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A heavy silence followed Belinda and Mike leaving.
“I’m sorry, son,” her dad said. “I know that hurt, but sometimes pain helps protect us in the long run. It was obviously God’s will that you showed up when you did and were able to see the two of them together. See their joy and love with your own eyes.”
Jagger couldn’t speak, couldn’t catch a breath, couldn’t meet the man’s eyes.
“Can you see what I see? Mike makes our Belle happy. He doesn’t upset her, sneak around with her, or want to rip her from her mother and me. It’s obvious she loves him and they’re meant to be together. They have a great future together—him as a lawyer, her starting her charitable foundation, both Christians and focused on family and their Savior.” He paused ,then muttered, “I am very sorry, but I need to know you’ll honor your promise. You saw with your own eyes that she is happy and in love. Now you’ll leave her alone.”
Jagger had nothing to say. He was beaten and ticked off. Pastor Ralphs’ apologies and reaffirmations that Mike and Belinda were meant to be only made it hurt worse. The love of his life was messing around with some other guy, the guy her parents wanted her with. Her parents hated Jagger, and why wouldn’t they? He wasn’t a Christian. He wanted to take her away and live a military life. Of course they wanted their only daughter close to home. He was beaten and angry and hurt.
Jagger forced himself to look at her dad. The pity in the man’s eyes was the clincher. He shouldn’t have done it, but her dad had set the parameters. The pastor had shown him that Belinda was happy with Mike, maybe even loved the guy. Jagger’s heart twisted. He couldn’t believe that was true, but he had seen them laugh, flirt, and kiss. He wanted to puke, but he tightened his hand into a fist instead.
This wasn’t finished. Pastor Ralphs also had to beat Jagger in a fight, knock him out, and drag him away. When Jagger won, he would go after Belinda. He would call her out, see in her blue gaze if she really didn’t love him any longer. If she didn’t, then he’d walk away. If she did, they could fight this out and kiss and make up.
Right now, he would get the chance to finally hit the man who’d brought so much misery and pain into his life. If Pastor Ralphs won the fight, Jagger would walk away like he’d promised and never contact Belinda.
There was no possible way he’d lose this fight.
Jagger swung with his best right hook at his future father-in-law’s jaw.
It was a great punch. Pastor Ralphs’ head snapped to the side, but the man only smiled grimly and landed a jab square in the center of Jagger’s nose. Blood sprayed the pastor and dripped down Jagger’s face. He tasted salty blood and could admit it was a good hit.
Sadly for the pastor, Jagger was just getting started.
He backed away to prepare to go in hard and fast.
The pastor plowed into him, knocking him off his feet.
Jagger was slammed to the concrete floor. Every bone in his body and the back of his head reverberated with the impact. The man’s body weight, added to the impressive and quick move, knocked the breath out of him. Worse, his head had taken as much of the impact as his upper body. His vision went blurry, black appearing on the edges. Even though he was lying on his back, the world swam and he was more nauseated than when he’d seen Belinda kiss Mike back.
Jagger swung wildly, but none of his punches were effective while he was pinned like this. Her dad had the upper hand, and it was truly no kind of fight as Jagger was losing consciousness. Her dad didn’t have to do much more than a couple well-placed hammer fists.
The last thing Jagger remembered before the world went dark was Belinda’s dad muttering, “I truly am sorry, son. Next time do your research before you make a promise. I was the lightweight Golden Gloves champion of the Tri-State Region twenty-five years ago.” Then her dad lifted his head with both of his hands and slammed it back into the concrete.
Chapter
One
SEAL Captain Jagger Lemuel shifted his weight. It was late Monday afternoon on a beautiful seventy-five-degree June day on Kauai. He was ready to meet yet another one of Captain Aiden Porter’s men for Mercedes Belle’s Chance for Charity reality show. This time it was Air Force Reconnaissance Lieutenant Paul Braven. Paul’s female counterpart would accompany him on the flight to Kauai. The lady was hoping to win a million dollars for her charity.
Jagger and his best friend and fellow SEAL, Lieutenant Hays West, would be competing against Paul and the lady to stop them from winning the money. The show’s viewers might think they were jerks to compete so hard, but Mercedes Belle had asked him and Hays to give the show every bit of competitiveness, skill, and talent they had for their angelic friend and for her deceased brother, Lieutenant Grayson Travier.
Jagger had given his word, and he would keep it.
Some might call that manipulation on Mercedes’s part. Jagger didn’t really care. He’d do anything for his closest friends besides Hays—Mercedes, Grayson, and Shawn. Shawn was Mercedes’s bodyguard and supposed boyfriend.
Only he and Hays could see that Shawn loved and protected Mercedes like a brother. His dedication mostly stemmed from his dedication to Grayson, Shawn’s only friend through childhood and teen years. Shawn would likely never admit to even himself that he’d never been romantically in love with Mercedes. He certainly played the part well for the media, though. He was ultra protective of Mercedes and would give his life for her. Sadly, it wasn’t Shawn’s life that was ebbing away.
How would any of them survive when Mercedes passed?
Maybe Jagger was wrong about Shawn and Mercedes. He’d been wrong before. Romantic love and him had nothing to do with each other.
As soon as this week was over, he and Hays would return to their SEAL unit and his life would be back to normal. Normal for him, at least. SEAL life was intense, demanding, and often life-threatening. He lived and breathed it. Action, leading missions, fighting, battle strategy—it was all inherent to him and part of his soul.
These three weeks of leave had been intriguing and sometimes even fun. Jagger gave a hundred percent to whatever he was doing, and this final week would be no exception.
He turned to Shawn and Hays as they waited on the tarmac of the small Lihue airport on the island of Kauai. Garrett, Mercedes’s cameraman, was close by but not filming yet.
“Do you two find it odd that Julie gave us all the glowing information on Lieutenant Paul Braven but nothing on his female counterpart?” Jagger asked. “Is Lieutenant Braven going to introduce the mystery woman?”
