Sacrifice (Heart of a Wounded Hero)

My mouth falls open, and he continues, "If it was up to me, we would be married and living together."

I press my forehead to his chest, shaking my head back and forth. "You don't know how much I want that, Logan. But you've been through so much, and it's too soon.”

He tightens his arms around me. “I’m not letting you go, Ella. I can’t. Not again.”

I slide my hand up his chest. “That’s good because I don’t want you to. But I think we should take it slowly. I need you to be sure, Logan, because the truth is, I’m in love with you too."

He kisses me until I’m breathless, and when he finally pulls away, he’s panting too. “Slowly. Okay, slowly,” he says as he adjusts himself.

I realize his meaning and laugh. “Not that slowly. I mean, we should date... and we should definitely do more of what we did the other night.”

He stands up, pulling me with him. “Oh, you liked that, did you?”

I put my hands around his waist as we walk down the hall. “Oh, I definitely liked that.”

He walks with me hand in hand to his bedroom and stops outside his door. “Ella, from this point forward, you’re mine. I know I’ll fuck up again but never like this. I’ll never push you away again. I know you should have a better man than me, but I’m going to become the man you deserve.”

I put my hand on his chest and look up at him, unguarded. I know he can see the love shining in my eyes. “You’re all I need, Logan. You, exactly how you are in this moment. I love you.”

He blinks, overcome with emotion. “I love you too, sweetheart.”

I grab on to his hand and nod toward the bedroom. “Prove it,” I challenge him.

And he does just that. Over and over, he shows me how much I mean to him.

Epilogue

Logan

Three Months Later

My healing didn’t come as fast as I wanted it to. The nightmares continued, but I got back into therapy, and at least they’re better now.

For the first month, I made Ella sleep in the guestroom because I was worried about her safety. It didn’t last long because she put her foot down, swearing that she knew I wouldn’t hurt her. I only let her back into the bedroom after we went over all the safety precautions on how to handle it if I was having a nightmare. The truth of the matter is, I have less and less each night I’m sleeping with her wrapped around me.

“Are you excited about today?” she asks me.

I look at the mirror, and she’s standing behind me. I turn and shrug my shoulders, trying to act like I’m not nervous but knowing that I really am. I can’t hide anything from her, and she gives me a knowing look. “Okay, maybe a little.”

She comes over and straightens the collar of my shirt. I wasn’t released to rejoin the Army. I was a little sad about it, and I went through a phase, worried about what I could do next, but it all came together one afternoon at Red’s Diner. I was picking up food when a man asked me to sit down with him. I recognized him, of course. His name is Walker, and he owns probably half of Whiskey Run.

He offered me a job that day. I had known about his compound out on the stretch of road between Jasper and Whiskey Run, but I wasn’t sure exactly what they did there. When he told me about the band of mercenaries he’d hired to do missions, I wanted to be a part of it badly. But I held back. I had to be upfront and honest with him.

“My arm.” I showed him the marred skin. “Well, let’s just say, I was discharged with honors from the Army. But my shooting arm isn’t steady.”

He nodded. “I know. I know everything about you, Logan. We can work with that.”

I looked at him in surprise. “You’re really offering me a job?”

He shrugged easily, as if he didn’t just give me a new lease on life. “I’m really offering you a job.”

I didn’t even ask him all the details before I told him yes.

We went over all the information, and today I’m going in for my first day on the job.

Ella brings me from my thoughts by rubbing my back. She’s looking at me worriedly. “You’re going to do great, Logan. You were meant for this.”

I nod in agreement. The truth is, I’m not as nervous about my job as I am about other things. I am supposed to do this tonight. Our friends and I are all going out tonight to celebrate my first day on the job, and I was going to wait until then, but I can’t wait another minute.