Dear Somebody

Chapter Three

Dear Harley,

    It's Ace. Can you get to New York? I know it's almost Christmas and that you have that huge party coming up but, something happened and I think we need you here. If you can't we totally understand I just thought I would try. The guys told me not to bother you because of how busy you've been. I know if Dalton were awake he would in fact bother you. 

    God I hope you come.

                                                                             Thank You For Being You,

                                                                                                     Ace

    "Are you going to go?" Jackie asks after setting the letter down and wiping her eyes.

    "I have to."

    It's probably crazy and out of this world but something inside me tells me I have to be there. That I have to help with this crazy team of SEALs.

    She nods, "I'm coming too."

    "Jackie-"

    She holds up a hand to stop me, "I'm serious. We can both work from basically anywhere right now. We are both going. We can be on a plane by morning."

    I nod before dropping my head to my desk. I'm so emotionally drained I think I pulled some physical energy to cope.

                                          ________________________________________________

    We land at JFK  a little after eight in the morning. We hop in a cab and tell him the address Ace had written down on the letter he sent. Then twenty minutes later we're standing outside the hospital.

    I grab Jackie's hand because if I don't ground myself, I'm afraid I'm going to pass out.

    And I cannot do that.

    The nurse behind the front desk is a sweetheart. She tells us she's been expecting to hear from us. A few minutes later we're led to a room and left outside the closed door.

    Cue panic attack.

    Cue the sob's I've been holding in since we boarded the plane.

    The door opens and we're pulled inside.

    Then we're surrounded by a bunch of burly, scary looking men.

    But I'm not scared.

    I'm f*****g safe.

    They hug us and we cling on because something bad happened to Dalton and I'm too chicken s**t to actually face it right now. They all smell like me and that's when I realize they are all wearing one of the shirts I had sent Dalton.

    I step back and take a breath. I let it all drain out. No more tears because no one is dead.

    I eye the guys before me. All different on the outside yet made of the same mushy sacks of s**t on the inside.

    Nope definitely not dead.

    "Where is he?"

    "Down the hall in the burn ward. They should be bringing him in any second."

    "Burn ward?"

    Before they can answer the door is pushed open and a bed rolls in. My heart stops, then starts again.

    And it hurts like a b***h.

    The good news? He's up and bitching at the doctors and nurses.

    The bad? Random parts of his body are covered in gauze.

    "Oh Dalt."

    He notices us then. It takes a few seconds of us silently looking at each other for everyone else to leave the room.

    "f*****g Ace," he grumbles.

    "Don't be mad at him."

    "I'm not. I just wish he would have waited till I was out of here."

    "I would have been so pissed at you."

    "You would have gotten over it."

    "Doubt it."

    I sit in the chair next to his bed. He holds out his good hand and I latch on instantly. I study his now beardless face and realize I barely got a glimpse at the man before me. We had talked so many times over video call, but he was always in the dark somewhere and it was never for long.

    "God, I thought one of you was dead."

    "It's crazy huh?"

    "What's that?"

    "How much you care for a bunch of guys you've only ever talked to through paper or the phone. You jumped on  plane to be here."

    I feel my face heat, "How could I not? Ace practically begged me."

    His smile slips a little and I swear right there, to a God I don't really believe in, that I will do everything in my power to keep it there.

    "What about your job?"

    "I have a few vacation days that I can use to get us settled in. I already handed my baking for the Christmas party over to someone else. My boss is allowing Jackie and I to use their condo in Brooklyn while we're here. I don't know if you guys have anywhere to go but you're more then welcome to stay with us. It's huge. We came up here a few months ago for a fashion show for an up and coming designer. I mean you guys don't have to but I thought I would put the offer out there."

    I pause and take a deep breath because I'm rambling like an i***t, "I'm gonna stop talking now."

    "You want to stay?"

    I pull at the collar of my hoodie, feeling hot for some reason.

    I know the reason but lets just ignore it for now.

    "For a little while yeah. If that's okay?"

    Now I'm thinking that maybe he doesn't want me here and maybe I made a mistake in coming. That maybe he wants to heal on his own and he has a life to get back to. 

    What person hops on a plane before knowing the answers to any of these questions?

    I look up at him and he's watching me so intensely. His black hair has been shaved on the sides, which has more gauze wrapped around it. His face is baby smooth, and I wonder if the beard got caught in the fire.

    "You really want to stay?"

    This big muscle of a man looks so tired and vulnerable in his hospital bed right now. Even if I didn't come here with a plan of action, I would have jumped to make one at that very moment.

    "Yes."

    He opens his mouth to say something but the door opens and he snaps it shut. A nurse enters followed by his men and Jackie.

    Who is currently threatening Ace?

    "I'll castrate your ass."    

    "I wouldn't f**k with her Stud. She grew up on a farm, she knows some shit." I say giving him my best innocent face because yes I also know some s**t too.

    "Like how to make a body disappear."

    They all turn to me, and because I speak fluent Jackie I know the answer to their morbid questions.

    "Pigs can eat anything."