an instant, Tucker just stood there. He stared into Dawn’s beautiful green eyes—eyes that were glassy with terror. Blood and tears trickled down her cheeks and she was yanking at the rope around her left ankle. Her shirt was covered in blood. Her body marked by bruises.
And she looked at him as if he were the devil himself.
Tucker shook his head. No, this was wrong. This was wrong. “Dawn?”
Jason slapped his hand down on Tucker’s shoulder. “Surprise! Had her waiting for you.”
A gag was in Dawn’s mouth. A purple bruise along her delicate jaw.
Tucker whirled on his brother, knocking that hand aside. “You did this to her?” A dull ringing was in his ears and rage burned in his veins. “You hurt her?”
Jason’s eyes widened. “Easy, bro.” The words were low and warning. “You know you have to watch that temper of yours. Control, right? It’s key?” But his lips were curving. “You lose it and you become just like our old man.”
Screw that. Tucker shoved his brother back, hard, slamming him against the wooden wall then pinning him there. “What the hell did you do?”
Jason’s mouth opened to respond, but then Dawn was rushing right past them. She’d leaped out of her chair and run for the door.
“Shit!” Jason bellowed. “Stop her! We have to stop her!”
Was his brother insane? The guy lunged up, but Tucker slammed him back against the wall. “What did you do?”
Jason head-butted him. The blow was fast and brutal and Tucker staggered back for a moment, and that moment was all that his brother needed. Jason shot toward the door, chasing after Dawn.
Stunned, Tucker glanced around the cabin. There was blood on the floor. Dawn’s blood. And she’d stared at him with such absolute terror on her face. No, no, it couldn’t be happening. Not again.
Not the fuck again.
Locking his teeth, he raced outside. His gaze flew to the left, to the right. He saw Jason, running toward the car that Tucker had just driven up in. Dawn was yanking at the driver’s-side door. Frantically, she clawed at the door handle, obviously desperate to get inside.
But I have the keys.
“Dawn!” Tucker yelled her name.
Her head whipped toward him. Then Jason was on her. His brother grabbed her head and slammed it against the car. Dawn sagged instantly and a fury unlike anything Tucker had ever known filled his whole body. He heard a roar and didn’t even realize that guttural cry had come from him, but in the next instant, he was on his brother. He ripped Jason away from Dawn. “Not her!” Carefully, he lowered her to the ground. His hand went to her forehead and he felt the blood on his fingers—
“Hell, yes,” Jason snarled. “Her.” Then he drove both of his fists into Tucker’s back. Tucker fell down, nearly landing on top of Dawn, but he managed to turn his body at the last moment. He came up again, swinging this time. A hard cut at his brother because the guy never had been able to take a left hook. Jason stumbled back at the hit, and Tucker went at him again. Punching. Kicking. Using every bit of knowledge he’d learned in the hellholes on earth. SEALs could fight dirty and he sure as hell did. In moments, Jason was beneath him on that ground, his face a bloody mess, barely able to lift up his hands and stop Tucker’s blows.
“She’s...going to die...”
Tucker froze with his hands still fisted.
Jason spat blood as he said, “She’s...running to the...river...”
He hadn’t even heard her flee. Tucker’s head whipped around, and sure enough, he saw that Dawn had fled. Only she wasn’t rushing down the old dirt road that led away from the property. She was running to the rotted dock that waited yards away. A dock that stretched out over the mighty Mississippi.
“Dawn!” Tucker yelled her name as he leaped to his feet. He left his brother there because Dawn was the priority. She mattered. “Dawn, wait!”
She cast a terrified glance over her shoulder and in that moment, with the stars glittering down and showing him her face, he realized...she’s afraid of me.
But...he was trying to help her.
“Dawn?” He ran toward her.
She backed to the edge of the dock. She was right over the water, just standing there. Too close because...
Dawn didn’t know how to swim. She’d told him that less than a week ago. A hushed, embarrassed confession. When she’d been six, she’d fallen into her aunt’s pool and nearly drowned. After that, she’d been terrified of the water. At her quiet confession, he’d felt protective. He always felt protective where she was concerned. He’d promised to teach her how to swim. Promised to make her whole life safe, always.
And now this is happening.
He’d told his brother that Dawn couldn’t swim. He’d told Jason how afraid she’d been and how Tucker had wanted to erase that fear.
“Don’t go into the water!” He lifted his hand toward her and realized that his knuckles were bloody from punching Jason. “Dawn, please...stop.”
She lifted her hands, as if she’d ward him off. “Don’t hurt me.” Her voice was a weak rasp and it utterly broke his heart. Until that moment, he hadn’t realized just how completely truly she owned his heart.
But when he felt it shatter, he knew.
“I wouldn’t.” He took another step toward her. The dock swayed beneath his feet. “Not ever.”
She shook her head.
She doesn’t believe me. He could see it. He risked a glance over his shoulder but saw that Jason was still sprawled on the ground. Quickly, he turned his attention back to her. “I don’t know what’s happening here.”
Her laughter was bitter, terrified, and it hurt him. “Your brother...is going to kill me.”
No. It wouldn’t happen.
Tucker took another step toward her. “We’re going to get in my car and we’re going to get the hell out of here.” He kept his palm open to her. He needed her to trust him. To take his hand. “Come on, baby. I swear, I won’t let him hurt you.” I won’t ever let anyone hurt you again.
She was shaking, but...
“He said you were...coming to kill me.”
Tucker shook his head. “No.”
“Did you...kill the others?”
What others? Nausea rose in his stomach. Wasn’t this what he’d feared? Oh, shit. Shit. He should have stopped this. Should have paid more attention to his brother.
He’s too much like our father.
That was the problem. They were both too much like dear old dad.
She put her
