The Military Wife (A Heart of a Hero, #1)(85)

“Why didn’t you answer the door, man?” Bennett approached like the gun was a water moccasin, ready to strike at any moment.

“Because I don’t want you here.” Darren continued to stare out the window.

“Harsh, but I appreciate the honesty. Whatcha you doing with that gun? Shooting squirrels?” Easing ever closer, Bennett forced a false casualness into his voice the same time his heart was clawing its way out of his chest.

Darren raised the gun and Bennett froze, but he just looked at it as if surprised to see it in his hand. He let it fall to rest against his leg once more. “Not really any of your business, Griz.”

“Seeing as how you’re my brother-in-arms, I’m making it my business.”

“Fuck off.” He might have been wishing a stranger a nice day by the tone of his voice.

His cold calmness scared Bennett almost as much as the gun. “Not gonna happen.”

“I don’t need witnesses.” Darren waved the gun to the side, and Bennett stepped backward, tripping over the clawed foot of the old-fashioned mahogany bed frame, but no bullet erupted from the barrel. “I left a note.”

Bennett’s gaze shot to the dresser. A white envelope leaned against Allison and Darren’s wedding picture, the front scrawled with her name.

“Letter ain’t good enough. She wants you. Sent me and Harper to find you and bring you back.”

His pronouncement elicited a response from Darren. He half-turned so he could peer at Bennett. Sunlight limned his body and left his expression a mystery, but his voice pitched higher. “Bullshit. She hates me.”

“She doesn’t hate you. She’s hurting and confused, but she still loves you.”

“Sophie is going to be okay.”

“I know. We dropped Libby and Ryan at the hospital so they could hug up on her. We left Sophie giggling.” Bennett paused for effect. “She asked for you. Sophie wanted her daddy.”

Darren didn’t speak, only turned back to the window and brought the gun up to rest on the sill.

Bennett continued. “They’re great kids, all three of them. Libby’s so smart. Older than her years, though, because she’s worried about you and Allison. Ryan bounds around with the energy of a puppy. Speaking of, he really took to Jack London; you should get him a dog. And Sophie’s sweet and innocent enough to still believe her daddy can conquer all.”

“I can’t, though. I can’t even conquer what’s in my own head.” He rubbed the barrel of the gun against his forehead. Bennett measured the distance to Darren and wondered if he was strong and fast enough to wrest the gun away before one of them got shot. Darren was leaner than his time in the SEALs but as fit as he’d always been. The odds were not in Bennett’s favor.

“How about you give me the gun? You’re making me nervous,” Bennett said.

“Afraid I’m going to shoot myself in front of you?”

“The way you’re waving it around, I’m afraid you’ll accidently shoot me.”

A rusty laugh came from Darren. Bennett took that as a positive sign.

“I wouldn’t kill myself in the house. Too messy. I was trying to decide whether to do it by the fence, in the middle of the yard, or in the toolshed.” Darren’s voice was back to being supernaturally calm.

Bennett debated his options. Maybe the best one was to play along until he could get the gun away from Darren. “You want Allison or one of the kids to find you with your brains blown all over the fence or grass or gardening equipment? Less mess if you hang yourself.”

“I deserve a bullet.”

Bennett swallowed and joined Darren to look out the window but didn’t attempt to wrest the gun from him. Time to dissect to the dark heart at the center. “Why do you think that?”

“Because that’s how those boys died. The ones I sent in.”

“It’s the job. We all knew the risks when we joined up.”

“Risk versus reality is different.” Darren caressed the gun. “You got out after Noah was killed. Cut yourself off from the team. Are you telling me you never thought about it?”

Suicide would have been the easy way out, and Bennett’s way had never been easy. From his time in foster care and beyond, the struggle to survive was familiar if not welcome. Living was his penance.

Besides, now there were other reasons to live that included a woman with enveloping hazel eyes and a warm laugh, even if those were more recent discoveries. “I made Noah a promise.”

Darren squinted as if looking far beyond the line of pine trees at the fence line. “I’d say you’ve gone above and beyond what Noah asked of you.”

Bennett rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, well—”

A noise, as slight as it was, whipped him around, his senses heightened. Harper stood in the doorway, her hand around her neck. Her eyes were wide, but he couldn’t discern surprise from hurt from anger. Or maybe she was all three. His stomach squirmed. Later. He would explain later. Right now, his mission was Darren.

Her demeanor changed as she took in the scene. He gave a slight shake of his head, and she backed from the doorway but stayed in the hall. Having her there gave him courage. It had not been since his SEAL days—since Noah—that someone he trusted had his back. The irony wasn’t lost on him.