One Dance for Case (Possessed 2)

“Whether you’ve finally forgiven yourself and are going to stop shutting us out?” Straight to the point. He always liked that about her.

Scratching the back of his neck, he didn’t know what to say, so he opened the door, allowing her in. “How’s little bit one and two?” he asked referring to Jaxson and the li’l one she was carrying now.

“Jax is a helpful terror, and peanut is killing me with morning

sickness.”

“Why don’t you guys send Jax here tomorrow night and you two can have a date or whatever it is happy couples do.” He tried to smile but thinking about her and Dom going on a date reminded him of the one he missed with Ev.

“Tell me about her,” Dee queried.

He couldn’t play dumb. He’d made no secret of gaining all the information about her he could, including quizzing Dee.

“She’s got fire. It burns inside her, and she’s dying to let go. But the fear overpowers everything, and it’s driving me crazy.”

“Have you taken her on a date? Gotten to know her?”

The reminder was a sad one. “I walked away. I wanted to let her decide if I was worth it to her. Besides, I know everything there is to know about her.”

“Really? You know everything?” she huffed.

“Yes.” He was confident in his response.

“So you know her favorite flavor of ice cream? How she likes her coffee? Or maybe she’s a tea person. Does she like short, quick showers or does she like to linger in the warm water of a bath so it hugs her tight, and just for a while, it feels like a real man holding her? What about how she sleeps? Does she sleep on her back or does she lay on her stomach in hopes of a back rub to lull her into her secure future? What did she want to be when she grew up, Casey?”

Was she trying to kill him?

“Point made,” he muttered.

“Just get to know her before you go full-bore on her, okay?”

“Dom went full-bore,” he helpfully reminded her.

“Point made,” she repeated back to him.

Dee stood to leave. When she reached the door, she turned back to him. “I don’t think she’s had anyone to love her, Case. Go slow and be gentle. If I had to guess, love scares her more than anything.”

Long after she had left him alone for the night, Case lay in bed thinking over her words. Dee was right, of course, but he’d never admit that out loud. While he knew all the technical things about her life—like her mom leaving when she was twelve, her running away when she was sixteen, stripping the day after she turned eighteen, and finding her sister a year ago—he knew nothing personal. The longer he thought about it, the more it irritated him.

He could see why she was always pushing him away when her eyes screamed for him to take her. She probably thought he wanted only one thing from her. She didn’t know him from Adam. His mind was running in circles thinking of all the ways he could show her they were meant for each other. All he had to do was convince her he was in it for life.

Casey fell asleep to dreams of Ev by his side and of happiness in their future. Peace finally relieving them of their pasts.

They say all good things must come to an end, right? Well, his came crashing down as nightmares of the worst time in his life plagued him.

“I can’t fucking wait to get out of this hell,” Jack, one of his young teammates, bitched for probably the hundredth time in an hour.

They’d been stationed at Bagram Air Base about twenty-five miles north of Kabul for a little more than thirteen months of what was supposed to be a twelve-month tour. He could understand Jack’s frustration, but he signed up knowing what he was getting into, so when Case told him, “Private, did you sign up for a vacation or to serve your country?” the contrition on his face was well deserved.

“Sorry, Sergeant,” he mumbled while Dom and a couple of other guys tried not to laugh at the reprimand.

When Casey had enlisted with Dom seven years ago, he finally felt like he’d found his home. The brotherhood was what he’d been missing in his life, so when some little, pencil-necked dicksmack decided to try and bitch about the life they chose, he got a tad bit defensive. He was naturally an easy-going guy, but the oath he took to serve for Uncle Sam was the one and only thing he did not fuck around about.

The old man Casey had been walking with looked at Jack, pointed his finger and said, “???? ?????? ???? ? ???? ?? ??? ? ??? ??? ?? ???????.” He had to think for a moment before he burst out laughing.

“What’d he say?” Over a year in this desert heat, and this punk still hadn’t learned the Pashto language. That just pissed Case off more.

“Basically, you jackass, he’s saying you have no respect. You need to learn more about life.”