a dawg.
I didn’t need that kind of hassle.
Besides, I was happily single.
Which translated into lonely.
But if I needed the company of a man, I knew I could find it.
Which translated into I was in a monogamous relationship with my vibrator.
“Whatever.”
I left Brady’s office. I didn’t storm down the hall, out the back door, up the steps of the temporary office trailer Trey shared with Matt. Unfortunately, my stop-and-chat with Hadley and Brady had dwindled some of my annoyance.
Fortunately, when I swung the door open and found Trey limping worse than normal to his desk, I found it.
Trey’s head snapped in my direction and pain clear as day marred his face. But as usual, he masked his pain. It also took him a second to ascertain I was Adalynn, not Hadley. Something Brady never had to do. Something that, if I was being honest, even though it was stupid it hurt my feelings.
“What the fuck, Addy?”
“Yeah, what the fuck?”
Trey blinked, once, twice, three times, then he scowled.
“Watch your mouth.”
“My mouth?”
“Yeah, Adalynn, your mouth.”
As a general rule, I didn’t curse much. Not because I grew up in a family where cursing was frowned upon. As a matter of fact, most people, male and female in my family, cussed like sailors. This didn’t bother me. I couldn’t say exactly why I rarely cussed when my sister the librarian made an art out of four-letter words when she was mad. I just didn’t.
So I could see how my language might be shocking to Trey considering he’d probably never heard me say fuck, but really, who was he to try to correct me when I’d been repeating him?
“You missed your appointment,” I accused.
“No. I canceled my appointment. I didn’t miss anything.”
“That’s the fourth time, Trey.”
“I’m aware, Adalynn.”
“You need to—”
“Don’t come into my office and tell me what I need,” he snarled, and held my gaze captive. “I know what I need. You don’t have the first damn—”
“I don’t? I’m your physical therapist, remember? I’ve read your medical reports. I’ve been running your rehab. I think I know exactly what you need.”
“Yeah, you’ve been running it for six fucking months and it’s not working.”
Damn, that hurt.
“Yes, it is.”
“The fuck it is. I’m still not a hundred percent.”
Caution. Caution. Caution.
Or maybe more like danger, with a capital D.
“We’ve talked about this. Your doctors have talked to you about this. You’re never gonna be back to what you were before—”
My words were cut off when Trey’s arm swept out and the detritus covering his desk went flying.
“Fuck,” he roared and stumbled when he turned to face me. “You don’t think I see it? Every goddamned time I look in the mirror I don’t see what was taken from me? I don’t even need to feel the pain in my leg or look down at the scar. No, all I need to do is look at my face and I know I’ll never be what I was.”
He had to be kidding.
“You have got to be kidding me,” I voiced my thoughts. “Egotistical much? You’re seriously worried about what your face looks like? Good Lord, so what you have scars on your face? It doesn’t stop you from being good-looking. And if you’re so hung up on your looks, go get plastic surgery, you arrogant prick. The only thing I’m concerned about is getting back part of what you lost. Though that doesn’t include your ability to pick up women.”
Some of the fire left Trey’s presence though it mostly still burned bright.
“Wasn’t talking about my looks, Addy. I welcome the scars.”
“What?”
Now I was confused. I thought he was complaining about looking in the mirror.
“I see it every day. I can hide that shit from everyone else. But I can’t lie to myself, Adalynn. Can’t deny it. Can’t pretend it away. I know what I lost. I’m the one that has to live with it.”
I still wasn’t sure I understood what he was saying. Though I had a pretty good idea he was talking about no longer being in the military. He’d been a SEAL. He and Luke had been medically discharged after they’d been injured in an explosion.
I know what I lost.
Shit.
I didn’t know what to say to that.
Or maybe I did.
“You know what your problem is, Trey? You need an attitude adjustment. You’re focusing on the things you think you lost instead of what you didn’t. You could’ve lost your leg, you could’ve lost your life, you could’ve lost one of the guys, but you didn’t. And while you’re focused on feeling sorry for yourself, you’re missing the important stuff going on around you. You think you lost the Navy and your team. What you’re forgetting is you’re still surrounded by your team. They all left and followed you and Luke. Besides a team, you’ve been given a family. One that will support you if you’d stop pushing them away.”
“Is that right, Addy? You gonna support me while I’m limping around? You gonna help me up in the morning when my leg’s stiff and I can’t get out of bed? You gonna pop open my pain meds for me so I can self-medicate to numb the fucking pain?”
It was the self-medicating part that took the wind out of my sails. Concern crept in.
“Are you taking pain pills, Trey?”
“Fuck no.”
“Then why’d you say that?”
“Because you don’t think I don’t know what happens to washed-up, has-beens like me?”
“I thought you were tougher than this,” I told him. “Thought you were supposed to be some sort of badass, Captain America, Navy SEAL. But this? This is weak. This is you giving up. This is you having a goddamn pity party because you can’t run twenty miles with five-hundred pounds on your back. Well, guess what, you can’t. Welcome to your new life, Trey. Now fucking deal with it. You have an appointment tomorrow at five. You’re not there, so help me God, I’ll find you. And when I do, you’ll wish you were back at BUD/s with some instructor in your face because I’ll push you so hard you’ll be crying.”
With that, I turned and left.
I didn’t look back.
Which meant I missed Trey do another triple blink before his beautiful full lips tipped up into a smile. And since I missed that, I also missed him shaking his head while muttering, “Goddamn, Adalynn Walker. Who knew?”
But he’d said it like he was impressed. Which would’ve gone a long way to untying the knots in my stomach as the guilt set in.
Adalynn and Trey are up next in Flawed.
Grab your copy here.
Riley’s Rebels
If you are interested in joining Riley’s Rebels newsletter sign up here:
https://www.subscribepage.com/RRsignup
Also by Riley Edwards
Romantic Suspense
Gemini Group
Nixon’s Promise
Jameson’s Salvation
Weston’s Treasure
Alec’s Dream
Chasin’s Surrender
Holden’s Resurrection
Red Team
Nightstalker
Protecting Olivia
Redeeming Violet
Recovering Ivy
Rescuing Erin
The Gold Team
Brooks
Thaddeus
Kyle
Maximus
Declan
The 707 Freedom Series
Free
Freeing Jasper
Finally Free
Freedom
The Next Generation (707 spinoff)
Saving Meadow
Chasing Honor
Finding Mercy
Claiming Tuesday
Adoring Delaney
Keeping Quinn
Taking Liberty
Triple Canopy
Damaged
Flawed
The Collective
Unbroken
Trust
Standalone
Romancing Rayne
About the Author
Riley Edwards is a USA Today bestselling author, wife, and military mom. Riley was born and raised in Los Angeles but now resides on the east coast with her fantastic husband and children.
Riley writes heart-stopping romance with sexy alpha heroes and even stronger heroines. Riley's favorite genres to write are romantic suspense and military romance.
Don't forget to sign up for Riley’s newsletter and never miss another release, sale, or exclusive bonus material. https://www.subscribepage.com/RRsignup
Facebook Fan Group
Acknowledgments
To all of you – the readers: Thank you for picking up this book and giving me a few hours of your time. Whether this is the first book of mine you’ve read or you’ve been with me from the beginning, thank you for your support. It is because of you I have the coolest job in the world.