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Chapter 4

  • Chapter Four
  • Georgetown January, 2015
  • Derek clenched his teeth tight as pain shot up and down his entire left leg, mostly centering on his knee. He was drenched in sweat and his knee hurt like a mother- but there was no way he was going to give up. It helped that his anger fueled him on. He needed to heal fast and his doctors timetable just didn’t work for him. Eight months they’d said to just get half of his normal mobility back in his knee. Well, he’d already hit half that time and he could already jog with minimal pain. By the time month eight hit he would be sprinting. He used to hate running—he got too sweaty, a little smelly and it was just too exhausting. But now that he was faced with the possibility of never being able to run again, it was like being doused with cold water. You never appreciate what you have until it’s taken away. Once he was fully back on his feet, he was going to run every day for the rest of his life.
  • He pushed again stretching his knee determinedly. When month eight hit he was going to Damien’s cabin, the one he’d bought after spending the best months of his life in—his words—and run the trails along the stream and in the back woods each morning. Then he would swim in the stream each night before dinner, probably pull a girl or two in with him and fool around with the setting sun at their backs. Tasha would hate that last part, him using her wedding gift for debauchery, but Derek was determined to go back to his old self. He wanted to feel whole again and he needed a fully working knee to do that.
  • He missed his life. He’d been out of the game six months now. First it was just a few weeks for some rest and relaxation after a particularly hairy mission which he’d caught a bullet in the gut. Then a day before he was set to return to active duty, that bitch walked into his apartment and put a bullet in his knee. And if that wasn’t enough, she blew his cover. The latter hurt a fucking lot worse than having his knee replaced.
  • His rage climbed a degree higher and he pushed his leg harder. When, not if, but when he found her, he was going to strangle her! Wrap his hand around her swan-like neck and squeeze.
  • “Hey big D, take a break would ya? You’re making us look bad,” Damien, his cousin joked.
  • “And you might just worsen the knee,” practical Dale added coming behind Damien.
  • Derek ignored them and pushed on the leg press machine a few more times, but once his left leg began to shake, he knew he would have to stop soon. His knee couldn’t take the strain any longer.
  • “Besides, this is our bonding time. We finally have you around more often and we want to catch up, spend time together not escort you to the gym like we’re your groupies.”
  • Derek chuckled at Damien’s pouty face. Since he became a dad and a husband he didn’t take life too seriously, rather he made it a point to enjoy each day with his family. And he was right. This time at the gym two times a week in the evenings was for the three of them to get close again and bond. For Dale and Damien having families took most of their time when they weren’t working. Derek didn’t envy them, he didn’t feel like he was missing something by not having a family of his own, much to his own mother’s disappointment. In fact, he applauded his cousins. Not many men in their line of work—Dale who chased after psycho serial killers and Damien working to take down gangs and mobs—would have the courage to have families with all the evils that they knew first hand existed in the world. If only Derek could explain that to his mother, but that would mean going into details he was legally bound not to.
  • Derek never wanted kids, ever, but that choice had been taken away from him. It was the only reason why he couldn’t, wouldn’t kill that bitch. Strangle her yes, but kill… he was going to have to find a way to restrain himself.
  • He eased his legs off the press machine and sat up. He pulled his towel from the hand rest and dabbed his wet face. “I’m determined to get my life back.”
  • “We get that, but the doctors told you not to overdo it.”
  • Derek glared up at Dale, “No Dale, you don’t get anything.”
  • Dale glared back, “Yeah because you’re the only person in the entire world who’s ever been shot and had his life turned upside down.”
  • Derek felt well and truly ashamed. It was such a damn ass comment, he regretted making it.
  • Dale knew exactly how difficult it was to get his career back on track after being derailed. The two bullets to his back had caused enough damage to have him sitting out of the game for months and on desk duty for even more. He was out on the field after a year and his boss only let him because he was hunting down his psycho sister-in-law who had shot him as he body shielded his wife. But that ended okay, a little weird, but okay. Damien was now married to psycho sister-in-law with three kids and she didn’t remember a thing about her life prior and no one was going to tell her. She had been a victim of a mind control experiment gone wrong. She was Tasha Smith, now Tasha Chan. As far as everyone was concerned Ellsa Jabari the assassin and the psycho was dead and long gone. But even though Ellie was content to have her twin back and Damien was as happy as a clam, Dale was still a little tense around Tasha. How could he not be? The woman had kidnaped both his kids, one was still in uetro and Ellie had almost died because of it. She was also having trouble conceiving again, so yeah Dale had every right to be reserved and alert around her.