Page 152 of Stolen Hearts
“Castle—!”
She gasps as I turn, cup her chin, and kiss her hard.
“Trust me,” I wink. “I’ll join you in a second.”
When I turn back, the guy chuckles.
“Buddy,” he grins, the five of them advancing. “There’s one of you and five of us.”
“Yeah, I know.” I roll my neck as I crack my knuckles and move toward them. “A shame. Youreallyshould’ve brought more friends.”
* * *
It takesall of two minutes for the five of them to realize they’re not getting back up off the ground. They get a few hits in, sure. But when it’s over, I’m the one walking away and climbing into the truck next to the woman I love.
And kissing her, and telling her the cut on my eyebrow is no big deal, even though she’s fretting about it.
And I’m the one taking her home, wrapping her in my arms, knowing damn well I’mneverletting her go.
37
CASTLE
A coupleof nights later Callie’s having a bath and I’m sitting on the couch in the library sipping a drink when my phone buzzes. I smile when I see Loraine’s name on the screen and hit the answer button right away.
I ditched my and Callie’s phones on the way out here, in case anyone was tracking them. But I’ve set it up so that my old number forwards any calls to my burner phone, so I don’t miss anything.
“Hey, stranger.”
“Hey…” Her voice sounds sad and strained. Instantly, I can feel my hackles rising.
“What’s going on?”
“Oh, nothing, I just…” She sighs. “Do you follow Megan on social media?”
I frown. “Loraine, I’m not evenonsocial media. You know that.”
“And you haven’t spoken to her recently, or seen her?”
“No,” I shake my head. “I don’t think shewantsto be seen or talked to. Not by any of us, at least.”
Loraine knows that by “any of us” I mean “the ones left”.
We were all hurt and scared after Kabul. But Megan got the worst of it by a long shot, being Bryce and Matt’s sister. She lost her husband Jasonandher two brothers that day.
“I’m a little worried about her.”
My brow furrows. “Why? What happened?”
“She posted for the first time inyears.”
I frown. “I mean, is that such a big deal?”
“No, Castle…” I can hear her swallowing uneasily. “This was incredibly dark shit. It was like…” Her voice catches, like she’s struggling to keep it together. “It was really graphic pictures of dead American soldiers, from over there. I can’t believe the algorithm didn’t automatically yank the post down, to be honest.”
I wince. “Fuck, Loraine,” I growl. “I’m sorry you had to see that.”
“No, it’s fine, I’m…” She sighs. “I’m fine. I’m just worried about her. It was that, which was weird enough considering she hasn’t posted anything on any social media in years. But then she also made these really cryptic posts about avenging angels and a pound of flesh and all this super dark biblical stuff.”