Page 18 of Rescuing Sadie

Chapter Six

“What the fuck, Jackson?” Ghost asked once the truck had disappeared and they’d searched the parking lot thoroughly. Somehow Jonathan had managed to slip away once more. “You okay?”

Chase winced and tried to ignore the throbbing in his arm. He’d heard Sadie’s warning just in time and was able to avoid being hit in the chest. He’d thrown himself to the side, but not before being nailed in the arm instead of the heart. It hurt like a motherfucker, but that was much better than being dead.

“I’m good,” he told Ghost. He’d bleed for a while, but with the way his arm felt, he knew the bullet hadn’t torn through an artery or otherwise put him in a situation where he needed to go to the emergency room.

Ghost was professional enough not to second-guess him. He merely grunted and asked, “What happened?”

“We were headed to my car and I noticed someone lurking around it. I got the women stashed away and came over to check it out. All four tires are flat, and I haven’t looked under the hood, but I’m guessing it probably won’t start.”

“And your arm?”

“Jonathan was hiding like the pansy chickenshit he is. From the sound of it, he was using an M&P. Sadie gave me enough of a head’s up that he didn’t put a bullet in my fucking chest.”

“You sure it was him?”

“Yeah. I didn’t get a good look, but that’s what I’m assuming.”

“You telling her uncle?” Ghost asked.

Chase nodded. “It’s been a while since that second time he slipped away from the school, and we’d hoped the recent sighting of him was mistaken identity. That maybe this time, he really had gotten the fuck out of Texas. But it looks like our original fears about him coming after Sadie are true.”

“What the fuck happened to make him so determined to get to her?”

That was the million-dollar question. And it had to be more than his sick plan to impregnate her so he could abuse his own children. That was bad enough… But the obsession Jonathan had for Sadie was extreme.

And Chase would be finding out tonight every detail about Sadie’s time alone with him, no matter how reluctant she was to talk about it. He couldn’t keep her safe if she didn’t tell him what they were up against.

“I don’t know,” Chase admitted. “Sadie doesn’t want to talk about it. Has barely admitted that something more happened than what she’d already told the Feds. Acts like she’s ashamed.”

Taking another look around, Ghost motioned toward his black Crown Victoria. They quickly walked toward the car. Once they were inside, Ghost started it up and headed out of the parking lot toward Fletch’s place. “I don’t give a shit what she did or said,” Ghost growled in a low, deadly tone. “Those assholes were perverted and insane. They fucked up so many kids’ lives. I don’t know what happened that day Jonathan’s father was killed, but I do know that Sadie has nothing to be ashamed of.”

“Agreed.”

“But here’s the question,” Ghost went on. “If she tells you that she slept with the man before you showed up…you gonna lose your shit?”

Chase opened his mouth—and nothing came out. He licked his lips then finally said, “I wasn’t there. I didn’t have to hear him talk about abusing little girls. I wasn’t trying to keep my friend and her son safe until help showed up. Help she had no idea was going to show up. So no, if she tells me that she didn’t fight as that asshole raped her, I’m not going to lose my shit. I’ll continue to tell her that she has nothing to be ashamed of.”

“You want her.” It wasn’t a question.

“I want her,” Chase agreed immediately. “And she’ll be mine. Fuck, she already feels like mine and we haven’t even kissed yet. I’ve had some time to think about our relationship, and I can tell you unequivocally that I would do anything to have her by my side.”

“Give up your Army career?” Ghost asked.

Chase huffed out a breath. “Wow, don’t beat around the bush, Ghost. Go right for the jugular.”

“I’ll tell you this,” Ghost said quietly. “If it was a matter of my career or Rayne, I’d choose your sister every time.”

Chase knew that the man sitting next to him loved his sister. Hell, it was more than obvious. But Chase also knew how much Ghost loved the Army. Loved being a Delta Force member. For him to say he’d give it up was big. Huge.

But then he thought about Sadie. About giving her up and about the possibility of her loving another man, starting a family with him, and his stomach clenched. “Yeah,” he said, conviction in every word. “I’d give up my career for her.”

Ghost clamped him on the shoulder as they drove. “Welcome to being pussy whipped. I wouldn’t change it for all the money in the world.”

The men grinned at each other. Slowly, Chase’s smile died. “I need to call Sean Taggart.”

“Don’t envy you, man,” Ghost said.