Chapter One
Benny pushed away the plate of microwaved food sitting in front of him at his little table in his kitchen. He loved to cook, was quite good at it even, but he had no desire to whip up a grand meal for one.
Ever since his SEAL teammates, and friends, had found the loves of their lives, they’d spent less and less time together. It wasn’t as if Benny begrudged his friends finding a woman to love and protect. He loved Ice, Alabama, Fiona, Summer, and Cheyenne as if they were his own sisters. He’d fight and die for them, simply because they loved his friends. But now he could see what was missing in his own life.
Benny had seriously considered asking for a transfer to another SEAL team. He knew it would rip his guts out to do it, but he didn’t know how much longer he could go seeing what his friends had, and knowing it was out of his own reach.
He took a long drink from the glass of water he’d poured to go with his crappy dinner and thought back to the last time they’d all gotten together at Aces Bar and Grill. It was a small bar, but was always clean and was relatively peaceful. It was, admittedly, a pick up bar, that’s how they found it in the first place. But since they’d been eating and drinking there for a while, it now felt more like home.
Benny knew he and his friends turned heads wherever they went. They used to go to the bar to hook up with women, but as each team member found the woman meant just for them, their reason for meeting up there changed. Now they enjoyed the atmosphere and the camaraderie they shared. But they were SEAL members. They were muscular men, who women seemed to find attractive.
Benny was the youngest on the team. He was six feet tall with short brown hair. Women in the past had told him he had unique eyes, the color of molten chocolate. Benny didn’t know about that, he’d always thought they were just plain brown.
Over the time Benny and his teammates had been going to Aces, they’d gotten to know the names of the servers and bartenders, and everyone in return, knew who their team was as well. Unfortunately, it was also the place where Cheyenne, Summer, and Alabama had been snatched right out from under Mozart’s nose while the girls were there for a night out. Luckily it ended all right and no one was seriously hurt or killed.
Last week the entire team had gotten together for dinner, drinks, and conversation to try to push out the bad memories of what had happened there. Benny knew if it had been up to his friends, they never would’ve stepped foot in the place again, but the ladies, being the strong stubborn women they were, had insisted. They’d laughed, and the women had even shed a tear or two, but in the end, it had been the right decision to go back.
But something was bothering Benny about their visit. He couldn’t get the look on Jess’s face out of his head. Their usual waitress had limped up to their table, with the little lopsided gait she had, and when he had gently taken hold of her arm to keep her from leaving right away, she’d grimaced.
Every man around the table had taken notice, and hadn’t liked it. It didn’t take a genius to see it had hurt when Benny had taken hold of her arm, and he hadn’t grabbed her, hadn’t squeezed, had just stopped her from leaving. Now that Benny thought about it, Jess hadn’t been acting the same. When they’d first met her she’d been bubbly and easy-going, always laughing and joking with all of them.
But last week, she’d been quiet and kept her eyes downcast. The long-sleeved shirts were new too. In fact, the more Benny thought about her, the more worried he got. Whoever was abusing her was smart. He was keeping his hands off her face, where the abuse would be the most obvious. If Jess had come in with a black eye or a split lip, none of the guys would have hesitated to say something.
But if he was leaving bruises or hitting her on her body where her clothes hid the marks, no one could be certain. Benny didn’t like the thought of Jess being hurt though. He knew that for sure.
He hadn’t really thought about Jess in that way . . . until now. She’d just always been there. She was a part of the bar experience. She was a good waitress, always refilling their drinks, always laughing with them, but giving them room when they needed it.
When the girls had been kidnapped from the bar, Benny knew Jess had immediately huddled with Fiona and Caroline to keep them calm. She’d taken them into a back office and stayed with them until the team thought it was safe for them to leave.
Thinking back, Benny suddenly felt bad. They’d taken advantage of her hospitality and nurturing nature. They’d taken their women away, but left Jess there without a thought to her safety.
Benny just couldn’t reconcile how good Jess had been with the team’s women and how caring she was, with someone who’d stay with a man who abused her. There had to be a reason, but Benny couldn’t think of what it might be.
He pushed up from his kitchen table, suddenly on a mission. He couldn’t go another moment without checking on Jess. He had a bad feeling in his gut, and a SEAL never dismissed those feelings.
Jess was probably fine. She was most likely at the bar and she’d call out a greeting, just as she always did, when he walked in.
Mind set, Benny grabbed his keys from the basket by the door and was headed to his car before he’d really made a conscious decision to move.
As his forgotten microwave dinner sat congealing on the counter, Benny pulled out of the parking lot of his apartment complex.
I’ll just go and grab a burger, it’s not like I’m really checking on her. I’m hungry. If she’s there, great, I’ll assuage my curiosity and then come back home. I’m sure she’s fine. I’m just overreacting.
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