Forget You (25 page)

* * * *

When Saturday night finally came, I couldn’t
have been happier for the night out we had all planned. Paige had
rented a limo for us so each of us could have a great time without
having to name one of us as the DD for the night. I would have
gladly accepted the role as the designated driver though. My rule
of thumb when it came to drinking was that you should never drink
when you’re down to get happy; you should only drink when you’re
happy to get happier. I was definitely more down than I was happy,
so alcohol would most likely not be my friend tonight.

Once we pulled up in front of the brick
building with crazy neon lights shining brightly out front, and I
saw the look on Blaire’s face, my mood lifted tenfold. Shocked
didn’t even begin to describe what was going on in her mind. Blaire
was more along the lines of astonished and eager mixed.

“Oh my God,” she breathed. “I’ve never been
to one of these before!”

“You’re not the only one,” Paige insisted
from beside her.

We hadn’t made it through the doors yet, and
Paige’s cheeks had already shifted through three shades of pink.
Tonight was going to be a blast.

“Let’s get this party started!” Lauren
shouted. She was out the door, and practically jogging to the front
door in her heels.

Out of the four of us, I figured she would be
the most excited. After all, she had been the one to suggest the
place. While I wasn’t squeamish when it came to talking about sex
and seeing people naked, I had to admit having some guy shake his
thing
in front of my face did seem slightly embarrassing. I
guess it was a good thing Paige had sprung for the limo because I
was sure I would need at least one drink before I felt comfortable
in there.

Climbing out, we headed through the cold,
where Lauren stood, drooling over the bouncer taking money and
checking IDs at the door. There was a small line of women in their
late thirties to early forties in front of us. Each of them dressed
to the nines in heels and tight-fitting cocktail dresses. I
wondered what the occasion was, or if this was their typical
Saturday night. Strip clubs that featured only women dancers had
regulars. Wasn’t it safe to think that the male strip clubs would
also have their regulars?

After flashing the bouncer our IDs and
paying, we were ushered down a red carpeted hallway that opened
into a large room with dim lights and music blaring. In the center
stood a stage. Some guy doing a dance number with a steel chair
dominated the center of it. He was wearing a backward baseball cap
and some sort of windbreaker pants. His moves were pretty cool—sexy
even—but it was his rock hard body that really gripped my
attention. Not only had it been weeks since I’d done anything with
a man, but a guy who knew how to dance was just plain sexy.

We made our way to a table near the center of
the room. It had a great view of the stage, which was all any of us
cared about. As soon as we sat, the guy on stage did a crazy move
on his head, and when he came back up to a standing position, he
tugged at his pants, ripping them off and dropping them to the
floor. Lauren shouted like crazy, and clapped her hands along with
every female in the building.

Licking my lips, I leaned my elbows on the
tabletop, and eyed the cause for this uproar. Oh yeah, the crazed
shouts and whistles were worthy. This guy was sexy as hell.

“Drinks! We need some drinks!” Lauren
shouted. The palm of her hand slapped against the table, shaking
me.

In seconds, a good-looking guy with black
slacks and a simple bowtie on was at our table flashing each of us
a charmingly sexy smile.

“Can I get you lovely ladies something to
drink?” he asked.

“You sure can.” Lauren beamed. “We’ll all
take lemon drops.”

Lemon drops were Blaire’s favorite, so we’d
all decided we would stick to those.

“I am so glad I don’t have one of those
stupid sashes with bachelorette or whatever on it,” Blaire shouted
over the thumping music.

“Oh, you mean one like this?” I smirked,
pulling a silver one out of my purse.

“No!” she shouted. “I’m not wearing that
thing! Put it up!” She jerked it from my hands and wadded it up
into a ball, before cramming it underneath her ass.

“Why not? You might get some free drinks, or
even a lap dance.” Lauren winked.

Blaire shook her head, and grinned. “I’m
already getting free drinks, aren’t I? And hell no, to letting some
random guy shake his wiener in my face, all up close and personal.
I get that crap enough from the old men at work, and I don’t have
to tip.”

I laughed. Blaire was a RN at the local
nursing home. Of course, she’d seen enough
wieners
in her
lifetime already from bathing old men back in her CAN days.

“Yeah, but I bet none of them look like
that
guy’s is sure to.” I nodded at the guy taking the
stage. He had a baby face with sandy blond hair, and he was built
like a freaking god.

“Nope,” Blaire agreed quickly.

We all fell silent as we waited to see what
baby face would do. The music changed to some techno beat, and he
broke out dance moves a background dancer to a music video would. I
was mesmerized by him, and I was positive every female inside this
building was also.

“Dear God, he looks like Channing Tatum from
Magic Mike
,” Paige insisted, her jaw nearly in her lap.

“He looks better than Channing Tatum,” Lauren
muttered. “Where do I get my own?”

We broke out into a fit of laughter, causing
the guy on stage to look our way. He danced in our direction, his
eyes shifting over each of our faces as a sexy-as-hell smile
twisted his lips.

“Put your sash on,” Lauren told Blaire.
“Maybe he’ll see it, and take you up on stage with him.”

“No, I’m not wearing it,” Blaire said. “He’s
good to look at from right here, but I’m not going up on that
stage.”

Our drinks came then, and I wondered how many
it would take before Blaire loosened up and put the damn sash on.
My guess was four, and then she would have no more issues with
being on stage. In fact, we probably wouldn’t be able to get her
off it.

SAWYER

After stepping back to allow the guy I’d been
training the past few weeks to perform an IED search on his own, I
stood alongside a brick building, keeping an eye out. Phillip, a
guy who was the biggest smart-ass I’d ever met—in fact we all
called him Lip for short because of it—stood with me.

“I’m so fucking ready to get out of here,”
Lip said. “I don’t know why this section is giving me the creeps.”
He shivered, and I chuckled.

There hadn’t been a section yet Lip didn’t
shiver at and claim it gave him the creeps. Even though he was a
smart-ass and could shit talk like no other, that didn’t mean he
was tough. In fact, I actually thought I’d heard him crying the
other night. I didn’t cry about being here, but I could relate to
his desire to go home.

Just a few more weeks, that’s what I kept
telling myself.

Something caught my attention from the corner
of my eye—movement. When I turned to check it out closer, I
realized there were two civilians walking from the alley beside the
building I was leaning against. It was a woman and her little boy.
She was holding his hand, and carrying a fabric tote bag in her
other.

“Shit,” I muttered.

“What? What’s wrong?” Lip asked. His voice
was in a near panic. The dude really wasn’t cut out for this type
of thing, but who was I to tell him that?

“Civilians.” I pointed.

“Oh fuck, has she got a bag in her hand?” Lip
demanded.

We both knew what that could mean. Inside the
bag could be a bomb waiting for someone to detonate. My heart
hammered against my rib cage.

“I guess I’d better go find out.” I started
down the steps of the brick building with my gun aimed and
ready.

I wasn’t sure what bothered me most, seeing
the look of fear flickering in the little boy’s eyes or having to
be the one putting it there. My mind snapped back to the little boy
in the car from the night of the wicked snowstorm, and I lowered my
gun a little. Holding up my other hand, praying she would take it
as an act of peace, I flashed the two a small smile. The others in
my unit had noticed them now. If they weren’t here with orders to
blow us all up as some sort of suicide mission, then I didn’t want
them here. They needed to leave. They needed to get as far away
from here as possible. It wasn’t safe.

“Can I see?” I motioned for her bag, hoping
she would understand and give it to me so I could look through
it.

Holding it up in front of her and pushing her
son behind her, she handed it to me. Glancing inside, all I saw
were books. I pulled them out, and shook the pages to make sure
they were exactly what they appeared to be. It wasn’t until I had
confirmed everything was okay that I relaxed.

“Thank you,” I said softly with a smile.
Putting my gun away, I spun the mother back into the direction she
had come. “Go back, please. Go back.”

“Everything all right, Keeton?” someone
yelled from behind me.

“Yeah, fine. Resume your search,” I called
over my shoulder. I nudged the mother, and ruffled the little boy’s
hair. “Please, go.”

The mother nodded as though she understood.
There was a look of relief passing over her face as she walked
away. I watched the two of them, until they had rounded the corner
in the alleyway and they were out of my view. I remained where I
stood, making that alley entrance my new post while the searches
continued. I was unsure why someone hadn’t been standing there
keeping watch to begin with. I attributed it to the length of time
we’d all been out in the field today, and the amount of ground we
had covered.

Exhaustion, that’s what it was.

Thank goodness, there were only a few weeks
left. I’d been keeping track of the days while I was here, counting
down until I could return home, while at the same time praying it
would be a long, long time before they decided to deploy me
again.

Three weeks. That was all the time left for
this mission. It didn’t sound like long, but I was sure it would
feel like forever.

Glancing back at my training partner, I
noticed he was standing at the front of the vehicle he’d been
searching, staring at me as though he was waiting for orders to
move to the next vehicle.

“Over there.” I nodded to the one farther
down, parked practically on the sidewalk. I watched him as he swept
over the vehicle the way I’d taught him. When he reached the right
front tire well, he jerked back. My jaw grew tense as I locked eyes
with him. He was scared shitless, and I knew instantly what he’d
found, but had to ask anyway. “What? Did you find something?”

No sooner had the words left my mouth than I
heard the explosion. Dust and debris blocked my vision. Shock
jolted through me, and my ears rang. All of these sensations took
place as I flew backward through the air into the alley, propelled
by the force of the blast.

It wasn’t until I hit the ground that
everything stopped, and the things surrounding me faded into
blackness.

EVA

“Here you guys go.” I set two plates of wings
and two beers down in front of the guys dressed in suits and ties,
wondering if their bosses knew they liked to drink during their
lunch break. Then I wondered if maybe one of them
was
the
boss. “Enjoy.”

Making my way toward the bar, I moved around
the other girls working, until I stood in front of the computer
register near the opposite end. As I tapped in the guys’ order, and
printed out their bill, Mindy came up behind me.

“Hey.” She smiled, and bumped me with her
elbow. “What are you doing tonight?”

My eyebrows drew together. “What are you
doing here? It’s your freaking day off.”

Why did people do that? When it’s your day
off from work, why the hell would you want to come in anyway and
hang out? I would rather sit at home, scrubbing my damn bathroom
floor with a toothbrush than come in on my day off.

Mindy shrugged. “I wanted to say hi. I
haven’t seen a whole lot of you lately.”

Pursing my lips together, I sighed. She was
right. Since the party at Wes’s months ago, we hadn’t hung out at
all except during work hours. I placed a hand on my hip, and locked
eyes with her.

“I know. I’ve just been busy. Between school,
work, and helping my friend out with the final touches of her
wedding, I haven’t had time for much more.” An idea came to me
then. I’d opted for the plus one on the RSVP to Blaire and Jason’s
wedding before I knew Sawyer was set to be deployed. Obviously, he
wasn’t going to be able to go with me, but that didn’t mean I
couldn’t take someone else in his place. “How do you feel about
weddings?”

“What, like planning them?” She scrunched her
nose, and shook her head. “No, I hate planning them. Maybe if it
was mine, I’d be okay with it, but not someone else’s. You always
get sucked into the whole vicious circle of unnecessary questions.
You know what I mean, like how they ask you which centerpiece you
like best and then they choose the opposite one to go with. Not my
cup of tea.” She went off on a tangent.

I laughed. “No, that’s not what I meant. How
do you feel about
going
to a wedding with me?”

She jerked back, and arched an eyebrow. “As
like your date?”

“Yeah, pretty much,” I said. “I already did
the whole plus one thing, because I thought Sawyer would go with
me, but then he was deployed. He won’t be back in time. The wedding
is this Saturday. Want to come with me and laugh at all the stupid
people dancing? Who knows, maybe there will be something hilarious
we can record and post on YouTube?”