Courage runs deep, p.11
Courage Runs Deep, page 11
“I’m not going away, Neha. I need to explain about… That.”
“I don’t care to hear your explanation.” She gave him her back and took one step away when he grabbed her and pulled her back to him.
“No, Neha. I’m not going to let you put up walls between us. I get it, you’re exhausted. You just got back from being underway and came home to this, I’m sorry. But I’m not letting this happen.”
He’d wanted expression and emotion from her. Now he got it. And what he looked at was the last kind of emotion from her. Anger and dare he say it hate.
Davin had been wrong, he wanted something else from her now. Love. Full on, one hundred percent love.
Chapter 10
Neha wanted to scream and yell. She’d been pushed to the end of her rope. Davin wanting to insist on this confrontation had been the tipping point. She’d been holding on, barely, but she had been through seeing him kissing another woman, getting his call that her place had been broken into by her brother, coming back and seeing the destruction of her sanctuary. She’d bled her inside cheek trying to keep herself in check during the cleaning and all she wanted to do was curl up in her bed and cry herself to sleep.
But no, he wouldn’t let her.
“Just can’t stop pushing can you,” she seethed, lifting her head and meeting his gaze head on.
No remorse in there for locking lips with a knockout. There was desire but hey, he was a man and was possibly horny.
I am. Well, the horny bit not the man part.
“If that is what it takes, yes.”
He stepped closer and she wanted to jump in his arms and just let him hold her. Chase away the fear and unease she had about everything.
It wasn’t going to happen and she locked her knees to keep herself in place.
“Fine. Let’s hear the excuse.”
“That was Adele.” His eyes crinkled in the corner and she fought back the urge to smooth that away.
“You say that like it should mean a fucking thing to me. Which, newsflash it doesn’t.”
“You going to be okay, Neha? Or do you want us to stay?” Renny asked the question.
Her friend was in full mama bear mode.
“I’ll be fine. He’s not going to be long. Thank you,” she said for looking at them. “For coming.”
“You’re our girl, there’s nothing we won’t do for you and you know we’ve always got your back.” No denying the emphasis was put on some words for Davin. She took hugs from each of them.
“I’ll be back later with supper.” Renny kissed her cheek once more, leveled an icy look to Davin and herded the others out.
This left her and Davin alone. Shoring up her weakened and failing defenses, she met his gaze once more.
“Say your piece because right now, I don’t give a fuck. Not about why you think her name should mean a damn thing to me, and why you want to talk about this.”
He inched closer, almost hesitant in his action. Almost because he didn’t stop until he brushed against her.
“Fuck I’ve missed you,” he said, his words falling on a guttural groan.
And those were four words she would have believed if she’d not seen this other woman call his name and jump into his arms before kissing him.
“How nice for you.”
A muscle in his jaw flexed and he took a deep breath. He raised a hand and placed it along the outline of her face, not actually touching her skin but it didn’t matter, she could still feel his heat. And as it always had, it moved from him to her. Burrowing deep under her skin and sinking everything this man could come to mean to her even more into her.
“Adele is the woman who broke my heart years ago.”
And the hits kept on coming. Her exhaustion was neck and neck with her anger and she could only hold one back. She focused on exhaustion.
“Then fucking get out of my house and get back to your woman.” She shoved him in the chest and whipped around.
“No.” Davin was right there, his body pressing against her back. His arms around her waist, fingers splayed over her belly. “I’m exactly where I want to be. Where I’m supposed to be. With my woman after she’s come back from deployment.”
“Not when you come in here after some other skank plastered her lips all over you.” She dug her fingernails in her palm, hoping she would stop before truly ugly words slipped free.
“She left me, years ago. Cheated on me and left. She killed my belief in love and I hadn’t given a damn about another relationship until one day on base I saw a woman on my range who kickstarted my heart.”
“So go find her.”
His lips trailed along her neck, sending shivers through her. Weak, he made her so weak in the flesh.
“I’m with her right now.”
“I can’t do this, Davin. I’m not in control of most of my life but who is in it and who’s not, is something I can control for the most part.”
He turned her toward him, and she wavered. It would be so perfect to push up on her toes and kiss him. But all she could see was that woman against him, holding the hard body she loved so much.
Love?
That was a thought she needed to get rid of right away. This was only going to lead to heartache for her.
More heartache.
“Neha, baby. Talk to me.”
Her brain agreed with him but her heart won and it was shattered. “No. I need you to leave.”
She opened the door and sucked a sharp breath. Standing at her door, hand raised to knock was none other than the woman who’d just been kissing Davin.
“Can I help you?” she bit off.
“You? You’re Neha?”
“I take it you’re Adele.”
Her smile was cutting and cold. “So he has told you about me.” She lifted her head and in a second it went from icy to sensual and seductive. “Davin honey. I’m here. We have things to discuss, lover.”
Neha swallowed as the woman brushed by her into her place as if she had the right to be there. Eyes burning with tears, she walked away, ignoring the shout from Davin and whatever else followed.
She held her phone to her ear and waited for it to be picked up. It was plucked from her hand and someone swept her up in their arms. The world around her went fuzzy and she passed out.
When she came to, it was late afternoon, the shades on the window were drawn. Shaking still with exhaustion and incredulity of everything that had gone on she slowly sat up. It wasn’t a place she recognized.
What she did was the man who walked in the room. Davin Bly.
He approached the bed slowly and offered her a bottle of water. Without a word, she accepted it. After opening it and swallowing a nice portion of it, she closed her eyes as she allowed her head to drop forward.
“I have nothing to say to you.”
“I know, baby. I know you don’t but I have something to say to you and I need you to listen to me.”
She had no fight left in her.
He must have taken her silence as agreement for he sat close to her. So close in fact she now had him against her back. He had his right foot on the floor and his left leg stretched along hers.
His strong hands rubbed up and down her arms and despite her best efforts, she succumbed to his touch. He kissed her shoulder and her neck before tucking her close to him.
“There is nothing between myself and Adele. I hope you know I’m not that kind of guy. I may have let how she left me color my view on relationships but that’s all she is to me now. There is someone far more important to me in my life and I’m not ready to stop fighting for her.”
“She kissed you.”
“Yes she did. I didn’t kiss her and if you were watching I know you saw me push her away.”
“No,” she lied.
“I only have one woman I want in my life, Neha. That’s you.”
Her phone lit up beside her leg. She ignored it. Right now she couldn’t take anything else. She just couldn’t.
“Fine.”
“What’s that mean?”
“Simple word, simple definition.”
His lips brushed her cheek. “Give us a chance, Neha. Please.” Another kiss. “Give me a chance.”
She was being torn apart from the inside and she had to get away. “Where am I?”
“We’re in a hotel room.”
“I’d like to sleep now.”
She could feel it. He wanted to say something more but instead he lay them down and spooned with her. With her eyes closed, she could almost pretend nothing had changed, that this past six months hadn’t been hell.
Even so, she did fall back asleep. When she woke, he was in the shower and she could hear it running.
And that’s what she did. Ran.
* * *
Davin rushed through his shower not wanting to leave her alone for long. But in truth, he swore he could still smell the sharp scent of Adele’s overpowering perfume and that wouldn’t do. He needed to be clean for Neha. His woman.
There was something more going on here and he wanted to know what it was. He’d not heard any scuttlebutt from the cruise but then he also wasn’t on base to pick it up. Killing the streams of water, he reached for the towel and ran it over his face and upper body swiftly. As soon as he had it around his waist, he left the bathroom and froze.
She wasn’t there.
A low growl of anger boiled up and he stalked to his phone. Yanking it up he called her. Swearing again when it went straight to voicemail. He left her a message and sent her a text.
Then he called his brother.
“Get it all worked out?” he answered.
“No, she fucking ran.”
“Ran? Didn’t you go to her place?”
Davin walked to the balcony and stepped outside into the afternoon sun.
“I did. Then Adele showed up.”
“Jesus fucking Christ man. I got nothing for you other than fix this shit.”
“I’m trying. I took her to a hotel and she bolted when I was in the shower.”
“Did you run after her?”
“No. Not sure when she left, knowing her she’s already on the back of some fucking crotch rocket breaking all kinds of speed laws.”
“You do know Sugar is gay, right?”
“Doesn’t fucking matter. He’s got my woman and I don’t.”
“It was your ex who showed up, not hers, bro.” There was a loud banging behind his brother. “Hang on.”
“Where is she?”
Davin frowned as he recognized the voice. Renny.
“She’s not here. Davin and she were at a hotel, but she bolted. We thought she was with you, Sugar, or Cindy.”
“I suggest you tell your brother to let her call me. She’s not answering her phone. We don’t know where she is.”
“You’re on speaker, Dav. Tell Renny you don’t know where she is.”
“I don’t Renny. She left me here. I thought she would have reached out to one of you three.”
“None of us have heard from her since we left her apartment.”
Unease exploded within him. Dashing back inside, he shoved into his clothing in record time. “Don’t move, I’m going to check with the front desk.”
He bypassed the elevator and ran down the five flights of stairs. Hurrying to the front desk, he waited for the man to finish his call.
“Can I help you sir?”
“The woman I came in here with. Did she go by?”
“I’m sorry sir, I’m not sure.”
He pulled up a picture he had of her on his phone and showed the man. “I need to know and if you weren’t at this desk for the past thirty minutes, I need to speak to the person who was.”
“I recognize her, sir. She came down and got into a car. Uber, Lyft, friend. I’m not sure. She didn’t say anything when she went by.”
“Make and model?”
He dialed his brother as the man thought. “Hang on Tav. I’m getting a description of the car she got into.”
“Dark sedan. Newer model. I never saw the driver and I’m sorry but I don’t have anything more than that to tell you.”
He ran for the door and out into the lot. “Get the surveillance and let me know more,” he commanded his brother. Then he hung up and ran faster.
In his Jeep, he rushed to the base and moved through the area she typically parked, nothing there of her vehicle. He went to her complex and found her car where it normally sat. Even though he didn’t think it would result in anything, he made his way to her door and knocked. No answer.
The disquiet within him rose. Something was wrong. She needed him and he wasn’t there. He was unable to protect her.
Swearing, he went back to his vehicle. Seated behind the wheel, he thought about how he was going to track her down. A throat clearing brought his eyes back open. His brother, Renny, Sugar and Cindy were there.
“What’s the plan?” Sugar asked.
“My boys are ready if we need them,” Tav said tossing a bag on the floorboard and hopping in the passenger seat.
The other three climbed in the back.
“I don’t know where to start looking.”
“What about some of the guys who had her image slapped on those porn images?” Cindy posed the question.
He and Tav whipped around. “What the fuck are you talking about?” Davin growled.
The other two looked at her but she didn’t drop his gaze. “I thought she would have told you. Her,” she snapped her fingers and Renny spoke up.
“COB.”
“That’s it. Took her aside and showed her a file of photos they’d taken from some of the guys on the sub. They had porn stills and had put her photo over the woman in the image.”
“A lot of.” Sugar picked up one of each girls’ hand.
Rage boiled within him. “What, if anything, did she say happened to those guys?”
“Nothing. She told us that he’d told her they were being punished.”
“Fucker also told her she should walk with others and not alone because it wasn’t safe.”
Red clouded his vision.
“I’m going to base.” He faced the front. “Get out and I’ll meet you at home as soon as I have my answers.”
“You know I’d be there at your side if I could.”
“I know, Tav. Thank you.”
They all climbed out and he drove away. This time he didn’t stop until he was by the range. He parked where he usually did and walked to his office.
“Fuck!” he punched the wall, grimacing over the pain and the subsequent hole he’d just created there.
With his uninjured hand he called the Puerto Rico. He requested to speak to the CO. Enough of this shit.
The man said he could come down and talk. That was all he needed. So he set off at a jog and made good time down that pier. Nodding at the base security he passed as he ran, he continued. Nothing and no one was going to stop him.
Letting the Officer of the Deck know who he was there to see, he paced as he waited. His unease and anger growing with each passing second.
“You asked to speak to me, Commander Bly?”
He looked at Captain Allen. He looked like a sub captain. Weathered and built of the kind of stuff you only got from serving beneath the waves.
“This is about Lieutenant Kirk.”
The man lifted a brow and gestured to him to step off out of the way so they couldn’t be overheard.
“How do you know my officer?”
“She’s my girlfriend. And I’m worried. Right now, we don’t know where she is. I’m wanting to know what happened to the ones who had the porn where they put her head on the image? Are they out, are they ones I need to be worried about?”
His expression shuttered and grew angry. “You’re the Range Officer.”
“Yes sir.”
“Who the fuck said something to you about anything like that. I’ve never heard anything about it.”
“Perhaps then I should speak to the COB because he was the one who showed the file to her. And told her not to walk alone because it was dangerous.”
Anger lashed his eyes. “Petty Officer,” he yelled to the man on watch.
“Yes sir?”
“Get the COB up here asap.”
“Aye aye, Captain.”
“I hate people telling me things about my boat I don’t know and I get a borderline sadistic thrill from alerting them to the fact they were wrong. And I hope to fucking god I get to do that to you.”
“So do I, but my woman doesn’t lie.”
She may be pissed he was tossing it around they were a couple but he’d risk anything to make sure she was not hurt or worse. Crossing his arms, he waited impatiently for this COB to show up.
“Captain?”
They both looked at another commander who walked up. Lewis by the name tag.
“I didn’t send for you, XO. I sent for COB.”
Captain Allan faced the petty officer. The commander shifted in front, blocking the view.
“COB isn’t on board. He switched with me. What’s going on?”
“Tell me what you know about all this porn they found on the deployment with a face of one of my sailors taped over them.”
He shook his head, his eyes wide. “What are you talking about? We didn’t have anything like that happen on the cruise.” Lewis crossed his arms as well. “What’s going on sir? Commander?”
“Bly here is Kirk’s boyfriend and she’s missing. COB supposedly showed her a file of porn stills that had her face on the woman.”
“Fuck,” Lewis swore. “Women don’t belong on a sub.”
Davin growled and stepped forward. “That’s your goddamn response to that? That women don’t belong? Nothing about how the men in your command should be better? It’s a wonder she survived this long. If I didn’t need information so bad, I’d beat your ass right here.”
“And I’d let him,” Allan said. “We’ll speak on that later. Right now, we need to find COB.”
Fast.
Chapter 11
