Page 20 of Brax (Voodoo Guardians #36)

“He didn’t hurt me,” sniffed Victoria. “Not physically.”

“What do you mean?” asked Stephanie, the other women huddled around her.

“He’s tired of me being scared to leave the property. He wanted me to just get over it and come and live in San Diego with him. I’m just not ready for that,” she said, wiping fresh tears.

“Oh, honey. You have to find a way to get over that,” said Ajei. “He means well, and I’m going to guess he’s lonely. And. As awful as it sounds, he may be tempted by women coming on to him.”

“Wh-what?” gasped Victoria.

“I didn’t say he’s done anything, but he is a man. A very handsome, well-built young man who is also a Navy SEAL. Luke and I knew we loved one another. While he was at Annapolis, I was in nursing school in Baltimore. We saw one another all the time. But believe me, I noticed the women watching him all the time.

“Then we came back here and married. I lived near base for a while, and then when I got close to delivering Garrett, I came back here until he retired.”

“It was the same for Eric and me,” said Sophia Ann. “But everyone is different.”

“Cam and I definitely were,” frowned Kate. “I had his son and kept that from him. It was so wrong of me, and I regret it every day.”

“Hex and I met later in life,” said Gwen.

“We all have different stories,” said Lia, Scout, and Lucinda, seated beside her. “Yours is unique, Victoria, because of your fear of leaving the property.”

“I agree with that,” said Julia, “but you can’t expect him to have a ten- or twenty-year career as a SEAL, and the woman he loves lives across the country or the world unable to come to him if he needs her.”

They all looked at Julia, surprised by her direct approach.

“I don’t mean to be cruel, Victoria, but you can’t expect him to not see anyone else if you’re not willing to go and visit him now and then. Think about all the weekends and days off that he has, but it’s not enough time to come home. You’re here, able to go and see him, but you won’t.

“I know it’s difficult for you. I know it’s an awful thought, but you have to find a way to do it for him or let him go. Even if it’s just for now.”

“I don’t want to let him go,” she said in a shaky voice. “I love him.”

“But do you love him enough to let him go?” asked Julia in a soft voice.

“I know you love him, honey, but there needs to be a give and take in this relationship,” said Ajei.

“I don’t know what to do,” she said, looking out the window.

She watched as Hayes emerged from the offices, the other men following him. When he entered the cafeteria, she stood and walked toward him. He said something to her, and she nodded.

Leaving the building, the team watched them head toward Victoria’s cottage, watching them closely.

“I guess she told you guys what happened,” said Brax.

“She did,” nodded Stephanie. “We tried to convince her to either let him go for the time being or figure out a way to meet him halfway.”

“That’s more or less what we said to him,” said Luke.

“He’s being tempted, isn’t he?” asked Ajei. Luke nodded. “I knew it. He’s such a good-looking guy, and it has to be difficult for him.”

“It is difficult, but we all did it and ignored the temptations,” said Eric. “I think the difference is that he hasn’t figured out that what he has at home is what he really needs and wants.”

“Maybe it’s not,” whispered Stephanie. She looked up at the others, sadness filling her expression. “I feel terrible for both of them.”

“Same,” nodded Julia. “Love is hard, but young love is awful and rips you apart. Joseph and I were ten years apart, and it killed me seeing him in so much pain, yet he couldn’t bear the thought of me being so young.”

“How did you change his mind?” asked Stephanie. Julia grinned.

“I took him for a boat ride.” The other women all laughed, nodding their heads.

“Maybe that’s what Hayes should do with Victoria,” smirked Ajei. “Take her for a boat ride and show her that everything is alright.”

“I’m not so sure that will work for her. There’s a paranoia in her about leaving this property and someone taking her or harming her. After what all of us, we kids from the schools, went through, it’s understandable.” Stephanie just looked down at her hands.

“Hey. Are you okay?” asked Julia.

“I keep thinking about this woman. Ines. I can’t imagine the pain, the agony that she has suffered because of what that doctor did to her to create me and the others. It’s unconscionable. I’ll never understand that kind of evil,” she said, shaking her head.

“He thought he could bring his wife and daughter back,” said Marilisa. “Even though he had one daughter, a healthy daughter, he wanted his wife and baby back.”

“Wait. Why wouldn’t he have chosen his daughter to take DNA from? She would have been a match and probably ideal,” said Kelsey. The women all stared at one another, and then the light went on for Lucinda.

“Ideal unless she wasn’t her father’s biological child.”