Mending His Scars

Jax Carder’s body wasn’t the only casualty of the explosion that claimed his leg while deployed overseas. The dust had hardly settled before his relationship with Riley, the love of his life, began to implode.

He’d been the hero when they met, but fear of being seen as helpless after his injury made him push her away one too many times. Now facing life alone, he’s found his way to the Wounded Warrior Rescue. When Riley shows up in town, they can’t seem to stop butting heads long enough to fix what went wrong between them.

Riley McCracken is taking one last trip to her late grandmother’s home, but this time there won’t be any hugs or freshly baked cookies awaiting her. The house she just inherited is as empty as her lonely heart, and the temptation to hide away from her troubles there is very real. If only her ex hadn’t ended up in the same small town.

In a perfect world, she and Jax would have a second chance at love. But if they can’t find a way to overcome their fears, history is bound to repeat itself.

Jax and Riley have to decide if love is worth the risk of opening up and facing those fears together.

“What are you doing to that dog?” Riley’s pulse thundered in her ears. She hurried toward the open-air kennel where a hulking man sat inside it with his back to her, keeping food just out of the dog’s reach.

Today was supposed to have been all about finding the courage to start cleaning out Grandma’s house now that the funeral was behind her—not this.

Her cheeks burned with red-hot fury as her laser vision locked onto the back of the man’s head. The poor dog had been abused in a fighting ring and was still recovering from losing his leg. What kind of a man would tease an injured animal with food?

“Do you have any idea what that dog has been through?” she shouted, continuing to charge forward.

The man stood, expanding his muscular torso with a deep breath before turning to face her. He took a step toward the gate with his prosthetic limb and locked his eyes onto hers.

She stopped short a few paces away from the kennel. A bolt of electricity short-circuited her every muscle, paralyzing her as she gazed into a pair of brown eyes she never thought she’d see again. “Jax?”

“I think I’ve got a pretty good idea of what he’s been through,” he said, glancing at his prosthesis.

“No one told me you worked here,” she choked the words out past the breath catching in her throat. Her pulse raced, a big part of her heart wanting to tear the gate open, throw her arms around his neck, and plant a kiss right on his lips.

“You never told anyone about us back when we were together.” The glint in his eyes held the hint of a challenge. “Why would anyone have a reason to tell you about me now?”

Really? They hadn’t seen each other in how long, and his first instinct was to rehash this old argument? Suddenly kissing seemed like a really bad idea.

Keeping their relationship a secret was the one and only thing she’d ever asked of him. She’d never told him why. How could she? It would have meant diving too deeply into emotions she wasn’t ready to deal with—emotions she might never be ready to deal with.

She wasn’t going to take the bait. “You might think you know what this dog needs, but I don’t recall anyone throwing your food just out of reach when you were trying to recover from your amputation.”

He grunted out a single peal of laughter. “Maybe they would have if I’d refused to get out of bed and learn to walk again like this dog is doing.”

Riley folded her arms across her chest and cocked a hip. “So, you think teasing him is what he needs?”

“Maybe.”

His full lips curved into a smirk that sent heat into her cheeks. “Maybe?” she asked.

“Come on, Riley. You know me better than that. I’m not teasing him. I put the food just out of reach to coax a little movement out of him. He hasn’t walked since they had to take his leg. He’s gotta get moving. It’s called tough love.”

“Maybe you’ve taken this tough-love thing to unhealthy levels. I think you’re a little confused about what a healthy healing process looks like.”

With a wild torrent of emotions coming alive inside her all at once, she hoped he caught onto the double meaning behind her words. The way Jax had chosen to go about his healing process after his amputation was what had ultimately destroyed their relationship. He wasn’t the only one who could bring up old disagreements, and this one was a doozy.

“Yeah? Well, I can tell you what he doesn’t need. He doesn’t need someone hovering over him and constantly asking him if he’s okay.”

Jax’s words hit hard. He caught on quick. They definitely weren’t talking about the dog anymore. “I thought that was the question you’re supposed to ask when someone you care about falls flat on their face,” she said.

“I didn’t fall flat on my face twenty times a day, Riley.”

Silence stretched between them for longer than was comfortable. Heat flared in her cheeks, but it wasn’t the heat of anger. It was the flush of heat that always turned her face beet-red whenever she was on the brink of ugly-crying. Her crossed arms became more of a self-soothing hug than the impenetrable barrier she’d intended them to be.

The heartache caused by the loss of their relationship drowned out every other feeling. All the fight drained out of her. “I’m sorry I didn’t know how to care about you the way you wanted me to when you lost your leg,” she whispered.

“Riley…”

She chanced looking him in the eyes again. He was just as miserable as she was. Her shoulders sagged. They’d both lost this round.

“I should go.” She turned away, heading back the way she’d come.

“Wait.”

She paused for a moment, waiting for him to say something. Anything. But no words came. She couldn’t fault him for it though. What else was there to say? After all their time apart, nothing had gotten any better. They’d just picked up right where they’d left off.

She faced him one last time. “I have to go air out my grandma’s house. It hasn’t been opened up since she—” Her chin quivered as her mouth tried to form the word died.

He reached out and hooked his fingers in the chain link separating them. “I’m sorry.” His voice was achingly gentle—the voice she knew from before that IED in Iraq had blown their lives to pieces. “I know how much she meant to you.”

For a moment, he looked at her the way he used to, with those eyes that could convince her that everything was going to be all right. Then he lowered his gaze and whatever was left of her spirits crumbled.

All Riley managed was a shrug and a small bob of her head before turning away. There was a time in the not-so-distant past when she wouldn’t have dreamed of facing Grandma’s empty house without him by her side. But her days of leaning on his strength were gone forever.

Just like Grandma.