AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Tell your daddy what we’re making, doodle bug.”
“Cookie.”
I looked to the counter to see that he and Caro had been rolling out a ball of dough on the flour-coated countertop. Off to the side was a platter with at least a dozen cookies that looked and smelled like they were fresh from the oven. From what I could gather, there were oatmeal, sugar, and classic chocolate chip, and I would have been lying if I said they didn’t smell like heaven.
My stomach let out a rubble and my mouth began to water. “You guys made cookies? Man, they smell fantastic!” I looked at my boy with wide eyes. “You mind if I have one?”
Cash gave a little hop on the chair Caroline had pulled over for him to stand on. “Yeah! Yeah!” Now that he felt I’d given him the okay to be excited, he was running with it, leaning over to reach the platter so fast he nearly tippled off the chair before I reached out and caught him. “Careful, bud. Don’t hurt yourself.”
He was oblivious to the fact he’d almost cracked his skull open as he whipped back around, a gooey chocolate chip cookie twice as big as his hand clutched in his tiny palm. “Daddy’s cookie.”
My chest started to burn as I took the cookie from his hand. “You made this for me?”
He nodded enthusiastically.
“Thanks, little man.” I didn’t hesitate to bite the thing clean in half. The moan I made was only slightly exaggerated for his benefit. It was a damn good cookie, that was for sure. The chocolate melted on my tongue. They weren’t overly sweet, and they were baked to perfection—at least in my opinion. I wasn’t a fan of crunchy cookies. I preferred mine soft and chewy. “This is the best cookie I’ve ever eaten,” I mumbled through a full mouth.
He let out a little boy giggle full of joy and complete innocence.
God, I really hoped I didn’t fuck up and cost him that precious gift. He’d already lost too much, thanks to a flighty, neglectful mother. I couldn’t be the cause of him losing more.
I couldn’t fuck this up.
Chaos rained down allaround us. My ears were still ringing from the explosion that had taken down the building right next to where my team and I had been canvasing.
I could barely hear the shouts of my men around me through the shrill ringing and the blood whooshing in my ears. I shook my head and blinked my eyes against the dust clouding my vision. The voices all around me slowly grew more distinct, like they’d been at the end of a long tunnel and were drawing closer.
“Harker!” I heard in a muffled voice. I shook my head again as I braced my hands on the ground and pushed myself upright. Debris fell down all around me, the structure we were in no longer sound, thanks to the bombing next door. The ground shook and rattled like we were still being fired on.
“Harker!” The voice came clearer now, and when I looked up, Gage was right in front of me, crouching down and grabbing me beneath my arm. “You hurt?”
With his help, I rose to my feet and took stock of my injuries. “I’m good. Just got my bell rung.” My eyes shot around, trying to find the rest of my team. “Where’s Rose?”
“He’s fine. Outside laying down suppressive fire. Get your feet under you. We gotta get the fuck out of here. Now!”
We moved fast, guns up and pointed ahead of us as we cleared the building before moving outside. Jensen was there with a few other members of our team, fighting back the threat so we could get the hell out while RPGs slammed into housesand buildings all around us. There were innocent civilians everywhere, running and screaming, most of them bleeding, some of them seriously injured from what I could tell, but desperately trying to escape the havoc and madness around them.
We’d just made it out of the building when a bomb leveled it, and pandemonium broke loose.
There was shouting from all directions. It was a struggle to concentrate on one thing, to pinpoint who was good and who was bad. But in the middle of all the chaos, I spotted a little boy. He couldn’t have been more than five years old. Tears streaked through the dust and dirt that coated his face. He was frozen in fear, his hands covering his ears, his frantic gaze darting all around, crying and screaming for his parents.
“Hey!” I shouted at the top of my lungs as I started in his direction. “Hey, move! Get outta here!”
He didn’t notice me. Desperation clawed at my insides as I picked up speed, digging deeper, faster, needing to get to him. “Kid!Run!”
I was less than ten yards away when he spotted me, he turned in my direction, and just like that, the kid in front of me changed. It was no longer the helpless boy I’d seen in that small, ravaged town on the other side of the world all those years ago.
It was Cash standing in the midst of that nightmare. Cash who was too far for me to get to. Cash who I was only seconds from not being able to save.
My mouth opened on a scream, but before I could get a word out, another bomb went off, knocking my feet out from under me and taking me airborne.
I woke up on a shout, my skin felt too tight over my bones and muscles, and I was drenched in sweat. The sheets were soaked and tangled around my legs from thrashing around in my sleep.
I shot up, the nightmare still sitting firmly at the front of my mind. My fingers were digging into the mattress, bunching the sheets in my fists as I tried desperately to clear my head of the image of my son.
I’d had that particular nightmare more times than I could count, but this was the first time that the young boy I’d failed to save had changed into my own child. It left me rattled to my very core.
My stomach rolled and flipped with nausea, twisted into a million knots. I had to squeeze my eyes closed and take slow, deep breaths to try and counter it, but every time I closed my eyes, I saw Cash.
