Protector #4 (A Navy SEAL Military Romance) (6 page)

“
It’s
okay, it’s okay, it’s okay,” I whispered over and over. “You’re okay. You’re
safe.”

Brian shook his head and
mumbled something I couldn’t hear.

“What did you say?” I
asked.

“I’m not okay,” he
murmured.

“Yes, you are,” I
replied.

“No, Ava, I’m not okay!”
he growled as he lifted his head and gave me a fierce look. “I’m so messed up,
and I’m never going to be okay.”

“What’s going on?” I
asked bewildered by the sudden shift in the power dynamic as I realized that I
was protecting him from something neither of us could see.

“It’s so screwed up,” he
muttered as he shook his head. “I’ve kept it under control all week, but the
lack of sleep and the stress of trying to keep you safe…”

“What? What did it do?” I
pushed.

“It triggered the
nightmares,” he admitted with a deep sigh.

“Nightmares?”

“Yeah, from the war,” he
replied. “Ava, they told me I have PTSD and that I’m going to probably live
with it all my life. The memories aren’t going to go away, but in order to
manage them I have to get enough rest, stay away from drugs and alcohol, and
not get into situations where stress rules the roost.”

“Then why are you doing
this job?” I asked.

“Because I didn’t think
it would be a big deal,” he admitted with a wry grin. “I mean, really, what’s
so hard about babysitting a college girl whose ex-boyfriend is a jerk?”

I laughed a little as I
heard him sum up what in any other world would have been a super easy security
job, but I felt bad that my situation had caused him such pain and anguish.

“Yeah, that sounds like a
cakewalk…if it wasn’t me,” I replied with a grin. “I’m sorry, Brian.”

“It’s not your fault,” he
said as he reached up and cupped my face. “It’s mine for not managing it
better.”

“Brian, what are we going
to do?” I asked.

“We need to call the
police and tell them what’s going on,” he said seriously. “I can’t maintain
protection on my own, Ava. Dominic is off the rails and we need help here.”

“We can’t!” I cried. “You
know that! You know I can’t get the police involved in this!”

“Ava, it’s not safe,” he
said. “Not for you, and now, not for me either.”

I looked at him for a
long while before I got up off the floor and looked down at him as I quietly
replied, “Fine. If you need to back out and let my father hire someone else,
then I understand.”

Continued
in Protector #5, the protector series.
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This
book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are
products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not
to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual
events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Copyright
© 2015 Claire Adams