I swallow hard as anxiety fills me. What could he possibly want to share.
“Your situation,” he pauses and looks me in my eyes. I feel all of these emotions radiating off of him, “my sister she had the same one.”
“Dean,” his name barely escapes my lips before he lifts a hand placing a finger over my mouth to quiet me.
“Let me get this out, Jo. Please,” the last word comes out as a true plea.
I nod.
“Man I am, honesty is everything. Before things change between us, you need to know me. The good, the bad, and the ugly.”
Tears begin to pool behind my eyes as a tiny bit of fear creeps in. What could he tell me?
“My dad died when I was a toddler. Mom did the best she could, but she died of a broken heart when I was in elementary school. My sister was ten years older than me. We lived with my grandparents until she turned eighteen.” He takes a deep inhale. “She met a man, an older man, fell in love. Moved in with him. Things seemed okay on the outside. It wasn’t until my grams died and gramps got dementia that it all went haywire. I was twelve, Destiny was twenty-two. She took custody of me. Living there, I felt the tension. She was pregnant, he shook her like a rag doll. I begged her to leave. Told her I would mow grass to help pay for things.” His face takes on a faraway look. “I even asked her to let me go into foster care if it meant she could get out with her unborn baby.”
“Dean,” I begin, and he shakes his head.
“Family is everything, Jo. Not just because I live in the Hellions world where we live for family. I was fourteen when it all fell apart to never be put back together again.”
I’m on alert as I see the broken behind his eyes.
“He came home drunk. Two years living with them, I knew it was going to be a bad episode. My nephew left a building block out. Chuck stepped on it and all hell broke loose. He picked my nephew up before my sister or I could get to him. With his hands around his neck, he literally squeezed the life from his body in front of us. Destiny screamed, begged, cried out to God. I rushed him, punching his sides before he dropped my now blue nephew’s lifeless body to the ground. My sister ran to her son, he wasn’t breathing. Hit after hit, I let Chuck wail on me hoping my sister could save her son. Blow by blow, I took them until I heard Destiny yell, ‘Stop!’ turning to her she had a gun in her trembling hands aimed at Chuck. He laughed as he held me in a choke hold. Taunting her he moved closer to Destiny. Once he could reach her, he took the gun. She was in too much shock.”
“Oh Dean, no,” I whisper thinking I know how this is going to end.
“He stood there, gun in hand, a smile on his face, and put the first bullet in his son. ‘Told you the bastard wasn’t mine,’ Chuck said before turning the weapon on my sister. Reacting, I rushed him at the side, the gun goes off. He misses. The butt of the gun comes down on my face because I looked to my sister instead of watching Chuck. The sound of the next round fires by my ear and I hear Destiny scream before the thump of her body hitting the floor. Scuffling, fighting for my life, the gun goes off again. Not feeling the burn of a bullet, I keep fighting Chuck. Again, he fires into the wall. Finally, I get the gun. I don’t think. I shoot.”
The tear escapes and falls down my face.
“That night Chuck Walters took everything from me. The cops pulled up within seconds, finding me holding the revolver, and everyone else in the house either dead or clinging to life. Stunned, I couldn’t speak. I let them think what they wanted. I wasn’t the best kid. Petty crimes, but I had a bit of a reputation and small-town life, Chuck was a good ol’ boy. I was arrested and charged with three counts of manslaughter. I spent a year in a juvenile facility awaiting trial.”
“What? It was self-defense,” I defend feeling anxious for the teenage boy who merely tried to save his family.
He nods, “Country Boy, his mom never gave up on me. She got me a lawyer since the appointed one kept telling me to take the plea deal. It took some time and a lot of money on their part, but I eventually cleared my name. Since I was still underage, upon my release I lived with Country Boy. My grandpa died in the nursing home before I got released. I’m not sure if he ever understood the truth of what happened, and I have to live with that. I couldn’t save her, Jo. But I promised myself I’d never lose someone else I care about to the hands of a man who was no man at all.”
Reaching out, I cup his face and feel the softness of his beard under my hand. “You are a good man, Dean O’Neal.”
He shakes his head. “Not good, just a man who was taught what is right. I’m telling you this, so you know the kind of man I am. I won’t ever hurt you or Justice, but I won’t ever back down from protecting you or the people I care about.”
This is the first moment I can ever remember feeling safe since the last night I spent with Jonah at home beside me. Deployments are lonely and scary. I was afraid while he was away. Jonah gave me a security I never had before and never thought I would feel again until this very moment.
Sliding my hands around his neck, I pull him to me. His hands slide up my thighs. Our breaths mix with the night air as his forehead rests against mine.
His voice is thick and low, “You sure about this? I want you Jo, but I don’t want you to feel rushed or forced.”
I nod before pressing my lips to his. “I want you, Dean. I can’t promise easy, but I can promise to try.”
His mouth crashes to mine as desire cascades through my body. Our lips tangle, demanding, urgent. I arch up, my fingers digging into his neck as he leans into me. His head drops to my neck. Twisting, I notice a sleeping bag and pillow in the back of the truck.
“Umm,” I mutter, and his attention moves from my neck to what I’m looking at.
“Been sleepin’ in the truck to hear better if your asshole ex decided to be a fool and come back snoopin’.”
My heart beats wildly in my chest. I don’t know what to think. “You’ve been sleeping in the back of your truck to keep a better eye on things because you know the kind of trouble Brett is?”
“Yeah, Jo. Shit I went through, he ain’t getting near you like he has in the past. The days of his hands being on your body are over.”
I scoot back into the bed of the truck, tugging on Dean’s shirt giving him the cue to follow. And follow he does.
