by J. C. Allen
I watched closely his facial expression and tried to get a sense of what words were being said.
And then his face dropped.
“Bring ‘im here, critical?”
Oh no. Derek.
“OK, good, bring him to his place.”
He hung up, looked at me, and sighed.
“Ya need to listen very closely, Eve,” he said. “But ya need to let me finish before you react. Derek’s been shot and is unconscious.”
No! No! Derek!
I should’ve never let you go. Should’ve never… Derek… I’m sorry… I’m…
“But!”
I had to fight the tide of tears.
“One of our boys, Rucker, got ‘em taken care of. Passed out cuz of lost blood, but he got shot in the arm. He just gonna need some sugar, some sleep, and some squeezin’ of that arm to prevent blood loss and he’ll be fine.”
Fine.
He got shot!
“Ya don’t believe me,” Matty said.
“He got shot, Matty!” I said, not bothering to hide my tears. “I am gonna worry about this, because why wouldn’t I? My boyfriend’s shot!”
“Eve,” he said, more or less slamming the wine glass on the table to silence me. “I gave ya some nice love, but I’mma tell ya something a bit harsh. We all been shot at. Derek, myself, Rucker, anyone else in the team. Hell, ya know I went into a coma after a gunfire recently.”
“I know, but—”
“Gettin’ shot on the arm and passin’ out ain’t nothin’ but a rite o’ passage with us,” he said, even daring to laugh. Laugh! “I ain’t sayin’ it’s not serious, but—”
“Fine,” I said.
If Matty wasn’t going to appease my wailing—which, I slowly began to understand, may have been a good thing—then I was going to make sure Derek was taken care of.
“What do we need to do to make sure he can recover when he gets here?”
“Bed made, water n’ cookies for when he wakes up, and—”
He paused, went to the window, and cleared his throat.
“They’ll be up here in a min. Eve—”
But before he could finish, I headed to the bedroom as fast as my feet would take me, stripping the bed off of the sheets and placing some towels where Derek would lie, the better so that blood wouldn’t seep into our special sheets. I laid out about three before I hurried back into the kitchen, filling two glasses of water and finding the nearest dessert that I could.
“I’m goin’ down to meet ‘em!” Matty yelled. “Eve, let us get Derek to the bed. Don’t get in our way.”
“I know!” I shouted.
I wasn’t angry at Matty, but I was as determined as I’d ever felt. I was going to do anything it took to get my Derek back and safe. I was not going to be a whimpering mess.
If I wasn’t going to find peace and tranquility in acceptance, then I was going to find it in determined action, damnit.
I had everything laid out and then stood by the table, waiting. Waiting.
And waiting.
Only a dozen seconds had passed, but it was eleven seconds too long. I needed to see Derek and I needed to see him now. The longer I went without seeing him, the more I assumed some complication had taken place that would’ve necessitated Matty going to the hospital—without me.
What if he had played a trick on me? What if he was going to the hospital and had said these things to me so I’d get into the mindset of action and not panic?
Damnit, Matty, you better have not lied to me.
I looked at the half-drunk glass of wine and took it in one gulp. I then took Matty’s and finished it myself. Yeah, I was a little pissed. But I was pissed in the direction of action.
And then I heard the elevator rising from downstairs.
This was no time to be emotional or show frustration—this was time to do what was requested of me and the move out.
The doors opened, and I caught the tail end of some conversation.
“… should wake up by tomorrow morning.”
“Yer sure of that?” Matty said. “Yer gonna have to answer to Eve if he ain’t.”
“I’m sure of it,” a bald, stocky man who looked like he had wrestled grizzly bears in the past said as he came into view. “And I’ve been to the homes of parents who lost kids in war. I’ll be fine.”
I’m not sure if he saw me, but he didn’t acknowledge me—which was fine, because the only reason I saw him was because Derek was slumped over him.
Blood was… well, it had soaked through his jacket, but the puffed out appearance of it made me believe that someone had put a tourniquet on it, limiting the blood loss before it got severe. His eyes were closed, but really, other than his arm, he looked perfectly normal.
Matty and the man moved Derek into the bedroom, laying him out perfectly on the bed.
“Move,” I said, surprised at my own bossy nature.
They parted quickly, stepping to the side as I looked at Derek, resting peacefully. I held his hand, kissed his forehead, and looked up at the two.
“What’s your name?”
“Bones, ma’am,” the bald man said.
“Bones,” I said.
I was about a half second away from threatening him if he had misdiagnosed Derek’s condition. I didn’t want to think of how I would react if Derek didn’t actually wake up and if I ever saw him again.
But that was foolish. Bones had rescued Derek from being shot and brought him back here. I couldn’t even fathom how much danger he had gone through—certainly enough so that Derek had gotten wounded. To do anything other than to show my appreciation would have been maddening.
“Thank you,” I said, my voice softening. “I know he’s in good hands with you.”
“Just doing my job, ma’am.”
“Just call me Eve,” I said, almost embarrassed that a soldier was calling me, a former whore and current college dropout, ma’am.
“Yes, Eve,” Bones said.
I turned back to Derek.
“I’m going to spend the night with him,” I said. “If that’s OK?”
“Should be fine,” Matty said. “Might not wanta get too near that blood, but I ain’t think ya gonna do anythin’ stupid. Bones?”
“She’s good,” he said. “Let him sleep. But otherwise, you’re fine.”
“Thanks,” I said.
I didn’t need to tell the two to head out, because they did so immediately after. I silently thanked them once more, told myself to get a grip, and then turned to Derek.
His chest rose gently as his eyes remained close, certainly indicating that he had received proper medical treatment from Bones and whoever else was with him out there. That gave me an enormous sense of relief.
“Derek Knight,” I said. “Oh, the things you do to me.”
I was surprised that, even with how this night had turned out and for all that had happened in between him leaving and returning, I was able to laugh at myself. Perhaps this is what Matty had meant—I could only control being by Derek’s side, and now that he would be fine… well, it wasn’t exactly what he had meant, but his presence had ensured I wasn’t freaking out as I might have otherwise.
“Just do me a favor, babe,” I said, kissing him on the forehead. “Don’t go getting shot again. In fact…”
I wasn’t actually mad at Derek. No part of me would ever feel angry given that he had survived an attack and come home to me.
But there was a part of me that knew that being angry at him when he woke up would make him act even more carefully. He had taken steps in the right direction, but I wanted him to take even more. I wanted him to never, ever, ever put himself in even the smallest of chances of spots where he could get hurt.
“I’m gonna teach you some lessons tomorrow,” I said, patting his cheek gently. “I think it’s time you realize what I look like when I’m angry.”
9
Derek
I looked across the enemy from me.
Just one man stood
before me. The man who had killed everything I loved.
Falcon.
Frank Young.
The murderer of my father, my mother, my brother, my wife, and my unborn child.
And now here he was before me, in the same alleyway that I had killed Chuck.
And he was laughing at me.
“Derek Knight, you are so stupid and so foolish,” he said, taunting me. “Do you understand how easy it was to get you here?”
“Fuck you, Falcon!”
But the more I came after him, the more that I yelled at him, the more he seemed to relish in me.
“You like this place, don’t you?” he said with a wicked smile. “Yes, this is where you met the whore, Eve. Yes, you know she’s a whore. You used to have Anne, a lovely professional woman who made a lot of money. And now you’re dating a whore. How’s it feel, Derek Knight? How does it feel to have fallen?”
“I haven’t fallen, she’s a real woman!”
“That she is, and she has a real job. She sucks off real dick for real cash, which I get.”
I crossed my arms, refusing to believe this. I knew she had once, but no longer. And I’d seen this game before with Chuck. Falcon wasn’t going to get me with some bullshit about Eve going back to her “roots.” I wasn’t going to fall for that again.
“But let’s say it doesn’t matter,” Falcon said, taunting me still. “Let’s say your girl, my whore, is not really a whore. Or at least, you choose to believe she’s a whore. Do you think that will bring your parents back? Your brother? Do you think any of them are coming back? Do you think killing me will bring them back?”
“Falcon!” I roared, and I chased after him.
But something fucked up was happening. No matter how much I chased, no matter how fast I moved, no matter for how long I moved, I wasn’t getting any closer to him. He just laughed from afar, mocking me as an imbecile of sorts.
“This is your curse, Derek Knight,” he said. “You chase ghosts that will bring you no joy. You might feel happy for half a second after killing me. And then what? Your family is still dead! Never again! I crushed your father’s skull and I relished it. I loved it. Loved! I tasted his blood, Derek. It was the blood of a dead man!”
He laughed some more. I patted my hips for a gun, knife, anything that could cover the ground between us, but there was nothing.
“Derek… Derek…”
“You won’t… you won’t!”
“Derek…? Derek!”
Suddenly, I jolted awake as soft hands shook me. I bolted straight up, nearly colliding with something in the process.
And then I felt an enormous pain on my left arm, as if someone had stabbed me and twisted the knife a hundred and eighty degrees in there.
Damn!
Guess I’d have to sleep more later. Guess I’d have to kill Falcon another day.
I blinked a bit, glancing into the worried eyes of Eve.
Oh, shit, Eve!
How… how did I get here?
Immediately, I was awake and alert, though that did not translate in the slightest to being aware of how and why I was… in my own apartment?
I glanced around, looking around for any sign of danger, only to see Roost and Bones standing behind Eve. They looked a healthy mixture of relieved, amused, and aggravated.
Amused?
“What… what happened?” I asked, looking back at Eve.
“Your dumb ass got shot is what happened!” she said, shaking her head, her face still twisted with worry.
“More like ‘pansy-ass,’ if ya ask me,” Roost said.
Ahh, that’s why they’re amused.
Well, I guess they wouldn’t be amused if I was in critical danger, right? So I guess it’s kind of a good thing that everyone is mocking and teasing me right now?
“I did, didn’t I,” I said, wincing as a bolt of pain shot through my arm.
I glanced down, seeing a white bandage wrapped around my bicep.Thankfully, aside form a light red stain, it didn’t seem to be actively bleeding, though I suspected I would not have woken up in my own apartment if the wound was serious.
I tried to recall what happened. I remembered being blinded by the goggles. I remember seeing those two corpses of the Saviors. I remembered a gunfight breaking out… me shooting… and then, seeing Bones grab me… nothing after that.
“I passed out?” I asked Bones.
“It happens,” he said, almost pitying me in the process.
I sighed. I was reminded once again that without the three Marines by my side, I would have passed out permanently. I was reminded once again that though I had the name of Knight, I wasn’t a Marine.
And to do this all in front of Eve!
“Ya did lose quite a bit of blood, in yer defense,” Roost said. “Be a hard task for most men to stay awake, even for these boys.”
“Nice save,” I grumbled. “Then why’d I pass out?”
“‘Cuz ya worked yerself too much after gettin’ shot, ya dumb ass! That, of course, is why I sent the others with ya.”
“But… we were in a gunfight, and I couldn’t just… I couldn’t let them do everything, you know? I wanted to help, and—”
“You dumbass!” Eve said, narrowing her eyes at me. “That’s what having others there with you is for! For support!”
“Right, sorry,” I said, nodding in understanding.
There was something about Eve’s expression that I could not quite place—almost like she enjoyed yelling at me in some fashion. I swore more than once she had a grin flash on her face, but if she did, it happened so quickly that I couldn’t actually be sure she had done it. Not that it would have made a lot of sense, anyways.
What did make sense, however, was what she said. Eve was right, and I couldn’t deny it. The three soldiers would’ve easily taken the other man off; at worst, it would have taken them an extra dozen seconds to kill the man and leave me to rest.
Instead, I’d pushed myself too hard after being shot in an effort to having them not do all the work. It wasn’t a one-man job and they’d been there for that exact purpose. In some ways, I might have even hurt the mission by trying to push myself too far—I didn’t remember there being any leftover Black Falcons after our shootout, but if there were, they certainly weren’t being interrogated by the others.
Others…
“Where are AK and Rucker?” I asked.
“Home,” Bones said simply.
“Ahh,” I said, feeling relief but not a whole lot less guilt from before.
“Tonight, I’m sending more men with ya, including Bones and the other two,” Roost said. “And I’m comin’ along too.”
“Huh? What for?” I asked.
I noticed Eve shooting Roost a knowing look, but good luck to me ever trying to figure out what the hell that meant.
“Don’t you think three is enough?”
“If it were, don’tcha think yer sorry ass wouldn’t be restin’ in bed like this?”
Damnit, Roost. Stop making such sense and let me go.
“I can’t trust yer dumbass in not doing somethin’ stupid again,” he said, shaking his head—though, once more, I swore I saw him smiling. What the hell was so funny? “So I’m gonna go and make sure ya don’t.”
“We appreciate it, Roost,” Eve said, turning away from me, sliding out of the bed towards Roost and Bones. “Derek won’t do something stupid again, will he?”
She may have been speaking to Roost and Bones, but I was no fool. I was fully aware of her loud and clear not-so-subliminal message to me. Get shot again, and she might just shoot you herself.
“I’ll be good, Eve.”
“Uh huh,” she said, but this time, I definitely saw a smile as she quickly turned away from me and faced Bones and Roost. “Anyways, Bones, thanks for taking care of Derek. Sometimes he needs someone else to slap some sense into him.”
“Of course, ma’am,” he said with ease. “Make sure he takes it easy tonight. Roost and I will come get him later.”
“Come get me?” I asked.
What am I, a fifth grader whose school bus broke down?
“Yer damn right! Yer ridin’ with me tonight,” Roost said, offering a big grin. “See ya then, boss!”
“Hey! Wait!” I called after him, but all to no avail.
Roost, Bones, and Eve headed to the elevator. I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but I did hear them laughing loudly as the elevator doors opened. I swore I heard Eve say something to the effect of “well done, boys,” but I wanted to believe the blood loss was affecting my perception and judgment.
I mean, it’s not like they were pulling some prank here, right? That was an awfully bad time to pull a prank. No, there was no way… I was pretty sure.
A moment later, Eve had returned to the room and was sitting back in bed next to me. She looked at me with a grin on her face.
“OK, what is going on?” I said. “You’re smiling, laughing, and joking around while I got shot?”
“I know, it’s great, isn’t it,” Eve said.
It was incredibly difficult to tell if she was sarcastic or not.
“Good news for you, bucko. You’re not going to die. You’re not going to die! So we can have a little fun at your expense.”
“I see,” I said, but I had a feeling “a little fun at my expense” went a bit beyond what Eve had said so far. “I’m sorry, Eve. It was just…”
“Derek, you really can be an idiot sometimes, you know that,” she said. “I don’t care if it’s part of the mission. If you’re not going to do it for your horny, sex-crazed girlfriend, then do it for your loyal men. How about that?”
“OK, Sorry,” I said, glancing down, feeling ashamed.
“Be more careful, okay?” she said, moving her hand to my arm. “And you’re staying in today. Which means…”
Her hand then moved from my arm to my shoulder. She straddled me and moved her hips back and forth, letting out soft moans as she did so. Maybe that’s why she was smiling so much—she was so horny that she couldn’t contain herself except in those moments when her subconscious had to get release.
“Oh, baby,” I said.
“You like that?” Eve said as she reached down and grabbed my groin through my jeans.