Hot SEALs: Protecting Julie (Kindle Worlds) (SEAL of Protection Book 0) (4 page)

Julie stood at the counter at
My Sister’s Closet
the following Friday afternoon, talking to her dad on the phone. He checked in frequently, and Julie knew she’d never take it for granted again.

“Hey, Daddy. How are you?”

“I’m good. How’s my baby?”

Julie rolled her eyes. His baby. Whatever. “Things are great here. I had a meeting this morning with a woman who runs an after-school program for teenagers. It was an impromptu thing on my part. I have a meeting next week with another director of a different teen center, but I was passing the building on my way to work and decided to stop and see if anyone was in and would talk to me. We worked out a deal where some of the oldest girls would start volunteering at
My Sister’s Closet
. In return, they’d get a clothing allowance.”

“Sounds like things are going well.”

“They are. I love it out here.”

“I’m glad. I’ve been worried about you.”

“I know, and I appreciate it. What’s going on there? Anything new in the world of politics?”

“Actually, since you brought it up, there’re rumors going around that Senator Greenwood might be making a bid for the Presidency. He wants to get the nomination and backing of the Republican Party.”

“Wow, really? That’s Missy Greenwood’s dad…right?” Julie asked incredulously. “Are you okay with that Dad?”

“Of course. What? Did you think
I
wanted to be President? No way.”

Julie breathed out an exaggerated sigh of relief. “Okay, then. Good.”

They both laughed.

The door chimed as a group of women entered the store. “Hey, Daddy, I gotta go. Customers.”

“Okay, Princess. Stay safe out there and don’t forget to call your old man once in a while.”

It was a running joke between the two of them. “I will. Love you, Daddy.”

“Love you too, baby. Talk to you soon.”

“Bye.”

“Bye.”

Julie turned to the women, ready to give her welcome-to-the-store speech, and recognized three of them from the other day. “Oh, hi! It’s good to see you guys again.”

“Hi, Julie. Told you we’d be back! When Fiona and the others heard about this place, they had to see it for themselves!”

“Well, take your time, look around, do your worst!”

The women all laughed and dispersed around the store, checking out what had come in since the last time they were there and seeing what deals they could find.

Julie kept one eye on the group of women, making sure they didn’t need any assistance with anything, as she thought about her date the next night with Patrick. She’d honestly been surprised he’d asked her out. She’d thought him extremely handsome from the second she’d laid eyes on him, but never in a million years thought he’d ask her on a date. She still thought it had something to do with the fact he felt sorry for her. But she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. He’d sounded sincere enough when he’d told her he wanted to get to know her better.

“Excuse me, I have a question.”

Julie’s thoughts were interrupted by the words spoken nearby. She immediately turned her attention to the woman standing in front of her. “Of course, what can I—”

Julie’s words cut off abruptly when she looked up and saw who was standing at the counter.

“Oh my God,” the woman said in a low shocked voice. “It’s you.”

Julie wasn’t sure what to say, but didn’t get a chance to say
anything
. Caroline had come up behind her friend. “What’s wrong, Fiona?”

Fiona. Julie hadn’t remembered the other woman’s name until Caroline said it and she looked into the eyes of the woman she’d spent some of the worst days of her life with. Fiona looked a hell of a lot better than the last time she’d seen her. Healthy. She looked healthy and happy now. Julie looked down, not able to meet Fiona’s eyes, and saw a wedding band and huge diamond ring on her finger. She’d gotten married. Then she remembered what Caroline had told her when she was in the store the previous week. They were all with SEALs.

Could it…? Oh lord.

“Julie, right?” Fiona asked.

Julie couldn’t read her tone, but nodded and spoke quickly, wanting to get this done before Fiona stormed out and took all her friends with her. “I’m sorry…” She trailed off uncomfortably. Could this situation be any worse?

“You know each other?” Caroline asked in confusion, looking between Fiona and Julie.

“Yes, I—” Fiona said.

“No, not really,” Julie mumbled at the same time as Fiona.

Julie wanted to sink into a hole and never reappear again.

“So is it yes or no?”

The other women had converged on the counter and Julie felt decidedly ganged up on, even if that wasn’t their intent.

“Julie was the woman in Mexico with me,” Fiona explained softly.

The store got so quiet, the only sound was the music playing through the speakers and the occasional car passing outside.

“Oh.”

Julie thought the one word out of the blonde woman, who she remembered as Summer, summed it up concisely. The disgust and scorn for the woman Julie had been back in that hot jungle came through loud and clear.

“What are you doing here?” A woman with black hair asked brusquely. “You own this store? I thought you lived out in DC?”

Julie nodded. “Yeah, I just opened last month. I moved out here. I needed a change.”

“Hmm, well, I forgot I have a meeting. Sorry, we have to get going.”

That time it was the brunette who’d been in with Summer and Caroline who’d spoken. The other women agreed and they all shuffled toward the door, putting the clothes they’d picked up down on a table near the cash register.

“I’m sorry!” Julie blurted again before they could leave the store, never to return. “I’m so sorry. I was a bitch. I was scared and took it out on you. There’s no excuse for the things I said to you or the things I did. I was horrible and you didn’t deserve any of it. I hope you’re…okay…and if I live to be a hundred I’ll never forgive myself for what I did out there.”

Fiona didn’t say anything, but her friend did. Alabama put her hands on her hips and faced Julie. “Fiona told us some of what happened while you guys were on the run in the jungle, but I’m guessing she didn’t tell us everything, if your trite little apology is anything to go by.” Her arms dropped and she took a step toward Julie. Caroline grabbed her arm before she could get any closer.

“Easy, Alabama.”

Alabama leaned toward Julie and hissed, “You were going to
leave
her there. Who
does
that?”

When Julie didn’t respond, Alabama turned on her heel and hooked Fiona’s arm in hers. “Come on, Fee, let’s get out of here.”

Julie watched as the women filed out of the store. The perky bell tinkled as the door closed behind them, leaving an eerie silence only broken by the music playing. Julie bent her head and rested her hands on the counter in front of her, not caring that her tears splashed onto the paperwork she’d been working on before the women had entered not five minutes earlier.

“That was a disaster,” Julie said to nobody. “This whole thing is a disaster. What am I doing?” She lifted her head, walked to the door, locked it, turned the sign to closed, and woodenly walked to the back of the store, away from the windows, away from the world.

She sat in one of the armchairs and curled into a ball, hugging her knees. And she sobbed.

“I can’t believe she had the nerve to move
here
,” Alabama groused. “I mean seriously.”

“I know, and to open a store, here, where Fiona lives. I mean she treated Fiona like crap down in Mexico, why would she want to start a business here when her dad lives out in DC?”

“And she used her daddy’s money to open it too. She’s so spoiled.”

The nasty comments continued around the table as the six women regrouped after having their world rocked that afternoon. Caroline was silent as the others continued haranguing Julie and her existence in their little corner of California. She noticed that Fiona was also quiet.

“You all right?” Caroline asked Fiona during a lull in the conversation. “That couldn’t have been fun.”

“I’m okay,” Fiona told her friend. “I just…”

“What?” Caroline urged. She was concerned and didn’t want her to have any kind of flashback, just as she’d had before. She thought Fiona was past that, but seeing Julie again could easily make her regress in her healing.

“Did she sound sincere to you?” Fiona looked Caroline in the eyes as she asked.

“Sincere? I’m not sure—”

Caroline cut Alabama off. “Yes, she did.” She looked at Alabama. “I know you’re protecting Fiona and that you’re just as upset about this as the rest of us are, but think about things for a second. Okay?”

Alabama bit her lip and waited for Caroline to keep talking.

“We liked Julie when we were there last week, right?” When Summer and Alabama nodded, she continued. “She was funny, gracious, and super open. If asked after we left the store if we thought she was a bitch, would any of you have agreed?”

“No. I liked her. That’s why we all went back today. We wanted to support her. It seemed like she was doing such a good thing with the store,” Summer said softly.

“Exactly,” Caroline agreed. “If what she told us is true, she’s trying to help out the community. Jess, she’s giving some of the dresses in there to teenagers who can’t afford a prom dress.” Caroline knew her words would strike a chord with Jessyka because of her work with at-risk teens.

“And you all know, because we talked about it before we went over there today, that she’s also donating clothes to women’s shelters to provide them with appropriate clothes to wear to interviews. I just can’t reconcile
that
woman with the one who was in the jungle with Fiona.” Caroline took a deep breath. “What do
you
think, Fiona?”

“I have no idea. It doesn’t make sense. I was there, I heard what she said and saw what she did. She looks the same, but…not. She never met my eyes when we were in the jungle. She always looked above my head or at the ground when she spoke. She kept a tight grip on Hunter’s shirt the entire time we were fleeing.”

“But she wanted to leave you there, Fiona,” Cheyenne said softly, having heard the entire story from Caroline one night.

“Did she?” Fiona asked, almost rhetorically.

“What do you mean?” Summer asked.

“I’m trying to remember exactly what she said when she and Hunter were about to leave and something made him turn back around one last time.” Fiona paused and bit her lip, obviously trying to remember what was said back when she was being held captive.

“She was scared, like I was. She’d just been brought in, and recently had been …uh…you know.” Fiona closed her eyes as if that would help her recall Julie’s exact words. “‘We have to go. I want to go’.”

“See? She wanted to leave you there and get out.”

Fiona shook her head slowly and raised wide eyes to her friends. “No, I don’t think so. Now that I think about it, I felt like she did in that hut at one point too. I would’ve done anything to get as far away from there as possible. But I’d become resigned. She wasn’t yet. She was scared and wanted out. If I had to guess, I’d say she was only thinking about getting away from the men who’d hurt her.”

“You don’t think she meant to leave you, per se, but instead was focused on escaping?” Caroline tried to clarify.

“Yeah,” Fiona whispered.

“But what about the rest of it?” Alabama demanded, not harshly. “You’ve told us how she hated the food, complained about you suffering from the effects of the drugs, and even how she didn’t care if Hunter got hurt or not.”

“I don’t know. I wasn’t in her head, so I just don’t know what she was thinking. But why do I suddenly feel horrible about that entire scene back there?”

“She was crying,” Caroline mentioned in a soft voice. “We were all walking out of her store and I looked back. She was standing at the register, looking off into space, and tears were running down her face.”

After a moment of silence, when none of the women said anything, struggling with their own thoughts about how they now felt a little sorry for Julie, but still were pissed off for Fiona about all that had happened to her down in Mexico, Caroline stood up from her chair and went behind Fiona. She wrapped her arms around her friend’s chest and put her chin on her shoulder as she hugged her. “You gonna be okay? Do we need to call Dr. Hancock so you can talk this through?”

Fiona hugged Caroline back as well as she could in their awkward embrace. “No, I’m okay. It just makes me appreciate Hunter more for his eerie sixth sense he seems to have at times, and thank my lucky stars I got out as relatively normal as I did. Yes, I still have some flashbacks, but I have all of you guys, and Hunter, and everyone else on the team. Who does Julie have?”

Everyone was silent as Fiona’s words sunk in.