I’d been on medication way too long and probably would be for the rest of my life, but after the last assignment of saving Dec and Mac, I wondered if the two small tablets were cutting it anymore. Seeing my best friend walk to his death cut me to the bone and shifted something further in my already messed up head. That’s why I only ever averaged about four hours’ sleep a night before I woke to a vision. One of the thousands my head had tried to process over the years.
Doctors had put me on the highest dose of anti-depressants possible, so with them becoming less effective, the only way to slake my thirst for the adrenalin kick of combat was to wait for the call to go on another mission. It was truly fucked up, because war had screwed me up in the first place and now I needed it to survive.
Downing the last of my black coffee, I spied my cell on the table where I’d haphazardly thrown it earlier. I searched for Dec’s number, knowing he’d be curled up next to Mac, asleep. His dreams had abated somewhat, although not altogether, but at least he had the comfort of a warm, female body to distract him. I had nothing. Not anymore. Another thing war had stolen from me.
My finger hovered over his number. Did I let my friend know just how much his rescue had tipped me into the dark zone, or did I continue to act like I had my shit together?
The silence had me overthinking things. I honed my hearing in to any sound which might allow me to focus on something other than my warped deliberations, but the house remained silent.
Standing and placing my cup in the sink, I nabbed my keys from the kitchen counter and stalked to the front door, stopping to throw on my Nike running shoes.
It didn’t matter that most people were tucked away in bed, fast asleep. It certainly didn’t matter about the pitch black of night. It provided me with a certain amount of comfort. Quiet. Solitude. I needed to run. Movement helped to silence my mind. To soothe the endless noise. Visions only reserved for enlisted men and women and retired veterans.
Under the canopy of a starlit canvas, I took off. Feeling the rough surface of the road, I kept close to the curb in case of any traffic, although at such an ungodly hour, it would be minimal. I let the street lamps guide me. Past silent, parked suburban cars and houses, focusing on each step, allowing it to ground me.
My disquiet ebbed back to a more manageable level as my lungs drank in the crisp air.
Unsure of how long I pushed on, not caring to look at my watch, I startled when a white Jeep Cherokee pulled up alongside me and the driver’s window slid down. I pivoted my head to face Mac’s annoying friend Char, who smiled at me as if she were merely pulling up for a middle of the night chat. She was in her scrubs, so it became obvious her shift at the hospital had ended. I was in no mood for idle chitchat. Especially with her. For some reason, she made my snarky side rise into being.
“Hey there! You always go running in the middle of the night?” she asked, keeping her vehicle in pace with me, glancing backward and forward to the road and then at me again.
I just wanted a peaceful jog. To rid the excess thoughts plaguing me. To exhaust myself so that I might actually get some sleep. Fate obviously had other ideas. I didn’t respond for a minute as I breathed heavily, attempting to not fire back at her like I wanted to. She didn’t appear fazed by my silence and the white vehicle kept pace.
Finally glancing at my watch, I answered while clenching my jaw to restrain myself from telling her to get lost. “It’s three thirty a.m. It’s far from the middle. It’s practically morning.” I don’t know what sparked the need to goad her, but for some reason, the fiery red hair and green eyes made me uncomfortable, and I had never figured out why.
I certainly didn’t feel like company. My therapeutic jog was being interrupted. Wishing she’d hit the gas and move along, I faced forward again and upped my pace slightly, feeling the lactic acid burn in my calf muscles.
“Do you need a ride somewhere?” Silly question.
Keeping my eyes on the approaching intersection, I huffed out, “Do I look like I’m in need of assistance to you?”
Would she take the hint? Doubtful.
With her SUV lolling beside me, I stopped. She braked, seeing me take pause, so I took two long strides to her open window and with a tone I hoped would scare her off, I barked out, “Do you need something? Cause if you just want a friendly chat, I suggest you catch up with Mac when she wakes up. I’m sure she has all the time you need.”
Her face betrayed her, showing a flash of annoyance. Good.
“Man, you truly don’t like people, do you? I’ve just finished work and saw you running at an ungodly hour, and wondered if you needed to be taken somewhere. I can see I shouldn’t have bothered.”
A few curls of her red hair hung loose around her face. If I wasn’t such an ass, I would have thought her attractive with her sensational green eyes.
Not knowing what to say, I changed the subject.
“I thought you’d switched to days, anyway?”
Still miffed, she gripped the wheel, no doubt wishing it were my head. “Not that it’s any of your business, but I pulled an extra shift for another nurse. And in response to your earlier, snarky comment, I wasn’t after some deep, meaningful chat. I’ll be sure to go to Mac for that. While I’m at it, I’ll tell her what a jerk you are.”
With that, she pressed on the gas and left me with exhaust fumes and an unusual grin on my face. Damn. The woman had balls. I’d give her that.
Chapter Two
Char
What an arrogant prick! So much for trying to be nice. The guy had given me grief ever since turning up at the hospital with Harley when Mac had been kidnapped. He hated me then and he hated me now. I don’t know what I’d done to flick his asshole switch, but it only appeared to be aimed at me. Screw him. Even if he was a hotter than hell dick, it would be in my best interests if I steered clear of him. Problem with that was, I had a misguided attraction to the wrong types of men. I saw them as a challenge. After all the no-hopers I’d dated since high school, you’d think I’d steer clear of that type, but I wanted what I wanted. Viper proved no different.
Stepping on the foot pedal after pulling a double shift, I just needed to get home and sleep. After changing to day shift with Mac, I hadn’t pulled a double in a while, and if I could prevent it, I wouldn’t be doing it again. My feet had gone numb and my leg muscles had tightened to the point of pain.
I loved my job, but it didn’t agree with me when I’d worked almost twenty-four hours straight.
After turning into my apartment complex and parking in my single car garage, I literally stumbled through the small kitchen and living areas, dumping my bag on the couch on my way down the hallway.
Thoughts flicked back to the douchebag I’d encountered not even ten minutes earlier. What was his problem with me? My looks were above average. I wasn’t short at five foot eight. My patients and colleagues all liked me. Sure, I spoke it as I saw it, but shit, even Mac’s boyfriend Dec liked me.
Pushing open my bedroom door, the darkened room soothed me. I did a quick strip and climbed into bed naked, too exhausted to find a tank and sleep shorts.
My last coherent thought before succumbing to oblivion was, You still want to play the angry soldier card with me, Viper? Game on!
***
Stirring reluctantly in my dark surroundings, it took a minute to get my bearings. My block out curtains made it hard to determine what time of the day it was. I’d been immersed in an idiotic dream about a tall, blond soldier with a buzz cut. In the world of make believe he’d been more humane and friendly toward me. In fact, way too friendly. My groin tingled as snippets of hot kisses and urgent touches broke through my haze. Pfft. As if. That was as likely to happen as a trip to Mars in my lifetime.
I needed to get those images out of my head right now.
A familiar ringtone sounded from the living area. My horse whinny that everyone hated, especially when I had it at full volume like I did now.
Rising soberly, not caring I had no
clothes on, I hurried down the hallway to retrieve it before it went to the message bank. Praying it wasn’t the hospital, relief had me sag into a chair after spying the caller.
“Hey, Mac. I thought you were working today.”
“Hello to you too! I’m at work. I’m on a break.”
Eying the time as three p.m. in the afternoon, I asked, “What’s up? How’s Mrs. Sullivan in room 190?”
“She’s had another turn. Tests came back as an aneurysm in the brain. We’ve admitted her for now under observation. Because of her age, surgical clipping may be too risky.”
“What size are we looking at?”
“It’s small and less than a quarter inch, so Doctor Atkins thinks observation is best at this time.”
“Okay, well, I’ll be back in the morning. How’s that hunk of a man of yours? Have his meds for PTSD fully kicked in yet?”
“He’s doing much better. Still having a few nightmares, but nothing like he was. His moods have stabilized.”
“Pfft. Can’t say the same for his jerk-wad of a friend.” I said it more to myself than to Mac, but it was out and I knew she wouldn’t let it go.
“Who? Viper? You’ve seen him?” We’d spoken previously about how striking I thought the guy was, but each time he opened his mouth, my opinion of him went down that little bit more. Since Mac’s rescue, I’d only run into him a couple of times and we’d barely said two words to each other, last night excluded.
“You could say that.” My pause on how to continue and whether I should paint the guy in a better light gave Mac the opening to speak.
“Well? Are you going to tell me? I have about two minutes of my break left.”
Deciding not to sugar-coat it, I held nothing back. “Your boyfriend’s military buddy is a shit-eating, good for nothing piece of dog crap with no personality whatsoever.”
Mac chuckled through the line.
“Oh, you think it’s funny, do you?”
“Yeah. I actually do.” She laughed harder.
Hearing a name paged through the line, Mac suddenly added, “That’s me. I gotta run. I’ll call by after work.” She ended the call. She freaking ended the call before I could give her a snarky comment about her finding my opinion of Viper funny.
Throwing my head back into the chair, I balked. “Everyone seems to think the sun shines out of Mr. Military’s butt. Pfft. They need their heads read.”
***
Two and a half hours later I listened to Mac’s beefy Mustang pull into the visitors’ parking bay two apartments down. There was no other car in our complex that sounded quite like hers. For a pretty blonde nurse, the car was the exact opposite of her. Masculine. Fast. Powerful. Yet I couldn’t imagine her driving anything else. The girl had spunk, like her car, and they kind of fit together nicely.
I personally preferred my SUV with all its space. Plus, God forbid I ever got into an accident, I liked the idea of having something substantial around me. Being on my own, if I wanted to pack up and head away for a couple of days, I could do so comfortably.
A soft knock sounded on my front door. I jumped off the sofa where I’d been a vegetable for the latter part of the afternoon and threw open the door.
Mac beamed as she pushed past me with a large coffee in each hand.
“Got your favorite. Double shot, skinny cappuccino.”
I could have kissed her. She knew when I needed caffeine, and with my epic shift at work and then running into hot shit for brains, my energy was at an all-time low.
Shutting the door and taking the coffee she held out, I swigged it before answering. Feeling the burn but not caring, I smiled at my savior. “You’re truly a lifesaver. I need two or three of these babies after the last twenty-four hours.”
“Come. Sit. Tell me all about it.” Her eyes gleamed as she beat me to the sofa.
“Well, you know about Mrs. Sullivan…”
“You know that’s not what I meant. Viper! Tell me why Viper has you so riled up?”
The sly smile on her face only grew wider. For some reason, Mac was enjoying the fact that a guy had me knotted up.
“You mean you haven’t noticed how he treats me like garbage?” She’d have to be blind not to have seen or heard his responses to me.
“Yeah, but it’s never bothered you this much. From your insanely colorful depiction on the phone earlier, something epic must have happened. Spill!”
Retelling the events of my trip home, I made sure she knew just how cool Viper’s behavior toward me had been. I wasn’t one to sugarcoat things. Especially with my best friend. She could do what she wanted with my brutal honesty.
Mac let me rant and get it all off my chest without interrupting, which I was grateful for because once I got started, I let loose.
“So you see why I’m so annoyed?” I puffed the words out, exhausted.
She wore a frown and her eyes showed a small glimmer of confusion. “I do know he was burned by a woman a while ago. The house he lives in was meant to be their home. She left. I guess it’s not easy being the partner of a military soldier who’s away on missions so much. They come back from war…different.”
Watching Mac look to the ground while fiddling with the sofa cushion, I asked, “You worried Dec is going to go on another assignment? That he may not…you know…return?”
Her eyes lifted to mine and in them, I saw the truth.
“Yeah. If he decided to go, I don’t think I’d sleep a wink until he came home. He’s cheated death way too many times. Eventually, his luck has to run out.”
I’d been so happy to see her with a guy who treated her like a queen, I hadn’t considered her insecurities. After her ex, Nick, who had been almost non-existent in the relationship, Mac deserved someone who put her first. Still, I’d hate to see her hurt again and have to pick up the pieces.
“Maybe he’ll decide not to go if it comes down to it. He has you now. Perhaps that’s enough. Perhaps you’re enough. He’d need a full medical anyway, and given his recent mental meltdown, my guess is they’d deem him unfit.”
She smiled with only mild enthusiasm. “Maybe. Anyway, enough of the dreary talk. You up for going out for a bit tonight, or are you still recovering from the double you pulled?”
Ugh. The thought of getting dressed up and leaving the comfort of my apartment was none too thrilling, but when had I last gone out and enjoyed myself? And with Mac?
Deciding to ignore my bone-weary fatigue, I asked, “You driving?”
“Sure.”
Checking the time, it was fife fifty p.m. I hadn’t eaten dinner. I truly just wanted a hot shower and then bed, but Mac very rarely offered, so I put my own needs aside.
“I’ll go for a couple of hours. And not somewhere flashy. Oh, and I’ll need an hour or so to get ready.”
Mac’s cheeks pulled up into a generous smile. “Great! I’ll be back at seven.” Her gaze drew downwards and then back up as if she were assessing me. “Eat something too. You’re pale and drawn in the face.”
I wanted to scream at her that it probably had something to do with the fact that in the last day I’d had about ten coffees and a soggy veggie sandwich because I’d been run off my feet, but I let my bitchiness recede so that should I need to use it on Viper at a later date, it would be at full capacity.
After Mac left, I cursed the fact that I’d agreed to go out so easily. My feet still ached. My whole body sagged with exhaustion. But my friend had been through a major ordeal when she’d been kidnapped and thought she would die. Then she’d had to deal with Dec’s full memory return and the PTSD which had come with it.
No. I’d grab some food, an energy drink, and a scalding shower, and I’d be good to go.
Chapter Three
Viper
“She said what?” I laughed as Dec vividly described what Char had called me. It should have angered me, but for some strange reason, it didn’t. If anything, I found it amusing.
“You really pissed her off, man.”
I heard him let out a loud breath into the phone. “Why are you such a dick to her, anyway? You like her or something?”
“Fuck that shit! You know me better than that after Sandy took off. I’m not looking for another needy female who can’t handle my job. Besides, she’s not my type.”
“Oh, please! She’s exactly your type. She gives as good as she gets. You should cut her some slack and be nice. She’s Mac’s best friend, so you’ll be seeing a lot more of her.”
I tried not to focus on that. The woman would have my balls if and when I saw her again. That much I was sure of.
“So, you want to go out for a bit tonight?”
Repeating his question, I asked, “You want to go out? Tonight?” Normally it was me asking Dec, not the other way around. He rarely instigated going to clubs unless it was work related.
“Sure. Mac and Char are going into town for a bit, and while she didn’t ask me to go directly, I thought I’d hang in the background. Make sure she’s okay.”
“In other words, you want to spy on her. Come on, man, that’s low, even for you. Don’t you trust her?”
“I trust Mac. It’s other assholes I don’t trust. She does happen to be one of the hottest women in Ann Arbor.”
The Lost and Found Series Page 35