“He wasn’t happy where he was. He was born to lead, Sofia. If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t have taken control regardless of his rank. As I said, the Navy needs him. It was time for him to finally step up.”
Spiky trickles of terror danced down my spine. “Step up how? Where did you send him?”
“For now?” He sighed, his shoulders coming down as if he felt defeated. “We’ve sent him home, but he’ll be leaving soon. He’ll be gone for six months.”
“Six months?” I whispered. Hot tears jumped to my eyes and welled in the corners before leaking over. “You’re sending him away for half a year because you think it’s time for him to step up? That’s bullshit, Dad. All you’ve done is to force him into a position where he didn’t want to be. After effectively eliminating all his other options by launching an investigation to prevent him from doing something he hadn’t yet done.”
Dad opened his mouth again, presumably to tell me how wrong I was. I didn’t stick around to listen. He’d asked me to hear him out, and I had.
Arguing with him wouldn’t get me anywhere. More importantly, arguing with him wouldn’t keep Lincoln here. If anything, it might just turn his tour into twelve months instead of six.
Obviously, I’d been a fool for believing Dad would do the reasonable thing and admit his mistake. Instead, my own father had gone and corralled the man I loved into an impossible situation.
And in doing so, had put me right there with him.
Chapter 37
Lincoln
Life had a weird way of working itself out sometimes. Less than twelve hours ago, I’d been in a cell convinced that my career had gone up in flames.
I never, for one second, would have guessed what had been about to happen. The weird thing was that once it had, it was like things just fell right into place.
All my doubts about advancing in the Navy had disappeared, and I’d suddenly been able to admit to myself what had been holding me back. Me.
Charles and I had spoken after the meeting let out. He’d stuck by my side as I’d gone through the process. I now knew where I was headed and when. I also knew what was expected of me over the next couple of weeks before my unit deployed.
My unit. It was still kind of hard to believe, but I was actually fucking pumped about it.
After having spent the last couple of months thinking I might just be done, it felt fucking good to be back. Back but better.
Eden was still in the hospital but was being transferred to a rehabilitation unit before the end of the week. Charles had taken me to him and had also been the one to tell us that once Eden had recovered, he would be joining my unit.
It was great fucking news.
The only thing putting a damper on it all was the fact that I’d be leaving Sofia for six months. I still had to talk to her about it, but six months wasn’t that long in the greater scheme of things.
Grinning as I stepped out of the shower, I dried off and knotted a towel around my waist. I’d wanted to call her before I’d even gotten back to the house, but I’d been in desperate need of a shower and a shave.
I couldn’t wait to tell her the news. Not only that I was staying in the military and had agreed to command a unit but also that Charles and I had had a long talk.
After pulling on some sweats, I picked up my phone to finally call my girl when there was a knock at the door. I pressed dial anyway, then held the phone to my ear as I went to see who was there.
Sofia’s ringtone met my ears before I could open the door, and my heart did flip-flops in my chest. She was here. I was finally, fucking finally, going to have my girl in my arms again.
When I opened the door, though, I did a double-take. It was Sofia standing on the other side of it, but she was a mess. Her cheeks were stained with tears and she hiccupped when she looked up at me, her entire body trembling.
“Lincoln,” she breathed out before surging forward and slamming her chest into mine. Her arms wound around my neck, and she held on to me like I was her life raft in the middle of