Chapter
One
Desiree “Olly” Lewis closed her eyes as she leaned back in her lounge chair, letting the sound of the waves crash into her to sooth her. The sounds of the sea gulls screaming out always relaxed her.
This was her safe space, the beach. It was the one place she could go to that would help ground herself when the demons came out to haunt her.
Right now, they were haunting her heavily. She blamed her brother for this round of issues.
Their last rescue wound up causing her brother, Jose, to join their group to assist with the rescue. And of course he wasn’t alone.
He’d brought his work partner, Tiny, who was also his roommate. Along with Tiny, he brought their younger brother, Teddy, and last but not least, the one person she had never been able to forget, Maxwell “Beast” Blackwell.
The one man from her past who still haunted her. The man who she thought hated her with the way he was so indifferent to her when she had dated her ex.
With her eyes closed and the sounds of the wave crashing onto the shore, and the sea gulls crying out, Desiree allowedherself to drift off into the past. She remembered the arguments with her ex, Bradley, and how he would tell her Max thought they weren’t right for each other.
Desiree accomplished things int he Army most women dreamed of. Things that even surprised her own parents.
She started out as a K-9 EOD handler and loved working with her K-9 Hades, which was an all-black German Shepherd. He’d been a damn good dog and did damn good at his job.
She’d tried out for the Rangers on a challenge from one of the asshats in her unit who believed that women were only supposed to fuck men, birth their spawns, and fix them their damn food on demand.
Not only did she pass the training, but she’d also left the asshat in the dust with her scores. She became the EOD specialist for her Ranger Battalion.
She’d met the love of her life while serving as a Ranger. Or so she thought.
They’d been together for a year when she came home early from an op that didn’t take them as long as they had figured, only to find him in their bed with another woman. It turned out he’d been cheating on her for the last six months of their relationship.
The woman knew he’d been in a relationship but didn’t care. She’d even been ballsy enough to tell Desiree that if she’d been more feminine, then Bradley wouldn’t have strayed with her.
Desiree decked both of them in the face and walked out. Bradley tried to beg her for forgiveness several times and asked her to come back to him, but she refused.
Each time she refused him, Bradley repeated what the bar chick said, thinking it would change her mind. Instead, when she found out he was trying out for the Green Berets, she followed right behind him.
While Bradley had stayed with the bar chick when he found out she was pregnant, Desiree took to the gym, determined to make the selection. She wasn’t going to allow this man to ruin her dreams.
She ignored Bradley the whole time they were training for the Green Berets. Something that pissed him off tremendously.
In the end, she passed selection and Bradley failed. She achieved something she’d never thought of dreaming about.
Desiree served ten years in total for Uncle Sam. She survived five tours of Afghanistan and finally said enough was enough.
Seeing the horrors she’d seen in the Middle East, and how women were treated played heavily on her. She gave it ten years of her life and all she got in return were enough nightmares to sustain her for the rest of her life.
During the course of their case, Desiree found out her entire relationship was based on a bet that Bradley had with another teammate of his. He’d never had feelings for her.
It explained the incident that had happened to her during her last tour in Afghanistan. The guy had been someone from Bradley’s Ranger team who got sent over with a group of Rangers to assist in several different ops.
Desiree didn’t want to admit to finding out that tidbit actually destroyed her confidence in herself. It made her doubt her self-worth.
When Desiree left the Army, she struggled for a while when she came back to the States. If it wasn’t for her best friend, Andrea “Ivy” Sterling, she doesn’t know where she would be right now.
They grew up together in Fayetteville, NC. Just outside of Ft. Bragg Army base. Both of their fathers served alongside each other in the Army for twenty years, so it was only natural they became best friends like their parents had.
Both women joined the Army together. Desiree went one way, while Andrea went another. Andrea got out after four years while Desiree stayed in, forging her own path.
After one particular night, Andrea talked Desiree into getting a motorcycle. That night changed her life and how she dealt with those nightmares forever.
