Danny's War (Rolling Thunder Series Book 3) (17 page)

“Hello this is Sandra, how can I help you?”

“Hi, Sandra, my name is Tammy and I’m calling about the buildings on Washington Street. All of a sudden, there are a few of them for sale and I wondered if you could tell me what’s going on? I checked the tax records today and they’re all different owners.”

“Well, the recent discussions at the City level of turning this area into a mall have speculators putting their businesses up for sale.”

“Mall? I hadn’t heard about that. If a developer was coming in to build a mall, the businesses wouldn’t need to put their buildings up for sale, the developer would purchase them anyway.”

“Correct, however, many of them are hoping to entertain higher offers to bump the price of their buildings so they have negotiation power with the developer.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Is there anything else I can help you with?”

“No. Thanks. Oh wait! Do you know who the developer is?”

“I believe the City of Green Bay is talking to several developers and haven’t selected one yet. All developers would have to submit plans and have them approved. The City Council will select the developer based on the plans. From there, the developer will come in and purchase the buildings they need.”

“Thank you, Sandra.”

Ending her call Tammy looked at the buildings again. Biting her bottom lip, she put her car into gear and headed toward Danny’s house and their date.

“Hey there.” Pulling her into a big hug, Danny’s arms encircled Tammy in a cocoon of warmth and comfort. She breathed in deeply and let his scent consume her entire being. She loved the way he smelled. She loved the way he felt. She loved the way she felt in his arms. Sliding her arms around his waist, she pulled him tight to her chest and willed herself to relax.

“I missed the hell out of you, babe,” Danny said into her hair. Holding her tightly, he could feel her body slowly relax in his arms. Dammit, only one night away from her and he felt like it’d been weeks.

“I missed you, too. Damn, you feel good,” she said into his chest, her cheek firmly resting over his heart. She could hear and feel the strong steady beat.

Pulling back a bit, he lifted her chin with his fingers and looked into her eyes. “You okay?”

“I am now.”

“Okay. So, that sounds like you had a day. So let’s go to the restaurant and while we wait for our food, we’ll talk. Good?”

“Yeah? Good.”

Danny led Tammy to his truck. He opened the passenger door and helped her step up into it. Walking around to the driver’s side, he slid in and looked over at Tammy, a slight frown on his face.

“Are you sure, babe? You look worried and tired.”

“I am; both. But I don’t want either of us to have to cook and we’ll talk when we get there, okay?”

Danny nodded, turned the key in the ignition and pushed the garage door button.

After ordering their food, the waitress came with their drinks. As she walked away, Danny reached across the table and held Tammy’s hands in his. “Tell me what’s up.”

“Okay, let’s see, where to begin. Oh…I guess you already know that Gunnar and Molly are brother and sister.”

“I do. That’s all anyone was talking about today. He’s so damned excited to have a sister. Isn’t that the freakiest thing? To think Joci and Molly were friends only to find out that Molly’s mom was Joci’s friend first. Weird.”

“Yeah, it sure is. So then, work. Zeke talked to me today. He freaked me out because he wanted to have a ‘private’ conversation with me.” Private in air quotes. “He told me that they need to get the overhead down on Stateside. In order to do that, Sally is done as of tomorrow. She’ll be moving to Seattle to work in the Hamilton corporate office with Isaiah, overseeing their nursing home properties. Apparently, she’ll be making some great money and of course, she’s positively embarrassing over her attraction to Zeke.”

“Where does that leave you?”

“I’ll be taking over Sally’s duties, but, they aren’t going to replace me. So, that means, at least for the time being, I’ll be doing double the work, though some duties can be shifted to others.”

“Wow. So, is this congratulations?”

“I don’t know Danny. FMS still owns us…Stateside. They had a conference call with us this afternoon and they’re going to sit tight and wait to see if the Hamiltons are ready to move forward with the purchase. They must feel confident that it’ll go through. After that though, my position is a bit uncertain.”

Danny nodded as his mouth formed a straight line across his face. He didn’t take his eyes from Tammy’s.

“Okay. So, Dog said the City is planning on tearing down some buildings by Stateside and building a mall.”

“Yeah. I called Melon on my way to your place. That’s what they said, too. They don’t know who the City will select as the developer, but some of the business owners are speculating that their buildings will be bought out. What do you think the odds are that the Hamiltons are drawing up plans to be the developers?”

Danny nodded. “That’s what I was thinking.”

Tammy sat back in her seat and tucked her hair behind her ear. She watched Danny’s eyes focus on her and she couldn’t help but smile. When he smiled back, she leaned forward and once again took his hands.

“I don’t want to talk about work anymore. How was your day?”

Danny genuinely smiled again and it was brilliant. “My day was awesome. Dog invited Lex, Coop and Dirks to Green Bay to talk about joining us for the Veteran’s Ride next year. I’ve already called Lex and he’s coming. I’ll call Coop and Dirks later tonight. I’d like to bring them by Stateside to talk to the guys while they’re here, do you think that will be okay?”

“Oh, my gosh, yes. The guys will absolutely love it. Thanks, Danny, it means so much to them.” Tears welling in her eyes, she wiped the corners with her fingers. “It means so much to me, too. Thank you.”

Danny reached across the table and smoothed her cheek with the back of his forefinger. “Don’t cry, babe. This is all good.”

Smiling she put her hand over his. “I know. Too much emotion lately. I never would’ve guessed four weeks ago all that’s gone on. It’s a bit overwhelming. Tell me about Lex, Coop and Dirks.”

Danny regaled her with stories. “Lex was the first guy I met when I went to Boot Camp. I walked into the receiving room and Lex was already there. He looked up at me with a great big smile on his face and said, ‘Hello. Name’s Charlie.’ His southern drawl brought a smile to my face. He’s exactly what you’d expect of a southern gentleman. I told him my name was Danny and he held out his hand and said, ‘Well, damn, it’s nice to meet you, Danny.’ From that moment on, we were together all the time. We cheered each other on when we needed to. We helped each other when it got rough. We had each other’s backs.  We managed to be deployed together, which we were grateful for. When we first got to Afghanistan, we met Coop and Dirks. We’ve been tight since then.”

Tammy watched the emotion play on his face. When he spoke of his friends, his eyes sparkled, his smile was a sight to behold. But, then, the tough times played across his face, too. “They were with me when I lost my leg. I looked up and Lex was yelling at me, but I couldn’t hear him because of the ringing in my ears. I saw Coop and Dirks standing there covered in blood and dirt. They looked so damn scared, but my brain couldn’t get around why. After I’d been in the hospital in Germany for a couple of weeks, they let me call them. That’s when Lex told me it was the worst thing that’d ever happened to him. He was so damn scared he’d lose me. He said he was yelling at me to get up. To be tough, to make it.”

Danny wiped the bit of moisture from the corner of his eyes and swallowed several times to get his emotions under control. Smoothing his hand down his face, he smiled slightly at Tammy and croaked out, “He suffers so badly right now from PTSD. That’s why I want him to meet the guys at Stateside.”

“Aww, that’s so nice of you, Danny, and so sad. I’m sorry he’s suffering right now, but I’ve no doubt that seeing you and spending time with you will help. When he sees how well you’re doing, he’ll know your body is different, but you’re fine, better than fine.”

“That right? Better than fine?”

Tammy laughed, “I think you’re better than fine. I think you’re smokin’.”

Danny burst out laughing. Unable to look away, Tammy sat back in her chair as she feasted her eyes.

“You ready to get out of here?”

“Yes. Where are we going?”

“I thought we could go to The Barn. They have pool tables and Ryder said it’s a great crowd there. Sound good?”

Tammy nodded and stood up. As they drove to The Barn, she checked her phone and, seeing an alert in her email, her shaking fingers swiped the email open and she gasped at the image on her phone.

Concerned Danny looked over at her, “Everything okay?”

Tammy began shaking uncontrollably. “Can we go home?”

Danny’s brows drew together. “Talk to me, babe. I need to know what’s going on.”

“I need to go home.” Tammy laid her phone in her lap and folded both hands over it. She stared straight out of the windshield and began breathing deeply, trying to calm herself. Her stomach began to lurch violently and she worried she wouldn’t be able to keep down her amazing supper.

Danny drove carefully but quickly worry marring his brow. He reached up to the buttons on the overhead panel on his truck and pushed the button to open his garage door. Pulling in, he shifted into park and turned off the ignition. He turned his head, worried at the paleness of Tammy’s face and how deathly still she was.

“Babe,” he whispered, afraid he would startle her. When she didn’t move, he slowly reached over and slid his fingers into her hair at her nape and gently massaged the back of her head. Tammy swallowed and closed her eyes.

“We need to talk.”

“Okay. Let’s go into the house.”

Tammy slowly opened the door and stepped out. Danny waited at the front of the truck and slid his arm around her when she reached him. He opened the kitchen door and stepped back to let her walk before him. Setting her purse on the little table by the door, Tammy entered the kitchen and stopped at the counter.

“You’re going to need your computer.”

Brows furrowed, Danny nodded and walked into his bedroom to grab his laptop. He came back into the kitchen and set it on the table.

Watching Tammy closely, he said, “What do you want me to do, babe?”

Tammy swallowed the emotion in her throat and walked over to the table. “I tried telling you this the day Noah was born. It’s why I was concerned when you took that picture of me while I was sleeping the first time we had sex.”

Taking a calming breath she slowly explained. “A year ago I dated a jackass who videoed us having sex without my knowledge. He uploaded it to all of his friends and the internet. It’s been the most humiliating year of my life. It took months for people to stop staring at me when I went out. His group of friends had shared it over and over and over. I felt like everyone I knew had seen it. My parents hired an attorney and we got an injunction and then a restraining order on Scott. But, once something like that is out there, it’s impossible to completely eradicate it. People save it on their computers and you simply never know when it will resurface.”

Danny swallowed and clenched his teeth. His heart was hammering away in his chest, his stomach was so tight he thought it would twist him in two. Before his knees gave out, he sat across from her and waited.

Tammy pulled open his laptop and pushed the button to power it up. Danny watched her and then said, “What are you doing?”

“I just got an alert that someone else just viewed and commented on that video. I’m going to pull it up and show you.”

“Show me? I don’t want to see that fucking video.”

Danny’s fists clenched on the table top as he watched Tammy’s eyes fill with tears.

“You don’t?”

“Fuck no. I don’t want to watch you having sex with someone else. What the fuck do you think?”

Shaking her head she blinked a few times, her voice quivering she said, “I thought you’d…”

“No,” he yelled. When she jumped he took a deep breath and loudly exhaled. He shook his head as he flexed his fingers a few times to relieve the tension.

“No,” he said, quieter. “I…can’t see that. I can’t watch you with someone else. I can’t.”

OUT OF BREATH,
Danny’s chest hurt with the overexertion of running. Breathing was becoming difficult and the dust flying through the air made it damn near impossible to bring any good oxygen into his lungs. Trying to see through the smoke from the burned out buildings, he couldn’t see any of his brothers. Where the hell was everyone? Afraid to call out, he lowered himself to a sitting position next to the remains of a wall and willed his lungs to fill with clean air and his heart to calm. As his breathing slowed to normal, he heard his men laughing and cat-calling. He turned his head to the left and listened. “That’s fucking hot,” he heard Lex say. A few more whistles from Coop and the others. Danny slowly raised himself to his feet and walked around the wall. There they were, all his brothers, no one looking scared or as if they’d been running. They were all standing around a table laughing. As Danny neared the table, the hairs on the back of his neck prickled. His shoulders bunched up, bile forming in his stomach. He peered over Lex’s shoulder to see his brothers watching a video of Tammy having sex with some fucker. Her beautiful face twisted in ecstasy, her naked body bared for all to see. Lex yelled, “
Fuck her hard man,
” as his brothers all laughed.

Danny flew bolt upright in bed, his heart slamming in his chest, his body coated in sweat. His breathing coming in short raspy spurts. Looking around he slowly realized he was in his bedroom at home. He wiped his eyes with is shaky fingers as he felt the first soft touch of a hand brush across his back.

He jerked his head to the left and saw Tammy. Her sleepy eyes were clouded with worry, her hair was tousled from sleep and her breathing was rapid.

“Nightmare,” Danny croaked. How was he going to overcome this? They hadn’t had the time to work through this revelation, so much had happened recently. They’d been hit with one thing after the next.