Tiana

He has a daughter, a fucking child that he never mentioned. I understand we haven’t known each other long but he knows my deepest darkest secrets and my biggest fears. We have opened ourselves to one another on more than one occasion. Any of those times would have been ideal for bringing up the fact that he has a daughter.

Oh, and an ex-wife. Not just an ex-girlfriend, a wife. He was married to the woman sitting across the table from me. It’s not difficult to see why he was attracted to her. Her exotic Middle Eastern beauty is exceptional. The combination of her dark delicate features next to Drake’s all-American looks would have made a stunning couple.

She shared something special with Drake. She shared vows and the forever bond of a child, things I’ve been dreaming about having with him too. I didn’t know I’d be his second and I suspect I would never have if Jayden hadn’t intervened.

How can I plan forever with a man who walked away from his wife and child? The sound of my aunt’s voice saying if he does it once he’ll do it again and why would a man buy milk when he can have the cow for free is loud in my head. Warning signs, red lights, bells and whistles, all of it is screaming run away!

Jayden planted the seed of doubt. He’s getting exactly what he wants and I hate it. He’s been warning me all along that Drake isn’t the kind of man for me.

First, it was because he was a player and he was right on the money with that except that Drake surprised him when he wanted more with me.

Then it was because he’s going to be blind one day but I understand why he didn’t want to tell me that, it makes sense. But when you keep an ex-wife and child a secret I suspect it’s because you feel guilty or ashamed.

And now look what’s happened. I’m sitting at the dining room table coloring with his daughter while being held hostage by my crazy brother in his underwear with a rifle. This shit is beyond caring or protecting me. This is an obsession.

Inviting the secret ex-family to town just to prove Drake is scum seems excessive, even for him. I feel like there’s something else to this, something deeper, darker, more frightening. But what?

“Why did the policeman come?” Amari asks her mother.

“He’s friends with Uncle Jayden. He came over to say hi, that’s all,” Mona says in a soothing motherly tone. I glance at Jay in the kitchen where he has moved his rifle around to his back again to take something from the oven. Where are his clothes? How the hell did he get his government- issued rifle off base and into the house? And why?

Amari has stopped coloring. She’s barely finished coloring the hair on the mermaid in our picture. She’s nervous and rightly so. Her eyes dart from the kitchen to her mother occasionally stopping for a quick once over of Drake.

“Are you my daddy?” she asks between glances. Drake and Mona look at one another and he lifts his eyebrow as if to ask permission to claim her as his. She sighs and nods her head.

“Yes, I am.”

“Ah, and the bonding begins!” Jayden says from the kitchen. He sounds like a madman and I suspect he is one at this point.

“What the hell do you want? So, I have an ex-wife and a daughter, now she knows. You got what you wanted, Tiana’s probably going to break up with me now. Let them go.” Drake shoves his chair back and stands in the kitchen doorway blocking my view of my brother. I hear him swing the gun around, and I imagine him pointing it at Drake.

“You’d best sit down, old man, or your little family there will be wearing you for lunch instead of joining you for it.”

My mouth falls open, and for a second time stands still. I can see the strong muscles of Drake’s back tense under his tan Marine uniform. Mona’s eyes go wide with terror and Amari runs to her side crying.

When things speed up again, I hitch my thumb toward the front door and mouth the word go. She scrambles to her feet and rushes toward the door with Amari. Max appears out of nowhere and hoists Amari into one arm and tucks Mona under his other to shield them while they run for cover in their SUV at the end of the driveway.

I jump up and race around the table to duck under Drake’s arm. Standing between them I find myself on the other end of a semi-automatic weapon. The smell of chicken casserole wafts from the open oven next to Jayden, making my stomach churn.

“Are you fucking insane, woman?” Drake whispers in my ear.

“Jayden, put the gun down, please. I’ll do anything you want. I’ll stop seeing Drake, I’ll go to school and live here with you, or keep working at the diner, whatever, just please, stop. Do you realize what you’re doing? You’re pointing your gun at your best friend. I know you don’t want to hurt anybody.”

“You need to move out of the way, Tiana.” His cold voice sends shivers up my spine despite the sweat dripping down the side of my face.

“Not until you put the gun down.”

“I’m not putting the gun down until he’s dead,” Jay stated.

“Then we’re going to be standing here a long time, brother. I’m not going to let you kill somebody, so forget it.”

“I’ve killed a lotta people, lil sis, I went to hell, remember? But I never got the satisfaction I’m gonna get out of killing him.” He thrusts his gun at me and I step back into Drake’s arms. The familiar feel of them on my hips and the smell of sandalwood cause me to panic.

I can’t let him hurt Drake. I must stay between them no matter what, the second I’m out of the equation, Drake’s dead. I can see it in Jayden’s wild eyes. He’s beyond help, the taut rubber band holding his shit together has snapped.

I’ve never heard him talk about his time overseas. I thought he was one of the well-adjusted people who fought in the war and came back to regular life without being affected. He never showed signs of PTSD, but then again, I wasn’t around much.

Three shadows move past the kitchen window behind Jayden so fast I wonder if my mind is playing tricks on me. But when Drake pinches my waist at the same time, I know it wasn’t my imagination. Someone is here to help.

“Jay, listen to me, you need to put the gun down before somebody gets hurt. You don’t want to accidently shoot Tiana, do you?”

“I’m an expert marksman, you know that. I don’t miss, especially at point blank range, and that’s how you’re going down.”

“I know you are. Remember when we were on top of that old building in Yemen and that sniper took a shot at us? You took him out before I could drop down.”

Drake is trying to distract him with a walk down memory lane, but I’m not so sure patting him on the back for killing someone is the best strategy.

“He was lame, at least a klick off, never would have hit us.”

“But you got him and you saved my ass. Thank you, man.”

Jayden’s face twists with confusion. His eyes glaze over and he lowers them to think. He is lost in another place and his rifle is pointing downward when the sound of glass shattering and breaking wood explodes around us.

In an instant, Drake has turned me around and curved his body around mine to protect me. Smoke fills the room and I cover my mouth while Drake hurries me toward the door.

People dressed in black with gas masks are yelling and rushing into the kitchen. Jayden is screaming and then a gun is fired. Drake tenses up around me, gripping me harder until we are outside. Crouching down, Max leads us to an ambulance waiting in the street.

I can still hear my brother screaming and cursing at whoever it is that just stormed his house. They’re definitely not local police unless the Chief had everyone SWAT-trained in the past couple of days. These men are swift and organized pulling off our extraction with precision and efficiency.

“Are you okay?” Drake’s hands are all over me checking for injuries when we reach the ambulance. Max opens the door and Drake puts his hands on my waist to lift me in, but I take hold of the door and stop him.

Two armed men are leading my brother out struggling and thrashing every inch of the way, despite their best efforts to keep him under control. He’s handcuffed and bleeding from his lip, yelling obscenities and deranged comments. Seeing him like this breaks my heart. How did he go from watching over me to obsessing over me? I want to calm him with soothing words and the warmth of my hand on his cheek but I know that’s impossible. He needs professional help.

“Where are they taking him?” I ask.

Drake follows my gaze to Jayden. “Jail or maybe the base for a psychiatric evaluation first. I’m not sure, but we need to get you out of here.” He pries my fingers from the door and lifts me in where two paramedics are waiting to check me over.

I sit on the gurney and look back at Drake. He’s pale and wincing. He reaches for his side and that’s when I see blood spreading from a hole in his shirt.

“Oh my God, Drake, you’re hurt.” I scramble down and steer him toward the ambulance.

“He needs to lie down, hurry,” I say to the paramedic but he’s already jumping out to slide the gurney onto the ground.

“It’s not bad, Tiana, just a graze.”

“You don’t know that for sure, we have to get you to a hospital.”

“She’s right, sir, you’ve been shot, we need to get you there right away,” the paramedic says helping him onto the gurney.

“Are you okay? Check yourself over, you’re in shock.”

I look down at myself and back at him shaking my head, “I’m fine.”

“Max, where are Mona and Amari? Are they alright?” Max has appeared from nowhere again, on my right.

“Yes, sir, they’ve been cleared. I sent them back to their hotel.”

His eyes close and he relaxes back against the gurney.

“We need to go, ma’am,” one of the paramedics says to me. “Are you sure you’re not injured? We can look if you want.”

“She wants,” Drake says raising his arm over his eyes.

“I’m fine. Where are you taking him?”

“To the hospital on base.”

Drake moves his arm and tries to sit up, but he cringes and lies back. “You’re going with me, aren’t you?” It’s rare that Drake asks. He almost always tells me what’s going to happen.

“I don’t think there is enough room in there for me.”

“Have Max bring you then.”

I’m still angry and hurt from what I learned today. But, he did get shot trying to protect me. I owe him for that.

“I will.”

They close the doors and drive away with the siren blaring and I sit down on the concrete in the middle of the street. Drake was right. I’m in shock, I’m cold and trembling.

I have never been through anything this intense and emotionally draining in my life. The videos I received don’t hold a candle to how this is affecting me.

I can hear Max talking to someone right next to me but he sounds a hundred miles away. Strong arms scoop me up off the street and I don’t protest, I can’t. My head is buzzing with information. I feel like I’m in a class trying to take notes for something important and the teacher is lecturing too fast. I can’t keep up.

“Tiana, Tiana…”

I look at the nametag of the person carrying me and calling my name. Garcia. Didn’t someone tell me Kimber got engaged to a Marine named Garcia? I have no idea why I remember that random bit of information right now.

“Yeah?” I look into his face when I answer.

“Max and I are taking you to the hospital, I think you should be seen by a doctor, do you understand?” I nod like a zombie staring into his deep brown eyes. Kimber did well if this is her Garcia.

He opens the door to Drake’s SUV and helps me in. My hands are shaking while trying to put on my seatbelt, so he gently takes the buckle from my hands to help me. Max slides into the backseat and I watch Garcia walk around to the driver’s side and get behind the wheel.

It’s so quiet I can hear myself breathing. No chit chat, no radio, just the still calm after the storm as we make our way out of Jewel Falls to the nearest civilian hospital. Where is Jayden? Drake is expecting me. My brother is insane. Drake was shot; he has a wife, no wait, an ex-wife, and a little girl. None of this seems real. It doesn’t make sense.