SEALs Love Curves Book 6: Family

Nicole

Nicole hovered over Sly until he groaned and said he was ‘fine.’ She knew when she pushed him that far that he was frustrated with her but didn’t know how to say back off. It also meant he was feeling better and the pain wasn’t as bad as it was the day before.

Nicole settled in her chair with a book, watching Sly more than she read the pages of the book. He stared at the TV, his eyes glazed over.

Until there was a knock on the door.

“Can we come in?” Rocky asked. He was in a wheelchair wearing a hospital gown with a blanket draped over his lap. Behind him was a stunning man with dark hair and skin, and eyes that said she better not hurt his friend.

Ha. If he only knew. Nicole was not the one in danger of doing the hurting.

“Of course,” Nicole said, forcing a smile to her lips.

Sly tried to prop himself up on the bed but winced with the pain of moving.

“Let me help you,” Nicole said automatically.

“I can do it, Mommy,” Sly answered defiantly.

He was growing up. She knew it would happen, but she didn’t expect it to happen so quickly. One day he was her little man snuggling next to her in bed, and the next he wouldn’t even let her help him sit up in his hospital bed.

She almost cried.

“Hi,” Nicole said, extending her hand to the other man once he reached her side. “I’m Nicole. And this is Sly.”

“I’m Dex,” he said.

Nicole shook his hand and accepted the thinly veiled threat he offered with a nod. She knew enough men like him to know his bark was probably worse than his bite, but she couldn’t take the chance that she read him wrong.

“Dex is a teammate and friend of mine. We’ve known each other a long time. And he came to make sure I follow the doctor’s orders about recovery. He also ran an errand for me yesterday,” Rocky explained.

He lifted his blanket and pulled out a box wrapped in camouflage wrapping paper. Sly’s eyes lit up, and he reached for it.

“What do you say?” Nicole reminded her son.

“Thank you,” Sly said automatically, the words nonsense as he lunged to take the gift from Rocky.

Sly tore at the paper as soon as the gift was in his hands. The box filled his entire lap, and as he shredded the paper covering it, Nicole knew exactly what it was.

It was a humvee, like the one Sly was playing with in the waiting room before surgery.

Her gaze snapped to Rocky’s, who was watching her instead of Sly. There was a question in his eyes, like he was asking if it was okay. She couldn’t tell Sly no, but she also didn’t mind. She thought it was sweet that Rocky wanted to give Sly something, even though it made her feel guilty that she didn’t have anything for him.

“Wow! This is awesome! I love it! Mommy, look at this! This is the coolest thing ever!”

Nicole grinned at her son’s excitement. She hadn’t seen him so happy in years. He was a great kid with a lot of joy inside, but he was rarely spoiled. He didn’t have grandparents or other family who overwhelmed him on holidays, and he didn’t have a big group of friends. Nicole hosted a birthday party for him in first grade after she realized everyone in class had a party, but the cost of it was so high she was still paying for it. She’d already decided not to have a party for him in second grade but felt like the worst mom ever for that choice.

And now his father swooped in with a gift Nicole knew was well out of her price range, and made her feel even worse.

“Is there anything else you want to say, Sly?” Nicole prompted.

Sly looked up at her, and she raised an eyebrow. He nodded like he’d forgotten all about why they were there in the first place.

“Thank you for my new kidney, too. I really needed it. Mommy cried every night and prayed someone would give me one. Now, maybe she won’t cry.”

Sly looked up at Nicole and smiled. Her cheeks burned with embarrassment. She didn’t want Sly to know how hard it was on her to see him sick. She would have done anything for him, but she wasn’t a match. If she could have, she would have given both her kidneys, but she felt helpless. Until Rocky showed up.

“Thank you,” Nicole said softly to him, avoiding his gaze as tears filled her eyes.

“You’re welcome,” Rocky said just as softly. Then he cleared his throat and focused on Sly. “Hey, why don’t we open this bad boy up and you can show us everything it does?”

“Yeah! Can we, Mommy?”

Nicole nodded and forced another smile. “Of course. You guys start on that. I’ll be right back.”

Nicole hurried out of the room before anyone could stop her. The chatter she left behind said the three males inside barely noticed she left.

She walked to the end of the hall and turned to the right. She knew the floor made a loop and decided to just walk it, giving herself a break for a few minutes.

Seeing Rocky again was overwhelming, but having him act like they were important to him messed with her head. She told herself he was just trying to be nice to Sly and get to know his son, but the way he looked at her made her think there was more to it.

Their fling was brief, but it was the best weekend of Nicole’s life. She was working at a hole in the wall bar in Texas and studying to be a phlebotomist. When Rocky walked in, she zeroed in on him, but she never thought he’d give her a second glance. She wasn’t a virgin and had been with enough men to know when a guy hit on her in a bar, it wasn’t forever, but her heart didn’t want to believe that.

She fell in love with him that weekend. She never said the words, but she loved him. He was passionate and sweet and overwhelmingly sexy. He loved her body, but he also talked to her. He made her feel like she was more than a woman from a bar. She was special.

That was why she left when he was still asleep. She wasn’t sure she would be able to say goodbye to him. She wanted to hold on to the memories she had of their weekend together without the tarnished last morning when he would say thanks and disappear forever.

But it wasn’t forever. All the memories she held on to for the last seven years rushed over her when she saw him. The way he held her and kissed her and loved her were a comfort in the darkness of night when she was alone, but standing in front of the man with their son between them, the proof of their weekend a living, breathing person who shared a part of him and a part of her, made her question everything.

What would have happened if she hadn’t left that night? Would he have asked to keep in touch? Would she have asked him? Would she have known his name so she could tell him she was pregnant? Would that have changed anything?

Would it have made Sly’s life easier?

That last question was the one that got to her. It was the one she always asked herself. If Rocky had been a part of their lives, would it have changed her son’s?

Nicole learned to live without a man in her life, but she’d sentenced her son to the same punishment. And now that Rocky was back, she wondered if she’d made a mistake.

* * *

“No wonder you couldn’t let go,” Dex whispered once Nicole was out of the room.

Rocky shot him a glare that said not in front of the kid and ~back off, she’s mine~. Dex just laughed.

“I’m just saying—”

“So, how are you feeling, Sly?” Rocky asked his son, ignoring his friend. Dex could wait until they were alone.

“My stomach hurts. But don’t tell my mommy. She worries about me.”

“That’s what mommies are supposed to do,” Rocky said with a smile. “And you have a pretty great one.”

Sly nodded, rolling his humvee across his lap. “She’s the best. She cries a lot, but she tells me it’s just because I’m such a good kid. I know it’s because she thinks I’m going to die and then she’ll be all alone.”

Rocky nodded, his heart breaking just a little for the family he should have had. Nicole never should have gone through everything she went through alone. He should have been there.

“What about your grandparents? Aren’t they around?”

Sly shook his head. “I don’t have grandparents.”

Rocky thought Nicole mentioned her parents once, but he couldn’t remember. It had also been seven years and a lot could happen in that time.

“Well, hopefully you and your mom aren’t alone anymore. And hopefully you start to feel better soon so your mom isn’t so scared.”

Sly nodded. “Why did you wait so long to come see me?”

Rocky drew back, surprised the kid figured out who he was. They looked similar, but he didn’t think Sly would put it together, especially so fast. “Well, I didn’t know about you.”

“I thought there was a list. Mommy said no one on the list was a match. Were you not supposed to be a match? Like Mommy talked about on the phone?”

Rocky exchanged a glance with Dex, who wore a matching confused expression.

“What do you mean?”

Sly shrugged and slid down his bed a little. “I don’t know. Mommy said I was running out of time and she needed someone to help. She told you she would do anything. So, why didn’t you come sooner? Did she not give you enough money? Because we don’t have a lot of money.”

“What are you talking about, Sly?” Rocky asked.

Sly shook his head. “I’m tired. Thank you for giving me a kidney.”

Almost that fast, he was asleep. Rocky turned to look at Dex, who asked, “What was he talking about?”

Rocky shook his head. “I don’t know, but it didn’t sound good.”

“No, not at all.”

* * *

Zeke Martin looked at his phone and grinned. He held up a finger so the boss would know he had to take the call and stepped out of the room.

“Well, if it isn’t my favorite client. How are you?”

Nicole breathed a sigh through the phone. He could hear the relief in her voice. “I’m good. So good. And I’m so glad I caught you. We don’t need your help after all.”

Zeke’s smile faded. He moved farther from the door so the boss wouldn’t overhear his call. “What do you mean?”

“My son’s father showed up. He didn’t know about us, so I couldn’t contact him, but he turned up on the list. They had their surgery yesterday morning, and it went really well.”

“Why are you calling me now?”

“I wanted to make sure everything was good. Before I told you we didn’t need the help. Just in case.”

“That’s not exactly how this works,” Zeke growled.

“Well, um, I thought that since we were still talking about everything that it wasn’t a big deal.”

“It is a big deal. We have an agreement. I don’t know if I can get you out of it.”

“What do you mean?”

“I have a boss, and he’s counting on the revenue from you to cover expenses. He’s not the kind of man who’s going to say no big deal and let things move on. We had an agreement.”

Her voice trembled at the steel in his. Zeke wanted to protect her, but he couldn’t do that if his boss killed him. He had a feeling Nicole had no idea what she was agreeing to when they talked, but she said she would do anything to help her son. Even the dollar figure they gave her wasn’t too much for her. Zeke was sure that alone would scare her off, but she said okay.

But going back and saying never mind… that never went over well.

“What can I do?”

“Do you have the money?”

“No,” she said hurriedly. “I needed it to pay for his surgery. And all the time I have to be off work.”

“How were you going to pay for all that if you had to pay us?” Zeke asked. He wanted to kick his own ass for even asking. That wasn’t his job. Once they got their money, it didn’t matter what happened to the other parties. It wasn’t their business, and it wasn’t their concern. He never had trouble with that side of things. Before Nicole.

“I was going to figure it out,” Nicole admitted, sounding small and defeated.

Zeke breathed a heavy sigh and dropped his head into his hand. He rubbed at the bridge of his nose and told himself not to say the words even as he said them. “Let me see what I can do. I’ll try to get you out of this. But I can’t make any promises.”

“Thank you, Zeke. So much. I owe you.”

“Are you sure about this, father? Is he decent?”

“Rocky? Yeah, he’s a great guy.”

“He can’t be that great if he wasn’t around the last few years,” Zeke spat.

“That was my fault. He was a SEAL, and I skipped out on him when we met. I thought it was for the best to walk away instead of have him walk away. For years, it’s been my biggest regret. Life could have been so different for Sly if he was in our lives.”

Zeke wanted to punch the brick wall in front of him. Nicole was his, not some random ex who wasn’t there. But now the son of a bitch got to slide in at the last minute and steal Zeke’s hero move and save Nicole’s stupid kid.

“Well, I’ll see what I can do. We’ll talk soon.”

“Okay, yeah. Thanks, Zeke,” she said before she hung up.

Zeke rubbed the back of his neck and took a deep breath. He was not looking forward to the conversation he had to have next.

He walked back into the office and took a seat opposite his boss’s desk. “Well?” Jon asked.

“The father showed up and donated a kidney. She doesn’t need us.”

Jon’s eyebrows jumped together for a second, like he was confused. “So?”

“So, she wants out of her deal.”

Jon leaned back in his chair and tented his fingers on his short hair. His biceps jumped, flexing with the subtle move. Zeke was a large man, but Jon made him feel small. Especially when he delivered one of his stares that made Zeke want to piss himself. Like he was doing in that moment.

“Do we go back on deals?” Jon asked as though speaking to a child.

Zeke shook his head.

“So why are we having this conversation?”

“I told her I would talk to you.”

“Maybe you should bring her to see me,” Jon said, a smile curling his lips up.

“Why?” Zeke blurted. He knew what Jon did to the women who came to see him.

Jon glared at Zeke hard. “Because if her pussy is so good that you’re willing to talk to me for her, I think I should have a turn.”

Zeke shook his head. “It’s not like that. She’s not… we’re not…”

“She won’t give it up for you?” Jon taunted.

Zeke glared back at his boss.

Jon’s grin slid from his face, and he leaned forward. “She made a deal. Either she pays me in cash or she pays me in flesh. I don’t really care which one.”

Zeke wanting nothing more than to put his fist through his boss’s face, but the men standing guard at the door would put bullets through his head before Zeke could even think about a second punch. And that would leave Nicole unprotected.

Zeke nodded and stood. Jon turned away from him, dismissing him. Zeke walked out like he wasn’t in a hurry at all and went to see Harry.

Harry was in his icebox wearing a fur coat and staring at one of seven monitors. Some of them flickered through the multiple security cameras set up around the property, one played an old sitcom, and one ran a program that Zeke couldn’t understand if he tried.

“Can I help you?” Harry asked.

Zeke hated the man almost as much as he hated his boss. Harry was the last person he wanted to go to for help, but he was the only option Zeke had left. He needed to know everything he could about Nicole’s ex.

“I need you to find someone. He was matched with a kid on the donor list. I need you to tell me everything you can about him.”

“Do you know his name?”

“His nickname is Rocky. He’s a former SEAL, maybe current, but I doubt it. He was matched with Sylvester Burke at St. Gerard’s.”

Harry was already typing, his fingers flying across the keys so fast Zeke couldn’t see them.

“How much would you like to know about him?”

“Everything,” Zeke said.