Page 61 of Fighting Temptation (Men of Honor 1)
“Stop! Both of you, right now,” I scream terrified.
“Cooper please let’s just go inside,” Kayla begs, crying hysterically.
Finally Jaxson gets the upper hand and manages to pin Cooper, “You need to stop picking a fight with me and take your girlfriend into the house and figure out why the hell she thinks you’re fucking cheating on her.”
Jaxson shoves himself off Cooper and Kayla runs into the house crying. Cooper glares at Jaxson for a second longer then he shakes his head and follows behind Kayla. He punches the side of his house on the way in and slams the door behind him.
I look over at Jaxson, “What do we do? I can’t leave her here with him while he’s like this?”
“Jesus Julia he’s not going to hurt her. He’s just majorly pissed off, with good fucking reason,” he shakes his head, “let’s go!”
I follow hesitantly.
The car ride home is filled with silence, except for the sound of my crying. When we walk into the house Jaxson looks at me for the first time since leaving Cooper’s. “What the hell were you girls thinking? I mean Christ Julia, this is fucking Cooper we’re talking about here.”
“I know Jaxson, believe me we feel terrible, this isn’t something we just assumed over petty jealousy. The evidence was damning.” I tell him about everything that happened and why we thought he was cheating.
“Ok fine, but what about after you saw me there with him? I mean right there didn’t that clue you in?”
I look away from him now, remembering what Kayla and I first thought, and it must show in my expression.
“Holy shit! You guys thought we were both fucking her didn’t you?”
I don’t bother to confirm.
He shakes his head and laughs bitterly, “This is too fucked up, even for me. I’m going to bed,” with that he turns and walks upstairs, without another word.
After locking up I crawl into bed but I can’t help being worried about Kayla. I send her a quick text telling her to call if she needs me then I cry myself to sleep.
I don’t know if it was from the fucked up night that happened earlier with Kayla and Cooper or from Sawyer bringing up what the Admiral wants from us, but somehow I knew nightmares would plague me that night and I was right.
I’m back in that fucking hell hole, the cold damp cell reeking of blood and death. My wrists are chained above my head, as my broken body burns and aches from the pain I had endured earlier. Christ! A part of me almost wishes they would pump those fucking drugs in us that they did at the beginning, at least then I would be too fucked up to feel all this.
No. It’s good they stopped, I need to keep a clear head if I’m going to get out of this. I look over at Sawyer and Cade. Shit! If I look as bad as they do, then no wonder why those assholes think they don’t have to worry about incapacitating us with those fucking drugs anymore.
Sawyer groans and looks over at me, “You look like shit!”
I grunt, then immediately regret it, “Ya well, you don’t look too fucking pretty either.”
I’m hoping Cade comes around soon. They really did a fucking number on him after what he did to that sick fuck who was rubbing Faith in his face. I drop my head down, feeling too weak to hold it up. Panic floods my system when I look down at my chest.
“FUCK!”
Sawyer looks over at me, “What?”
“My fucking chain, it’s gone.”
“They ripped it off you,” a quiet female voice says.
My head snaps up in surprise at the cell to my left. There’s a girl chained to the fucking bed. Jesus Christ! When the hell did she show up here?
“How long have you been here?” I ask her.
“I don’t know, I think a few hours,” her voice is shaking with fear, I also realize she’s American and she sounds fucking young.
“How did you get here?”
She starts to cry, “I don’t know. I’m travelling with my school, a friend and I snuck out at night to go to the beach. These boys were trying to take my friend home, she was drinking and something didn’t seem right with her. I was only drinking pop but now I don’t remember anything and next thing I know I woke up in the back of a van and I haven’t seen my friend since.”
“Your school travelled to Iraq?” Sawyer asks the question I was just thinking. What school travels to a fucking war zone, something doesn’t make sense.
“Iraq? No we are in Thailand.”
Jesus Christ! Knowing that she was shipped here from Thailand confirms my original suspicion, that were smack fucking dab in the middle of a human trafficking ring.
She whimpers when I don’t say anything, “We, we, aren’t in Thailand?”
I let out a heavy breath, “No, you’re in Iraq.”
“Oh my god, they’re never going to find me, I’m never going to see my parents again,” she starts sobbing, her fear robbing her of breath.
My chest constricts at the sound of her agony. And something builds up in me that I haven’t felt in a long time… protectiveness. “Hey it’s alright. Listen everything’s going to be okay. What is your name?”
“A, Anna.”
“Hey Anna, I’m Jaxson and these are my buddies Cade and Sawyer.” I’m hoping she doesn’t consider addressing Cade since he’s still out of it. “We’re Navy Seals, do you know what that is?”
Her cries start to settle, good the distracting is working. “I think so, isn’t that like soldiers?”
“Ya kinda…”
“Except we’re way more bad ass.” The girl giggles at Sawyer’s interruption, but soon she quiets and I hear her crying again.
“How old are you Anna?”
“Fourteen.”
Fuck me!
“Well Anna, we have every intention of getting out of here and I promise we won’t leave without you okay?”
Christ! Please let me be able to get her the fuck out of here.
“O, Okay.”
“Where are you from?”
“I live in South Carolina.”
“No shit?” Fuck! I shouldn’t have said that. “So am I. What part?”
