Born to Fight

Chapter 18

Jamie

9 hours later

I had gone up to Celeste’s room several times throughout the early hours of the morning. I was glad to see that she had finally fallen asleep, granted it had been well after sunrise, but she needed the sleep, so hopefully she would sleep for a while yet. Lilly had flaked out on the mattress that the girls had dragged down to the lounge room for their sleepover the night before.

 Both the girls were still asleep.

Josh and I were sitting at the table drinking another cup of coffee. I had lost count of how many cups of coffee we had drank throughout the early hours of the morning. We were still waiting for our guests to arrive. While the girls were sleeping Josh and I had both reached out to a few former team guys that we had remained close too. We now knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that we had to get a few more guys who were not at risk of being deployed onboard with protection duty so that if Josh and I went wheels up, there would be someone close by to take care of Celeste in our absence.

I knew that if Josh and I did have to deploy, Billy would take care of Celeste. But I also knew that Celeste was not ready to deal with being a part of Billy’s family just yet. She still had her guard up when it came to Billy and her half-siblings. I understood it, but at the same time, I wanted her to let them in. I knew that once she got to know them, she would see that they were great people.

There was a knock on the front door and Josh got up to answer it. When he came back into the kitchen, I saw that Eric, Joe, Wayne, and Taylor had arrived. They were all former team guys. I got up and started making more coffee for everyone. While I was on self-appointed coffee duty, there was another knock on the front door. Josh went to answer the door once again, and this time he came back with Billy in tow.

As is the norm when you get team guys together things tend to get a little rowdy. It wasn't long before we realized that we had gotten a bit loud, when we were made aware of someone's disapproval. Clearly having been woken up by the racket we were making, Lilly came into the kitchen rubbing her eyes.

“What’s all the racket?” she asked grumpily.

Billy got up and hugged her, before gently giving her a kiss on the top of her head, “Good morning Grumpy Bear,” he murmured.

“Lilly, it’s been a while since we saw you last,” greeted Eric from his seat at the kitchen table.

“Hi guys,” she murmured, greeting the entire table, before making her way over to get herself a cup of coffee.

Once Lilly had her cup of coffee made, she went over to the fridge and got out bacon and eggs and grabbed a bag of hash browns out of the freezer. Then she surprised us all as she began cooking breakfast for everyone. While Lilly was cooking breakfast, I decided to go back upstairs to check on Celeste once more. 

Josh

The guys were having a great time catching up and discussing what everyone had been up to since they had seen each other last. Jamie came back into the kitchen after having gone upstairs to check on Celeste once more, “She’s still asleep,” he said looking at my father and me. I looked around the table at the assorted faces of friends who had dropped everything to come here to help us out with our current situation.

“Okay guys,” I said looking at them, “as you all know, we recently found my half-sister Celeste. I will remind you it was after some tragic circumstances. Her mother was murdered, and last night the people responsible for her mother's murder struck once again, here, at this house, trying to kill Celeste. She witnessed her mother’s murder and I think they are worried she can identify them.” I glanced around the table and met the eyes of every man seated there.

“We have asked you here today to ask a favor from each of you. Jamie and I would like to know if we were to get deployed, could we count on each of you to look out for Celeste in our absence?” I asked looking at each of the men seated in our kitchen.

Unanimously the men seated around the table vocalized their support for what I had just asked of them.

“So, when do we get to meet the love child?” Eric asked looking a my father with a cat that ate the canary grin on his face.

“She’s still asleep,” said Jamie. “She had trouble falling asleep after the incident earlier.”

“She has a g*n,” said Lilly, out of nowhere. “Apparently no one here has a problem with a teenage girl running around playing Rambo.”

“Lilly, that’s enough!" I told my sister, throwing her a glare.

“I am just saying...,” replied Lilly, but she quickly stopped talking when she saw the look on my father's face, I noted that his face held just as much disapproval as mine did.

Joe had picked up on the tension and looked over at my father, “So what do you plan to do?” he asked him.

“What do you mean?” asked my father, looking at Joe.

“With these people that are targeting your kid? How do you want to handle it?” Joe replied.

“I have reached out to some friends of mine who are in the Intelligence Community. We are closing in on them as we speak. And when we find them, I am going to take the fight to them” my father stated.

Celeste

I was walking into the kitchen with Loki when I heard someone ask Billy about what he planned to do. When he said he had reached out to friends of his in the Intelligence Community and that he was going to take the fight to them, my heart started racing. This is what I had wanted. I needed to fight back. Now was my chance to do that.

Walking into the kitchen I saw a lot of unfamiliar faces looking at me. I was glad that I had showered and dressed before coming downstairs.

“Gentleman, I would like you all to meet my daughter, Celeste,” said Billy. 

"Ah, the love child," one man said, grinning at me before he good-naturedly elbowed Billy in the ribs.

Each of the men spoke in greeting as introductions were made around the table. Feeling a little uncomfortable, and not wanting to be the center of attention, I quickly took a seat beside Jamie, and a short time later Lilly started serving up breakfast.

“So, Celeste, what are your thoughts about what your old man just said, about taking the fight to them?” asked the man that I had been told was named Joe.

“I am all for it,” I told him, meeting his eyes. “I thought about it for a long time after what happened here earlier. I am Military through and through. My mom was military, my Grandpa was a Marine. And apparently, my... father... was a Navy Seal and I guess so is my brother. I am done with being treated like a victim or waiting for those guys to turn up and end me like they did my mother. I am going to fight back. I am going to avenge my mother’s death and put these animals down like the sick dogs they are!” I stated as I looked around the table at each of the men who were looking at me, seeming surprised by my response. I glanced over to where Lilly was glaring at me from the kitchen bench. It seemed that Lilly was not happy about this sudden revelation.

"Calm down Rambo, you are getting a little ahead of yourself aren't you?" Lilly asked.

"That little green-eyed monster, it's a b***h isn't it?" I asked her in a taunting tone.

"I am not jealous!" Lilly growled.

"Yeah... yeah..., I can see that," I said in a mock sympathetic tone.

"You girls need to stop this," admonished Billy, looking between the two of us.

"You cannot be okay with this. Allowing a seventeen-year-old girl to run around carrying a g*n. Are you out of your mind? What the hell is wrong with you?" Lilly yelled at him.

"Lilly, calm down," chastised Billy.

"No! I won't calm down," Lilly snapped. "Take her g*n off of her, she shouldn't have it."

"Back the f**k out of my life Barbie Doll," I hissed glaring at her. Every pair of eyes at the table looked at me in surprise and amusement.

"Maybe Lilly is right, you shouldn't be carrying a g*n," Billy stated, clearly going into agreement with Lilly.

"Maybe you should stop playing 'let's pretend I'm a good parent,'" I snapped, glaring at him.

"He is trying to save your life you ungrateful little b***h," Lilly bit out.

"The only reason I am alive is because your father couldn't keep it in his pants, and he went and cheated on your mother. So how about you get off my case and get on his for a while," I snapped glaring at her.

"He made a mistake," Lilly whispered, obviously shocked that I would bring Billy's infidelity up in front of everyone.

"A mistake? Is that what you wanna call it? Lilly, I am going to let you in on a little secret. No matter how many times a man tries to convince you that cheating is a mistake, he is full of s**t. Cheating ain't a mistake, it is a conscious choice. Guys cheat on their girls, for the same reason dogs lick their balls. Because they can, it's that simple," I replied, looking at Lilly.

"That is disgusting!" Lilly shouted.

"Yes, but so true," I taunted.

"Celeste, about the gun..." Billy began.

"You can have my g*n over my dead body," I informed him, meeting his eyes from my spot at the table.