been able to during the entire month he and his unit had escorted her and her fellow aid workers to sites outside of Baghdad. If he’d met Jessica back home, she would have spun him for a loop there, too. Fighting gun battles were nothing compared to trying to keep his hands off her as she sat in front of him. Irrational jealousy that Art, the driver, got to sit next to her flowed through Adam.
“I can do you one better than that,” Jessica said as the hot wind whipped through the Humvee and caused tendrils of her honey-blond hair to fly about her flushed and slightly smudged face. She started to tell a dirty joke of her own, much to his disbelief.
Fate interrupted. Instead of a joke, what came out of Jessica was a scream. Adam reached for her as the Humvee went airborne and flew backward. But searing pain engulfed his leg. He screamed then froze as his eyes locked with the sightless ones on Jessica’s bloody face. He screamed again as the world went black.
Adam shot up in bed, breathing hard, his throat raw at the remembered scream that had ripped from him a world away. He cursed and punched the mattress. Why the hell did he have to keep having the dreams?
Because you didn’t keep her safe.
Adam cursed again and threw the sheet off his sweaty body. Why did that accusation always haunt him? What could he have done besides insist it was too dangerous for her to come along? Well, that hadn’t exactly been his call, had it?
He’d made his point and been overruled.
He felt like punching holes in the wall, to punish himself again and again for not having been stronger in his opposition. Yes, it was some nut-job militant who’d put that roadside bomb in their path, but he couldn’t shake the conviction that he’d had a duty to keep her safe and he’d failed.
Sweat trickled down his forehead. He swiped at it then headed for the bathroom to wash his face. He knew better than to try going back to sleep immediately. The dream would just come back, as if he’d hit the pause button on a DVD player. If he could have the part of his brain that remembered Iraq surgically removed, he’d do it without a second thought.
Snoring from the couch told him that David hadn’t bolted. Adam hoped he had enough food in the fridge to make the kid a decent breakfast in the morning.
In the bathroom, he ran cold water and splashed his face. Still dripping, he looked at his shadowed image in the partially lit room. Fatigue hit him anew, and it had nothing to do with the hours he’d worked. No, this was the type of exhaustion that came from keeping up the front, trying to make everyone, including himself, believe he was just a happy-go-lucky, not-a-care-in-the-world beach lounger. God, how he wished it were true beyond the surface.
He shoved away from the sink and wandered back into the hallway.
Normally, after a dream he’d watch a little TV to fill his head with other images, but he didn’t want to wake David. Though it was possible the kid was so tired he wouldn’t even wake up.
Adam eased into the living room and stopped when he saw how David was sleeping. Curled into the fetal position with his hands protecting his head.
Flaming, dangerous anger lit inside Adam. A teenage boy wouldn’t sleep like that without a reason, unless he felt he was in danger.
God help the person who’d put that type of fear in the boy.
Chapter Five
Adam didn’t sleep the rest of the night. Instead, he sat on the side of his bed thinking, trying to decide the best course of action. As the sun rose on another gorgeous Gulf Coast day, he corraled the three eggs and two pieces of bacon left in the fridge and fixed them with some toast. He placed the plate of food, a half jar of grape jelly, silverware and a mug of coffee on the table before David ever stirred.
Adam guessed the boy had slept about as much as he’d eaten since he’d run off from home.
Finally, David rolled over on the couch then came awake with such a jerk that he ended up halfway on the floor.
“Watch the coffee table. An elephant could dance on that thing, so I’m guessing it’d leave a mark if you hit it.” Adam kept his words casual and friendly, in a teasing sort