Rescuing Emily (Delta Force Heroes Book 2) (10 page)

“Easy, Em, you’re safe. No one will hurt your daughter.”

“But he’s your friend!”

Fletch’s eyes narrowed in confusion. Who in the hell did she think was his friend? None of the men sitting on his back deck would ever lay a hand in anger on a child. And what money was she talking about?

He got a sick feeling in his gut as he looked at the terror in Emily’s face. There was obviously something very wrong in Emily’s world and for some reason, she thought
he
was involved.

Fletch tried to reassure her. “I’ll repeat. You’re safe. Annie’s safe. You’re sick. Rayne is going to come in and help us take care of you. Trust me, Em.”

“Can’t,” she mumbled, obviously delirious. “You used us.”

“What the fuck is she talking about?” Hollywood hissed, obviously hearing Emily’s last statement.

Fletch, not surprisingly, hadn’t heard the other man enter the room. Hollywood was extremely light on his feet. “I have no idea, but whatever it is, it’s bullshit.”

“Come on you two, move so I can get in there,” Rayne bossed, pushing her way between Ghost and Hollywood. “Lord, she doesn’t look good.”

Rayne’s words were unnecessary. All three men knew exactly how bad Emily looked. She was red, as if she was blushing, and her breaths were coming in short, fast pants.

“Rayne, help me get her T-shirt and pants off. Ghost, will you start a bath? Cool water.”

“Truck’s already on it,” Ghost assured his friend.

“Okay, good.”

They quickly stripped Emily down to her undies and bra, leaving those on for modesty’s sake, and Fletch was alarmed anew at just how much weight she’d lost. He hadn’t seen her without clothes on before now, but he’d seen enough to know she’d filled out her T-shirts nicely. Now he could clearly see her ribs and hipbones. He’d never been the kind of man who cared one way or another how much weight a woman carried, as long as she was happy with herself, but
this
was unhealthy.

Something was up, and Fletch was pissed and frustrated at the same time that he didn’t know what it was. He was going to get to the bottom of it, but first he had to make sure Emily’s fever broke. Then he’d go from there.

Fletch wasn’t concerned at the moment about Ghost, Hollywood or Truck seeing Emily in her underwear. They’d dealt with nudity for many different medical reasons over the years. This was a life-or-death situation, and they all knew it. He’d be an asshole to get all possessive of her right now when she needed their help.

They had to get her cooled down so her brain didn’t boil. They’d all seen enough people die from heat exhaustion on their missions to know time was of the essence.

Ghost turned Rayne around while Fletch stripped down to his boxers. Fletch then leaned over, picked Emily up, and carried her into the bathroom. He awkwardly climbed into the tub with her in his arms.

Fletch sucked in a breath at how cold the water felt, but knew it was absolutely necessary. The others helped steady him as he carefully sat down with Emily in his arms. As soon as she hit the water, she arched up, trying to get away from it.

Her body convulsed in shivers and Fletch crossed his arms around her chest, his legs around hers, and held her tightly against him. Partly so she wouldn’t hurt herself and partly to cover as much of her body as possible. “Easy, Em. I’ve got you.”

“C-c-cold.”

“I know, but you need this. Your body needs this. Hang in there.”

“W-w-why do you hate me so m-m-much?” she sobbed between chattering teeth.

“I don’t hate you, Em, why would you say that?”

“Your friend d-does.”

“What friend?”

“Y-y-you know!”

“Emily, I don’t. Look around you.
These
are my friends. Ghost, Hollywood and Truck. And Ghost’s girlfriend, Rayne. Is it one of them who hates you?”

He could see Emily glancing at the men and woman standing and kneeling around the tub. She shook her head. “He says you don’t like to be seen with him. That you’re secret friends.”

“What the fuck, Fletch?” Truck bit out between clenched teeth.

“I don’t know!” He cocked his head until he could see her face. “What does he look like?”

“You g-g-guys.”

“What does that mean?”

“M-m-military. Mean.”

“Does he have any tattoos?” It was Ghost who asked, obviously thinking like the Delta Force soldier he was.

Emily nodded.

“Where? What of?” Ghost questioned.

Emily closed her eyes and rested her head on Fletch’s shoulder. “He’s
your
friend…you should know.”

“What. Of?” Fletch repeated Ghost’s demand in a low, serious voice.

“S-s-skull. On his forearm.”

Fletch looked up at Ghost, who replied, “On it,” and walked out of the bathroom.

“What’s going on?” Rayne asked nervously.

“I’m not one hundred percent sure, but someone is fucking with Emily, and we have a pretty good idea who it might be,” Truck snarled.

“F-Fletch?”

“Yeah, Em?”

“Annie…?”

“She’s here. She’s safe.”

“I couldn’t get up to m-m-make her anything to eat.” She laughed a bitter little laugh. “Not that I h-h-have anything in the house
for
her to eat.”

“Why? Why don’t you have money, Em?” Fletch hated taking advantage of her current mental state, but knew it was the best way to get the answers he needed.

“You know!”

“I don’t.”

“You d-do, Fletch! Damn, you flat-out told me outside the PX t-t-to do what your friend wanted.”

“Pretend I don’t know. Lay it out.” Fletch tightened his hold on Emily when she squirmed as if she wanted to pull away from him. “Please, Em, don’t hold back. Tell me what you think of me. Tell me everything. Get it off your chest. You know you want to tell me to fuck off. So do it.”

“What are you doing?” Rayne asked in a soft voice.

Truck took Rayne by the elbow and pulled her upright. “Come on, Rayne, this is between Fletch and Emily.”

Fletch nodded in thanks at the large man leading Rayne out of the room. He gestured for Hollywood to stay then turned back to Emily and continued to goad her. “You said I hated you. Why? What did my friend tell you? Why don’t you have money?”

Emily growled deep in her throat. It was a frustrated, angry sound that Fletch hadn’t heard come out of her before. “Y-y-you bastard! You made m-me think you were a good guy. I actually wanted you to like me. Hell, I even m-masturbated to the thought of you w-watching me get off. I thought you were g-giving me a break on the rent ’cause you were nice.”

“Go on,” Fletch urged when she paused. He ignored her statement about being attracted to him and getting herself off in front of him for the time being. As much as he liked it, he had more important things to find out at the moment. He pushed one more time. “Tell me why I gave you a break on the rent. Do it.”

“Because you n-needed me to pay your gambling debt. I never would’ve m-m-moved in if I knew five hundred would turn into thirteen hundred a month. I can’t afford it, b-b-but you don’t care. Your f-f-friend told me you knew all about it and planned it. Damn you, F-Fletch. Because of you, I c-c-can’t afford to feed my baby!”

Emily’s words seemed to echo off the walls of the bathroom. She continued to struggle in Fletch’s arms. “P-p-please, let me go. I need to get up so I can w-w-work tomorrow. I have to work so I can pay your f-friend so he won’t hurt Annie or have her taken away from me. I don’t know why I thought y-y-you’d care…it’s not l-l-like you give a shit about m-me.”

“How’s her temp?” Fletch asked Hollywood with no emotion in his voice. He saw the concerned look his friend gave him, but ignored it. The few conversations he’d had with Emily were shooting through his brain with marksmanship accuracy.

“My job isn’t the safest…and sometimes there are others that get…irritated with me. I’d hate for something to happen to you or Annie.”

“You aren’t going anywhere.”

“We’ve spent a lot of time discussing this. You’re better off where you are.”

Every single time they’d had a conversation, she’d obviously thought his “friend” was whoever was threatening her, instead of Ghost, who he’d been talking about. Damn it all to hell.

Hollywood pulled the ear thermometer away from Emily’s head and looked down at it. “One-oh-one.”

“Good enough for now. Grab hold of her. Give me a chance to hop out,” Fletch ordered.

Hollywood put the thermometer on the floor and hovered over the tub, pulling Emily upright and holding her against him as Fletch scooted out from under her. He grabbed a towel and quickly dried himself off, not caring how thorough he was. He reached for Emily and wrapped a fresh, dry towel around her before sweeping her up in his arms. He strode back into his bedroom and laid her back down on his bed. He went over to a drawer and changed out of his wet boxers into a pair of dry ones, then immediately went back to Emily.

He kept the towel around her for now, not caring if the sheets got damp, and got her under the covers. He then joined her, wrapping himself around her from behind.

“Let me go,” Emily said drowsily. “I need to get up.”

“No, you don’t. You’re fine. Annie’s fine. Sleep, Em.”

“But—”

“No buts,” Fletch told her resolutely. “We’ve had one hell of a communication breakdown over the last few months, but it stops now. When you’re better, we’re going to hash this out once and for all.”

“Maybe if you weren’t addicted to gambling I wouldn’t be in this position,” she grumbled, a hint of the old Emily returning.

Even though he hated her words, Fletch was glad to see she seemed more lucid.

“I have never bet on anything in my entire life, baby. Ever. You can take
that
to the bank.”

Emily struggled in Fletch’s hold and managed to turn onto her back. She looked up at him with such confusion swirling in her eyes. “But your friend—”

“He’s not my friend.”

“He
is
. He said—”

“He lied, Emily. He’s been using you because he’s pissed at me.”

“He lied?”

“Yeah, he lied,” Fletch repeated. “I’ve got you now. Your days of not eating so Annie can are over. No more giving your money to some asshole who claims to know me. No one will take that little girl away from you. I swear. I’m pissed at the entire situation, but not at you, Emily. At the asshole who used you to get back at me and my team. Now, close your eyes, relax. You still have a fever.”

“Annie?” she repeated, obviously still not quite trusting him.

“She’s safe here with my friends…my
real
friends. Nothing is going to happen to her.”

“She ate?”

Fletch drew his fingertip down her nose. “She probably stuffed herself like a little pig.”

Emily didn’t even smile. “Good.”

The thought that her daughter was safe, and fed, was obviously enough to make Emily fully relax for the first time. She fell asleep quickly, probably from a combination of the weakness in her body, relief at Annie being safe, and the fever.

Making sure she was completely asleep and comfortable, Fletch reluctantly scooted out of bed, pulling the covers snugly up around her shoulders.

“Team meeting?” Hollywood asked from the doorway. He’d never left, but had given them some privacy.

“Tomorrow,” Fletch told him, pulling on a pair of jeans and T-shirt. “I need to get Annie settled first and see what she can tell me. But I’d appreciate it if Ghost contacted Tex and started to sort this shit out.”

“Done. You want us to stay?”

“Maybe not everyone, but yeah, I’d love some backup.”

“Anything you need, it’s yours.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it.”

“No thanks needed, you know that. And I’ll tell you right now, anyone who fucks with one of our women has to be certifiably insane. I don’t care that they don’t know we’re Delta. They should know just by looking at us that we won’t stand for it and we take care of what’s ours.”

“Insane—or jealous.” Fletch’s words were flat and toneless, which made them all the more lethal.

“Are you shitting me?” Hollywood breathed as they made their way back down the hall to the rest of the team.

“I’m not sure yet, but I have a bad feeling the little shit those infantry guys have been doing is only the tip of the iceberg.”

“Mother
fuckers
.” The word was bitten out, and all the more jarring because it was Hollywood who said it. He’d been named such because he looked like a pretty boy. He was six feet tall, not quite as muscular as the rest of the team, and depending on the day, could be mistaken for either Tom Cruise or Colin Egglesfield.

“They won’t get away with this,” he said through clenched teeth before they went back out to the patio.

“No, they fucking will not,” Fletch agreed. No one messed with his woman and got away with it.

“
W
here’s Mommy
?” Annie asked when Fletch went back outside. She was sitting on two thick books on a chair at his patio table. Her little legs were swinging back and forth and she had what looked like chocolate smeared all around her lips and cheeks.

“She’s upstairs, sprite. She’s going to be fine.”

“She was sick.” It was a statement, not a question.

“Yup.”

“I won’t get in trouble for coming over here, will I?”

Annie looked scared when she asked, and Fletch hated that. He pulled up a chair next to her and stole a piece of brownie from her plate, smiling when she giggled at him. “No, Annie. You will absolutely
not
get into trouble. In fact, you coming over here was the best thing that could have happened. You absolutely did the right thing. I told you if you ever needed anything you could come to me. You got your mom the help she needed tonight. Thank you for trusting me.”

The little girl tilted her head to the side and regarded Fletch critically. Her eyes held a lot of worry, too much for a six-year-old. She broke eye contact and looked around at his teammates. Ghost was sitting back in the chair he’d originally been in, and Rayne was on his lap once again. The others were standing or sitting around the small patio, looking anything but relaxed. Annie looked at each one before meeting Fletch’s eyes again.

“Your friends aren’t like Mommy’s friend.”

Knowing who she was talking about now, Fletch tried not to leap up and find something to punch. He merely asked, “How so?”

“Everyone here has nice eyes.”

“And he didn’t?”

Annie shook her head.

“When did your mommy first meet him?”

Demonstrating her intelligence, Annie didn’t immediately shrug her shoulders or say she couldn’t remember. She looked up and to the right, trying to remember. Biting her lip for a moment, she rested her tiny elbows on the table, barely missing her plate. “You were on a trip. I think the first one you took after we moved in. Remember? I wanted to know if you brought me a present?”

Fletch nodded immediately. He’d thought that was it. How he’d misinterpreted that video, thinking Emily was meeting a boyfriend, was beyond him. He was an idiot and he’d let his heart overrule his training. “I do remember. He was here when you guys got home from school and work, right?”

“Uh-huh. Mommy made me go upstairs. After she came up to our apartment, she told me anytime I saw him I was supposed to go upstairs. I had to treat him like I did our old landlord.”

Fletch knew a little about
that
asshole from what Emily had told him, and it made him want to have five minutes alone with him. If Emily had told her daughter to hide whenever she saw their old landlord, he was totally bad news. He forced his thoughts back to the issue at hand. “When did you see him last?”

This time, Annie did shrug. “It’s been a while.”

Fletch changed his line of questioning. If he was going to help Emily, he had to know as much as possible about her situation. He hated to use her daughter to find out the information, but he knew to the marrow of his bones, Emily wouldn’t be forthcoming about anything. Shit, she’d kept silent about someone blackmailing her for the last four months or so. She’d probably try to blow this off like it wasn’t a big deal and would continue to try to take care of it by herself.

“What did you have for dinner last night?”

Annie looked surprised at the question, but answered anyway. “Ramen.”

“And the night before that?”

“Ramen. I always have noodles. Sometimes Mommy puts a hotdog in.”

“And breakfast?”

“Sometimes toast, but lately I’ve been eating at school.” Annie’s voice dropped to a whisper. “The other kids make fun of me.”

Fletch reached out and scooped Annie up and plopped her on his lap. Her sad tone was killing him and he wanted to comfort her. “Why?”

She shrugged. “They say I’m poor and only poor people have to eat breakfast at school. I know what poor is, but I don’t understand why it’s bad.”

Fletch kissed the top of Annie’s head. “It’s not bad, sprite. Some people just have less money than others. It doesn’t mean they’re bad or good…it just means they have less money.”

Annie looked up at him with big eyes, so he continued, “Starting next week you won’t be eating breakfast at school anymore, I’ll make sure you get a good breakfast here before you go. Is that okay with you?”

“Yeah. I like Puffy-O’s.” She yawned huge and snuggled against his chest.

“You can have as many Puffy-O’s as you want. Tired, sprite?”

The little girl nodded sleepily.

Fletch met Beatle’s eyes and motioned to the garage apartment with his head, even as he leaned down to tell Annie of the plans for the night. “Want to have a sleepover?”

Her head whipped up so quickly, Fletch barely got out of the way before he was beaned in the chin. “Yes!”

“You need stuff from your room?”

“Yes.” This time the word came out as if she was saying “duh.”

Fletch chuckled. “Okay, how about if you go back over to your apartment with my friends, Beatle and Coach. They’ll help you carry back what you need.”

“Can I bring my Army men?”

“Of course. Bring whatever you want.”

Annie jumped off his lap as if she did it every day. “Yay!” She reached out for Beatle’s hand and tugged at him. “Come on, bug man, let’s go!”

Everyone chuckled at Annie’s name for Beatle as the trio left to head over to the apartment above the garage. When they were out of earshot, Blade said grimly, “What the ever-loving fuck is going on?”

Fletch stood up and paced the small patio. “From what I can gather, Emily has been blackmailed into paying someone money every week. He told her I owed him money because of gambling debts and threatened to get Annie taken away from her or to hurt her. Emily and I have obviously had our wires crossed in our conversations…when I talked about my friends—you guys—she thought I meant
that
asshole. So she got the impression that I knew about it, and condoned it.”

“The boyfriend?” Ghost asked quietly, obviously remembering some of their previous conversations.

Fletch nodded grimly. “Yeah, that’s my guess. I thought she was
dating
that asshole, instead he was destroying her sense of safety and making her worry for her daughter. I have no idea what he threatened her with, but I bet it was something horrible happening to Annie. She mentioned something about Annie being shot.”

“You still have the surveillance tapes?” Truck asked, knowing how Fletch kept a close eye on his property and tenants.

“Of course.”

“Good. Send ’em to me. We’ll take a look and see if we can’t nail down this bastard. This’ll get escalated to command. No fucker gets away with this on our watch.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s Jacks.”

“Richard Jacks? That pansy motherfucker from the botched training exercise?” Truck exclaimed.

“Yeah. I hadn’t put two and two together before. We know him and his friends have been doing the petty shit to our cars, but even with the hat he had on when he first confronted Emily outside her place, I bet it’ll be clear it’s him.”

The guys nodded as if it made perfect sense. “I can totally see him doing this,” Blade ground out. “Those guys don’t give a shit about anything other than making themselves look good.”

“Agreed,” Fletch sneered.

“Send me the tapes anyway,” Truck demanded. “We’ll need them for evidence when we go to the colonel. No one, I mean no one, threatens to take a little girl away from her mother. Especially not when that little girl is as sweet as Annie.

Fletch breathed easier for the first time since finding out Emily was sick. His team would help take care of this for him. While one part of him wanted to be at the front of the line to crucify Jacks and whoever else was behind blackmailing Emily, the other part wanted to stay right by her side as she came to terms with him being around.

Staying by her side won out.

“Definitely send all this to Tex. If the Army won’t do anything, Tex will get us the intel we need to take care of it ourselves,” Fletch ordered in a deadly voice. “We all know how slow the government works. If they won’t move on it fast enough, we will.”

“Done,” Ghost agreed. “Now, who do you want to stay tonight?”

Fletch wasn’t surprised they were on the same wavelength. “Truck, Beatle, and Hollywood, I think.”

“No problem,” Hollywood said immediately.

“On it,” Truck replied.

“As much as I hate doing it, I need one of you to search her place, see what you can find,” Fletch told Truck.

The large man nodded. “If there’s anything in there that points to this asshole, it’s yours.”

“Thank you.”

“No need, brother.”

A
n hour later
, Fletch settled into his king-size bed next to Emily. Annie had snuggled up next to her mom, then demanded he stay too. Not able to refuse her anything, Fletch had agreed, intending to get up once the little girl was asleep and then spend the rest of the night in the guest room.

He thought about what Truck had reported when he’d come back from Emily’s apartment. Annie hadn’t been lying, there wasn’t much food in the house at all. Some condiments and a loaf of bread. That was about it. Not only that, but there weren’t a lot of belongings in the house either. The things that Fletch had supplied her were there, but not much else. It looked as if Emily had sold as much as she could to try to keep her daughter fed.

As much as that pissed him off and saddened him at the same time, the fact that Annie still had the Army men he’d given her all those months ago, still in the packaging, devastated him. He’d known how pleased the little girl had been when he’d given them to her, but for them to still be packaged up proved how much they meant to her.

Fletch knew Emily could’ve sold those toys and made a few bucks, but instinctively he realized she’d never hurt her daughter like that. The entire situation made his heart hurt for both Emily and Annie.

Emily had done the best she could in a shitty situation to protect her daughter. She’d gone without eating to make sure Annie could. She’d sold anything she could get her hands on, but most importantly, she’d suffered in silence. That would end here and now.

It was astonishing that, even though Emily seemed to hate him, she’d been protecting him at the same time. It proved that, deep down, she didn’t dislike him. If she had, she would’ve sold the toys he’d gotten Annie, told Jacks to fuck off and immediately moved out. But she hadn’t.

It could’ve been because she was scared for her daughter and what Jacks had threatened to do to her, but he hoped a small part of it was also because she had feelings for him.

Fletch thought about her words when she was in the tub tonight. She’d thought about him. Had gotten herself
off
while thinking about him. Just as he had. They hadn’t had the best start, but the attraction was obviously there. He could work with that.

The sacrifices Emily had made for her daughter, and him, humbled and awed Fletch.

Looking over at the two females sleeping soundly in his bed, Fletch made a promise to himself…and them. He’d stand between them and anything, and anyone, who wanted to hurt them in the future. Never again would Emily or Annie go without. Ever. Emily’s actions had solidified his resolve. She would be his. He’d fallen for her courage all those months ago, but seeing it up close and personal put his feelings in a new light.

Emily and Annie Grant were
his
. His to feed, protect, and love. They just didn’t know it yet.