The Wife Gamble by Charlie Hart & Chantel Seabrook

Author:Charlie Hart & Chantel Seabrook [Hart, Charlie & Seabrook, Chantel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-03-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Salinger

Emerson’s ship has gone down.

I see the same horror I feel cross my wife’s face, and it takes me a full second to shake myself out of the shock I’m in and go to her.

“Is he...?” Her words are weak as I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her against my chest.

“I don’t know.” I don’t know anything except what my father told me. The ship was torpedoed. An act of war. But by who?

Alaska has remained neutral. We have very few enemies, especially since we had sanctioned ourselves from the lower forty-eight.

The laughter and talking in the other room stops. And there’s silence before shocked curses begin. One of the other men must have received a similar call.

Fallon is the first out the door and when his gaze lands on mine, a silent conversation takes place. He drags his fingers through his cropped hair as the other men, including Giles file through the door.

“I have to go,” Fallon says, his voice steady, despite the emotion I see in his eyes. “They haven’t called me yet, but I know I’ll be asked to fly out.”

“But…” Tia begins to cry, and Fallon wraps her up in his arms.

“It’s going to be okay,” he assures her, but as he says it, our eyes lock. There are no guarantees when a ship of this magnitude goes down.

The truth is, Emerson is not coming back. It’s not like Giles being attacked by wolves. This is ice cold waters in the dead of night. It’s an entire naval ship sinking below the surface. It is a crew of twelve hundred men all unaccounted for.

Tia has already been through so damn much, is going through so much, even now.

She can’t know the truth, it would slay her.

“I love you,” she tells Fallon, kissing him. Their foreheads meet, and I hate that the only thing I think of is how earlier tonight, in my bathroom, our foreheads touched the same way.

I hate the competition I feel weaving through my heart, but goddammit, I need Tia, all of Tia.

“I love you too,” Fallon tells her, kissing her softly.

“Let me go pack a bag for you,” she tells him. “I feel like I need to do something. And I need… I need a moment alone, okay?” She looks around the room, and I don’t think any of us want to argue with her.

Not over this.

“You sure you’re alright by yourself?” I ask.

She nods. “I want to say a prayer, an offering…” she shakes her head. “I’m not religious, but I know Em--” her words catch on her sob. “Emerson is a man of faith and I just…”

Her thoughtfulness tugs at my heartstrings. Damn. This woman has done something to me, something so fucking real. I pull her close and even though I haven’t shown Tia affection in front of the other men, right now I need her to know I can be her comfort just as well as anyone else.

“Do you want to call his parents?” I ask.

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