Take Me Home: Book 4 The Wakefield Romance Series Read online

  Scrubbing my hand over my face and leaning back against the window, I recall the look her cousin Ellie had given Reno and I when we had come back in from the garage; taking the call from our Director that we were leaving tonight and not Monday morning. I know she knows something is up; I could see it in her eyes. But again, I can’t let her know that her brother and the man she loves are in danger. At least I know she’ll be here to let Rhea talk her ear off as the anger of my departure settles in; because I know it will.

  I get to my feet and pick up my bag, slowly and silently making it to the edge of our bed and staring down at my wife. Her hair is sticking up and splayed out over her pillow, but damn is she beautiful. I don’t want to leave her, but my work is calling. I lean down and brush the hair back from the side of her face, placing a long kiss to her temple. The smile that comes to her lips breaks my heart and I run my fingers over her cheek.

  “I love you, Baby,” I whisper, kissing the side of her mouth as she shifts in her sleep. She mumbles something incoherent and I can’t help but grin at it, kissing her one more time before sneaking down the hall to say goodbye to my little guy.

  He’s so handsome in his reindeer pajamas, his arms and legs all spread out with his mouth open and drool lining his right cheek. I run my thumb over his non-drool filled cheek and marvel in how big he is getting. This is my little guy, my mini-me as my Mama likes to call him; he’s a piece of me and I have to leave him. God…I hate this.

  “I love ya, lil’ guy,” I whisper as I lean down and kiss his cheek. He makes a little squeak because I probably scared him and when his little hand comes up, landing on my cheek and just resting there, my heart breaks a little more. “Tell your Mama not to be too mad at your ol’ dad, okay?” I smile down at him and he shifts a little bit, rolling to his side and grasping his little camo teddy bear, tugging it to him and hugging it in a death grip.

  Leaving the room and jogging down the stairs, I hop into my already running truck and greet Reno in the passenger seat. It hits me then, the adrenaline rush, and I remember why I do the job I do. Yes, I hate leaving my family, but I love helping people and helping my country.

  One of these days, though, the rush and the accomplishments isn’t going to be enough to explain away the late nights, early mornings, and no phone calls to my wife. I hope that day isn’t anytime soon and as I look to my best friend, I know Reno is feeling the same way as his head turns, his stare locked on his house when I drive by.

  At least I know I’m not alone. I’ll deal with the wrath when it comes. Right now, I need to be the SEAL, the agent. I need to be Chief to his best capacity to make sure my friends come home safe.

  CHAPTER THREE:

  Ellie

  My nerves have gotten to me, so much so that my hands are shaking uncontrollably as I turn down Rhea’s road. She had called me not ten minutes ago, crying that Chad left in the middle of the night last night and she has no idea where he’s gone. The only thing she told me was that he left a note, that she’s worried and she has a bad feeling about it. So, still in my snowflake pajama pants, I had thrown on a sweatshirt and hoped in my car, racing over here.

  I knew it, I just knew it. Last night when Reno and Chad had come in from taking their phone call in the garage I had the feeling that something was going on that would affect everyone; but again I had kept my mouth shut. I slam my foot into the break, the tires sliding on the gravel at the end of my cousin’s driveway, and I throw it into park, rushing out into the chilly morning air.

  The front door flings open as I reach the bottom step and I look up into Rosa’s tear streaked face. Her mascara is running down over her cheeks and as I reach her, she throws her arms around me; quickly rambling off things I can’t understand in Spanish. As she hugs me to her side and closes the door behind us, I can pick out words here and there, like ‘have mercy’ and ‘watch over my husband’. Don’t ask me why, but those are just some words that I remember from high school Spanish.

  “Ellie!” Rhea’s voice is scratchy and as I shed my jacket, letting it fall carelessly to the floor, I rush over to my crying cousin and pull her close. It feels weird being on the other side of comforting right now, Rhea having been a rock for me ever since last June, but I hug her tight as she sniffles. “Oh Ellie, I have a horrible feeling.”

  “I know,” I say, letting her go and dragging my thumb over her cheeks, wiping away her tears. “I’ve had a bad feelin’ ever since last night.” She nods her head at my words and takes my hand, leading me into the kitchen where Rosa has joined her daughter, Marisol, and Charlie. They are happily playing in a playpen, oblivious to their mothers’ worry and their fathers’ absences. What I would give to be that naïve and happy again.

  Rhea sighs heavily, pouring herself a cup of coffee from the carafe sitting on the table and holding a cup out for me, which I gladly accept. It’s only 7:30 and being roused from sleep by my crying cousin is still killing my nerves. As I grab the cup, I see that my hands are still shaking slightly and I take a deep breath. Rhea needs me now, I can’t be the weak, meek Ellie that I have been for the last couple of months.

  “I don’t know what it is,” she sniffles, wiping her hand across her nose and shaking her head, her blue-grey eyes are all red and puffy as she looks to me. “I just have this feelin’ that this is goin’ to be bad. The secrets, the sneaking out. That’s not my Chad! This has to be bigger than anything he’s worked on yet at NCIS.”

  “I second that, Sister.” Rosa gives us a weak smile as she tucks Marisol’s unruly hair under her red flower headband, and then joins us at the table. I rub Rhea’s arm, trying to soothe her as Rosa pulls her diaper bag from the chair beside her. I can tell she’s contemplating something before she reaches her hand in.

  “I found this in Reno’s office. This mornin’ I was so mad that I stormed in there, determined to find some answers and well… I kinda broke the lock on his filing cabinet.” Her tan skin blushes red as Rhea gives her a wide eyed look and she pulls out a thick manila envelope from her bag, sliding it over to Rhea. She bumps it into Rhea’s fingers, saying, “Open it. You both need to read what’s in there.”

  She broke the lock on her federal agent-of-a-husband’s file cabinet? I just don’t believe it from this, well at least from Rhea’s opinion, very obedient former SEAL wife. I look to Rhea, who is staring at the envelope and I can feel her wanting to open it, but I also know that a war is raging within her. To open or not to open?

  Her brows are furrowed and she looks like she’s about to say something, but then she doesn’t, she just looks up to me, then to Rosa. The silence stretches on as the three of us look back down at the envelope.

  “What’s in here?” she asks, tapping her fingers on the envelope rapidly, then removing her touch from it as if it had burned her. I know I should tell her not to open it; to tell Rosa that I’ll run to the hardware store to buy her a new lock for Reno’s filing cabinet and to put the file back, erasing the memory of the contents from her brain. But I don’t.

  “Just open it.” Rosa sighs, looking Rhea in the eye and I see the silent communication between the two of them. They have this thing, this language between them, which simply astonishes me. Maybe it’s because all that they have been through; the deployment, their pregnancies, it’s bonded them tighter than a normal friendship.

  “Rhea, Rosa; I don’t know if this is a good idea,” I finally chime in and say and they both turn to me, locking me in a heavy stare that makes me regret opening my mouth. I know I’ll never understand what they went through together, but still, I don’t want either of them in a bad spot with their husbands. I have enough love life problems for all three of us.

  “Ellie…you need to know what is in here, too,” Rosa says, nodding toward the envelope that is now in Rhea’s grasp. I just sit and watch as her fingers pry the little metal clasps up and my heart races. What the hell could be in this envelope that is so important to make Rosa urge us to read its contents?

  Before I realize i
t, papers are spread out over the tabletop and Rhea’s eyes are wide as they scan over the typed words. The pages are covered in blacked out marks, names and times being redacted for security. It was probably one of the reasons Reno could take the papers from the office. I see the same company header on a lot of what looks like inner office communication and I pick one of the papers up, noting the name is Savage Security, based out of Washington D.C.

  Picking up more papers and seeing that whomever was sending the faxes and emails is talking about working with a group called Ansar al-Din, a tight tension starts to build in my chest. “Nationwide press will be all over it,” it says in one part, followed in the next paragraph by: “Ansar al-Din will be there in force”, after sentences of redacted information.

  “What is this group they keep mentioning?” Rhea asks after more than ten minutes of silence between the three of us, the only sounds being that of shuffling papers and the two babies mumbling. I come across a list of names, but most of them are just black lines. Rolling over them, I stop on a Bobby and a Jack. Nope, I tell myself, it’s just a coincidence.

  “Ansar al-Din is an extremist terrorist group that has members and factions all over Iraq,” Rosa says with an anger evident in her voice that makes a shiver run over my skin. Looking to my cousin, I see that Rhea is feeling it, too; her knuckles turning white as she balls her fists on top of the table. “They’ve been tied to some car bombings, suicide bombings, and deaths involving this company’s employees.” Rosa taps her nail on the Savage Security logo and my spine prickles again.

  No, that can’t be their names on that list. There are millions of other Bobby’s and Jack’s out there, what are the odds that those names are my Bobby and Jack?

  “So these papers… they are telling me that our husbands are on a team that is goin’ after this Savage Security?” Rhea asks Rosa and she nods, shuffling the papers and putting a few in front of my cousin. I see Rhea’s eyes flowing over the papers and I can tell when her anger boils. “These guys are setting up their employees? Fuckin’ shit,” she slams her hand down on the table, scaring not only me but the babies, too, and Charlie squeals in fright for only a second before returning to his Winnie the Pooh toy and shoving it in Marisol’s face.

  Reading all of those papers over more thoroughly, I take in what Rhea had, and my anger boils along with my fear. This company is using their employees, veterans and highly trained civilians, as bait for media coverage? They are also teaming up with groups of Marines and might be setting them up just for media exposure, leading to more injuries and a few deaths. What kind of bastards are these? My cousin’s husband and my friend’s husband might have just jumped into a shit storm, which also might include my brother and Bobby.

  “You need to put this back.” Rhea shakes her head, taking the papers from my hand and slipping them along with the others back into the envelope, pressing the clasps back down and holding it out to Rosa. “And you need to get that damn cabinet fixed. I know they couldn’t tell us anything, but God damn it… They could have left a better note than jus’ sayin’ they are off on a case. Chad could’ve at least woken me up for Christ sake.”

  “Yup.” Rosa gives me a small smile as she takes the file from Rhea, tucking it back into her diaper bag. “I’m gonna kick my husband’s ass when he gets back. Walk out with just a note sayin ‘I’ll see you later, gotta go on a case’,” Rosa mocks her husband’s voice and when Rhea breaks out in a little giggle, I can’t help but join. “But this,” she points into her bag, I’m guessing indicating the file, “this stays between the three of us, right?”

  “Right,” Rhea and I echo at the same time and then it’s dropped for now. I still don’t know how they can switch it on and off so easily, while it stews inside of me. I know, deep down, that the Bobby and Jack on that list are my Bobby and my Jack, and it’s causing a sickening feeling in my stomach to rise. What are the chances of both my brother and the man I love working for the same Private Security Company? One in a million I think, but it looks like it’s happening.

  “So!” Rosa’s voice has a cheery and mischievous tone to it all of a sudden and she winks at me when I turn my attention from the light snowfall in the backyard. “I say we get Kendall and head out to the cabin, just for the hell of it. We can have a little girls and babies time since neither of you have to work this week.”

  I had totally forgotten that Rhea and I are off of work at Victoria’s Secret because of some water damage. Part of the ceiling had collapsed Saturday night, thankfully after they were closed and there was no one working overnight, and according to the phone call from our manager last night, it still hasn’t been fixed and won’t be until Friday. Then OSHA has to come in and inspect, so we are off until further notice pretty much.

  It stinks, because when I’m at work I rarely have time to think about Bobby, and missing him. Rosa clears her throat and I snap my attention to them, seeing that they are staring at me.

  “What?” I ask, trying to not let the memory of Bobby that flashes through my mind be visible in my features as the heat rolls through my body, but I spot the smile on Rhea’s lips.

  “You up to a weekend at the cabin, Ell?” she asks, rising and making her way to the still squealing and playing babies in the playpen. She scoops up little Charlie, kissing him on the cheek before setting him in my lap. He immediately starts playing with the ties to my hood and I pinch his cheeks. Maybe a change of scenery with my closest friends will do me good.

  “Sure,” I smile, “why the hell not?” Maybe the distraction of my favorite little ‘nephew’ and friends will keep me from thinking too much about what the three of us just learned about. I’m sure that’s what they are thinking too as Rhea calls Kendall, but like I promised; it’ll stay between the three of us.

  No doubt they’ll stew about it when we get out to the cabin and I watch the kids for them when they have a few drinks with Kendall. I’m sure we might have more than a few whispered, drunken conversations about it, but isn’t that what having girlfriends is for; to vent about the men in your life and giggle about it later?

  At least I hope we’ll be able to laugh about it later.

  ~~~~

  Bobby

  December 8

  The little speaker on my alarm clock is blaring ‘So What I Lied’ by Sick Puppies from my phone as I’m getting ready for my shift. Pulling my boots on and lacing them up, in the same fashion I have since going through basic and BUDS, I stand to strap on my black flak jacket. No desert camo anymore, just black. No SEAL emblem or Team logo; just the Savage Security skull and crossbones with a rifle down the middle of it.

  I’m not going to lie, I miss my SEAL brothers. I miss the way we were always in sync, no matter how long we were apart for whatever reasons; whether we were called to assist another Team or off on a small mission, it was always like falling into place when we were together. Here? Well, here it’s okay, but there are a lot of egos to deal with and you know me; I’m big headed and cocky so those egomaniacs of which I am included, we often butt heads.

  Three rapid knocks bring me from my zone and I swing around to see Hatter leaning up against my open door frame, that always present cocky smile on his face. “What’s up, mother fucker?” he says, tossing me a can of Red Bull that I catch easily before it smashes into my small mirror. His presence in my room shocks me because ever since the poker game, Jack hasn’t talked to me much. I bet I’d act the same way once finding out a guy I’m working with was involved with my little sister. Luckily, I’m an only child so that’ll never happen.

  “Gettin’ ready to change over, you?” I ask, turning back and getting back to checking my weapon. Routine, routine, routine. It’s what makes mistakes less likely to happen. I have to stop an asshole remark from leaving my lips when Jack snatches one of my apples off the top of my little fridge, flopping down on my bed and biting into it. He crunches it so loudly that I want to punch him in the teeth, but I just smile sarcastically at him and he does the same.


  “Yeah, I’m working shift with you,” he mumbles through the apple as he takes another bite, flipping through the magazines on my bedside table. If he’s working shift with me, he better stop flapping his gums and get his ass in gear, and I give him a raised eyebrow as I eye his attire. “My flak and gun are in the hallway. I didn’t want you to think I was coming here to kill you.”

  I knew it would come to this, the older brother’s warning, and I straighten a little, shrugging my shoulder and slipping my communication piece around my throat while the ear piece rests on my shoulder. I turn to look at him head on and I see the anger and worry warring within the normally sarcastic and joking guy.

  “Tell me how my sister is doin’? And tell me how you met her?” he says with a level of sincerity and hurt that pulls at the wall around my heart. The same wall where I have closed in my feelings for Ellie, to not affect my job. I don’t want to fucking talk about her, but as I look back down in his grey eyes, I finally see the guy and not just the asshole joker. Taking a deep breath in and leaning against my mini fridge, I cross my arms over my chest and look at the worn carpet in front of my boots.

  “I met Ellie through your cousin, Rhea, who is now married to my former Chief, Chad Payne,” I say slowly and seeing Jack nod, I continue. I don’t go into deep detail, but I tell him about my deployment and my injury, coming home and thinking she wouldn’t want me but when she accepted me, I knew I loved her. I tell him about the deep friendships forged in our little group there in Wakefield and he laughs at some of the side stories I tell of fiascos I experienced with Chad, Reno, Harlan, Brad, and Garth.