Page 21 of Resisting Temptation (Men of Honor 3)
“Stay safe, Cade Walker. I’ll remember you forever,” I whisper softly against his warm lips.
Knowing there is nothing else I can do but leave it in God’s hands, I gather as much courage as I can and reluctantly walk out the door. As I traipse through the pitch black, I cry the whole way back to camp, feeling a huge hole in my heart. Please, God, let me see him again, or at least hear from him.
As I enter my camp, I’m so caught up in my grief that I don’t realize something is wrong before it’s too late.
“FAITH, RUN!” Beth’s scream pierces through the dark night just as a gun goes off and I’m grabbed from behind.
Panic floods my body, and a hand slams over my mouth with brutal force to cover my scream. Orders are shouted behind me as I fight with everything I have to get away from the tight grip someone has on me. I briefly register my name being yelled, but my heart is pounding too loud with panic to grasp what’s being said.
In the midst of my struggle, the back of my head connects with the person’s face behind me. There’s a grunt of pain before I’m spun around and backhanded across the face. The powerful blow sends me to the ground and my vision darkens from pain. I land next to Beth’s lifeless body, and realize the gunshot I heard, only moments ago, killed her. An agonized sob rips from my throat and terror washes over me.
My head is brutally yanked up by my hair, and there, in the black of the night, my blurry gaze lands on a terrified Aadil. He struggles against a man who is holding him back while tears stream down his swollen and bruised face. He screams my name and begs the men to let me go. The sound of his sobs has agony ripping through my already tortured heart.
Big boots walk in my line of vision, blocking him from my sight. Leaning down, Aadil’s father comes into view, and my panic escalates at the malicious smile on his sinister face. “It’s payback time, bitch.”
Oh no!
Raising his fist he slams it into my face. Aadil’s begging sobs are the last thing I hear before darkness takes me.
CHAPTER 5
Cade
“You may as well talk to us, man, you know I’m not going to let up about this.”
I glare at Sawyer and take another drink of my beer. Since watching Faith walk out the door in the middle of the night, while I pretended to be asleep, I’ve had this excruciating pain in my chest, which escalated when I saw her note and fucking bracelet.
…more than anything, I want you to know there is someone out there who loves you and cares what happens to you.
I pretended to be asleep when she left because I knew I wasn’t going to be able to say goodbye to her. I would have fucked up and made her promises I know I can’t keep. Which is exactly what I almost did when I felt her crying beside me. I’m still feeling like a dirty bastard for taking her last night, tainting her innocence with myself, but fuck if I’ll regret it. I can’t, she felt too incredible.
I never went back to sleep. I stayed up all fucking night, doubting myself and debating what to do. By morning, I was so overloaded with emotions that I had gratefully packed up my shit and couldn’t wait to get the fuck out of here.
Except, once I walked out of my room, I ran into Drake as he walked out of his. He had a smug smile on his face, and the ballsy motherfucker asked me why I hadn’t shared my hot piece of ass. His comment sent me over the edge and I fucking snapped. I started pounding him into the ground, and it took both Sawyer and Jaxson to pull me off. The Admiral lost his shit and told them to take me away until I calmed down.
As they hauled me away, Sawyer had suggested we grab a quick beer while we wait. The bar is more of a whorehouse than anything. It’s a place that is close to the Army bases, and caters to the soldiers who are on breakups but can’t leave the country. It’s the same place the kid’s mom works, which is why I agreed. I’m hoping I will spot him again and tell him to go see Faith tonight, because I know she will be waiting at that fucking clearing for him. But so far, not only has there been no sign of the kid, his mom isn’t here either.
I glance at Sawyer and Jaxson, who are both waiting for me to answer Sawyer’s first question-well… too bad. They are going to be waiting a long fucking time because I am not telling them shit.
“Okay, fine,” Sawyer says, as if he’s giving up but I know better. “At least tell us how the fuck you stumbled upon some church girl. Because I have to tell you, buddy, that is what I’m most shocked about right now.”
After another drink of beer, I’m just about to tell him to mind his own fucking business when the bar door slams open. The kid I’ve been hoping to see comes running in, with tears streaming down his swollen and bruised face.
What the fuck?
The three of us shoot out of our chairs, ready for trouble, but what Jaxson and Sawyer don’t realize is that I know him. As soon as the kid spots me, he bolts straight for me. He shouts in Arabic something I can normally understand if I pay close enough attention, but he’s so hysterical I can’t understand anything.
“Hurry!” he yells pulling on my arm, switching languages. “You have to help her. He took her. They are hurting her right now.”
His few English words have my blood running cold and ice rushing through my veins. I grab the kid by his shoulders and give him a shake. “Who? Who do they have?” I already know the answer, but I’m hoping with everything that I am, that I’m fucking wrong.
