Secrets in Battle: Secrets of Savannah Series Book 3 (6 page)

Chapter 9

Looking out the windows of the Humvee, I’m a little excited
and nervous. This is my first time out as team leader/truck commander. I just got my promotion to Sergeant and I’ve never been so pumped. I’m actually kind of young to have gotten promoted so soon, but it’s all part of my plan to go Special Forces. I can’t tell my guys, only my commander and first sergeant know I’ve already been doing a little work with them. I’ve picked up on the local language really well and they needed my help.

I hear the radio with our lieutenant talking
. “Johnson, turn that down. It’s distracting. Smith, keep looking at that ridge over there. Russell, you okay back there? Is Mack’s truck still okay behind us?”

I hear Russell’s deep voice
. “Roger, Sarge. They’re good.”

Russell
doesn’t ever say much but he’s going to be a good soldier. The squawking of the radio is still driving me crazy. This fucking butter bar lieutenant is going to drive me insane.

Johnson laughs
. “Sounds like the LT is giving out his fucking grocery list on there. I’m waiting for him to ask us to pick him up some ice cream, Midol and tampons.”

I chuckle
. “You know, those college boys are book smart but they lack a lot of common sense.”

I still hear the rambling of the radio from the lieutenant
. “Shit! I’m going to talk to First Sergeant when we get back. He’s gotta talk to the Commander, that fucking LT needs to learn how to talk on the radio and how to shut the hell up. This is fucked up. We couldn’t get through if we really needed to.”

Smith laughs
. “Thank God. I swear, I don’t understand a fucking thing he’s saying, so it’s not like it’s doing us any good. He sounds like Charlie Brown’s fucking teacher.”

Looking ahead
, I see some garbage on the side of the road. I motion to the pile for Johnson to see and avoid. He does a good job of steering around it without slowing down. You never know if it’s just a trash pile or an IED. Dead animals and trash are normally the places they hide them.

“Good job
, Johnson. So, I hear you are getting out after this tour. We hate to lose you, man.”  In our unit we try to do a lot of retention. It’s always good to keep a team that has trained together, together.

He shrugs slightly.
“Yeah, my wife is tired of living alone. She wants to have kids. She sees how crazy some of the moms are on post when they’re left for a year to raise a kid by themselves. She told me she’s not doing it. I have an uncle that runs a security firm in L.A. for some big name clients and he wants me to come work for him. It’ll be some great money.”

“Hey man
, I understand. Family is the most important thing.”

Smith leans up
. “So what about you, brand new Sergeant? What are your plans after this tour?”

I shake my head
. “I plan to retire with the military. That’s always been my plan. I’m looking into going SF after this though.”  Even though I know I already am, probably before the end of this tour.

Smith barks
. “Come on, Sarge, we know you gotta have a girl. We saw you talking smack to that singer chick from the USO group.”

I laugh
, thinking about Ivie. “She’s just a friend of the family.”

Smith damn near gets in the front seat with us
. “Damn, if she’s just a family friend, I want to meet her. I thought she was your girl, Sarge, so I was staying away. Shit, I’d have tried to hit that.”

I put my hand up
. “No way, man. That big ass guitar player is her guy. I know you could probably kick his ass, but you’d know he’d been there, trust me. He loves her enough to kill for her.”

Johnson laughs at Smith
. “So no girl for you, huh?”

I laugh
. “You two are as nosy as Nana Pearl. There is kind of a girl, but we are friends right now. That’s all I’m saying.”

Smith stops laughing
. “Wait, are you calling us old? Like an old lady old? That’s fucked up, Sarge.”

“Trust me, Nana may be old, but she’d still kick your ass, take your money at poker, ou
t smoke you and drink you under the table. She’s a badass old lady.”

I sit up in a jolt
and look at Annabelle curled on her side. It was a good memory, not my normal nightmare, but I still have to wipe sweat from my forehead. She rouses a little. “Hey, you okay?”

I sit there for a minute
. “Yeah, I think so. I just had a dream about my first mission as a team leader.”

She sits up
. “Was it bad?”

I pull her to my side and breathe a sigh of relief
. “No, it wasn’t. That day was a good day.”

She smiles
. “Well I’m glad you have some good memories, too.”

“Oh
, I have a lot of good memories. When you are in the military you are truly a band of brothers. As bad as some of the memories are, trust me, there are so many more good ones.”

We lie back on the bed
and she rubs my chest. “Tell me a good story. A funny story.”

I chuckle
. “Okay, let me think.”  I think for a minute. “Okay, we had this guy in our unit from Texas. He was a big son of a bitch. Most new guys that came to the unit were a little intimidated by him. I had known him since basic training, we’d bonded when we were assigned as battle buddies. His last name was McAllister but we called him Mack, like a Mack Truck. Anyway, one night I came in to our tent with some of the younger guys. Mack had gotten into some of the wine that Nana sent me and there he was, dancing around in nothing but a towel that was a little too small for him to some damn
Katy Perry
song. The guys and I gave him shit about that for weeks.” 

She laughs against my chest
. “Well yes, I imagine that was a sight to see.”

“So tell me something funny that happened here while I was gone.”

She puts her finger to her chin like she’s thinking. “Okay, let’s see. Oh, okay. This happened to me so you can’t laugh too hard.” I nod and she continues. “So I had to do a rotation at one of the bigger hospitals for school first. I was so nervous and well, really scared. Anyway, I’m bustling through all of the rooms doing what I’m supposed to be doing. The nurse in charge of us at this hospital was a real bitch, so when she came to get me to help her with a patient, I was terrified.”  She stops. “Is this boring you? I take a few minutes to tell a story.”

I laugh
. “No, keep going.”

She nods
. “Okay. Well anyway, we had this guy from the psych ward in. He thought he was a fire truck, he was running around the room with no clothes on, roaring like a siren. Anyway, we are trying to get him to calm down to keep him from hurting himself. Well, we have to try to wrap him up so the doctor can sedate him. When the nurse and I try to wrap him up, I get shoved into the corner of one of the cabinets. It catches the thin material of my scrubs and tears the seat of them, but I’m too busy wrangling this patient to worry. After we finally get him settled down, the nurse looks at me and says,
“Annabelle, honey, if you’re done showing your ass for the night, I’ve got some extra scrubs you can borrow.”
  I was so embarrassed. When my scrubs ripped, they ripped right across my ass cheek and since I was wearing a thong, my whole ass was practically showing.”

I’m laughing so hard by the time she finishes because I can just picture her cute little ass jiggling while she wrestles with a crazy guy.

She pops me on the arm. “Stop laughing at me, asshole.”

“I’m laughing with you
, really.”  I try to calm my laughter. “Okay, so did you get into trouble with the nurse lady?”

She smiles
. “No, actually she’s become a really great mentor, even with me moving to a different hospital. I still call her. She said she liked the fact that I was too busy trying to do my job to worry about my own embarrassment.”

I chuckle
. “Or BareAssment.”

She shoves me
. “Stop it, you jerk. Here I was trying to make a good impression and I literally made an ass out myself.”

“Hey
, I’m rather fond of your ass.”  I pull her to me, looking over at the clock and seeing it’s a little after three. “Let’s go back to sleep for a bit. Okay?”

She nods. “Sounds good.”  She mumbles into my chest.

I stroke her back up and down until I feel my eyes getting heavy again and doze off.

Chapter 10

Waking up curled into Judd’s chest reminds me of the weekend we met
. Before life had to go and complicate things.

It was nice sharing funny stories with him in the wee hours of the morning
. It makes me wonder if this is the kind of thing couples do.

I stroke his chest
, playing with the dog tags he still wears. I get a little startled when I see the sheet lift up below his waist.

His chuckle echoes through his chest
. “What? You can’t expect him not to respond when the most beautiful girl in the world is touching me.”

I let out a small giggle
. “Oh, really?”

He rolls me on to my back
. “Yes, and he also thinks you should be punished for giggling. It’s not good for his self-esteem.”

“He’s a person now?”

He grabs a condom from the nightstand. “He’s always been a person. You trying to say you don’t like him? Well, he and I both know that’s a lie. Hell, the people at that Days Inn in Richmond Hill know that’s a lie.”

I act like I’m blowing him off
. “Whatever, you were just trying to distract me so that your friend could seduce my friend.”

He rolls the condom on and thrusts into me
. “Oh yeah, well I was very willing to take one for the team that night. I’m so fucking glad I did.”

I look at him through hooded eyes
. “Oh, so you were taking one for the team, huh?”

He starts picking up pace and I start clawing at his back
. “Oh yeah, I’d say I went above and beyond that night.”

All I can do is nod and let out a moan
. “Judd.”

“Fuck
, Princess. I’ve missed your sweet pussy so much, it’s like my own personal glove.”

“Oh shit, oh shit.”  That’s all I can manage to say until he starts pounding harder
. “OH FUCK! I’M COMING!”  He slams into me twice more before blowing his load in the condom.

He collapses on me, still inside of me
. “Shit, Princess. I need to start working out in the morning like that more often.”

I laugh
. “Um, I can’t breathe, you’re squishing me.”

He rolls off of me
, pulling the condom off and throwing it in the trash can by the bed. “Sorry, Princess. I really could wake up with you like this every morning, you know?”

I curl back into his side
. “You seemed to sleep okay last night.”

He nods and strokes my back
. “Yeah. I have to say, though, I was really scared about you staying here.”

“Hey
, it all turned out okay.”

“Yeah, but I’d hate myself if I accidentally hurt you or something during one of my dreams.”

I grab his chin, turning him to face me. “Hey, what happens in your dreams?”  I shake my head. “Not your fault. Besides, last night you had a good dream. So your memories aren’t going to always be bad ones.”

He nods
. “I guess you’re right.”

I wink
. “I’m always right.”

He smacks me on the ass
. “Sassy in the morning. You hungry?”

As if on cue, my stomach growls
. “Yeah, I guess so.”

He jumps up from the bed
. “How about I cook something? Then we can laze around until you have to go home and get ready for your shift.”

I l
ook up at the naked, fine male specimen in front of me. “Only if you cook naked and I get to watch.”

He leans down to kiss me
. “That can be arranged, but what if grease pops me and I get burned?”

I flop back on the bed as if I’m exhausted
. “Well, I guess you have a point. You may wear boxer shorts, but no shirt. I like looking at your chest.”

“I’m not just a piece of meat
, you know. I have feelings, too.”

I laugh
. “You’re right, you feel pretty good to me most of the time.”

He spins around
, jumping on top of me in the bed. “I feel violated and used.”

I reach and grab his ass with both hands
. “Oh you know you like it.”  I wink and smack his ass.

~*~*~

Unfortunately, I have to break from my holiday bliss of lying in bed with Judd and go home.

I start working third shift tonight
. I have to be at work at ten, so I’m going home to wash my scrubs, study and catch a nap before work.

I dread going home
because I know I’m going to catch hell for leaving the club early.

Hopefully I can just sneak in the house without having to see them
. They’ll be in for the night by the time I leave for the hospital.

That hope is crushed when I pull my Camaro into the garage
. My father is getting into his Audi to leave for work.
Great!

“Annabelle.”

“Dad.”

“Well, your little scene at the club didn’t go unnoticed yesterday.”

“I suppose not. I left with my brothers.”

“Yes
. I know this. Your assignment was to stay and have dinner with Patrick.”

I scoff
. “My assignment. I thought it was a date that was set up unwillingly for me.”

“Look
, young lady. I know you, Vic and Chris have this rose colored view of the world. You think hopes and dreams make things happen for you, but they don’t. Money makes things happen for you. You children have never had to worry about that since I’ve made sure you’ve had everything you’ve ever wanted. Your older brothers realize this, you and the younger two boys are ungrateful little shits sometimes.”

My blood is about to boil over
. He’s right, we haven’t had to struggle, but I would have traded everything to be treated like a human being rather than a possession.

“I have to get ready for work.”

“Yes, because after the way you treated Patrick yesterday, I doubt he’ll have anything else to do with you. Hopefully you can find some schmuck doctor to fall for you.”  He sits in his car and slams the door.

I make my way into the house preparing to do battle with my mother now.

I don’t even make it through the kitchen before a wine glass is being hurled at my head. “Annabelle, you are such an ungrateful little bitch!”

Luckily
, I duck in time and it shatters on the wall. If this were the first time this had happened I might be upset, but I’m used to it. Hell, the fact that it’s ten in the morning and my mom seems already half lit doesn’t even faze me. I try to ignore her. I know this means she’s paying me back for how pissed my father was about yesterday.

“Are you just going to ignore me?”

I get to the bottom of the stairs. “I was really hoping to.”  I make my way up the stairs as she breaks shit and cusses me from downstairs.

After I reach my room
, I look around. This is my life. I really need to get my own place. How though? I don’t have any money of my own and I’ll be damned if I’ll ever use the trust account they have set up for me.

My school is paid for through scholarships
that I earned. That’s really the only thing though, my car and lifestyle belong to them. It’s the only thing I’ve ever known.

I need a job that pays money
, but with my hours for clinicals, it’s hard. I just don’t know if I can live here for another year.

Ugh!  Fuck My Life!