Hell On An Angel (Fated Love Book 2) (11 page)

“The night you came to talk to me, after I got here.” I opened my eyes and took another drink of water before I spoke again.
 

“What happened?”
 

“Are you sure you really want to know?” Tim asked and I gave him a nod. He came over and took my hand and led me to sit on the couch. “After you and he fought about what happened in the gym, he came to talk to me before going downstairs to organize another room to give you both space. Not long after that, you came to talk to me and finally hit the wall you knew was coming. I put you to bed, then Lucas came and got me. We went down to the bar downstairs and before I could finish my drink, I saw Morgan with his hand up her skirt and I left. He came and asked me not to tell you and I told him where to shove it. He planned for me to be on your date. It was supposed to be Lucas, but he changed the shifts around.” He took a deep breath.
 

“Is there more?” I asked.
 

“If you hadn’t been interrupted by Jasmine earlier and had slept with Morgan like he had in his mind, we still would have been leaving tomorrow on the first plane out of here. Morgan thinks all women are someone he can fall in love with until he sleeps with them, then he is gone the next morning. It’s his best line. I knew as soon as I met you he was gonna try and I made sure that Jasmine was close by. We planned for Ghost to be here. I’m sorry, Maddie, but I couldn’t let Morgan do that to you...”
 

I felt Tim sit beside me and start rubbing my back. “Can you give me a minute, please?”
 

“Lucas did it because I made him promise to keep you safe. Something didn’t feel right to me.”
 

I closed my eyes and spoke again. “I appreciate that, Jasmine. Can you give me a minute, please?”
 

Tim squeezed my hand and stood up to leave with them. Gripping his hand tighter, I opened my eyes and looked up at him.
 

“Can you stay, please, baby?”
 

Tim sat back down next to me and wrapped his arms back around me. Closing my eyes again, I laid my head against his chest.
 

As soon as Morgan walked into the bar downstairs, I knew it was gonna end in trouble. I’d hoped it would be just for him, but we’d gotten caught up in the crossfire once the bimbo showed up and opened her mouth about as quick as she opened her legs. I knew as soon as Maddie stepped toward him, he was going to end up on the floor. I was surprised she was so calm when we got back to the room, though. Jasmine and I knew just how bad that could have been if she had hit full blown pissed off.
 

When she asked Jasmine and Lucas to give her a minute, it looked like she just needed to get her head around everything. I was hoping that I could keep her from over thinking shit.
 

“If I hadn’t been here when you got the call to come out, would you have come and seen me?”
Well, fuck
. So much for stopping her overthinking it.
 

“I would have tried to get in contact with you. If you didn’t want to see me, then I wouldn’t have forced you to.” Maddie went quiet again and I rest my cheek against her head. “Snowflake, don’t do this. Yes, we were put in the same place, but we decided the outcome.”
 

“Why couldn’t they have just told me?”
 

“For the same reason I couldn’t tell you about downstairs. You wouldn’t have believed us. Some lessons - although they may hurt - we have to learn them the hard way. That doesn’t mean you should think about them any longer then you need too.”
 

“I hate that you can rationalize everything.” Maddie laughed, and I felt her relax in my arms.
 

“I’ve missed being the one who calmed you down.”
 

“What about Jas?!”
 

“Maddie, baby, I love Jas to death, but she could never calm you down. She would always rile you up more.” Maddie laughed again and pulled back a little to look at me.
 

“Yeah, I guess you are right.”
 

“I know I’m right.” Maddie slapped my arm and moved again. Putting her legs across my lap, I slipped her flats off and began to massage her feet.
 

“So, I’m sure Jas has filled you in about what you missed. What have I missed?” She was trying to get Morgan and downstairs out of her head, and I was happy to help her try but, did we have to start with
THAT
question? I let out a breath and thought about the last ten years.
 

“After we left Australia, the parents took us back to the States. Gracie was allowed to stay with them, but Matthew and I were sent to Military Academies. He was sent to a different one to me because of the difference in ages. He still had a few years before he could legally enlist, but my eighteenth was right around the corner. After the letter came back, I put my head down and did what I had to until I could get out of there. We were talked into enlisting and were sent over to Afghanistan.”
 

“Then what happened?”
 

“Are you sure you want to hear this? You may not like the answer…” I said.
 

Maddison moved to my lap and cupped my face in her hands. “Nothing you say is going to change the way I feel about you, Tim. If you want to tell me than I am all ears. If you don’t then I will respect that.”
 

I sat forward a little and brushed my lips over hers. “I will tell you because it’s something you need to know. Please, don’t let this change the way you see me. I’m still the same man as I was when I was seventeen...in a way.”
 

She gave me a nod and relaxed against me. Wrapping my arms around her, I went on.
 

“We were making rounds in the assigned area when we came under fire. While we were scrambling to try and get to safety, they blew up a jeep not far from where I was. The blast from the explosion sent me flying into the wall behind me and I hit my head hard. It knocked me unconscious. I came to in the hospital tent and was given the all clear the next day. A couple of days later, though, I was sent back there when I started feeling like I was going to faint. When I got there, I blacked out and didn’t remember anything until I came to again. I was sent home so they could do some tests. As they suspected, the head injury I had sustained had caused a seizure. Once they diagnosed it as epilepsy, I was discharged from the Army and put on medication to try and correct it. Dad was disappointed that I had gotten myself discharged. Ma of course went along with it, so I couldn’t go back home. In the end I set up my security company with two of the guys from my unit. One of them sustained a bullet wound to the shoulder, while the other got hit in the knee.”
 

“How did Grace and Matthew take it?”
 

I shrugged my shoulders and looked down. “I haven’t seen nor spoken to either of them since we were all sent in different directions. Matt would have taken Dad’s side, though.”
 

Looking back at Maddie, I met her eyes when she fell silent. Instead of talking she kissed me. In that kiss, she said more than her words could ever say.
 

Nothing had changed her love for me. God, did I love her for that.

When I asked Tim what I’d missed while we’d been apart, I wasn’t expecting that. Well, not all of it anyway.
It was no surprise that he wasn't talking to his father, or his brother.
His Ma shocked me, though. She had always been a good mother to her kids and never told them they had to be something if they didn’t want to be. Tim never wanted to follow in his dad’s footsteps, and she’d always been supportive of that. I didn’t get what changed. His spawn of a brother had always been trying to get daddy's attention. He resented Tim, because he always got his attention. Not that it was by choice. Tim would have preferred Matt to get it, then his dad wouldn’t notice the time he spent with me.

It had been no secret that his dad, Thomas, didn’t like me. I was never rude to him or disrespectful in any way, but he formed an opinion of me and nothing could change that. It was more reason to never be there. Michael worked nights for a hotel in Tamworth, so I had the house to myself. Jasmine, Tim and I would always try and hang out there. If we weren’t there, then we were with Hannah and Allen at their house.
 

Taking a deep breath, I thought about Tim going through everything that he went through on his own. I’d been quiet while I sat curled into his side, so he left me to my thoughts while we attempted to watch some movie that was on the TV. I pulled back to look at him. “How are you okay with all of this?”
 

Tim raised a brow and met my eyes. “Okay with all of what, Snowflake?”
 

“With your family being jerks?”
 

He shrugged his shoulders and hit mute on the TV. “Because it doesn’t surprise me. They have always been that way. Ma was always the most supportive when Dad wasn’t around. As soon as he was, she was back to saying, “yes, dear” just to keep on his good side. I was the only one who stood my ground and told him exactly what I thought. He always thought that was
your
influence.”
 

I snorted and sat back against the arm of the couch. “He always did have it out for me. Is that why he moved you all?”
 

Tim nodded. “Part of it. He couldn’t control me here. He had to break me so that he could. Plus, he wanted us in the Army, and didn’t have the power here that he did in the States. He tried, and they wouldn’t change their stance. The Academy that I attended was run by Dad’s old Army unit. I was going no matter what.”
 

I nodded and chewed on my lip as I went back to my thoughts. “Do you think he would have talked to Michael and tried to convince him to make sure we didn’t have contact after you left?”
 

“What do you mean?”
 

“The letters. Hannah swore, according to Jas, that she would make sure that I got them. Michael sent them all back before she could get them to me.”
 

“I wouldn’t put it past him, but Maddie? Someone still has a letter…”
 

I frowned at his words. “What makes you think that?”
 

“I don’t think, baby, I know. I numbered my letters and I never got my first letter back. All the others, yes, but not that first one. It’s why I thought it was you sending them back.”
 

I shook my head. “I never saw them or even knew about them, till now.”
 

“Then I think you need to have a chat with Michael, gorgeous, because if it was Hannah, Jasmine would have given it to you a long time ago.” I nodded softly and sighed. Guess it was time to find out where Michael was.
 

I felt Tim put his hand on my cheek and I turned my attention back to him. Leaning forward, I pressed my lips against his. “I’m so glad you came back.” I said.
 

“I am too, Snowflake. So fucking glad.” I kissed him again and shifted against him. He let out a low groan as my ass pressed against his crotch. “Careful, Maddie…”
 

I bit my lip and tried to hide my amusement. “Sorry, baby.”
 

He snorted and laid his head back against the couch. “Looks it.”
 

I giggled and laid my head against his chest. His hand rubbed small circles on my back and he went back to the movie. I had so many questions, but I didn’t want to bring more stuff up from his past. Did he have medication he had to take for his seizures? Had he taken it recently? What did I need to watch out for? What did I do if he has a seizure? What type did he have? Tim’s hand moved up to rest on the back of my neck.
 

“Just relax, baby,” he whispered in my ear. I hadn’t realized that I had tensed up. “What’s going on inside that pretty head of yours?”
 

“I have questions, but I don’t want to drag up things from the past and make you feel like you have to answer them.”
 

Tim shifted me so that he could see my face better. “If you want to ask me something, Maddie, then please ask me. If I can tell you, then I will. You need to know it all. I’m not starting our relationship on anything but honesty.” I nodded softly and he ran his thumb over my lip as he waited for the questions.
 

“Are you on medication?”
 

He nodded. “Daily doses, which I take every night. Initially it was three times a day, but it’s now just the one.”
 

“When was your last seizure?”
 

“A year. Maybe more.”
 

“Do you know when you’re about to have one?”
 

“Depends which type I have.”
 

“What types?” I asked, a little confused.
 

“I have had two different types since they first started. Tonic-clonic, which is when my body seizes up and starts jerking. I feel faint when I am about to have one of those, so I can usually get myself to a safe area where there is nothing around that will cause me harm. The other one is an absentee seizure, where I lose consciousness for a few seconds. I can be sitting here talking to you and zone out for a few seconds and come out of it like nothing happened. Those I can’t see coming. If I have more than one of those then I take Valium to counteract the clusters.”