What I Fight For: A Bad Boy Military Romance (Easy Team Book 1) (2 page)

“Ten minutes,” she said firmly at me. “Just sit tight for ten minutes!”

I watched as Tammy eyed the burly old bartender nervously before stiffening up her back as she marched over to him. I watched her point towards me as she gave out stern orders. I nearly smiled watching the tiny pixie of a woman telling this balding, gruff old man what to do.

Reggie just scowled at her in response but she and I had both seen the stiff little nod he gave at the end. Satisfied, Tammy quickly left to fetch the car.

Alone, I sat staring at the empty table that had once been filled with my friends.

The bar tonight was relatively quiet. There were a few older bikers playing pool and betting while some other anonymous patrons sat at the bar, quietly falling into their drinks.

I tried not to let my head sway as I patiently waited for Tammy to return. But as my head spun in circles, I closed my eyes for just a second, promising myself not to fall asleep.

“Ma’am, I don’t think this is the place for a nap.”

I snapped my head up at the voice.

Standing in front of me was a giant of a man with dark hair and an amused expression. I squinted at him, my vision bleary from the tequila.

God, please tell me the alcohol is making him look like a male model,
I thought desperately. Because at this moment, the man that stood before me looked like he could give Michelangelo’s David a run for his money.

              Upon closer inspection, I could see the dark stubble lining his squared and rugged jaw. He wore a black shirt with a well worn leather jacket but despite all that, I could still see the broad chest and firm abs that the clothes hid.

              I craned my neck at him. God, he was nearly as tall as Reggie.

              “I wasn’t napping,” I said primly.

              A dark brow rose in amusement. “Oh really? Then why was your head bobbing up and down like that? Keeping time to the music?”

              I straightened myself up, wanting to look put together in front of this slightly annoying but incredibly hot stranger.

              “Excuse
me,
” I said. “I’m a
doctor.
”

              The stranger laughed. “Ohhh,” he said in mock understanding. “Well that changes everything.”

              Without invitation, he took a seat. I saw him look over my head and nod. So, he was friends with Reggie, was he? Well that still didn’t mean he could come up to me and try something.

              Gorgeous he definitely was. But stupid, I was not. Or at least, I was trying not to be. I had been drinking and I was alone in a bar. I was not going to fall for whatever this man was pulling.

              No matter how hot he was.

              The man took in the littered mess of the table. “Been having quite a night, haven’t you?” he said.

              I shrugged. “I’m an adult,” I said, raising my chin a little higher even though that made me dizzier. “I can drink if I feel like it.”

              The man pushed away some of the empty glasses and put down his own beer he was holding. “A person drinks this much, it usually means something really bad or something really good happened,” he said. His dark eyes quietly studied my face, which I tried to arrange into a neutral expression. His gaze softened a bit. “And I think I can guess which one it is.”

              I bit my lip, not wanting to cry. But his gentle voice had suddenly brought tears to my eyes, stinging and raw.

              “No,” I said, my voice tight. “It was something inevitable.”

Chapter
Two
Cooper

              She looked like a delicate sparrow.

              That was the image that immediately came to mind as soon as I had caught sight of her.

              It was a rare night off after a long mission and I had settled myself for a quiet night of slow boozing to unwind and readjust myself to a place with electricity and running water when I saw her walk in.

              It was her shimmering brown hair that had caught my attention. Falling about half way down her shoulders, it had looked like a soft caramel cloud around her delicately boned face.

              Her slim body was clad in shapeless scrubs. From the exhausted lines of her body and the capable strength her hands seemed to exude, clearly she worked long hours in a hospital. But she looked too damn young to be a doctor. And yet, there was an air of knowledge and authority about her that said she was clearly more than just some front desk receptionist at a clinic.

              So from afar, I had watched her get plied with drink upon drink from her friends, who were clearly making an effort to distract her from something.

              And although her friends thought they were doing a good job in keeping her mind off whatever it was that depressing her, I could see that in fact, it was the girl who was doing her best to make her friends think it was working.

              With every drink, she tried valiantly to smile and to laugh. She encouraged everyone else to relax with her and joked with them when they ordered fruity drinks. Like a little sparrow, she flitted between each friend in conversation, keeping up the song and dance of a night out.

But the tightness around her eyes never left. The pain was etched in deep.

              And I wanted to crack the neck of whoever had caused this beautiful sparrow like doctor this kind of pain.

              “You know, it’s dangerous to be drinking in a place like this,” I said in casual warning. But it was true. This could be a rough bar and I had been surprised to see a group of scrub clad, squeaky clean hospital folk come in and take a seat.

              The girl blew air through her lips, sending her hair flying off her forehead. I had to repress a smile at how fucking adorable it looked. After a month and a half of jungle dirt and gunpowder and blood, this woman looked like heaven on earth itself.

              “I’m a regular here,” she said with an attempt at coolness. She didn’t quite pull it off since she was swaying a little in her seat. I put a hand on the back of her chair in case I needed to grab her from falling.

              “Oh really?” I said, enjoying myself. “I didn’t know doctors frequented dive bars.”

              She shrugged and gave me something like a slow wink. “Figure we can meet our patients before they come find us.”

              I snorted. It was true. A lot of bar fights broke out at Reggie’s and I had no doubt that this doctor was familiar with quite a few of the faces around here from the ER.

              “Well, doctor or no, it’s not safe to be drinking here especially by yourself. Where’s that little friend that was with you?”

              The girl quickly whirled to look over her shoulder then lost her balance on her seat.

              “Whoa!” she cried out but I grabbed her arm and pulled her forward towards me.

              Then I grabbed the back of the chair and turned her and the chair in my direction, placing them between my knees.

              “Why don’t you stay here for safekeeping?” I said, making sure the table blocked her in on one side. My arm blocked the other. With her so close to me, I could smell a faint whiff of something floral from her hair. My body began to lightly hum in response to the heat of her body.

              But my brain was faster. No way in hell would I be trying anything with a woman who clearly couldn’t even remember her own name at the moment.

              No matter how fucking cute she was.

              “Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded, trying to wriggle out of her seat.

              I kept my arm where it was, blocking her exit. “I’m keeping you seated in an upright position so that you don’t fall on your face and end up with a concussion.”

              She looked up at me, light brown eyes fringed with dark lashes. They were eyes that could make a man’s heart stop. And at the moment they were giving me a look of profound haughtiness that made it impossible for me not to grin.

              “I’m a doctor,” she said with slow dignity. “I would know how to treat a concussion.”

              I raised a brow in amusement. “You would treat your own concussion?”

              She looked at me as if I was a slow child. “Duh,” she said professionally.

              I swallowed a laugh. “And how might you do that if you were out cold and concussed?”

              She opened her mouth to reply then shook her head. “It’s very medical and scientific,” she said with slurring authority. “You wouldn’t understand.”

              My ribs were starting to ache from how hard I was trying not to laugh when I saw her reach towards the table towards a half empty glass of beer. But before she could take a sip, I plucked it from her little hand.

              “How about we take a breather on the alcohol for now?” I said mildly, putting the glass at the far end of the table.

              She gave me a look of annoyance but before she could say anything, I asked again, “Where’s that friend of yours? She didn’t leave you, did she?”

              I looked at her worriedly. Her friends hadn’t seemed that thoughtless but the group
had
broken up quite suddenly.

              “She went to get the car,” she said. “On Carmichael!” she added brightly as if proud of herself for remembering that detail.

              Carmichael was a bit of a walk away. But I could see why they might’ve parked there and why her friend would’ve thought this girl safer in a bar than walking the open streets drunk and stumbling.

              I looked down just in time to see the girl reaching for my own drink. I snatched it away. “Hey! Respect a man’s liquor,” I said, taking a healthy gulp of it and then placing the glass far out of reach.

              The woman looked up at me with those eyes again and an exaggerated pout.              

              “Hey, this is
my
pity party,” she said. “I could drink whatever and however much I want.”

              “And what do you need pity for?” I asked teasingly, about to ask if it’s for how good looking she was.

              But before I could say anything more, I saw her face suddenly crumble as she looked down, away from me. “Because he didn’t choose me,” she whispered hoarsely.

              I looked down at her, her slim shoulders slumping forward. Her hair fell down the sides of her face like a shimmering satin curtain. I wanted to pull her head towards me and hold her. I didn’t know her name or who she was but I wanted to hold her close and let her know that whoever he was, he had made the biggest fucking mistake in his life.

              I tucked a finger under her chin and lifted her head up. She tried to resist. I could see the beginnings of tears clinging to her long lashes but I pulled her head up.

              I looked down into her eyes and smiled a little. “Hey, remember this,” I said. “Every time you see a stupid man—and trust me, whoever did this to you
is
a stupid man—it’s God’s way of showing you that evolution is real. Man had to come from apes and you just met one.”

              My chest eased a little as she choked on a laugh. She wiped a stray tear from her eye.

              “Next time though,” I said, running my thumb across the smooth line of her jaw, “hopefully you’ll meet a man instead.”

              She looked up at me, her eyes peering into my own heart. I could feel her pulse echo through my hand and into my body. Maybe it was the exhaustion of my last mission, maybe it was the little buzz from the alcohol, maybe it was just being back home, but
something
was in the air that made me feel like a magnet being drawn against another magnet as I held this woman in my arms.

              It was both irresistible and undeniable.

              But before either of us could say or do anything further, there was a loud crack from behind us as a pool cue was slapped onto the table.

“You cheating motherfucker!”

I jerked up and looked over the girl’s head, hearing the roaring curses flying behind us. I could feel the girl twisting under my arm to get a good glimpse of what was happening.

I had looked up just in time to catch one of the bikers throw a ham fisted punch at another man. “Who do you think you’re cheating here, you goddamn fucking prick!” he shouted.

The other man swung back. “I ain’t cheated you out of nothing! That was
my
win!”

Before anyone could make a move to defuse the situation, the other men around the pool table were shouting and throwing fists as well, creating a loud and raucous brawl.

I saw Reggie, 6’5 and over 300 pounds, nimbly rush out from the bar as he pulled men away. “What the fuck do you think you guys are doing? Break it up! Break it up!”

But his voice was drowned out by the half dozen men determined to break a few bones before the end of the night.

One of the men grabbed a chair in a stroke of inspiration and smashed it against another man. Immediately, I covered the girl with my body, protecting her as broken splinters flew in every direction.

I immediately pulled her out of her seat and threw her behind me as I walked backwards, pushing her into a far off corner.

“Stay there!” I shouted over my shoulder before I headed over to help Reggie stop the fight before the whole bar came down around our ears.

I grabbed a broken chair leg someone was yielding as a club and used the momentum of the man’s attack to push him off towards the wall. He stumbled and hit the ground with a thud.

Reggie wasn’t pulling back his punches as he knocked out every man in his way, determined to protect his land.

I was a little more discriminate in where I threw my attacks, making sure just to hit hard enough to wind them and to disable their attacks.

Within a few short minutes, the men were all down and gasping. I looked around to assess the damage when I heard a gruff wheezing voice cry out, “Fucker cut me! Fucking goddamn fucker! He cut me!”

I turned around and saw one of the instigators leaning against a wall. He was clad in leather with a long scraggly gray beard and he was huddled over his arm.

I could see blood pouring through his fingers. Someone must’ve pulled a knife out during the fight. Dirty fucking way to play but nothing you couldn’t expect in a place like this.

I was about to tell Reggie to throw me a bar towel when I felt a hand push me away.

“I’m a doctor!” I heard a voice that I knew should be several feet away in a safe corner say.

With irritation, I looked down to see the doctor kneeling down amidst the debris to tend to the wound.

“What did I say?” I lectured. “Didn’t I tell you to stay put?”

There was no way to know this fight was really over. They could rally. And who knew who had the knife? This woman couldn’t just stumble head first towards every emergency that came calling!

“Shut up,” she said, not looking up. She grabbed the injured arm. “Let go, sir. I need to see how deep the cut is.”

The man looked at the doctor hesitantly. Although she seemed more alert than she had a few minutes ago (a sudden bar fight could do that for a person), the bar fighter had clearly heard the little slur when she had said, ‘sir.’

But with no other options, he let go of his arm, revealing a deep and bloody gash that ran about six inches down his forearm.

The doctor shook her head. “That’ll definitely need stitches. You’ll need to get to the ER. But first, we’ll stop the bleeding.” She looked up at me. “Could you get me a—”

But before she could finish, Reggie popped out from around my shoulder and threw a ragged but clean looking bar towel at her.

The doctor grabbed it instinctively although her brows were raised in surprise. “Oh,” she said, clearly not having expected Reggie to be so on top of things. “Thanks.”

Reggie nodded in surly silence before heading back to his bar. This was obviously a man who had seen more than a handful of bloody wounds in his day.

The doctor wiped the worst of the blood off with the hem of her scrub. Then she tied the towel tightly around the arm, making a makeshift tourniquet. The man winced.

Tying off the towel, she propped up his arm on his knee. “Now keep it elevated,” she said. “And then once you feel you’re able to get up, go to the ER. You’ll need to get that disinfected and stitched.”

The bruised fighter said nothing in response, only glaring at the downed men around him. I gave his foot a good kick. The man yelped as he jerked his injured arm back towards his chest, cradling it.