FIRE (Elite Forces #2)(19)
I’ve never seen him react to anything like this before. Not when Kaleb was taken from us. Not when we all saw him hanging from that tree. I don’t know the man well, but he does not strike me as the kind of guy to lose control. I can’t speak for fear I’m going to mesh my words with tears. Kaleb squeezes me harder.
How ironic the phrase ‘Life can change in a blink of an eye’ is. Life will gut you, spit you out, and leave you hanging on the edge of a cliff. Kaleb is dangling there right now. A moment ago, this room was filled with our outpouring of love for another. And now, it is filled with hatred for a man so evil that blood or not, he is not Kaleb’s brother. His true brothers are all in this room.
“Kaleb.” I push off the bed, using the strength in my feet, unable to look at him right now. Instead, I look to Harris, who looks almost defeated. All of them do as I scan their faces one by one. Someone needs to say something other than spitting angry words out. How the hell I’ve all of a sudden become the sensible one here beats me. I’m usually the hardass, the bitter bitch, but shit, we need to find out if we killed that *. If Kaleb’s brother is dead. I have to ask, whether it hurts him more or not.
“Does anyone know if he was one of the men we took out the other night?” I hate to be blunt, especially when I know that no matter what has happened in the past between Kaleb and his brother, he has to still love him. To have your own family try to kill you has to be one of the most devastating, emotional turmoils to have to deal with.
“I got the footage from when I scanned the area. All of our recordings can be watched to see if we can locate him as one of the f*ckers we killed.” Pierce stands wider as I can see his thoughts running through his head. He’s hungry for this to be the case. I don’t know if I hope I shot him in his dick, or if he was the one who got the ass shot and then a bullet to his head. Either way, I hope he’s gone. I hope he took a bullet through his black-as-coal heart. Anyone who can do something like this to Kaleb should be dead and rotting in the farthest recess of hell, as far as I’m concerned.
“Great. I was hoping to relive that moment over and f*cking over. Don’t get any bright ideas about teasing me about that shit. I’ll repay your asses in a way that’ll make your dicks draw up and hide.” Kaleb looks at all the guys before he begins to tell us everything he remembers. While I remain still, while anger and sadness pound away at my bleeding heart.
CHAPTER NINE
KALEB
I can’t share every f*cking detail that happened. There’s no way I’m telling these guys, or hell, Jade for that matter, about the depth of the shit my brother put me through. I pissed him off when I fought back and head butted him. He was out for a few minutes. Then my life became hell. I decided in that moment I wasn’t going to try that again unless I knew I could kill him. He beat me so bad I passed the hell out, never once waking up until I realized I was being saved.
I hold on tight to Jade’s hand. She’s tense and I hate this. This room is claustrophobic as f*ck too. I’m in so much pain, it’s hard to breathe, but I’m working through the words that seem to be practically choking me, lodging themselves there, because, Christ, even though this shit happened to me, every damn thing I say will make each one of these men and the woman I love feel like it happened to them. I care too much to put them through a nightmare that will repeat itself in their heads. There’s no end. I’ll remember this shit for all eternity. It will be bad enough to witness seeing myself hanging lifeless. My nudity and busted-up body for everyone in this room to see will embed itself into the memories for the rest of their lives.
“I’m not sure where to start. I mean, the f*cker tortured me in ways I’ll never talk about. Then my piece of shit brother rolled in and made it personal. He threatened my mom, my sister, and tried to get me to react about Jade.” Fuck.
The way Harris instantly stares me down in his big brother protective way makes me want to shove those last words back in my mouth. I should’ve known he’d be on high alert when it comes to her. I won’t let that bother me anymore, because honestly, knowing he was with her in Mexico calmed me. I knew she was safe with him.
“What the f*ck? How does he know about her?” Harris is tense and in a fight stance as he responds to only the beginning of my story. If we hadn’t had our talk about my feelings for Jade and for the fact I know damn well something happened between him and Mallory by the way she f*cked him with her eyes the night before I left his ranch, I would say he still wants her. Harris cares about her. They’ve been through a lot together, but she’s like family to him. Like my brothers here are to me. So I get why he’s protective of her.
“He was guessing. I didn’t show any proof she’s f*cked up my heart.” She looks surprised that I’m sharing this with the guys, and I smile with as much enthusiasm as I can handle. She needs to loosen up. Besides, I’d love nothing more than to tease her and play all f*cking night, but the truth of it is, I’m still f*cking hurting.
“Watch out there, big guy, with talk like that, you’ll be married before you know it.” Jackson steps in with his smartass Southern drawl.
“Who knows? I could think of worse things, that's for sure.” They all just stare at me like I've lost my mind. That's okay, because I did out there. Jade hasn’t told me why the doctor called her Mrs. Maverick yet. My guess is, she had to with all the red tape that goes along with the privacy acts our country has. But I’m not concerned about that shit. They can call her any damn thing they want as long as it implies she’s mine.