Page 26 of Rescued By the SEAL

“Do you want me to try and get rid of him?” I ask her cautiously, wondering if I’m overstepping the mark by even suggesting this. I can’t read Heather at all right now. “I know he doesn’t like me and he won’t take to me well, but I can try to explain.”

“He won’t hear anything from you.” She sighs heavily and rises to her feet. “He’s going to have to hear this from me. Prepare for shit to get very ugly because I can’t even begin to imagine how angry he is right now. This could be horrible.”

I feel like we’re gearing up for war as I stand beside her, and it’s just Heather and me without any army by our side. We should be strong, the two of us together, but I don’t know if we can be. Notagainst him and when it feels like we’re a million miles apart. I still can’t get much of a read on Heather, even now as we stand shoulder to shoulder, waiting for her father to pull up in the parking lot and for the meteor to hit earth. Honestly, this does kinda feel like the end of the world right now.

The car stops and out Officer Buchan bundles, looking like a red ball of rage. I stiffen up beside Heather, sensing that this isn’t going to go the way that I want it to, no matter what I do. I don’t want him to take Heather away from me, but how will I control him? I haven’t forgotten the way that he threatened to throw my ass in jail.

“What thefuckdid I say to you, Landon Ross?” he spits out, the words flying out of his mouth much too fast. “I told you not to go anywhere near my daughter, and here you are. You just can’t keep away, can you? Do you want to be locked up?” I part my lips, but he holds up a finger to silence me. I can’t seem to stop myself from obeying his command. “No, I don’t want to hear any excuses from you. I don’t want to hear anything. I told your shitty boss to keep you away from Heather too, but it seems that no one is able to listen to me. Well, fuck that. Heather, you’re coming with me. We’re getting out of here.”

He reaches out to grab her, but she snatches her arm away. It seems that she isn’t about to take this just as much as I don’t want to. Unfortunately, this only makes her father even more enraged than before.

“Heather, I’mnotmessing around here. You willnotgo the same way as your mother. I thought that by explaining it to you, letting you know the past, you would act in a more rational way like an adult. But you arenevergoing to be an adult, so I guess I’ll have to treat you like a child forever. You have brought this on yourself. I hope you realize that.”

The whole world seems to collectively hold their breath as those words leave Officer Buchan’s mouth. I don’t know what Heather is going to do, but things can only get messier from here.

23

HEATHER

This is it, the moment I need to decide what I’m going to do once and for all. I’ll admit that I’m not exactly in the best frame of mind for it, but I don’t have any choice in the matter. My dad is trying to take me away from Landon yet again, but I can’t have it this time around. I’ve taken the time to understand him, and now I need him to try and understand me.

“Dad.” I take his hands in mine and stare into his eyes. He might be flooded with rage at the moment, but I’ll find a way to make him hear me. “I know what you’re trying to do here. I get it, and I understand even more after your telling me what happened to Mom, but Iknowwhat I’m doing here. I understand what I’m doing when it comes to Landon. Iknowhim.”

“It’s because of his father that you are here,” he growls angrily. “If it wasn’t forhisfamily, then none of this would have happened. Do you even understand that? Is that getting through to your thick skull? I don’t know how else to explain it to you.”

“It was Bill Ross who started this ball rolling. It was he who did this, not Landon. Landon saved me.”

“You’re going to die.” He pulls away from me, staring at me like I’m lost to him now. “Oh, my God, you’re the same as her. I’ve seen it your whole life. As you were growing up, I feared that you were like her, but now I canreallysee it. You’re just like your mother. Her influence has gotten to you even without her being here. I can’t save you, like I can’t save her.”

“No, Dad, I’m not trying to get in the middle of a murder here. I’m not shacking up with a criminal. I’m begging you to just let me stay with the man you have hired to protect me. I’m asking you to let me make my own judgments when it comes to my safety. Landon has saved me over and over again. He’s here to rescue me. He got hurt trying to help me.”

“You have feelings for him.” Dad shakes his finger at me hard and fast. “That’s what this is. That’s why you’re blinded. Well, I can’t allow that. I can’t let you be with someone who is going to take you down a bad path. I’ve fought too hard to let you slip away anyway. You might think that you are tough enough to survive because you’re an adult now, but she was the same way. She was the same, Heather, and you don’t get it. I can’t lose you too, I’m too scared to lose you too. Not to him.”

I can see my father breaking down, and of course that makes me incredibly sad, but I have to stand strong. This is going to be a turning point for us from here on out. This is where we establish our relationship from now on.

“Dad, don’t fall out with me. You can’t fall out with me about this. You need to just listen. Just hear me out. Youneedto listen to me for just a few moments. You’re doing a lot of shouting and not a lot of listening to me. Just wait a moment.”

The other police officers have made themselves busy keeping everyone away from us. That hasn’t gone unnoticed by me. I’mso freaking grateful for it, but I don’t know if it would be better for them to try and sort my father out. They could try and make him see straight here because he’s losing his damn mind over here and I’m a little out of my depth.

If we were back in our hometown where he had police buddies who probably saw him go through the pain and heartache the first time around, they might know what’s the best way to help him, but these guys are just backing away.

“You are going to have to choose,” Dad tells me while darting his eyes furiously between me and Landon. “I can’t listen to you telling me what a good man you think he is when I can so clearly see otherwise. I don’t see how I can make you change your mind.” He huffs heavily. “I can’t do this. I can’t have my heart broken by you too. You need to pick.”

“You aren’t given me an ultimatum, are you?” I ask him with sheer disappointment in my voice. I can’t hide how this is making me feel. The fact that my dad would eventhinkabout doing this to me on today, of all days, is too much.

“Don’t.”

“You can’t love him enough to really be putting him before me.”

Dad’s eyes are begging me, pleading with me, but I already know that I’m not going to be able to give him what he wants. I can’t turn my back on Landon, not now. I really do feel like we share something special and wefinallyhave the chance to see if it can go somewhere. I can’t lose him again.

“You wouldn’t.”

“Dad, if you are really going to make me do this, then I have no choice.” I’m calling his bluff, I’m trying to make him see howcrazy this is. “I can’t let you pigeonhole me anymore. I really am an adult, and you need to see it. You have to at least try and understand. Iknowwhat I’m doing, and even if a mistake is made, it’s my mistake to make.”

“But what if your one mistake is your final one, huh? The one that gets you killed. I can’t sit back and let that happen.”

“Landon doesn’t want me to get killed either,” I insist. “You are judging him by a man you knew fourteen years ago. You haven’t even had one conversation with Landon to get to know him. You’re acting like a crazy person.”

---