There was a smile on his face as he mounted his gelding and raced after her. She stayed ahead of him for some time, but the gelding eventually caught up. They both pulled back on the reins and drew the horses into a canter as they rode side by side to the river. Jace raised his face to the sun, grateful to have clean air in his lungs once more.
The sound of a splash caught his attention. Taryn had shed her clothes and dived into the river. Her inviting smile had him quickly joining her. Once in the water, he pulled her against him and took her lips in a languid kiss. He couldn’t get enough of her.
As the kiss deepened, he could feel Taryn pulling away. He leaned back to see what was wrong. Something had cut a slice in the sky above them, reaching out to wrap a hand around Taryn to yank her out of his arms.
“Jaaaaaaaace!!” she screamed, her face filled with terror.
He tried to hold onto her with everything he had, but she slipped from his fingers. He was instantly plunged into darkness, pulled back into the pit of Hell with his captors. Jace wasn’t prepared for the fist to his ribs that knocked the breath from him.
* * *
Jace came awake suddenly from the nightmare. He took a few moments to make sure the dream had faded away enough that he wouldn’t get dragged back into those memories. It had taken him a long time to pull himself from those. Thankfully, they only bothered him occasionally now, which was much better than when he had first been rescued, and the nightmares plagued him every time he closed his eyes.
With his head feeling as if an entire football team took turns kicking him, he saw the bright light from the window from behind his closed lids. His mouth felt like cotton. He tried to swallow and realized that he was lying face down on the sofa. That’s when he heard a jingle on repeat.
He cracked open one eye to find his best friend, Cooper Owens, sitting in a chair opposite him, playing the stupid game on his phone that drove Jace bananas simply because Cooper always had to leave the music on. Because it annoyed Jace.
“Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty,” Cooper said without looking away from the screen.
Jace shut his eye and wished he could go back to sleep. But first, he needed to stop the pounding in his head. He used his arms to push himself up. The effort that took told him that he had imbibed a little too much the night before. The problem was that it took more and more each time he needed to numb himself from the pain.
“What are you doing here?” he asked as he rolled onto his side.
Cooper didn’t immediately answer until he had won his level. Then, he lowered the phone and looked at Jace. “Ryan. He didn’t think you should be left alone. He got called to an emergency, so he phoned me.”
“Stop giving me that holier-than-thou look,” Jace grumbled. “I seem to recall babysitting you when you got drunk.”
Cooper scratched his neck. “Yep. You sure have. But this is your second time this week.”
“No, it isn’t,” Jace said. But the minute the words were out of his mouth, he knew that his friend was right.
Cooper leaned forward and put his phone on the coffee table between them. “I’d just crawled into bed with Marlee when Ryan called.”
It went unsaid that both Cooper and Marlee were irritated with Jace. Not that he blamed them. He would feel the same in their shoes. Jace managed to shift so he was sitting on the couch. That’s when he looked down and found himself in nothing but his boxer briefs.
“You can thank Ryan for that,” Cooper said, not bothering to hide his smile. “Apparently, you were adamant about getting naked. He somehow managed to make you keep your briefs on, though I’m not sure I want to know how.” The smile died as he licked his lips. “You’re spiraling out of control.”
Jace ran a hand down his face and closed his eyes. The phrase rode hard and put up wet didn’t even come close to describing how poorly he felt. That in itself should have been enough to make sure he didn’t drink that much again for some time. But he knew it wouldn’t.
“Jace?” Cooper said.
He looked at his best friend, noting the seriousness on Cooper’s face. “I know.”
“Do you? Because you’re worrying the hell out of me. We’ve been down this road before.”
Thankfully, Cooper didn’t say her name. Jace never said it either—except in his dreams. He leaned forward and propped his elbows on his thighs as he dropped his face into his hands. “Fuck.”
The chair creaked as Cooper rose. Jace heard him go into the kitchen. A moment later, Cooper returned and set something on the table. “Hair of the dog.”
Jace immediately reached for the shot of tequila and drank it. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and set the glass back on the coffee table. The shot helped a little, but only time—as well as some water and food—would mend what the alcohol had done. “Thanks.”
Cooper sat back down and released a sigh. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Nope.” The last thing Jace wanted to do was rehash what had happened the day before that’d sent him straight to the bottle. After all these years, he should be over her. Why couldn’t his heart let her go? Why couldn’t he find someone new? His three friends had. Was he destined to spend his life alone?
Maybe that was it. Perhaps he’d had his shot with her and had done something to screw it up, which then caused her to leave. He’d never know since she hadn’t said anything to him. He’d simply gone to her house one morning, and she was gone. No trace left behind. Not even his friends in law enforcement could find her.
“Maybe you need to go back to your therapist,” Cooper offered. “He did wonders to help you get past everything that happened when you were a POW.”
Jace shot him a smile and said, “You sound like my mom.”
Cooper didn’t respond to the jest. “Because we’re worried.”
“I know,” he said and got to his feet. He moved too quickly, and the room spun. Jace fell back onto the sofa and dropped his head onto the cushion. “How many more times do I have to say that I’m all right before y’all start believing me?”
“I think you’ve reached the limit.”
Jace twisted his lips as he stared at the ceiling. “Yeah. You’re probably right.”
“You aren’t alone in this.”
But he was. Jace didn’t argue with Cooper because he knew what his friend meant. However, Cooper, Brice, and Caleb all had women of their own now. Brice was a father, as well. Their families came before anything else.
Jace lifted his head and met Cooper’s forest green eyes. “Go home to Marlee and have breakfast with her.”
“It’s nearly one in the afternoon.”
Jace shrugged. “Then have lunch.”
“She’s with her parents. You and I are going to grab some food. Take a shower. You need it.”
Jace made a face but got up—slower this time—and headed to his room. Once in the shower, he stood beneath the spray for a long time before starting to wash. As he did, his mind drifted. He recalled coming home the night before and thinking he saw Taryn. She had looked so real, but he knew that wasn’t the case. Jace tried to put it out of his mind as he finished bathing and dried off.