Read Online Rogue (SEAL Team: Disavowed Book 1) by Laura Marie Altom - Free Book Online Page A

world had fallen out from under him. He’d been left with no true north. Ironic, considering that was the path he had now been literally forced to follow.
    “Nash?”
    He stopped mid-bail to go to Maisey. “What’s up?”
    “Are we sinking?” The moonless night made visibility far less than ideal.
    “Not at the moment. I’ve got us parked on a hammock. Our friends shot-up the hull pretty bad, and we’re taking on water. I’ve been stopping to bail.”
    “You should have woken me. I would’ve helped.” She hugged herself from the night’s chill, then seemed to fuss with her position.
    “Everything okay? You look uncomfortable.”
    “I am.” She rubbed her lower back. “I’ve got some cramping, too, but it’s probably no big deal.”
    He groaned. “I’ve got to get you out of here. If only I knew where here actually was. Vicente’s place was thirty-six miles as the crow flies from Green Fork, but his land borders the Everglades. I thought we were on a main channel, but it petered out. We’ve passed a couple fishermen, but I’m hesitant to flag anyone down for fear of them having connections to Vicente.”
    “I’m sorry,” she said softly.
    “For what?”
    “Everything. If I had done what you said back at Vicente’s compound, we’d have already been safe.”
    “True, but don’t blame yourself. These kinds of situations are highly fluid—and I’m not just talking about all the freakin’ water in this boat.”
    “Ha ha. I know. But I can’t help feeling responsible. I wish I’d never met Vicente.”
    “Yeah, but then you wouldn’t have your baby.” He eased alongside her on the vinyl bench seat, turning her back to him so he could rub her tight shoulders. “No matter what, your little boy is going to be worth it.”
    “Vicente was happy for a son.” Her voice barely rose above the frogs and cicadas. “He needs someone to carry on his family name. It’s an obsession.”
    That explained a lot.
    “At first, I felt sorry for him, but the further along I got in my pregnancy, the more demanding he grew. He isolated me and then locked me in my room. Like that wasn’t bad enough, lately, he’s been even worse. Cuffing me in my bed, and having his private physician examine me at the house.” She bowed her head. “I’ve been so naïve. I honestly believed that as long as I was pregnant, he would never hurt me. That if I did as he said, as soon as I had the baby, I could either get help or make him see reason. His actions didn’t make sense. I loved him. I . . . was a fool.”
    “Hey . . .” Nash pulled her back against him, kissing the crown of her head, more determined than ever to see her and her baby safely through. “Love makes everyone do crazy things. I know it did me. Once Hope told me she was carrying our baby, I became a different man. I didn’t know I was capable of loving that hard. I loved those two so much that it became a liability. In the field, my every action was based on the likelihood of whether or not my team and I would make it out alive. No matter what, I had to survive for Hope and our future child. But when I heard they’d died in the fire, I lost it. I wanted to die—to be . . . with them.” His throat was so tight, the admission barely escaped. But at last, his truth had come out. What had he been doing back in Jacksonville all these months? Essentially, trying to die, but being too much of a coward to properly do the job.
    “Oh, Nash . . .” Her voice caught.
    At some point while they’d talked, Nash had slipped his arms around her, resting his hands on her baby bump. She placed her smaller hands atop his, easing her fingers between his, and suddenly he was no longer alone, but once again part of a team. Like back in high school, Maisey and him against the world.
    She raised his hands to her mouth, kissing the backs, and then turning them over to kiss his sensitive palms. She had no idea how much dirt Nash had on them—literally and figuratively. He