The Marine Finds His Family

This close, she took in the differences and similarities in him. He was older, bigger—angrier. Nine years was a long time. When she’d seen him last, he’d still been a boy getting ready to head to boot camp.

He wasn’t a boy anymore. No, he was a man. A powerful, ticked-off man. She swallowed her apprehension and fought the overwhelming urge to struggle. And then a thought crossed her mind. What if he’d lied to her just to get her to listen? He’d said he wouldn’t tell her about Tyler if she didn’t cooperate. It wouldn’t be the first time someone had done that. “Is he really okay?” she whispered.

DJ reached down to the thigh pocket of his fatigues and pulled out a piece of paper that she immediately realized was a photo.

She impulsively reached for it. He shoved it back into his pocket, but not before she was able to identify Tyler as the person in the photo. How could she not recognize that sweet, beloved little face? “What’s he holding?”

“Baby pigs,” DJ said. “Wyatt took it yesterday.”

“P-pigs?” she whispered.

“Yeah. We thought they might give him something positive to focus on. But guess if you don’t care—”

He stepped away, the cool night air replacing the heat of his body. Too casually, he bent to check out the bike without giving her another glance.

He was trusting she wouldn’t run? Or was he leaving her with that taunt? “What do you mean, if I don’t care?” She shoved her pack impatiently onto her shoulder.

DJ slowly straightened from where he’d crouched. “You tell me. You left him.” His gaze bored into hers, hot and angry, and she heard the rest of his unspoken message. And you didn’t even tell me that he existed.

She leaned toward him, as he seemed to dismiss her again, refocusing on the fallen bike. “You don’t understand,” she said. Her words made him look up. The intensity of his gaze made her take a step back.

“Then start talking. Explain.”

She wanted to scream, not in fear but in frustration. “I can’t.”

“Can’t? Or won’t?”

“There’s no difference.”

“Oh, yes, there is.” He bent again, using his weight and strength to lift the bike from the pavement. Even in the dim streetlight, she saw the play of thick muscles across his back and the flexing of his thighs. She swallowed the sudden dryness in her throat.

Once the bike was upright, he circled it like a predator, rubbing a scratch here, a scrape there. Ignoring her. Ultimately, he seemed satisfied with its condition, and his shoulders visibly relaxed.

Tammie slumped back against the brick wall, trying to be as nonchalant as he was, and failing to ignore all the questions racing in her brain.

She was fairly certain he was debating something more than the bike, but she didn’t really know him, did she? Despite the fact that they’d been intimate, that her memories were filled with the boy she’d spent those nights with, the truth was that this man was a stranger to her. She shivered. A stranger who could, and most likely would, hurt her. Not physically. No, she knew that somehow. But he had the one thing that could hurt her most—Tyler.

She inched away as he paced. She hugged her backpack close, her security blanket.

“You promised him, damn it.” The words erupted from DJ’s throat, breaking the quiet night. His pacing brought him back to her, close enough to touch. She gripped the pack tighter. “You told him you were coming back.”

“I didn’t say when.”

“A week is an eternity to an eight-year-old. It’s been months.”

“I didn’t know it would take this long.”

“What would take this long?” he demanded, leaning in, blocking her path but not touching her. He waited silently and she knew he was debating what to do next.

“Okay, fine, Tammie.” He reached out and grabbed her arm again, gently but firmly. “Since you won’t tell me, you’re going to tell him the truth yourself.” He moved toward the big bike, not letting loose of her arm, essentially dragging her with him.

“I’ll scream if you don’t let go.”

He laughed. He actually laughed, glancing around the darkened street, looking mockingly at the alley she’d been trying to get to. “Don’t think anyone’s gonna hear you, darlin’,” he drawled.

They’d reached the bike when she wrenched her arm from his grasp so hard there’d probably be bruises later. She caught her balance before facing him.

“I’m sure they’ll hear me in the diner.” Derek would be in the back room washing dishes. It was only two blocks. He might hear her over the rattle of the plates and glasses in the racks as he sprayed them.

Yeah, who was she kidding?

“Maybe.” DJ crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at her. “But will they do anything?”

They both knew no one would come to her defense. Not in this neighborhood. Not this time of night. Her heart sank. “Why are you doing this?” she whispered.

DJ paced away. She didn’t bother running—he could catch her before she got far. But would he?

DJ cursed. “You have no idea what you did to him, do you?”

This was not going well. She’d done the right thing in sending Tyler to DJ. And in the same situation, she’d do it again. But without telling him everything, she couldn’t make him understand.

She closed her eyes, picturing her son’s sweet face, trying to pull the sound of his laughter from her memory. “I have my reasons. Good reasons. You have to believe me.” She turned and, instead of running, slowly backed away. “I can’t go with you. I won’t.”

The dim light blurred and she nearly stumbled on a broken concrete chunk she couldn’t see through her tears. She righted herself, and instead of crumbling, she lifted her chin and watched her step, hoping she looked more determined than scared.

The deep throaty roar of the motorcycle startled her, but she quickly recovered, keeping her stride steady and sure. He’d gotten the message. He wasn’t coming toward her. He was leaving. Going back to Tyler. She almost stumbled once more. In a couple of hours he’d be seeing her baby again while she’d still be here, waiting tables.

An ache settled tight in her chest.

Then the soft rumble came closer rather than fading. She looked over, expecting him to ride past. Instead, he left the engine running as he sat on the bike, using his booted feet to keep pace with her as she walked.

“You have your reasons?”

She nodded but didn’t explain or stop. He reached into his pocket and withdrew the picture, this time handing it to her.

He was going to kill her emotionally. She ignored him as she drank in the sweet image.

“Get on and you’ll see him once I’m satisfied with your answers.”

She had no intention of going anywhere near Tyler until she knew it was safe. “And if I don’t?”

He stopped, pinning her with that glare again. Except now the anger was replaced with a hard glint. “He’s my son. I have full legal custody. I’ll use every legal trick in the book, and then some, to make sure you never, ever see him again.”

He was serious.

She’d never planned on this. She’d sent Tyler to him to keep him safe, fully intending to go back and get Tyler once she’d solved the danger she’d put them in. She’d known DJ would protect him...but she hadn’t expected this. This possessiveness. This territorial protectiveness.

Panic froze her. Never see Tyler again? Never read him a bedtime story? Never hear him whisper, “I love you, Mama”? Never again smell that sweet little-boy scent mingled with dirt as he hugged her?

Her knees threatened to give way. She struggled to breathe. In slow motion, she slipped the precious picture into her backpack then settled the bag back on her shoulder. She stopped and turned toward the big man on the even bigger bike. Its rumble made her think of a tiger and its throaty roar vibrated through her bones.

She had no choice. She knew it. He knew it.

Slowly, Tammie shook her head. Tears blurred her vision and spilled over her cheeks at the movement. “I’m not getting on that gawd-awful motorcycle. Never.” She didn’t have to fake the shiver. “I can’t,” she whispered.

She’d rather lose Tyler this way, knowing he was safe, than lose him to the danger following her.

Slowly, Tammie backed away, one painful step at a time.

CHAPTER FIVE

“WHAT THE—”

DJ had never hurt a female, not since he was five and his sister Mandy and he had gotten into a slugfest in the backyard sandbox. That was one of the few memories DJ had of his dad—the talk about never hitting a girl.

DJ had taken it to heart, but right now?

Tammie would have strained even Dad’s legendary patience. She didn’t run away from him this time. She just purposefully walked away. DJ watched until the darkness swallowed her.

What was he supposed to do now? He’d worked too hard to find her. He’d been so sure his threats would make her agree to come with him. It would have worked on his sisters. Okay, maybe not. His sisters weren’t that easy to manipulate, either.

But he couldn’t just let her go. Tyler—and he—deserved answers. He’d promised his son that he’d find her and bring her home.

Besides, what kind of mother abandoned her son? Especially one who’d raised such a great kid. What was going on with her?

DJ sat on the bike, leaning back against the leather seat, frowning. She didn’t make any sense. Tyler’s face came to mind. His faith in his mother was unshakable. Faith like that wasn’t automatic—it was earned. Tyler staunchly believed in her. Staring into the darkness, DJ once again wondered why.

What were her reasons for leaving Tyler? And why wouldn’t she tell him? Did she expect to just disappear?

Suddenly, he no longer heard her footsteps. “Oh, hell no,” DJ whispered and kicked the bike into gear. The low rumble broke the quiet night as he followed her.

* * *

TAMMIE HEADED BACK to the diner. Probably a stupid idea to walk alone in this part of town at this time of night, but once again she didn’t have much choice. Where else did she have to go? She’d turned her back on DJ and—her heart hitched—she’d just given up Tyler. Probably forever. A sob broke from her chest.

The sound of footsteps from behind reached through the fog in her brain—and blessed anger cut through her pain. She spun around, ready to give DJ a piece of her mind. “Just leave me alone,” she snapped before she saw the shadowed face of a stranger.

He was a big man wearing dark clothing and a smirk that didn’t say, “Have a nice day.” She stumbled as she backed away from him.

“Well, hello there.” His deep growl of a voice made her shiver.

She caught her balance and started walking faster, hoping that the threat she saw in his face wasn’t real. Wishing that all of this—this place, this situation, this mess of her life—would just go away. Then it occurred to her that the darkness in his eyes could mean exactly that.

Still winded after running from DJ, Tammie doubted she could outrun this guy, but she had to try. And she almost made it.

Until his meaty fist grabbed hold of her ponytail and yanked her backward. “Not so fast,” he said in her ear, then paused. “Tammie.”

Panic shot through her. How did he know her name? She didn’t remember him coming into the diner. That’s the only place she met anyone and she’d have remembered him. There was only one other answer...

He laughed, and she nearly gagged at the thick cologne he wore—cologne that barely covered the other odors cloaking him.

“Who are you?” She pulled away from him, feeling hair rip from her head.

“Let’s just say a friend sent me.”

A friend. She knew who he was talking about, but Dom was no friend.

“Go to hell.” She turned to run.

“No need to be nasty. Let’s do this easy.” He lunged, catching her arm and sending her off balance. She fell and landed on her knees. Pavement ripped through her skin and tiny rocks tore into her palms.

The snarl of a motorcycle cut through her cries and a new anger bubbled up inside her. She mentally cursed. She didn’t want to need anyone. She didn’t want a savior, but, damn it, right now she needed one. DJ would do.

The roar grew louder. She looked up. DJ and his bike appeared out of the darkness. Bathed in the streetlight’s glow, he brought the bike up on the curb and raced toward them. Tammie screamed.

DJ used the bike to chase the thug away from her, the tires spinning toward the man’s legs and driving him back. Knocking him into the street.

This time, DJ kept control of the vehicle and righted it before it fell. He spun the bike around, the smell of burning rubber thick in the air. Revving the throttle, he faced the thug, silently daring him to try something. The look on DJ’s face made Tammie shudder—was this her DJ? The light in his eyes was not warm and soothing.

It was frightening. He was frightening.

She tore her gaze from DJ and realized her attacker had disappeared. In the distance, hurried footsteps receded into the night. Bowing her head, she took in deep gulps of air. Trying to keep the panic at bay, and think straight, she longed to figure out how to gain control of her life. But once again, nothing came to mind.

Silence reigned as DJ shut down the engine. She didn’t hear his footsteps, didn’t hear anything except her heart pounding and her breath ripping through her lungs. She couldn’t do this anymore. She just couldn’t.

She was done.

“Tammie?” DJ’s voice actually sounded hesitant. She looked up. Where had his anger gone?

Hers returned on an adrenaline rush. “Where the hell did you learn to do that?” She crawled to her feet, refusing the hand he offered. “And why would anyone in their right mind know how to do that?” She stalked toward him. “What if you’d lost control like you did before? You could have hit the wall, or wrecked, or...or...or...” She hiccuped as horrific images of DJ splattered on the pavement blared in her mind.

DJ looked entirely too pleased with himself. He had the audacity to grin. “Hey.” He shrugged. “I grew up on a ranch. Cutting horses and bikes. Same difference.”

“You idiot!” She went at him, poking his chest with an angry finger. “Is that what you were trying to do earlier? To me?”

“Yeah.” He grinned. “Did it right this time, though.”

Anger bubbled up inside her. How dare he! “Don’t you dare teach Tyler anything like that.”

“A simple thank-you would do just fine.” He took a step back, his eyes moving, assessing her—and not with appreciation.

She knew she looked awful. The ugly orange waitress uniform, her hair falling around her face from where the jerk had tried to pull it out of her head, blood trickling from her knees and smeared on her palms.

“Stop following me.” It was all she could come up with. There was no way she was thanking him, despite the fact that she knew she should.

“Oh, excuse me for trying to help.” He stalked over to her and grabbed her hands, turning them palm up and cursing. “Come on. Let’s get you taken care of.” He didn’t let go and they were nearly to the bike before she tried to pull away.

“I already told you I am not getting on that thing.”

“I don’t think you have a choice,” he mumbled, looking past her shoulder.

She followed his gaze. The big shadow was back. And he wasn’t alone. Two other men walked beside him.

DJ hopped onto the motorcycle and kicked it to life. “Get on.”

“I—”

She hated motorcycles. The idea of riding on one scared her half to death, but the shadowed figures scared her more.

“Get. On,” DJ said again, this time through clenched teeth. “Now.” Footsteps pounded toward them. DJ had a point. She jumped on and DJ sped into the night.

She hung on tight, knowing she was in for one hell of a ride.

* * *

DJ SPED THROUGH the city streets. There hadn’t been any vehicles around, so he didn’t think they were being followed. But he wound around, just to make sure.

He should take her back to the diner, or maybe to Cora’s house, but if he let her off the bike, he’d never get her back on. And she’d run again.

It didn’t take long to get to the city limits since they were already on the ratty edges. Streetlights flashed past until they reached the two-lane highway. The moon hadn’t yet risen, so the headlight beam and light from the stars were all that showed him the way.

“Where are we going?” she finally asked.

“Someplace safe.” He turned his head just enough to see her out of the corner of his eye. Her ponytail waved in the wind, the loose strands whipping across her face. He needed to get a helmet for her.

He turned his focus back to the road, but no matter how he tried, he failed miserably at ignoring the extra weight on the back of the bike. The feel of Tammie’s arms tight around his waist was entirely too real, and warm.

Tammie didn’t speak. She didn’t even shift. She clenched her fists in his shirt whenever he squealed around a corner, but otherwise, she didn’t move.

She’d obviously ridden on a bike before. With who? There was so much he didn’t know about her.

What he did know was where they were headed, but he wouldn’t share the details with her—not yet.

By the time they reached Edgerton an hour later, the sky was turning a bright orange on the horizon. Nothing more than a few buildings in the middle of nowhere—something Texas had in abundance—the tiny town was a welcome sight. Three houses, a gas station slash convenience store and a motel with a flashing neon vacancy sign that broke the darkness. DJ had stayed here several times when he’d traveled back and forth from Wyatt’s place to San Antonio for therapy. It had provided a bed to lay his head and some much needed space away from his brother.

He almost wished he was on one of those trips. His body was already telling him he’d pay for this trip—for chasing Tammie and certainly for dumping and lifting the bike off the pavement. His damaged back and leg muscles burned from the abuse. A nice soak in the gym’s whirlpool tub would be heaven right now.

He slowed and turned off the highway into the dirt parking lot. When he killed the engine, the silence was thick around them. No one else was here, except George, the manager, owner and purveyor of everything for twenty miles.

“We’ll stay here for now.”

“What?” Tammie stared in shock.

“I’ll check us in.”

“I can’t go with you. Take me back to town.”

“Nope.”

Tammie climbed off as if to follow him and nearly stumbled. He caught her arms, steadying her, and the night warmed. He stared at her face. She looked beat. Defeated.

“Listen.” He stepped closer. “You’re exhausted. You’re hurt.” He paused and made sure her gaze met his before he spoke. “And whoever you’re really running from seems to have found you.” He wished she’d tell him who that person was. “Just let me help you.” As he headed to the office, he looked over his shoulder and said, “Wait here. I’ll be right back.”

She looked around at the miles of open space surrounding the tiny pseudo town. “Yeah, like there’s anywhere to go?”

He actually smiled. He recalled that her dry humor had intrigued him in the past. He was glad to see remnants of it. Maybe there was hope. Maybe the ghosts of their past weren’t so dead, after all. He had to believe that.

“Ain’t seen you in a while,” George greeted him with a smile and a yawn as DJ slipped inside the tiny office.

“Yeah. How you been, man?”

“Fair to middlin’.” George automatically filled out the paperwork and ran DJ’s credit card. “Usual room?” The old-fashioned metal key slid over the scarred counter with a soft whisper.

“Thanks. Oh, by the way, there’re two of us,” DJ told him.

Only the single eyebrow lift indicated the man had heard. George glanced out the side window and DJ knew Tammie was there, standing by the bike, waiting, when George nodded.

“That’ll be extra.”

“I figured.” He paid but didn’t explain further. It was none of the old man’s business.

DJ knew he was being a paranoid jerk getting only one room. But Tammie had obviously ridden a motorcycle before. While she didn’t like it, she undoubtedly had skills. He could very likely be stuck here without his prized bike come morning. No way. He wasn’t letting her go, and he certainly wasn’t letting her get the better of him.

“Come on.” He led her to the farthest room, away from the road, away from George’s curious stares. The door squealed when he pushed it open, and the closed-up dusty scent wafted out over them.

“Where’s my key?” she asked behind him.

DJ knew it would tick her off, but he did it anyway. Maybe it would spark some life in her.

He walked into the room, lifted the single key and shook it before pocketing it. Her growl should have made him nervous. It only made him laugh as he turned to face her.

Browbeating and threatening her weren’t what he’d planned. But she hadn’t given him much choice. If he let her go...he might never find her again. And he sure as hell wasn’t going home and telling Tyler he’d failed.

Nope. Not an option.

“This is kidnapping!”

DJ paused, crossing his arms over his chest. “No, it’s not.” He waited, but she didn’t say any more. “Let’s consider it negotiating.”

Her eyes flashed and DJ suddenly understood what it meant to see murder in someone’s eyes.

The slamming of the bathroom door shook the walls of the entire place as she disappeared inside.

* * *

TAMMIE STARED AT her distorted reflection in the cheap motel room mirror. Her mother would say she looked like something the cat dragged in. She closed her eyes but the reflection remained imprinted on the back of her eyelids.

Her green eyes were flat and lifeless with no makeup to bring out anything. The shadows beneath her lashes betrayed her exhaustion.

Her hair, after the long hot shower, hung in dark locks to her shoulders. The light blond she’d had as a kid living on the beach was long gone. Opening her eyes, Tammie leaned closer to the glass, examining the crow’s-feet she’d never noticed before.

She caught herself. What was she doing? She was in here to shower, to clean up. To escape him. Nothing more. She almost banged her head against the glass at her stupidity.

DJ’s face flashed in her mind. First the angry, hard soldier who’d chased away Dom’s buddy, and then the sweet man who’d stopped here and told her he’d take care of her. The contradiction intrigued and scared her.

Attraction was definitely not a part of this.

The man on the other side of that door was interested in her for one reason. Tyler. DJ didn’t care about her. Didn’t care about their past together or apart. And why should he?

She’d lied to him. She’d kept Tyler a secret. She hadn’t even told him the truth when they had been together. Not about herself, her past, nothing. And now? Worn-out, desperate and tired, that’s all she was.

Worthless, to him, to herself and, most important, to Tyler.

She was Tyler’s mother...but from here on out, the title was all she had. She couldn’t be that for him. It was too risky.

Disgusted with herself and the situation, Tammie turned away from the mirror and focused on doing the best she could with what she had to work with.

The warm water had washed off most of the dried blood from her knees and her hands, and she only had to pick out one piece of gravel. It stung like the devil when she put on the last of her antiseptic cream and a small bandage, but she’d live.

She yanked the blow-dryer from its hook on the wall and finished her hair. She stared at the few cosmetics in her pack that had survived her months on the run and scoffed at the idea of applying makeup. She simply pulled on a clean T-shirt and her sweatpants.

“This is as good as it gets,” she said to the mirror and pulled open the door. Standing in the doorway, she watched the last of the shower’s steam swirl out into the cooler room before she faced him.