Page 31 of Brax

“No,” said Luke. “I was not. I knew that the only woman for me was Ajei. End of story.” Hayes looked at Eric.

“Sorry, buddy. Sophia Ann was always the woman I loved.” He looked at Cam.

“I was a man-whore,” he said, frowning. “I’m ashamed to say it now, but it’s the truth. I was lucky that Kate saw the real me and loved me. I’m grateful.” He turned to Hex.

“I was an older man when I found Gwen. I’d been with other women, but not while I proclaimed love for one back home.”

“Well, I guess you’re all boy scouts,” he frowned.

“We didn’t say that, Hayes. Listen, you’ve had some time out there in the world now without anyone hanging over your shoulder,” said Luke. “We get it. We get being tempted. The problem with that is that Victoria hasn’t been out there in the world. She doesn’t know how beautiful she is, how enticing. We see it when the men at The Well look at her.”

“You take her to The Well?” he yelled.

“Fuck, yes. The girl needs to get away from here. We agree with you on that,” said Eric. “But there is always a half-dozen men around her when we go, and she does not move. She won’t even take a piss without two women going with her and a man outside the door. She is terrified, Hayes. Have you thought about that at all?”

“Of course I have! I mean. I know she’s scared, but she has to get over it.”

“She really doesn’t,” said Brax. “You need for her to get over it, but she doesn’t have to. She loves her life here, Hayes. She loves living with all of us and working here, and she loves you. But asking her to do something that will cause her immeasurable pain before she’s ready is not okay.”

Hayes stood and shook his head, heading toward the door.

“What will you do?” asked Brax.

“I don’t know. I have no fucking clue, but I can’t be trapped in one place forever, and I can’t live without her.”

CHAPTER TWENTY

“He didn’t hurt me,” sniffed Victoria. “Not physically.”

“What do you mean?” asked Stephanie, the other women huddled around her.

“He’s tired of me being scared to leave the property. He wanted me to just get over it and come and live in San Diego with him. I’m just not ready for that,” she said, wiping fresh tears.

“Oh, honey. You have to find a way to get over that,” said Ajei. “He means well, and I’m going to guess he’s lonely. And. As awful as it sounds, he may be tempted by women coming on to him.”

“Wh-what?” gasped Victoria.

“I didn’t say he’s done anything, but he is a man. A very handsome, well-built young man who is also a Navy SEAL. Luke and I knew we loved one another. While he was at Annapolis, I was in nursing school in Baltimore. We saw one another all the time. But believe me, I noticed the women watching him all the time.

“Then we came back here and married. I lived near base for a while, and then when I got close to delivering Garrett, I came back here until he retired.”

“It was the same for Eric and me,” said Sophia Ann. “But everyone is different.”

“Cam and I definitely were,” frowned Kate. “I had his son and kept that from him. It was so wrong of me, and I regret it every day.”

“Hex and I met later in life,” said Gwen.

“We all have different stories,” said Lia, Scout, and Lucinda, seated beside her. “Yours is unique, Victoria, because of your fear of leaving the property.”

“I agree with that,” said Julia, “but you can’t expect him to have a ten- or twenty-year career as a SEAL, and the woman he loves lives across the country or the world unable to come to him if he needs her.”

They all looked at Julia, surprised by her direct approach.

“I don’t mean to be cruel, Victoria, but you can’t expect him to not see anyone else if you’re not willing to go and visit him now and then. Think about all the weekends and days off that he has, but it’s not enough time to come home. You’re here, able to go and see him, but you won’t.

“I know it’s difficult for you. I know it’s an awful thought, but you have to find a way to do it for him or let him go. Even if it’s just for now.”

“I don’t want to let him go,” she said in a shaky voice. “I love him.”

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