Page 27 of Redemption

“You don’t need a special occasion to have cake, surely,” I reply with a wink and letting some of the irritation at seeing Jessica talking with that guy bleed away.

“You staying over at the Taylor’s, Rick?” Harry questions and not doing a very good job of hiding his hostility towards me. I admire his fatherly protection, even though I know he’s not her father.

“Yes. My family and I have been coming here for many years, but it’s been a while since we were last here. You have a great place here. Perhaps next time we’ll book a cabin.”

“Is that so,” Harry says, folding his arms across his chest. “Well, we book up fast, so don’t go getting your hopes up on that.” I catch Eleanor’s small elbow to Harry’s ribs and the look he throws her way.

“Don’t listen to him, Rick. I’m sure we can accommodate you and your family.”

“That’s very kind of you. I need to get back, so thanks again for the cake. Good meeting you both.”

As I turn and walk away, I can hear Eleanor scolding Harry, and I chuckle quietly.

My smile soon slips as I picture Jessica laughing with that jerk she rolled in here with, and the bolt of concern that shot through me when I saw the state of her.

Who the fuck swerves for a damn deer? Stupid bloody women and their concern for wildlife over their own lives. Don’t get me wrong, I love animals and would never knowingly injure an animal but come on. If it was me or the animal, I know which one I’d choose.

Back at the caravan, my mum has Jamison snuggled up in her arms, rocking him, with a beaming smile on her face while chatting to Cam and Jamie. She didn’t get much time to cuddle him as we left for the fair soon after Ryder and Cam arrived this morning.

Watching my mum with Jamison is bittersweet for me. I remember how happy she was when Sam and I told them we were having a baby, but Max’s birth brings a plethora of contradicting feelings for all of us.

I think my mum suffered the most at the time. Yeah, I lost my wife, but she basically lost a daughter and had no idea if I was alive or not at that point. To be honest, I don’t think I was sure I was alive myself. I can’t imagine how it must have felt for her to be left holding a baby who had lost its mum and not knowing if she’d lost a son too.

“Hey, man, you okay?” Ryder asks, nudging my shoulder and holding out a beer for me. I know he’s seen where my focus is, but he doesn’t call me out on it.

“Yeah, I’m good, but we need to talk.” I catch Seb’s eye, and he comes to join us. I give my dad a chin lift as we move toward the caravan.

I’m not happy with having to ruin what has, mostly, been a good day, but I’ve sat on this too long all ready.

Ryder’s reaction to the video is exactly what I expected.

“What the fucking hell is this shit? Where did it come from?” he whisper-yells, and I would laugh if the situation wasn’t so serious.

With the sounds of flesh hitting flesh and groans of pain echoing from the phone, I’m almost transported back there, but I focus on Ryder to help expel the images from my mind.

“It was sent to me via email. Nothing else, just the link, and no way to trace the email without a little help from our resident hackers Jay and Dean. That’s what I’m hoping anyway.”

“Rick,” Ryder’s serious tone has me shaking my head.

“I know.” Seb has been quiet, but I can see he has questions. Both he and Ryder were on leave when me and Kuffs were captured during a special ops recon mission. Seb returned to London, but Ryder, although on leave, remained in Afghanistan and managed to get clearance to visit me in hospital. At this point, I was unconscious and had no idea I had a son or that my wife had died.

I’ve never seen a man look so heartbroken as he was the day he broke the news to me. I didn’t stay conscious for long as my grief blinded me to everything else, and Ryder had no option but to hold me down while the nurses sedated me.

What’s most concerning is there are only a small, very select number of people that even know about that mission, so whoever sent this video must have known about the mission or were involved in our capture, and that is what has Ryder so concerned.

“Look, I understand your concern, but until we have more information, we just have to continue the way we are. I don’t want to make any calls unless I absolutely have to. This is a time in my life I’m not in any hurry to relive. Having said that, it seems as though someone else has other ideas about that. What the purpose of it is, is yet to be seen.” I grip my chin, rubbing at it furiously with my thumb and fingers. “Is Dean on a job?” I ask Ryder.

“No, he’s got some free time. No doubt he’s pulling his hair out with nothing to do, so he’ll be glad of the work.”

“Okay, good. I’ll bring him in on it. We keep this between us for now,” I tell them with a pointed look to ensure they understand I don’t want Cam and Jamie knowing about this. They both give me a nod of agreement. “Right, I need another drink, so let’s go and enjoy the evening.”

“Is this Dutch courage for another midnight stroll to the cabins?” Seb states casually as he gets to his feet. Ryder’s eyes dart between the two of us.

“What’s this?” Ryder asks at the same time I tell Seb to fuck off.

Thankfully, Seb doesn’t say anymore, but I hear him and Ryder whispering like a couple of fucking girls behind me as I step outside.

I grab another bottle from the cool box and join everyone under the awning.

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