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The words hang between us until Jules twists about to face me. Indescribable sadness paints his face as his eyes take on a distant look. When he speaks, his voice is rough with emotion.
“I was on my second tour in Iraq. Driving one of the two HMMV gun trucks sent ahead of a large convoy to check for IEDs when we were attacked.”
My stomach dips when the scene he’s relaying plays openly in his darkened eyes.
I clasp his shoulder when his voice hitches. “I—I was the only one who made it out.” I squeeze my hand, and he sends me a grateful look.
“I was medically discharged, thanks to losing seventy percent of my hearing in my left ear. Coming home would have been easier had I not lost the three people I cared for most in Iraq. I—I was adrift. Sleep was non-existent. Couldn’t hold down a job. Couldn’t maintain a conversation. Could barely make eye contact, to be honest.”
He gestures toward Haven. “And one night, when I couldn’t sleep, I was randomly walking through the city when I came upon a man leaving this building. He ran into me in his preoccupation, and I fell over.” He taps his hairline. “He brought me to the hospital, and three stitches later, he knew enough to know that I wasstruggling. So, he brought me home to his place in Lenox Hill that night and took me under his wing. In the coming days, he got me to open up more, and I spoke about…everything for the first time since coming home. He was so disgusted that there was such a lack of help for War Veterans that he ended up founding Haven, though no one knows it.”
Tears fill my eyes as my heart breaks for this gentle giant and his savior.
The same savior who had stepped up in my own time of need, no questions asked. The same man who draws me inexplicably closer, only to push me away for reasons I’m just now beginning to fathom.
Could he think he’s saving me fromhimself?
“There he is now.”
I whip my head around, spotting Vaughn’s imposing frame as he approaches the group outside the building.
A man with a slight limp steps forward to give him a high-five, and Vaughn’s face lights up in one of those rare, genuine smiles as he pulls the stranger in against his side.
“They love him here – though they obviously don’t know his real identity.” I keep my gaze fixed on Vaughn as he easily converses with the men before heading inside.
“Where’s he going?”
“Inside to serve dinner.” My jaw almost drops when I face a smiling Jules. “He would love to be more hands-on, but Rogue saps most of his time. EspeciallyRavish.”
My forehead creases, remembering the map in Vaughn’s office. “What’sRavish?”
Jules's cheeks redden suspiciously as he starts the engine and ignores my question. “You’ve seen and heard firsthand now, kid. I’ll let you make your own conclusion. But for what it’s worth, Vaughn Burton is one of the best people I’ve ever known.”
CHAPTER20
WREN
"Ouch!”
I reach down, rubbing my big toe where my cell had landed when I dropped it, and I curse myself for my sheer ineptitude this morning.
Confusion mires my brain as I’ve tried and failed to focus on anything aside from the revelations of last night. My mind brims with a plethora of questions that simply begs for answers.
And the one at the forefront plays on a near-constant loop.
Why play the villain when he’sclearlynot?
I despise that he won’t allow me to breach those walls he’s surrounded himself with, but somehow, I can’t bring myself to despisehim.
I’m in too deep.
My cell vibrates with a text from Matt as I’m stepping onto the elevator, intent on finding those answers come hell or high water.
MATT
How does dinner at Cherry Blossom sound?
ME
