“Full disclosure, I did tell Ghost that he shouldn’t have married you without my permission.”
Becks rolled her eyes, but didn’t otherwise move.
“I also accused him of taking advantage of you.”
Becks dropped her forehead to his shoulder. “Anything else?”
“Nothing I want to repeat to my little sister.”
Becks slapped him upside the head before immediately embracing him tightly again. “I forgive you, but you better make one hell of an apology to him.”
“De—”
Before Liam could finish the sentence, a huge explosion echoed, shaking the entire building. Becks cried out as Liam dropped them to the floor, bracing himself over her like a human shield. It was over as soon as it happened, but those seconds on the floor with her brother over her felt like a lifetime.
Slowly, Liam lifted himself off her. He carefully helped her sit up. Blinking, Becks realized that the lights had gone out, and it was only the sunlight through the cracked shades that lit the room.
“What was that?”
Liam shook his head. “Explosion of some sort. It wasn’t here, but down the road a bit.” His narrowed eyes cast downward from the window to her. “Are you okay?”
Her elbow hurt a little, but she wasn’t about to tell him that. “I’m fine.”
An alarm, almost like the Amber Alerts on Becks’ phone, went off across the room. Becks looked over her shoulder to see Liam’s phone lighting up where it sat on the coffee table. Liam stood, and then helped Becks to her feet.
“That’s not good. That’s the club’s alarm.”
Becks’ thundering heart sank into her stomach. “What does that mean?”
Before Liam could answer, the apartment door behind them opened, and Cameron stumbled inside, looking more angry than scared.
“Cami!” Liam raced over to her, helping her inside before closing the door. “Are you okay?”
“No,” she whined, clinging to him. “I was on the fucking stairs and fell. I think I twisted my ankle.”
Liam immediately swept her up into his arms and carried her over to the couch. “I need to get in touch with the club.” He reached for his phone. “Becks, can you get her some ice?”
As if she just realized Becks’ presence in her apartment, Cameron’s head snapped over to Becks in the kitchen. Becks gave her a small, reassuring smile as she headed to the freezer. She might not like the woman, but that didn’t mean she was happy to see her hurt.
Becks was looking for an icepack in the freezer when she heard a feminine giggle behind her. At first, it seemed out of place given the severity of what was happening, but then it turned into a full on laugh. Dare she say, maniacal, but that seemed too Hollywood.
“What the fuck? Cami!”
Icepack in hand, Becks turned, expecting to see Cameron trying to do something sexual to Liam, like unbuckle his pants or take off her top. So seeing her brother’s girlfriend holding a massivegunon Liam, never even crossed her mind.
“This is just too good to be true!” Cameron laughed, getting to her feet. Liam was standing closer to the window than Becks had last seen him, like he’d been trying to get a look out to see what had happened. Cameron stood, no longer hobbling. “Now be a good boy, Ranger dear, and drop the phone. You too,” she added to Becks in the kitchen. “The bomb, it seems, went off early, but I now have something even better! I have both of you.”
CHAPTER 15
During the second phase of SEAL training, there was a test called the Pool Competency, or Pool Comp. The idea was to have the trainees ‘reset’ underwater. They would have their SCUBA gear on and the instructors would come down to the bottom of the pool to fuck with them. Turn off valves or tumble them until they couldn’t tell up from down, and expect the trainees to be able to fix all the problems, which progressively got harder, that the instructors created underwater. It sounded easier than it was, because the longer the trainees stayed under, the more hypercapnic they got. Statistically, though, if a trainee made it to that part of training, they would make it to the end, but there were the occasional dropouts.
Ghost had nearly been one of them. It wasn’t the physical tasks that got to him, but the mental panic. He had four chances to pass this trial, and he’d flunked three times. It hadn’t been until his fourth try that he realized this was his very last chance to become a SEAL. All the training, all the anguish, all the endurance, had led up to that very last moment—and he would ratherdiethan fail. As soon as his mind came to that conclusion,he was able to override all discomfort and accomplish what so few in the world could.
As the blackness faded and Ghost started to come back to himself, he had to push past the initial pain and force his mind to concentrate on problem solving. He couldn’t think about what had happened or why. He couldn’t concentrate on thinking about who else was hurt or how badly. First and foremost, he needed to get whatever was pressing down on his chest off him. He needed to be able tobreathe, or he would be no help to either himself or anyone else.
He knew several things, like that he was in the bar and there had been an explosion of some kind. It was too dark and dusty for him to see much, and breathing in all that debris just made each breath worse than the last. Based on feel, he was pretty sure something metal lay across his chest, like a support beam. The ringing in his ears increased as he placed his hands on the heated metal and pushed up. The beam barely moved, but enough for Ghost to be able to take in a slightly deeper breath. Unfortunately, that meant inhaling more dust too. He tried to breathe through his teeth to use them as natural filters, but it only worked but so well.
He couldn’t risk putting the beam back down, or it might crush him more. His arms straining, Ghost slid himself backwards. It was slow going, and excruciating, but eventually he got himself out from under the beam.
