Soraya Lane - The Returning Hero

“Your skin is beautiful and you don’t need any ink, Jamie. Don’t go rushing into anything.”

“Just keep wearing that tag,” Logan added. “It’s what he would have wanted.”

She laughed and took a hearty sip of her drink, before slowly downing the rest of it.

“Bottoms up, boys,” she announced, grinning at them over the top of her glass.

Brett and Logan exchanged looks before shrugging and following her lead.

“My round this time. Another?” Jamie asked.

They both said yes and watched her walk away, like two bodyguards ready to pounce on anyone who so much as bumped into her.

“‘Your skin is so beautiful’?” Logan mimicked, punching him in the arm. “Seriously, couldn’t you have come up with anything better than that?”

Brett glared at him. “It wasn’t like you were stepping in to help me out.”

“Yeah, I was too busy watching you swooning over her. You know she’s out of bounds, right? Because I’ll...”

Brett gave him a playful shove, trying to laugh the comment off. “You don’t have to tell me, I know.”

“I miss him, Brett. I seriously miss him.”

Brett leaned back in his seat, watching Jamie at the bar as she leaned toward the bartender to place her order. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed the dog tag she was wearing around her neck, but then he’d been trying his hardest not to look at her chest, and the way the tag was being swallowed by her breasts... Brett cleared his throat. That wasn’t something he needed to think about right now. Sam had been like his surrogate brother, and he would never disrespect anyone he considered family.

“I can’t stop thinking about that day. It’s screwed up, Logan. The things I saw, what happened, I just wish I could forget it all, for good.”

Brett shut his eyes, blocked the memories out, doing what he always did. Because forcing them away was a damn sight easier than dealing with them, and he didn’t want to go there, not now.

“I’m going to go help her carry the drinks back,” he announced, needing to move.

Before Logan guessed that he also couldn’t stop thinking about Jamie, in all the wrong ways.

* * *

Jamie leaned back into Brett, eyes shut, the room starting to spin. She’d had three cocktails, but she wasn’t exactly used to drinking and it felt like three too many.

“I don’t feel so good.”

Brett’s arm was suddenly looped around her shoulders, holding her closer to his body. She opened her eyes to look at Logan, but he was starting to blur.

“I think someone needs something to eat,” Logan said.

“And water,” she mumbled.

Logan jumped up and gave her what she guessed was a salute. “Glass of water and greasy fries coming up.”

She tucked back tighter into Brett, starting to feel sleepy.

“Thanks for looking after me.”

His chuckle made his chest vibrate beneath her ear.

“They were pretty potent,” he told her, his hold on her shoulders loosening as he bent forward to retrieve his drink. “We shouldn’t have let you have more than two.”

Jamie groaned. “You’re going to take me home, right?” She didn’t want to have to flag a taxi on her own in the dark, not to mention go home to an empty house. Most nights, she tried to remind herself why she was okay alone, but tonight her brain just wasn’t cooperating.

“We weren’t exactly going to get you drunk then let you find your own way home.”

Jamie shut her eyes again, wishing she had only had two drinks. They’d been having so much fun, and she hadn’t been out in so long.

“Brett, can you stay with me tonight?” she asked.

Jamie thought she felt his body stiffen, but maybe she was imagining it.

“Ah, I’m not sure,” he said. “I’ll see you home, though.”

Jamie shook her head and turned, hand on Brett’s shoulder as she stared up at him. “Please? I just don’t want to be alone tonight.”

He looked down at her and she couldn’t read his face. Having her eyes shut and sitting still for a few minutes had made the spinning stop, but she was still feeling less than average.

“If you still want me to stay when we get to your place, then I will,” he finally said. “Just don’t go saying anything to Logan because he’ll go off and get the wrong idea and I don’t need him getting all crazy protective over you.”

She smiled up at him, leaning in to kiss his cheek. It was warm and slightly stubbled, but where she kissed him was soft enough to make her want to keep her lips there. Jamie had only meant it as an innocent thank-you, but she could have easily moved slightly to the left, kissed his lips instead. She was staring at them, eyes unable to leave his mouth, even as his hand came up between them and gently pushed her back into her seat.

“Let’s not do anything we’d regret sober, okay?”

Brett’s voice was soft, but the hungry eyes staring back at her were telling a different story entirely.

“Who’s hungry?”

Logan had returned with the bar food, which looked perfect and greasy.

“Me, please,” she responded, her thigh pressed to Brett’s as she leaned forward. She was telling herself she needed it there to anchor her in place, keep her steady, but she knew better.

She was drunk and coming on to her husband’s friend. It was a hundred shades of wrong, but it felt every shade of right. Jamie reached for a fry and dunked it in ketchup, closing her eyes with delight at the salty, greasy taste.

“These are sooo good,” she murmured.

Logan laughed. “Drunk as a skunk.”

She didn’t care what they said. Tonight had been better than good, it had been amazing. For the first time in forever, she felt like herself again, and it had been a long time coming.

Because for a while there, she’d wondered if she’d lost that Jamie forever.

* * *

Jamie held on to Brett’s arm as she stepped out of the taxi, and she didn’t let it go as they walked to her front door. He hadn’t said anything about staying or not staying, and even though she’d sobered up a heap, she still didn’t want to be alone. Nights like tonight brought everything crashing back to her, even though it had been over a decade ago.

It had been pitch-black outside, and she’d been tucked under a blanket, alone, waiting for her mom to come home. She knew she’d be drunk, but she wanted to wait for her to come back. When the door had opened, she’d stayed still, not made a sound, knowing her mom would just make her way upstairs and collapse on her bed.

Only it hadn’t been her mom. She’d hidden, terrified, as two men in balaclavas had burgled their house, never making a noise so they wouldn’t know anyone was home. Tears had choked in her throat, but she’d stayed silent, wishing that her dad had made it back. Knowing that if he’d been alive, her mom would still be holding it together, that she would have been safe.

“So here we are,” Brett said when they reached the door, jolting her from her thoughts.

She fumbled in her bag for her keys and called out to Bear as his loud bark boomed through the door. Letting her memories take hold was not something she usually let happen, not that easily.

“Just me,” she told her dog, “it’s only me.”

His barking stopped and she turned the key. Brett leaned past her and pushed the door, standing his ground as she dropped to give the dog a cuddle and then usher him back inside.

“Are you going to be okay on your own?” he asked, looking uncomfortable, hands jammed in his pockets.

Jamie wasn’t going to lie to him, especially not now. “I’ve never been okay on my own,” she admitted. “Every time Sam went away, I’d pretend to be all brave because I didn’t want him worrying about me, but when he was on tour I hardly ever went out unless I could be back before dark. I was just too nervous coming home to an empty house.”