Page 64 of Unleash You

The small burlap sack over my head was unnecessary. I couldn’t even see my hand in front of me before. The two guys who pulled me out of the hole hadn’t stopped talking to each other. I had no idea what they were saying, but I got the impression they were telling jokes. When I slowed down, one of them yanked at the rope around my wrists to get me to keep up with their pace. I was trying to, but every other step, my feet found something to trip over.

Did Wesley know I’d been taken? Would he even know where to look for me? The men who took me didn’t seem to speak English. Or maybe they just didn’t care if I was scared and begging them to tell me where they were taking me. They also didn’t care to see me cry, hence the sack.

My hands shook uncontrollably. Our flight home would leave in less than twenty-four hours. Would Wesley get on it and leave me behind? No, he wouldn’t. I had to stop thinking about that. This place scared the hell out of him, but he wouldn’t do that to me. The situation with Charlie had been something entirely different. Charlie asked him to leave and save the others.

I swallowed against my dry throat. All I had left was a bad taste in the back of my mouth. Water would be so nice right about now.

“Hey, can I get some water?”

No answer. The men kept on with their conversation as if I hadn’t spoken. We’d been at this for at least half an hour, maybe more. Dead foliage and sticks crushed under my boots, but not like before. We were on some sort of path now. Raindrops pelted my raincoat, trickled through my headgear and down my face. As thirsty as I was, I pressed my lips together and didn’t drink it.

“The girl.” An arm shoved me forward, and the drizzle stopped. I was in some sort of room.

“Remove that rag.” Charlie’s voice sent a jolt through me, and happy tears streamed down my cheeks.

The single lightbulb inside the hut was bright and burned my eyes. Somewhere not too far away, a generator hummed while it released fumes into the air that mixed with the smell of barbecue. When I was finally able to focus on the form in front of me, I met Charlie’s warm smile. Was it possible he wanted to see me?

“I’m sorry for the tactics.” He offered me a canteen.

I took it and drank from it, taking in the space. A cot sat in the corner with the sheets neatly tucked under the thin mattress. A weapon chest similar to the one Mack had in his tent was tucked at the foot of the bed. The makeshift firepit with a skinny animal skewered on a stick in the opposite end of the hut explained the barbecue smell. Whatever that animal was, it didn’t look as good as it smelled.

“My men had been out here for too long. They’ve forgotten their manners.” He chuckled.

My men?

Wiping the cool water off my face, I glanced up at Charlie. His scowl was gone, and he looked more like the Charlie I remembered. The one who always had a smile for Mom and Dad and me. I threw caution to the wind and ran to him. He was almost as tall as Wesley. I wrapped my arms around his waist, pressing my cheek to his chest. Wesley was wrong to give up on Charlie. This place hadn’t changed him.

He petted my hair lightly, then gripped my shoulders to force me to look up at him. He met my gaze and held it for the longest time. “You look like her.”

Tears brimmed my eyes. Lilly had mentioned it before. How much I looked like Mom. Was that why Charlie was willing to talk to me?

“I know. Come with me. Back to Atlanta. You don’t have to be here. Wesley told me about the marines. You don’t owe them anything.”

“The marines?” He made a sound like a sad laugh. “Traitors. They left me here to die. But I survived.” A nasty smirk flashed across his lips, and the blue in his eyes almost disappeared.

Where Wesley was calm and serene, danger oozed out of Charlie. They’d had the same experience with the corps. But it seemed Charlie had chosen to make something darker out of it. I surveyed his profile, the soft curve of his nose, and short hair.

I wrote those letters.Wesley’s words echoed in my head. I had to remind myself of that small fact. The man sitting in front of me wasn’t the same one from those letters.

I’d gone into crazy stubborn territory. I knew that. Charlie and I had no real connection. Not anymore, not since I was thirteen and he buried me along with our parents. He didn’t know that I almost didn’t survive my college years for missing Mom so much, that I started playing the piano again to stay alive, or that I had recently graduated college. He didn’t know any of those things because he never cared to read my letters or reach out to me.

I took in a calming breath and swallowed my tears. That didn’t matter now. It wasn’t too late for him to come home, for us to be a family. When he got to know me, Wesley fell in love with me. Why couldn’t Charlie learn to love me again and forgive—remember we were still family? Why couldn’t he forgive me for the accident? In his letters, Wesley held back so much, but I could see that what they went through here changed him. It changed his view of the world, but not who he was deep inside. Wesley was good. And so was Charlie. He had to be. He was my brother.

“Why did you stay here? The men out there listen to you. Looks to me like you could’ve left at any time.”

“I have an arrangement with them. As to why I haven’t left, I have business to finish here.”

“Does that business include shooting at your best friend?”

“They were warning shots. You looked like you were not in a hurry to leave.”

At least no one was chasing them anymore. Wesley was safe. For now. “Come home. You have a family waiting for you in Atlanta.” I glanced down at my hands. I wasn’t much of a family, but that was all I had to offer. Hopefully, that would be enough. “I moved into Fox’s Bank. Did some renovations. The Coles now live next door full-time. It feels like old times.”

“Fox’s Bank.” Charlie shook his head. “There’s a name I hadn’t heard in a while.”

When our parents’ accident happened, Charlie was only eighteen. His first official act as my guardian was to send me away to boarding school in upstate New York. The whole time, I assumed he lived in our home, surrounded by our parents’ things. But Wesley recently told me that Charlie had shut down the house shortly after I’d left.

“It could be our home again.”

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