SCAR_A Dark Military Romance Page 12

  “What have you been doing to the girl, Tom?” Ken says, taking in my disheveled appearance, my eyes puffy from crying, my bandaged hand.

  How do I explain everything that just happened? How do I put words to my relief and my glee now he’s here, and the pain I went through when I thought he wasn’t coming, and the chaos that Tom unerringly guided me through, just as he has every time my world has threatened to fall apart since I got here?

  I look at Ken and smile. “He’s been putting me back together again.”

  9

  MARY

  “I missed you.”

  His voice is deep and rough against my ear. I am the best kind of tender and sore and swollen because it feels as though he has been inside me every minute since he returned. Our lovemaking is passionate, but it’s also desperate. We need each other so badly it hurts. Even with my pussy gripping his dick, I can already feel his absence.

  We’re here together, but we’re also so damn far away from each other. He will have to leave soon and then the distance will rush in between us. This is a little oasis in the midst of the war we’ve been fighting since we met. He is fighting a known enemy. My battle is a secret I keep even from him.

  “I missed you too…” I gasp, my clit grinding against his pubic bone. He has me pinned on my back, his muscular body rising above me in a powerful arc. He is so fucking handsome that it hurts to look at him sometimes. I can’t believe he wants me. I can’t believe he’s mine. This can’t last forever, but for now, it’s everything.

  “You promise you were a good girl for Tom?”

  He slides his hips back and forth in long, languid strokes as he puts me through a casual sexual inquisition.

  “I was good enough,” I moan. “The house is still standing, isn’t it?”

  “That’s something,” he chuckles, slipping his fingers into my mouth, giving me something to suckle on as he thrusts deep inside my wet channel. I look into his eyes and suck obediently. There’s no shame with him. I am the woman he sees. I am whatever he wants me to be, and I am everything he imagines I am.

  Is it a lie? If it is, this is a lie I want to live forever.

  The days have passed in a wave of tangled sheets, sweat and orgasm. His hunger for me drives the darkness away, and I find shelter in his arms. I start to believe that this could be how it will be in the future. He and me together, living quiet little lives in a quiet little suburb.

  “What are you thinking about?” He pulls his cock out of my pussy and drags the tip of it over my puffy lower lips.

  “Nothing.”

  “That’s not true,” he says, rubbing the hot head of his cock over the bud of my clit.

  “I don’t know,” I moan softly. “I can’t even think when you do that.”

  He pulls away entirely, leaves my pussy aching for him. “Can you think now?”

  “No,” I whine, reaching for him as the cold comes in. I need his body. The hardness. The heat. The protection from the dangers we can see and those we can’t. I have never been so safe before.

  “You’re a greedy girl,” he chuckles, giving me what I want, pushing back inside me, filling me up again.

  I’m not just greedy. I’m starving. I have hungered for this all my life.

  KEN

  It’s good to be home.

  Truth be told, I wasn’t sure she’d be here by the time I got back. Tom’s place is about as safe and suburban as you can get, and I know this girl has almost zero tolerance for either of those things.

  He’s done an incredible job with her though. His particular brand of discipline can be hit and miss depending on who the recipient is. I had an inkling she might take to it, but she was also so damn mad when she left Afghanistan I didn’t know if she’d even give him a chance. I’m so grateful to Tom for keeping her here, keeping her alive, keeping her more or less on one piece. It’s not easy to do that where this one is concerned.

  I’ve missed her every day. But I was glad she wasn’t over there. We were exchanging fire every damn day. In the end it took reinforcements and a sustained campaign to retake the area. I’ve seen a lot of death lately. I desperately needed to see life. Needed to be here, in this sanctuary Tom’s made. Needed to be with her.

  I have a month of leave. It’s not going to be enough time, but we’re going to have to make it enough time. We’re going to have to somehow try to fit as much of each other into the next few weeks as possible. Judging by the fact she refuses to leave my side for even a second, I think she wants the same thing.

  So far, she’s had three weeks with Tom. That’s three times what she had with me, and they’ve obviously been bonding. I can’t help but have a spark of jealousy, because I’m here for a month and then I’ll be gone again.

  That’s not enough for her. It’s literally not sufficient company, love, or care. She needs Tom, and I think he needs her too. But he can’t give her what I can.

  Right now she’s curled up so tightly with me, her arm wrapped around me like she’s afraid I’m going to disappear out from under her.

  Beneath the sheets, my cum is leaking from between her thighs. She’s covered in a light sheen of sweat, mine and hers. I couldn’t resist having her almost as soon as I got back. She was just as desperate for me as I was for her. We fucked like rabbits, probably chased Tom out of his house with the noises we were making.

  When she wakes up, I’ll make love to her again. And again. We don’t have much time together, but I’m going to make the most of it.

  For now, I lie here next to her, just watching her sleep. I have never loved any woman like I love Mary. There’s something that connects us. Something that distance and war and time can’t break. I want to be with this woman forever.

  Every time I left the military in the past, I got pulled back in. That’s not going to happen again. For the first time in my life, I can’t wait to be a civilian. It’s going to be my turn to be a lover and a husband. We’ll get our own house together. We’ll get a dog. Maybe we’ll adopt a kid or something down the track. We have our whole lives ahead of us, and I can’t wait to live mine with her.

  I’ve just got to get through this last stage of deployment. And she’s got to survive without me. Though she has help in that department. Tom has been feeding her well, I can tell. She has a healthier glow about her, her skin and her hair look better than they did, though not being in the vicious Afghanistan climate would help with that too.

  The need to pee and a growling in my stomach finally makes me get up and leave her curled up and sleeping in bed.

  Tom is cooking us all dinner. He’s such a fucking good guy. Always has been. Was a huge loss when he retired, but as a medic he’d seen enough carnage to last him a lifetime, and not just the enemy, but our boys, and civilians of all ages. He’s retreated here to live a comfortable life, and I hope I haven’t fucked that up for him too much.

  “Hey man.”

  “Hey. Sleep good?”

  “Yeah.”

  He hands me a beer and we sit in the silence men sit in when they’re comfortable with each other.

  “She’s looking good.”

  “Good,” he says.

  There’s a long silence. He used to cook steak when I came home, until I pointed out that the searing can smell like other things. Now he puts on a sea food spread. There’s lobster already cooked and waiting, making my mouth water.

  “That hospital she talks about being in…” Tom says. “Tell me it’s not still…”

  “Gone,” I reply. “Very, very gone.”

  “And the doctors?”

  “Also very gone.”

  “Good.”

  “Has she been okay?” I change the subject to escape the lie. I couldn’t do a fucking thing about that hospital. It was running at the allowance of several governments, a dark place where they could do their dark shit. But Tom needs to hear that it’s gone, or it will eat him alive. He’s too good a man for that, so I keep the darkness of the details to myself. In my line of work, I
’ve found a thousand pockets of hell here on earth. Sometimes we can take them out. Sometimes we have to let them be. It destroys good men.

  “She’s done her best,” he says, a diplomatic answer. “She’s told me some of the things that happened to her, and frankly, given those, I think she’s doing incredible.”

  “Yeah,” I agree.

  “She never lays down and lets the world just roll over her,” he says, that tone of admiration in his voice. “Hardest thing about dealing with her is getting her to let you look after her.”

  “Oh yeah,” I agree again. “That’s the whole reason I had to ship her out. Girl was going to try to win the war with nothing but her two fists.”

  We both snort with amusement.

  “You going to re-enlist when this tour’s over?”

  “No.”

  He nods.

  “Finally found something better, huh?”

  I want to be with Mary. I want to be there for her. She’s been hanging in there, and Tom has been doing his best, but it’s me she really needs.

  “Another six months,” I say with a stretch. “And then I’ll be out and back here, making your lives hell.”

  “Good,” he smirks. “Now go be greedy with your girl while you can. Dinner will be ready soon.”

  I don’t need to be told twice.

  10

  KEN

  We needed toilet paper. I wanted beer. There was no reason to think that running to the store was going to be a problem, so I did it, because that’s what normal civilian people do. People who aren’t constantly looking over their shoulders for terrorists.

  I can tell that Mary is enjoying the semblance of normality. Sometimes we exchange little smiles, shared and unspoken thoughts as to how strange and how good it is to pretend that the world is a safe place.

  But we are pretending. And I’m reminded of that the second I pull back up to the house. Something is wrong. All the blinds are shut, and that’s just weird because Tom loves having the sun shining in. There are also several near new vehicles I don’t recognize whatsoever parked in the vicinity. This, in a neighborhood where you can be fined for leaving your vehicle in the driveway. Whoever has been parking isn’t familiar with our ways and customs, and prefers rental vehicles.

  I leave the beer and TP in the car and draw my gun before I go into the house, but the moment I walk through the door, I realize how useless it is. Tom is sitting on the couch, a black eye coming up on the right side of his face. Mary is cable tied to a chair and gagged.

  The sight makes me want to murder every single one of the assholes who are standing in my brother’s house, but I restrain the impulse for the moment. Something is happening here. Something I need to understand.

  The leader of the intruders is a youngish, pale faced man with ultra blonde hair and blue eyes. When he speaks, he has a noticeable German accent.

  “We haff been expecting you, Ares.”

  “Yeah?”

  I grit my teeth and I wait for the explanation which seems to be forthcoming.

  “I am Herr Schnitzenwiess,” he says, speaking with clipped, efficient formality. “We are doing you the courtesy of letting you know that we are removing a spy from your midst. You have a reputation as a man well versed in the art of extractions, so it is best you know this now, before it happens. We would not like to kill a brave man such as yourself unnecessarily if you were to be foolish enough to come after us.”

  What the fuck is going on?

  “A spy?”

  He gestures toward Mary. “This woman’s name is not Mary Brown. It is Ekaterina Akova. She is a Russian spy. We previously caught her attempting to infiltrate our facility in Chile, and took her prisoner. You released her, and in doing so, released something very dangerous into the world.”

  Mary is not a spy. She is the least spy-like person I know. Spies are subtle and calm and calculating. Like this asshole in front of me.

  “I thought she was a journalist.”

  “She vas not a journalist,” he says, occasionally slipping into the German V for W sound. “She was a spy. Raised a spy.”

  I smirk and shake my head. “That girl is many things. But I can tell you now, she’s not a spy. She has the subtlety of a bulldozer and the stealth of a fireworks display.”

  “Ve did not say she was a very good spy,” he says flatly.

  This is ridiculous. Mary is not a spy. But if Mary isn’t a spy, then why the fuck are there foreign security agents standing in my brother’s house? And if I don’t believe them, then why aren’t I calling the cops?

  I look at her. They’ve gagged her, but I can see something hunted and haunting in her eyes. Something that speaks volumes. Sometimes, when you hear the truth, it seems like something you should have recognized all along. Maybe even something you did know, but tried to ignore.

  A tear is slipping down her cheek. That tear tells me more than any of the words this little shit is spewing at me.

  “We are taking her. Do not try to find her again. That would be a severe mistake on your part.”

  “You can’t have her,” I say, firmly. The odds aren’t great. There are two of them to every one of us and she’s tied up and only I’m armed but I will die before I let the same people who tortured her for months take her again, no matter what she is or isn’t.

  “You want to keep her? For what? You want to keep her like a kitten in your garden? She is a tigress, and she should be locked up for the greater good. We had her contained, until you were contacted by an intermediary for the KGB and sent in to play Rambo.”

  “You were experimenting on people there.”

  “Zat is not the point,” he says. “You think your own government doesn’t have testing facilities? You think they do not need to know precisely how new nerve agents, toxins, biological actors affect the human system? You think they do not carry out any testing at all? Or perhaps you think all that stalled back in the 60’s and since then they have only been vorking out how to distill the essences of rainbows?”

  I do not need his sarcasm

  “I’m pretty fucking sure we don’t have hospitals full of people held against their will being used as test subjects,” I growl.

  “You not know, because you are not paid to know,” he says. “You are paid to be Rambo and you are a very good Rambo, but you are no spymaster, and she is no little girl.”

  Tom lets out a low growl.

  “Oh yes, ve heard how you spoke to her. Very sweet. Like baby talking a grenade,” he smirks. “You had your fun, gentlemen. You had your use of her. We will finish with her.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “She is far too dangerous to live. She will be deconstructed and disposed of.”

  “You mean you’re going to torture and kill her. I can’t allow that.”

  “You have no choice,” he snaps, voice cold, his eyes almost reptilian in their inhuman disconnection. “We have evidence of you acting in accord with Russian agents. We have evidence of you taking one along on your duties, and then sending her home to infiltrate the homeland from your brother’s house. If I were to so much as breathe a word of this to your command, you would not just be discharged. You would spend the rest of your existence in a military prison. Your brother would likely be charged with treason too. You would both serve life sentences. And in aid of what? A spy who lied to you every moment of every day you knew her?” He gives a derisive snort. “We own you. You will do as you are told.”

  The rage I feel is unspeakable. These men need to know they can’t do this. I suspect they already do. This attempt to talk to me, get me to let them take her, it’s an effort to avoid the bloodbath they know will follow if I’m not on board with it. Smart on their part, but it’s not going to work.

  “I won’t let you kill her. If you kill her, I promise you I will destroy everything you stand for, and I will not be taken alive. I will go down fighting in her name. I’m not afraid to die, nor is Tom. So give us our girl, and get the fuck out of my brothe
r’s house.”

  “Men are always so villing to die for vomen,” he sighs. “You are a pitiful cliche.”

  “I’m a pitiful cliche with enough ammunition to shred you until there’s nothing left,” I say, my voice like cold steel. “And I know you don’t represent any current government. You don’t represent anything. The only reason I’m going to let you walk out of here today is because Tom just got his carpets cleaned.”

  It’s not a joke. Killing them would make a mess. Turn this place into a crime scene. Expose us all. These people do not represent the German government. They’re a splinter group from a time gone by. They’re the incarnation of an evil that will not die. I have killed many men like these. I will kill many more. But not today. Today is about keeping Mary and Tom safe, not shedding their worthless blood.

  “So brutal,” he laughs. “You want to be responsible for a Russian agent, Ares? Very well. You take responsibility for her. You continue your treasonous activities, which can only end in chaos and death. You will remain at my disposal if you do not wish to be reported. I will refrain from that for the moment. Give you a chance to cool down and think more clearly. She will only bring you pain.”

  With that, they leave, just file out of the house, leaving Mary bound on the chair. Tom and I rush for her. I cut the ties off her, pull the gag out of her mouth, and pull her into a hug.

  She’s crying her eyes out as I hold her.

  “I’m so fucking sorry,” she sobs. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Easy,” Tom says. “Take a breath. You’re safe.”

  “I’m not safe. None of us are. I told you that you shouldn’t let me stay here.”

  The tears course down her cheeks. She looks utterly miserable and defeated.

  “So it’s true, what they said,” I say, flatly, pulling back a little. Shit. Fuck. Goddamn. Part of me wishes she’d just denied it.