Page 29 of SEAL's Angel
Dawn shivered as dark thoughts ran through her mind. She didn’t need him to remind her. “I know.”
“If you need anything, Mrs. Randolph, you can call me.”
“Thank you.”
As she closed the door, she exhaled. Hopefully, they could put yesterday behind them and move on. Although thinking about Chase lost in the woods in the cold for days would give her nightmares for weeks.
* * *
After they’d finished with the kitchen, Jake and Rafe let Cindy go up to her room to play. The two men sat at the kitchen table drinking coffee. Rafe seemed to have accepted that Jake and Dawn were in some kind of relationship, and it eased the tension that had been simmering between them.
“When do we have to head back, boss?” Rafe asked.
“I’m waiting for an email or text from Tony. I’m hoping we can stay a few days. It depends. Before we left, Tony mentioned that Tex might have located Azfaar. Once the CIA confirms, we’ll be heading out again.”
“Finally. I knew if anyone could find that slippery son of a bitch, it would be Tex. Too bad the CIA hates using him.” Rafe leaned back in the chair and ran his hand through his hair.
“Yeah, it’s time we took that asshole down.” Azfaar had been behind the kidnapping of a missionary group who’d been building a school in Afghanistan. It had hit close to home since Meghan’s brother was one of the hostages. Cam’s fiancé, Miranda, had also been part of the missionary group. It had been a huge clusterfuck since Miranda was the daughter of a senator.
They’d rescued all the hostages and transported them via helicopter to Bagram Airbase. Only Meghan and Miranda were seriously injured and needed medical attention. But then Azfaar had sent a kill team to Virginia to finish the job. He’d gotten too close, and they’d almost lost Cam and Miranda, and their K-9 Halo.
When Dawn said goodbye to the officer and the front door closed, Jake and Rafe went into the living room to see how it went. Chase sat on the sofa and looked sad but relieved. The color that had drained out of his face when Spencer showed up had returned, and the scratches didn’t stand out as much.
“Is everything taken care of?” Rafe asked.
When they saw the look on Dawn’s face, they both stopped. Her cheeks were stained red, and even from across the room, Jake could see she was trembling.
“What the fuck happened. Shit, sorry. What’s going on?” Jake’s protective instincts kicked into high gear, and he strode across the room to make sure she was okay.
“I’m just angry. Furious and I don’t know how to let it out. I want to scream or punch something.”
“Hit me. I can take it, and if it will make you feel better, I’ll be your punching bag.”
At first he didn’t think she’d heard him, then she looked up into his face and her eyes were wide with disbelief. “You’d let me punch you? Are you crazy? What if I hurt you?”
“Angel, do you honestly think you can hurt me? I train for hours each day. I don’t think you could punch me hard enough.”
“I should be offended, but now, I just want to laugh. I’m picturing me pulling a Captain America on your chest and you flying backward across the room.”
Rafe howled with laughter, and so did Chase. Jake wanted to grin but didn’t want to push Dawn too far since her expression was still wary. But he’d succeeded in what he did best—diffusing the situation.
“Do you feel better now? If not, you really can hit me,” Jake said low enough that only she would hear.
“Yes, thank you. I’m still pissed off, but I don’t feel like I’m going to explode anymore.”
“Mom, if you exploded, it would be a huge mess,” Chase chimed in.
“You’re lucky I didn’t then, because you would be the one cleaning it up,” Dawn answered, but a smile softened her words.
“Want to tell us what has you so furious?” Rafe asked again.
“It’s my fault. I used a bad word,” Chase said.
“No, buddy, it’s not your fault,” Dawn said, “You were answering Officer Spencer’s question. It’s Joey I’m mad at. Has he used that word before?”
“No, it was the first time.”
“But you knew what it meant?” Dawn sat down next to Chase on the couch. Jake sat across from her, and Rafe took the other chair.
