the restraints as I tried to take stock of my surroundings. My heart was still beating too loudly in my ears, and the tinny taste of fear lingered in my mouth. I held my breath as best I could and strained to hear what was going on around me over the vicious thumping of my heart. That saying 'blind fear' is very accurate. It felt like all my senses, especially that one was on have the fritz. I worked my jaw when I realized I was gritting my teeth too hard to stop myself from wetting my pants. My body was tense, poised, and ready to take flight, but I couldn't have moved even had I not been tied up and immobile. I slowed my breath, if only to stop the unhealthy racing of my heart, and started to settle down once I realized that there was no immediate danger. It took a sec for my mind to send that message to my body, but my limbs soon started to relax, bit by bit. Once I finally got my bearings, I used my shou
Of course, I wanted to curl into a ball and cry until he came and got me, but I could hear his strong, reassuring voice in my head. Yelling at me to use everything I had in my power to survive. Fresh tears started as I envisioned our nighttime ritual from my youth. Ever since I was old enough to remember, daddy would tuck me in. Whenever he was at home, that is and not off saving the world. He'd sit next to my bed and read to me before brushing the hair back from my face with his reassuring hand. Then he'd lean in close and kiss my forehead before whispering in my ear what a precious person I am, how no one was better or stronger, how I could do and be anything I want because I was made special and there was only one me. Those words always made me feel taller, stronger braver. Like I could take on the world. Thinking of him and mom, the strength they'd tried to instill in me, made me all the more determined to fight. Though my mind struggled to sway f
Now I've awakened here in the belly of a dark, dank container, and every depraved act man had perpetrated against man since the beginning of time played itself out in my head. That's the flip side to having a daddy who protects you from everything and tries his best to give you all the tools you'll need to stay safe. Some day he'll have to tell you just what the hell it is he's keeping you safe from. My daddy, being who he is, never sugar coated shit for his only daughter. I wanted to scream, throw up and go back to sleep so I could wake up from this nightmare, but there was no shying away from reality. This shit is happening in real time and if I don't come up with something, my life is never going to be the same again. I know the odds though, and they're not good. Is this it then? Is this the end of the line for me? But why? Isn't there supposed to be some kind of logic to life? Why should these people, complete strangers no less, get to decide what course m
My mind flashed to a story I'd read years ago when I was too young to understand the severity of the situation. It was the story of a young girl, one much younger than I am now. A girl who'd been taken from her bed in the middle of the night. A family torn apart, a city on edge as the nation watched. That girl had found her way back home. I too can do the same. The thought gave me solace and I held onto it for as long as I could, keeping the fear at bay. I'll bide my time until I get the lay of the land so to speak, and then I'd go from there. I won't fight them until I was sure I'm in a position to win. Any opportunity that arises I'll take it, no matter what I have to do to escape this horror. That's a girl Kelly, keep thinking ahead don't look back. I felt my inner strength build and left the defeatist attitude in the dust. My daddy has been preparing me for this day ever since I got a firm grasp on the English language. Both mentally and physically
I jumped straight up in bed with my heart racing, glock in hand, body in fight mode. I listened for any kind of sound as I scanned all four corners of the bedroom with my gun arm extended. What the fuck was that? Still caught in that place between sleep and wake I couldn't immediately decipher if the disturbance had been internal, or something that was physically here with me. My gut was tied in knots and I felt fear like I haven't since I was a kid. There was a strange hum in my ears and my breath stilled in my lungs as I tried to get my bearings. With my training I would've known by now if there were anyone else in the room with me. There wasn't, but I still couldn't shake the feeling that something was very wrong. I listened very carefully and there was no sound, but still everything in me screamed extreme danger. I could almost taste it, and all my signals were going off full blast. Some fuck was wrong, my hackles were raised and my skin pr
I thought of the CO as I did my laps in the indoor pool. Swimming helps me to relax and clear my head when it gets too hot, or when something keeps rattling around in there. It wasn't long before I felt the stress begin to leave me and my limbs became more relaxed and pliant as the tension eased. Only in the water do I feel this at peace. An old woman once told me that it was because of my 'gift'. Apparently those things are all connected to the elements or some shit. I could do without this 'gift' as she called it, though it has helped me out a time or two in the past. And then there're the times when it's a right pain in the ass; like now. From the time I was a very young kid, before my dad tried to beat it out of me, I had a very strong sixth sense. Apparently it's something that ran in the male line of my family. Some Celtic shit that had been passed down since the days of the druids or some fuck. Fuck if I know, I grew up on the streets
That was the night they became my brothers in heart. It was from that moment on that the seven of us just clicked into place for me. That was a lifetime ago now and we'd come very far and had faced some serious shit together over the years that had only made us closer, stronger. As time went by we became more than just a team. I don't remember us ever being apart even when we came back stateside after that. Lo had decided to take our training a step farther and since we were a motley crew of semi orphans, we all just seemed to fall into brotherhood. Before that I was more of a loner; still have a bit of the lone wolf in me. The navy hadn't knocked the stubborn out of me and I'd say for sure if not for my brothers, my ass wouldn't have made it out of the sling a time or two. But since we 'semi retired' I've calmed the fuck down like ninety percent. Lo has a lot to do with that. He knows each of us almost as well as we know ourselves. That's why he's so good at