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"Take the glasses off, Natches," Rowdy finally bit out

And he didn’t dare He’d been out of the ga His eyes shohat he knew his face didn’t, and when it came to Chaya, they showed even more

There were secrets he kept, secrets he was determined to keep And Chaya was one of them

"I have you, Chay Hold on, baby Just hold on I have you"

He alunfire, of violence and blood, filled his head, and the sounds of her screae and pain that he hadn’t kno to live with them in his head

"I need to roll" He pushed the coffee cup back and dug into his jeans for a few dollars to pay the bill

He didn’t have time to fuck around here Chaya and Zeke were on the move, and Natches was very curious as to the names on that list she had shown the sheriff

He was very dain with He had the official line He had the rumors and he had the suppositions his contacts had come up with None of those satisfied hi every tiht about it, or every time he saw Chaya

He tossed the money on the table and started to rise

"I don’t want tosaid then "And if we fight, you know there’s gonna be a oing on Let us help you, Natches"

He stared back at Dawg, then Rowdy He could see the concern in their eyes, the worry that he was riding that line again He had ridden that line a lot in the past The one that separated common sense fro with him? He couldn’t make sense of it He hadn’t made sense of it in seven years and it still didn’t make sense When Chaya was anywhere near, he didn’t know himself He didn’t knoho he was and he didn’t understand the needs that tore through him, nor did he understand the extreme possessiveness

In one hot afternoon in the Iraqi desert while he waited for the calvary to ride in and listened to the ene he hadn’t expected to find

There, buried in a hole, he had held a woman, and somehow that woman had slipped inside his soul

How did that happen? In such a short ti a man knew about himself?

"I’m married" She had whispered the words, and they had been filled with pain, with a knowledge he couldn’t have guessed at, at the time

And what had shocked him clear to the bottom of his soul was that it hadn’t oing to stand in his way She was his, and that feeling had seared his soul

And he had found a core of possessiveness that he hadn’t iined lived inside him That possessiveness had shocked hi, and still had the power to throw hi "Don’t walk out that fucking door"

Natches shook his head and followed the woman he couldn’t stay away from He had to follow her He had to knohat the hell she was doing and howto place her in

"It’s okay, I have you, baby"

He held her as she sobbed Broken, horrific cries that ripped at his guts and flayed his soul as he carried her through hell The smell of blood and death and broken dreams surrounded them, and all he could do was hold her

As he left the diner he didn’t feel the late autu down on Baghdad as fire blazed at their backs He didn’t hear the traffic around hi’s voice behind hied hih of this shit!" Dawg and Rowdy caught hi hi on with you? You’re starting to worry us,his habit of swinging first and asking questions later But Natches didn’t swing

He knew these two men Knew them almost as well as he knew hi his head he pulled the glasses from his face and stared back at the back at hi since Chaya’s return last year, and he saw his inability to control the need riding hiht," he told theuess I finally grew up, huh?"

It was a re and Rowdy had matured, as their hearts became involved with their women, rather than just their cocks, their possessive instincts had kicked in No one touched what they claimed themselves They didn’t share their women anymore, not even with each other

And they didn’t need to be involved in this He kneg and Rowdy, and he knew that knowing the truth would do nothing but worry theht they knew Natches That was the ht they knew hiht they could predict hi

He turned away froave each other, and ju here; that meant they were in Zeke’s official SUV That wouldn’t be hard to find

Chaya would never be hard for him to find, no matter where she was or how she tried to hide He had proven that to her And noas paying the price