by Susan Stoker
“Yeah, I am. But it’s too nice of a day to get into it now. I’m sure if you get to know Emily, she’ll tell you the entire story.”
“Okay. And Rayne?”
“They have a story too.”
Harley laughed. “How did I guess?”
“Well, we have one too now.”
Harley was stunned into silence for a moment. “I guess we do.”
Coach smiled at her and shut off the engine with a press of a button. “Come on, let’s go meet the gang. Remember, whenever you’ve had enough, just say the word. We can always go back to your place and play Bejeweled.”
Harley had started to get nervous again, but at his words she smiled and relaxed. “What is it with you and that game?”
“I’m a pro. I have to beat you at something. I sure as hell will never come close with any of your games. Come on, let’s go.”
Harley jumped out of the SUV and met Coach at the front of the car.
“I was gonna come around,” he pouted.
Harley rolled her eyes. “Do I look like I need help getting out of a car?”
“No. But it’s the gentlemanly thing to do.”
“Coach, its fine. I appreciate the gesture, but I’m not exactly the kind of woman who needs to be treated as if she’s a delicate flower.”
“Believe me, I know firsthand that you’re entirely competent at everything you do. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t have handled that skydive the way you did. And you might not think you deserve it, but that’s all the more reason why I want to do it.”
Harley put her hand on his biceps. She felt them flex under her fingertips. His button-down shirt tightening around his arm with his movements. She wanted to wrap both hands around it, simply to measure how large he was, but refrained. “Thanks. But you’d make me feel even more awkward if you treated me as if I was a superstar or something.”
“Humph.”
It wasn’t exactly a word, or an agreement, but Harley let it slide for the moment.
Coach grabbed her hand and headed around the side of the house, obviously feeling right at home at his friend’s place. He turned the corner and waved at the group of people standing around.
Freezing for a moment at the number of people who were there, Harley took a deep breath. She could do this. She was an adult who could shoot the shit with Coach’s friends for a few hours. Even if it was outside her comfort zone.
“Coaaaaaaach,” Annie yelled out, obviously overjoyed to see him.
Coach dropped Harley’s hand and held out his arms, catching the little girl as she threw herself at him. “How you doing, pipsqueak?”
“I’m not a pipsqueak,” she protested, laughing when Coach tipped her backwards and held her upside down.
He brought her upright and sat her on his hip. “You remember Harley, right?”
Annie looked at Harley and smiled. “Yeah! She was covered in your blood!” She brought her hand up to poke Coach’s nose, but he caught it before she could touch him. “Your nose is a funny blue and green color. Are you okay now, Coach?”
“I’m great, Annie. I appreciate you asking. You save us any food?”
The little girl giggled. “Of course. Daddy made enough for an army!”
“Good thing there are lots of soldiers here to help him eat it all.”
“Yeah! And I’m a soldier too!” Annie squirmed until Coach let her down and she went running back to the group of people smiling and waiting patiently for Coach to get to them.
“She’s a little obsessed with the military,” Coach explained, holding out his hand to Harley again.
She grabbed on, telling herself she’d only hold it for a while, until she felt more comfortable, and smiled. “There are worse things to be obsessed with.”
“Exactly. Come on, let’s go meet everyone.”
Taking a deep breath, Harley let herself be led over to his friends. Coach didn’t waste any time.
“Everyone, this is Harley Kelso. She helped save my ugly hide when that damn bird took a detour into my face.”
The men and women all said hello, and Harley tried to relax. She’d never been comfortable meeting new people.
“This is Ghost. He’s the leader of us, I guess you’d say. Beside him is Rayne. You met them both in the hospital, I think.”
Harley nodded and held her hand out to the pair, shaking both their hands in greeting.
“You also met Emily and Fletch and their daughter, Annie.”
Harley grinned and waved at the gorgeous family. Seriously, they were like a Hallmark Channel movie come to life or something.
“Then there’s Hollywood, he’s the good-looking one. Then Beatle, Blade, and Truck.”
Each of the men came up to her and shook her hand.
“Thank you for keeping your cool while up there with our man,” Hollywood told her earnestly.
“Yeah, it would’ve been embarrassing for him to have landed on top of a cow or something,” Blade joked.
Harley smiled, feeling more comfortable. “Yeah well, I tried to hit the cow I saw in the field, but missed.”
The guys all laughed and Harley relaxed even more. She liked his friends so far. They didn’t mind joking around with her, and it was obvious they were all close.
“By the way, I like your shirt,” Beatle told her, gesturing to her chest.
“Thanks. I cracked up when I saw it online and knew I had to have it,” Harley explained.
“So you didn’t graduate from Harvard?” Rayne asked.
“Hardly.”
Everyone grinned.
“The only one I think missing is Mary,” Coach noted.
“Mary?”
“Mary is my best friend,” Rayne told her. “She had a doctor’s appointment today that she couldn’t miss.”
“On Sunday?” Harley asked. Then immediately decided that was rude. “Sorry, it’s none of my business.”
“No, it’s okay,” Rayne insisted. “Her doctor is up in Fort Worth and he knows she moved down here. He’s on call at the hospital today, so it worked out that she could go today and get it done.”
“And she wouldn’t let anyone go with her,” Truck grumbled.
“It was just a recheck,” Rayne told the giant man gently.
“Still. She shouldn’t have gone alone.”
“Try telling her that,” Rayne groused.
“I did,” Truck immediately responded.
Everyone laughed. Harley didn’t understand the undercurrents between Truck and Rayne’s friend, but it wasn’t any of her business.
“You hungry?” Fletch asked, grabbing a plate from the table. “There’s a ton of food. Annie already ate, but the rest of us were waiting for you guys.”
“Starved,” Coach told his friend. “Lead on.”
As the group started toward the table to fill their plates, Harley turned to Coach. “Thanks for bringing me. I like them.”
“They’re likable people.” He grabbed Harley’s hand and brought it up to his lips and kissed the back. “Come on, if we don’t get in there, the guys’ll eat it all.”
“It smells way too good for them to get it all,” Harley said with a smile, her stomach jumping at the feel of his lips on the back of her hand.
As she filled up her plate, Harley thought that she might, just might, have found a group of people she could be herself with. Everyone was dressed much as she was, and they were acting totally relaxed and casual around her. It was a good start.
13
“So how did you get your name?” Harley asked Coach. They’d just had a rip-roaring conversation about the other nicknames of the men in the group.
“Oh, it’s a good story, but the more important question is, what’s his first name,” Rayne said with a smile.
“Your name isn’t Beckett?” Harley asked, turning to Coach. She froze, however, at the look on his face. Whatever the story was behind his first name, it wasn’t a pleasant one for him. She regretted even asking.
“No. Becke
Harley put her hand over his on the arm of the chair, trying to tell him without words that it was okay if he didn’t talk about it. They were sitting next to each other, everyone in a circle having finished eating. Luckily, everyone did seem to eat as fast as she and Coach, except for Rayne and Emily, but Harley wasn’t surprised the women were much more ladylike.
Changing the subject from Coach’s first name, Harley tried to steer the conversation to his nickname. “So, Coach?”
He smiled at her in thanks at the diversion, and explained. “Yeah, so in basic training, there was this guy who was an absolute disaster in everything he did. He just couldn’t get the hang of anything. Making his bed, cleaning the latrine, PT, marching…you name it, he fucked it up. I got sick of our drill sergeant making us redo everything when he screwed up. You know, the whole teamwork thing. I started coaching him. Showing him how he was supposed to do everything. I wasn’t doing it for his sake; I didn’t give a shit about him. I did it for my own sanity. I was sick of being woken up at oh-three hundred and having to do suicides out in the yard.
“It took a week or so, but the drill sergeant finally figured out that Smith hadn’t all of a sudden learned how to be a soldier. He started calling me Coach, and it stuck.” He shrugged. “It could’ve been worse. At least my nickname’s not Hollywood.”
“Hey,” the man in question complained, and threw a balled-up napkin at Coach. “Not cool. It’s not my fault I’m the pretty one in the group.”
Everyone laughed and Harley was glad the tension had been broken. Although she was curious as to what Coach’s first name was, she didn’t want him to be uncomfortable or bring back bad memories. She was suddenly sure Coach had a really good reason not to want to use his first name.
“Are you planning on re-renting out the apartment, Fletch?” Truck asked.
He shook his head. “No. When it was just me, I didn’t mind having a stranger living there. But now that Emily and Annie are here too, I don’t want a random person living so close. Especially when we might be sent off on a moment’s notice.”
Truck nodded in agreement. “Don’t blame you. What are your plans for the place?”
“Not sure yet.”
“If you haven’t completely ruled out renting it, I might have someone who needs it,” Hollywood said. It was obvious he was trying to be nonchalant about it, but wasn’t quite pulling it off.
“Yeah?” Fletch asked.
Hollywood nodded.
Harley could see the nonverbal communication flying back and forth between Fletch and his friend. She didn’t exactly understand it, but they were obviously talking without saying a word. It was weird and cool at the same time.
“We’ll talk later,” Fletch finally said.
“Cool.”
“So, Coach tells us you design video games,” Beatle said during the lull in conversation.
“I do.”
“How’d you get into that?” Rayne asked, sipping a glass of iced tea.
Harley wasn’t entirely comfortable talking about herself, but she couldn’t exactly clam up when everyone had been so nice. She shrugged. “I’m not exactly sure. It just kinda happened. I played a lot of games when I was in high school, and got irritated at how unrealistic some of them were. I was bitching about it in my computer science class, and Mr. Wardham, my teacher, overheard me, and told me to do something about it. To design them myself. The idea had merit. I took some classes in college and found out I loved it. The rest is history.”
“That’s so cool,” Emily said a bit wistfully. “I’d love to do something other than work at the PX for the rest of my life.”
“Why don’t you?” The words came out before Harley could call them back, and she immediately felt bad when Fletch’s eyebrows drew down over his eyes. She tried to backpedal. “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded, I just—”
Emily cut her off. “No, you’re right. If I want to do something different, I should do it. It’s just that I was barely keeping my head above water, trying to keep me and Annie clothed and fed.” She gestured to her daughter, who was happily playing with some Army figures off to their left. “I couldn’t afford to go to school or anything. But, now that we have Fletch, I need to decide what it is I want to do with my life.”
“You don’t have to do anything, Em. I can take care of you both.”
Emily patted Fletch’s hand and smiled up at him. “I know, but I’d get bored. And besides, I’ve been taking care of myself for a long time, there’s no way I could sit around on my butt and let you ‘take care of me.’”
“You know, you’re really good at designing stuff. You’re always finding stuff in thrift stores and garage sales that you fix up and make pretty. I bet you could do something like that. Especially for some of the Army spouses on base. The housing is so plain.” Rayne had sat forward on her chair and leaned into the group, excited. “I saw that table that you refinished the other day. You know, the one that’s in the front hall? It’s beautiful! I couldn’t believe that you did it yourself. I couldn’t decoupage my way out of a paper bag!”
Everyone laughed.
“Well, if you need any help, I’ve learned a lot about financial aid forms, and applying to college. I’m happy to help you out, if you want,” Harley told Emily.
“Thanks. I appreciate it. I’ll think on it. You might just be the kick in the pants I need to get started on my degree,” Emily told the other woman.
Harley opened her mouth to respond when Truck’s cell phone rang. The theme to the TV show The Big Bang Theory blasting loud around the group. When everyone laughed, the large man merely smiled lopsidedly and brought the phone up to his ear.
“Truck.”
The smile immediately left his face, to be replaced by a hard, intense scowl.
“Where are you? No, stay put. Do. Not. Move. Woman. It’s not an imposition. I’ll be there in about thirty minutes. Go inside…shit…then stay in your car. Take a deep breath. That’s it. Another. I’m coming to you, everything’s gonna be fine. I’ll call you back in ten. Make sure you answer.” His voice dropped. “I know…me too. I’ll be there soon…I won’t. ‘Bye.”
Truck stood up and motioned to Hollywood with his head. The other man stood up and Harley saw them talking intently with each other before Truck abruptly turned and headed to the front of the house without a word to the rest of the group.
When Hollywood came back to the group, Ghost questioned, “Everything all right?”
Harley felt uncomfortable. It seemed as though something was wrong and she didn’t really know this group of friends well enough to be in the middle of it. Obviously sensing her unease, Coach took her hand in his and squeezed.
“Yeah.”
They all heard Truck’s vehicle headed down the road at a high rate of speed.
Hollywood continued, looking at Ghost. “It was Mary. She—”
“Mary?” Rayne exclaimed, standing up. She looked down at Ghost, panic in her gaze. “I should—”
“Truck’s on it, Rayne. Sit.” Ghost’s tone was firm, but loving. He drew Rayne down until she was sitting in his lap and motioned for Hollywood to continue.
“Truck didn’t say much. Just that Mary was on her way back from her appointment and needed some assistance. She didn’t want to bother you, Rayne, so she called Truck.”
“Oh. Okay, yeah. Her car has been having issues. Truck’ll take care of it for her. I’m sure it really galled her to have to call him.” Rayne half-laughed, not sounding as convincing as she probably thought she did.
Harley caught the glances between the men sitting around the table. It seemed to her that something was up, more than just Mary having car problems, but it wasn’t her place to pry. Maybe later when she knew everyone better.
“He will,” Ghost reassured his girlfriend easily. Changing the subject, and not being subtle about it, Ghost turned to Harley. “Thank you for saving Coach up there,” he gestured upwards with his eyes. “We’ve gotten pretty fond of the guy and it would’ve sucked to have found another intelligence expert if he’d bit it.”
Harley laughed weakly, not liking the fact that the other man was joking around about Coach being dead, but understanding it was a part of the male badass psyche. “I’m not sure I really did much, as I’ve already told him, but you’re welcome.”
“So what happened up there after he was hit?” Beatle asked, leaning his elbows on the table in front of him.
Harley stiffened. She hadn’t even really talked about everything with Coach, and wasn’t sure she wanted to discuss it with all of his friends. She still remembered the feeling of panic she’d felt when they’d been flipped on their backs as they fell. Her mouth watered as the food she had just eaten sat in a ball in her throat, ready to come back up.
Everyone was looking at her expectedly.
“Excuse me, I need to use the restroom.”
It was the only thing she could think to say to get herself out of the situation halfway politely. She stood, ignoring Beatle’s, “Oh shit, I didn’t mean to upset her,” and fled the patio, letting herself into the house. She had no idea which way the bathroom was, but it couldn’t be too hard to find.
After quickly wandering around, she found the small powder room off the front hall and shut herself in, sliding down the wall until she landed on her butt and resting her head on her knees. Her breaths came in quick pants, remembering the feeling of helplessness she’d felt as they’d been falling to the ground.
It wasn’t a minute later when Harley heard a soft knock on the door.
“Harley? It’s Coach. Can I come in?”
“I’ll be out in a m-minute,” she said back, not moving from her spot on the floor. She needed more than a minute to get herself put back together, especially if she was going to go back out and pretend that all was okay with Coach’s friends. More so if she was going to have to talk about what had happened.
Harley looked up in shock as the door opened and Coach stepped in, closing the door behind him, engaging the lock…which was something she should’ve done in the first place.
“What are—”
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