in her appearance. She’d gone in wearing a sweatshirt. That was gone and her hair was a mess. Surely she hadn’t been doing what it looked like she had. She was one of his special ones, the most precious besides Jocelyn. She wouldn’t do that to him, would she?
He scowled as he looked back over to the man. This was his fault. That man could never be allowed to steal his Julie, not when he was this close to having everything perfect, the way that fate meant it to be. He needed to take care of this, take care of him. But first, he had another special one to heal.
* * *
This was number seven. He looked down at the girl’s dark hair matted with blood. She’d fought hard and hurt herself in the process. He frowned as he gazed at the bruise blossoming across her temple. Why would she do that? Didn’t she know that he only wanted to free her from her pain? From Jocelyn’s pain? He was trying to help. Why did they always fight it?
He stroked the heart in the palm of her hand. Together forever. Him and Jocelyn. That was their promise and he was going to keep it. He would free her from her pain and then they could be happy together again. Only a few more until Julie. She’d be the one who’d set Jocelyn free. She was the one with the greatest pain, so she was the key. His perfect one.
The girl below him moaned. Fire raced through his veins and his cock stirred again, even though he’d just had the most amazing orgasm. He needed to stop daydreaming and take care of the rest of this one. He slid out of the girl, removed the condom, tied it off, and inserted it into the plastic baggie. He zipped up his pants and worked to secure her.
Closing the girl’s hands into fists, he used the duct tape and taped them shut before binding them together at the small of her back.
She was just beginning to come to when he rolled her over the debris-filled embankment into the ditch. Her mouth was duct taped shut, but someone would find her in a few hours. She might not think so now, but someday she’d thank him for helping her through this rough time in her life. He’d never forget her and the help she provided him and Jocelyn.
Lucky number seven. Anticipation zinged. Soon this would be Julie, his princess.
Chapter 9
Chris stepped into the hangar juggling the bags of food and carrier full of drinks. “Lunch is here,” he called out. Mick, their mechanic, stepped from behind the fuselage of the De Havilland. Colton came down from the cockpit and Jake leaned his head out the door of the supply room.
“Take it into the conference room and we can eat in there,” Colton instructed.
Jake ambled across the length of the hangar and started grabbing for bags. “Does this grease mean Mesquite’s barbeque?”
Chris lifted one of the bags to look at the grease spots on the brown paper. “Should I be worried you knew that just from the fat showing up on the bag?”
Jake smiled. “Probably. We’ve got to stop eating junk like this or else we’re going to lose our girlish figures.”
“I don’t want to be anywhere around any girls that look like you three,” Mick groused in his age-roughened gruff voice.
They all laughed as they headed toward the office door.
Colton turned and surveyed the large hangar space behind them. “You do make a good point, though. Maybe we should find someplace in here to set up a weight bench. Now that we aren’t in the military anymore, it would be too easy to relax our workout routines, especially with how busy it looks like things might get.”
“Oh, God. You’re not going to start making us do PT in the mornings before we report in for work, are you?” Chris asked Colton with a smirk.
Colton smiled right back. “Only if you pansies start getting fat. Then I’ll put you on the Mad Rob weight management program.”
Both Chris and Jake groaned, while Colt just laughed at them evilly.
They crowded into the conference room, sat down at the table, and dug into the greasy barbeque sandwiches. Regardless of any of their kidding around, Chris knew none of these guys were in danger of getting out of shape anytime soon.
Even Mick who had to be pushing sixty years or older was in prime physical shape. A former Special