The Marine Finds His Family

The slamming of the bathroom door shook the walls of the entire place as she disappeared inside.

* * *

TAMMIE STARED AT her distorted reflection in the cheap motel room mirror. Her mother would say she looked like something the cat dragged in. She closed her eyes but the reflection remained imprinted on the back of her eyelids.

Her green eyes were flat and lifeless with no makeup to bring out anything. The shadows beneath her lashes betrayed her exhaustion.

Her hair, after the long hot shower, hung in dark locks to her shoulders. The light blond she’d had as a kid living on the beach was long gone. Opening her eyes, Tammie leaned closer to the glass, examining the crow’s-feet she’d never noticed before.

She caught herself. What was she doing? She was in here to shower, to clean up. To escape him. Nothing more. She almost banged her head against the glass at her stupidity.

DJ’s face flashed in her mind. First the angry, hard soldier who’d chased away Dom’s buddy, and then the sweet man who’d stopped here and told her he’d take care of her. The contradiction intrigued and scared her.

Attraction was definitely not a part of this.

The man on the other side of that door was interested in her for one reason. Tyler. DJ didn’t care about her. Didn’t care about their past together or apart. And why should he?

She’d lied to him. She’d kept Tyler a secret. She hadn’t even told him the truth when they had been together. Not about herself, her past, nothing. And now? Worn-out, desperate and tired, that’s all she was.

Worthless, to him, to herself and, most important, to Tyler.

She was Tyler’s mother...but from here on out, the title was all she had. She couldn’t be that for him. It was too risky.

Disgusted with herself and the situation, Tammie turned away from the mirror and focused on doing the best she could with what she had to work with.

The warm water had washed off most of the dried blood from her knees and her hands, and she only had to pick out one piece of gravel. It stung like the devil when she put on the last of her antiseptic cream and a small bandage, but she’d live.

She yanked the blow-dryer from its hook on the wall and finished her hair. She stared at the few cosmetics in her pack that had survived her months on the run and scoffed at the idea of applying makeup. She simply pulled on a clean T-shirt and her sweatpants.

“This is as good as it gets,” she said to the mirror and pulled open the door. Standing in the doorway, she watched the last of the shower’s steam swirl out into the cooler room before she faced him.

He wasn’t even there. The room door stood wide-open. Panic returned.

* * *

DJ STOOD OUTSIDE the motel room, leaning on the wooden post that pretended to hold up the narrow overhang. He’d left the door open between them, partially to keep an eye on her, but also so she could find him.

The worn Western motif of the place hadn’t been what had first brought him here. He’d been looking for someplace out of the way, somewhere no one would think to look for him. Tonight it was a place Tammie could sleep and feel safe.

Someplace he felt he could protect.

No one asked questions here. And if they did...there weren’t any answers.

The main door and the large picture window overlooking the walk where he stood was the only way in. And the back of the room bumped against the rooms on the other side. No one would sneak up on him.

His bike was parked directly in front of their room. If someone did find them, the thundering v-twins could get them out of here in record time. Tammie only had her backpack and he had the duffel. He’d had less when he’d been on most missions.

The single white security light that remained in the parking lot cast eerie shadows over the bike and a couple of beat-up cars. The neon sign in the office window flickered a faded orange.

Nothing but the sign’s light moved, and he liked it that way. His phone rang and he answered the distinctive ring. If only he had more answers for his son.

* * *

“YEAH, BUDDY. SHE’S HERE with me.” DJ’s voice was loud in the deserted night.

Tammie froze, hearing DJ’s voice just outside the door. There was only one person he could be talking to. Tyler. The hard ache in her chest grew and she struggled to breathe.