Page 51 of Loved by a SEAL

Whatever.

She had too much to worry about at the moment to wonder why he’d disappeared. She assumed it was some military thing, because hello, he’d up and left on Saturday as well.

It’s not like she could storm Little Creek looking for the man.

“Tell me what happened,” Morgan said as she pulled up.

“It’s a freaking long story,” Sarah said, climbing into her best friend’s car.

“I’d say so. What are you even doing here? You just drove back to Norfolk the other night. Oh my God, did you leave my place on Sunday and head straight to Commander Hottie’s?”

“What?” Sarah asked, looking at her in disbelief. “Of course not! I went home and went to work Monday. Then Rebecca needed me to watch the kids on Monday night because Patrick and the other men were gone and her friend was in labor. So I drove back to Virginia Beach. Then when I was sound asleep on the sofa—in my underwear, I might add—Ryan showed up.”

“Holy crap. He came looking for you?”

“In my dreams. I mean, no, I don’t wish that,” Sarah said, backtracking.

“Sure, sister. Well, go on, don’t leave me hanging. You’re at his house now, so clearly there are plenty of juicy details you’re leaving out.” She turned left and headed onto the main drag of Virginia Beach. “Where’s your car?”

“Oh. 32nd street. Or maybe 23rd,” Sarah said with a shrug.

“Gotcha. At least we have a range,” Morgan said, laughing. “Anyway, spill. He shows up in the middle of the night….”

“He came over to tell Rebecca about Patrick.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah. I don’t know much more than when I texted you earlier. Rebecca said he still hasn’t woken up, but I’m not even sure what that means. He had surgery, so he could just be coming out of anesthesia. And they just flew out a couple days ago. I mean I don’t even know for sure where they deployed to, because they can’t tell us. But throw in jet lag, the adrenaline from whatever mission they were on, stress…I don’t know. I’d probably want to sleep, too,” she said, trying to lighten the seriousness of the situation.

“Doesn’t Ryan know how he is?” Morgan asked, coming to a stop at a red light. “He’s their CO. If anyone can get an update on his condition, it should be him.”

“Oh, I parked right over there,” Sarah said, pointing across the intersection. “The garage near that tall hotel.”

“All right. I’ll drop you off over there.”

“And to answer your question,” Sarah continued, “I don’t think he knows much more than us. Patrick was airlifted to some hospital in Germany.”

“Wow. So you have no idea when he’ll be sent home?”

“No. I mean, I don’t even know how severe his injuries are. Ryan said he had shrapnel wounds, but that could mean different things. Some shrapnel wounds? A lot? I just have no clue.”

Morgan pulled up to the curb, turning on her hazard lights. “Do you want to grab dinner? I know you need to head back, but—”

“No,” Sarah said. “I should head out. It’s been long couple of days.”

“Hey! You still never told me why I was picking you up at Commander Hottie’s house.”

Sarah blew out a sigh. “I’ll fill you in later. The bigger question is why did he leave me alone in his bed?”

“His bed, huh?” Morgan asked, raising her eyebrows. “This must be some good story.”

Sarah laughed, recalling her afternoon with Ryan. Yeah, things had been great until he’d pulled a disappearing act. And she’d remembered the reason he’d shown up at the door in the first place. Patrick was wounded. The op somehow went wrong. She had a zillion things to worry about that, and Ryan shouldn’t even be on that list of problems. “I’ll fill you in later, okay?”

“All right. And let me know when you find out anything more about Patrick. Bye!” Morgan called out as Sarah shut the door.

Walking to the parking garage, she spotted her mini cruiser parked near the wall, just where she’d left it hours and hours ago. Good Lord, she’d been here all day long. What did they charge for a day’s worth of parking, anyway?

She walked over and unlocked the doors, letting out a deep breath as she sank into the driver’s seat. Despite having slept a few hours, she was exhausted. Emotionally drained. She needed to go home and just crawl into her own bed. Forget about Ryan for a couple of hours. Worry about her brother’s injuries in the morning.

She wanted to curl up and pretend all of it was nothing but a bad dream.

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