Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 71858 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71858 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Also, while we were leaving, he’d told each of us to expect salary packages as well as any and all information we might need for our ‘jobs’ with him.
Hell, he even told us we would have a 401K.
“I’m okay with her being in a protected place,” I admitted. “If, at some point, she wants to finally get her feet wet again, I’m not sure how ‘okay’ I’ll be with that.”
Foster grunted out an ‘agreed.’
“I wasn’t expecting that today,” he said out of the blue. “Out of everything you could’ve told me, I hadn’t expected that. The last year has been tough. I realized she was pregnant, then she was having the baby, and on top of that she went to Montana. I thought this was all FBI related at first, and since I knew that you were a fighter pilot, and one day you’d end up with her anyway, I just told everyone that you were who she married. Said I loved the hell out of you. Gave all that bullshit to friends. Then when I realized that it was real, and I wouldn’t be watching my grandson grow up, it left a hollowness in my chest. But knowing that she was violated? I feel like my world’s been crushed. I never, not ever, wanted that to happen to anybody. Especially not my baby.”
His candidness was a breath of fresh air.
Son of a bitch.
If I could be half the father this man was, it would be beautiful.
“I took care of the beating him to near death part,” I admitted. “My trial for that was a botch job, though. I knew I had a shitty lawyer. The judge knew I had a shitty lawyer. And Toot had this ‘my girlfriend was abducted and sold into sex trafficking thing’ going on. That, and he was paralyzed, and the sympathy card was high for him.”
“I’ll have to go back and review the case,” he murmured softly. “I would’ve thought you’d have had extenuating circumstances as well. And you being let go from the Air Force dishonorably surprises me. I mean, I would’ve thought that they would’ve fought harder for it.”
Me, too.
That day that I’d been let go, it felt like a rock had lodged in my chest.
But that rock had been well worth it to know that I’d at least been able to vindicate my wife.
I’d never fly for the Air Force again, but then again, neither would Toot.
An eye for an eye.
I hated that Cannel was a victim. And, if I’d been in the position that Toot had been, there was no telling how I would’ve handled it.
However, I sure the fuck wouldn’t have given Cannel to them.
No way. No how.
“It doesn’t matter,” I finally said. “It’s over. I’ll never fly again with them. But Beckham’s safe. That’s all that matters to me.”
“You lost a year of your life,” Foster stated.
I looked at him.
“Worth it.”
Foster stood up, a grin on his face.
“You mind if I get a snuggle of that kid?” he asked. “I know that you haven’t gotten to see him much, but man, neither have I.”
I looked down at my son, placed a kiss to his fuzzy hair, and then lifted my hands so that Foster could get him.
Foster picked him up, and for the first time, I didn’t feel any animosity off the man.
“This is weird,” I admitted. “I have a house right over there still.”
“I know.” He grinned. “I’ve been mowing the lawn for ten years.”
I snorted out a laugh.
“I was going to suggest this place to Beckham,” I said. “It’s far from our jobs, but I think it might help her, having someone close in case she… panics.”
Foster’s eyes went hard.
“I’ll be here.”
Now only to convince my girl.
CHAPTER 25
Out of all the things I’ve lost, I miss my metabolism the most.
-Text from Beckham to Trouper
TROUPER
“You want to move there?” she asked in surprise. “Next to my parents?”
I watched as she stripped out of her clothes and started to toss them onto the floor.
“Having a live-in babysitter next door seems like a great idea to me,” I told her. “Does it not?”
She pursed her lips. “I mean, I guess technically you’re right. Having them close would be great. And if we ever needed to go do something, they’d be right there.”
Then her bra was gone.
“Something like what?” I asked, watching as her breasts swayed.
We hadn’t had sex since she’d had Hiro.
First, it’d been because she had too much going on with her body to even contemplate it. Then, I’d been transferred to the new prison.
But now, there wasn’t anything stopping me. Not one single thing.
I licked my lips.
God, did I want her.
Out of all the times that I’d had Beckham, and sadly that wasn’t nearly as much as I wanted, Beckham had turned me on.
But now, after she’d given me a baby?