Page 1 of A Damaged Soul
CHAPTER ONE
Rhett
I sat at the hotel bar swirling my glass of Jameson neat. It was another sleepless night, and instead of tossing and turning in bed, I decided it was best to come down to the bar and drink myself stupid. Except I’d been nursing the same glass of whiskey for the past thirty minutes.
The truth was, I was miserable. Nightmares haunted me when I slept. My dark thoughts tried to pull me under when I was awake. It didn't matter what I did to try and drown them out, they always got the better of me. Most days I wondered why I even bothered.
My teammates tried to help me. They knew I used humor as a coping mechanism to hide how I truly felt in front of people. Day in and day out they did their best to fix my problem, but in order for that to work, I needed to be a willing participant and right now I wasn't.
Don't get me wrong, I hated how I felt but not enough to change it. It was easier to just push people away than it was to fix my issues.
Hence, why I hadn't been back to Texas to visit my family in years. As the second youngest of six siblings it was safe to say we were a close-knit bunch. At least, we had been before life played a cruel joke and ruined me. Now I was just a damaged soul who had seen too much carnage and wreaked too much havoc on unsuspecting civilians. I was a former paid mercenary with one too many strikes against me. I didn't deserve to be around the good that my family was.
"Hey, sweetheart. Sorry I'm late," a siren of a voice whispered in my ear right before plopping her ass in the chair next to me.
I lifted my eyebrow at the stunning redhead with luscious curls cascading down her back and the most vibrant green eyes I had ever seen. She was wrapped up nice and tight in an emerald-green dress that pushed her tits front and center. Her cherry-red lips held a nervous smile that didn't match her next words.
"Just go with it."
"So this is your boyfriend?" a man who looked like he spent plenty of time downing steroids and lying in a tanning bed rather than doing actual work asked.
"Yup, this is my boyfriend..."
"Rhett." I stuck my hand out. "Nice to meet you."
"Whatever, bro," the douchebag huffed, and walked away like he was carrying two large suitcases in each of his arms.
The mystery woman let out a relieved sigh once the asshole was out of earshot. "Thank you for the save. That guy followed me in here from the lobby and wouldn't take no for an answer."
I was tempted to follow the guy and teach him a lesson.
"I'm Elle, by the way."
"Nice to meet you, Elle. I'm Rhett."
Her dazzling smile caused my cold almost dead heart to flip.
"Do you mind if I sit with you for a bit? Just to make sure he's gone."
I thought about it for a second before I asked with a tease in my tone, "Are you sure I'm the right guy for the job?"
Her next question changed my whole demeanor. "Why? You're not a murderer, are you?"
This time I was nothing but serious when I asked, "And what if I am?"
Elle looked at me and I mean really looked at me. So much so that I had to force myself not to squirm in my seat because her piercing gaze bore a hole right through me that I was sure she could see straight into my soul.
"No, you're not a murderer," she said with conviction. "Sure you may have killed people. You've got that whole military vibe going on but to actually gun someone down and kill them?" She shook her head. "No way."
She didn't know how wrong she really was.
"I think your judgment is a little off," I told her with complete honesty.
Elle continued to study me with her intense green eyes. Finally, after several long moments, she spoke again. "How about this? We spend the next hour together just talking and hanging out, then I can decide if my original assessment of you is wrong." She cocked an eyebrow at me. "Deal?"
This poor woman didn't know what she was in for but she would soon find out. I stuck my hand out and waited for her to take it. With a firm handshake, I answered, "Deal."
CHAPTER TWO
