“He hasn’t made eye contact or reached for me either.” I ached for him to allow my fingers to caress his war-torn flesh, to read it like a blind man reads Braille. “This dropped out of his jacket pocket, I probably shouldn’t read it, in fact I know I shouldn’t, but it might give us a clue as to his state of mind and we’ll be able to help him.”
It sounded like a decent excuse, but the fact was,Iwas concerned for the mysterious, sexy man andIwanted to help him. He’d drawn me in and I wanted to know so much more about the Lieutenant.
Brad nodded his head as if giving permission.
I flipped open the first page and began reading…….
The way her hair falls around her like a black halo sends shivers of need through me. I adore the way the wind catches it and sends soft tendrils over her face and dancing out on the wind.
Her head falls back slightly, her chin tilts up when she laughs at something her friend says as they dance. It exposes the pulse beating in her neck. The wind kicks up, sending her scent my way. A bottle is in her hand and as usual, all the men are watching her.
A low groan leaves me, as I watch her dance, laugh and drink. She is stunning, but so volatile. It’s the influence of the drink.
The men don’t know she's with me, they don’t know she's mine. I will hunt them down and end them if they touch her. Still, she carries on dancing, locking eyes with each one in turn, breaking me with each emerald green stare, wishing that they were locked onto mine.
For the first time since I returned home, my body, my heart feels more than death and hate.
My hands are dirty, laced with bloodshed that wasn't mine.
The pain seeps from me, dragging me down into darkness. Pulling so much guilt into my core and screaming at my senses.
I'd been drowning, but then my eyes found hers and I finally, for the first time, feel like I can breathe.
Timing is everything maybe this is my time.
Maybe she could be mine.
But then, she wasn’t mine.
She belonged to the disease that took her from me and killed the man I had always wanted to be.
I glanced up from his notebook, my body hot with emotion for him.
“He’s broken in more ways than one, isn't he?” Brad’s voice drew my attention from furtively eyeing Kaden. “There are hundreds of those by the way.”
He locked his eyes on mine, he appeared to be searching for something within.
“Here.” he handed me a steaming hot cup of coffee, I didn’t even realise he’d left the room. “I can tell you anything you want to know.”
I raised the cup to my lips, peering over the rim at Brad. The bitter smell was welcome, familiar. It teased the senses.
“Everything.” I took a sip. “I want to know everything there is to know.”
I watched as he sat back in the chair by the window. His eyes darted to his sleeping friend, my heart ached when I saw the sadness in his eyes. He would be well aware of the inner battles Kaden is waging with himself. It would be a dance they both had taken part in far too many times.
“She was stunning, his Ari. Absolutely beautiful. She was a breath of fresh air in Kaden's life. He’d had it tough growing up with a father who was head of the police force and a granddaddy who was a Major-General in the army. Kaden spent all his free time at either at army or police camps. The training at both was relentless, conditioning him to be a beast. So, this here…” He waved his hand toward Kaden. “This is the result of what he was bred to do. It’s hateful and it’s poisoned him. I hated what had been done to him, but he said -Brady-boy, they wanted a mean killing machine without a heart and that’s what they’ve got.”
He stopped and sighed deeply.
“He had a tour of East Timor from 1999-2002 as a police officer and returned home on 25thApril 2002 - Anzac Day. He took up a position at the station with his Dad shortly after. When Ari barreled into his life, she had him freezing in his boots. She had that effect on all of the men, she could shoot pool and drink whiskey as good as any of them. Kaden fell for her hard.”
I watched as his voice trailed off, memories must have been crowding his mind. A smile curled at his lips, but pain danced in his eyes.
“He had never been as close to heaven as he was when he was with her. She was a heart stopper and he was gone at the moment her eyes looked into his.”
My eyes crossed to where Kaden lay. When he began to stir, my instincts kicked in - to heal, touch, mend, but I stayed where I was as pain pinched his forehead and his brows knitted together.
“You're going to try and save him, aren't you?”
