Nerdboobs (A Warrior and Nerd Journey Book 1)

by T. M. Grinsley

  But that day, fate had different plans. We were ambushed. We received word that the local cartel was selling stolen weapons, and we went to investigate. Whoever gave us that information was wrong, and we paid dearly. Fifteen men lost their lives that day. My best friend was blown to bits, and I was covered from head to toe with his parts. I lost my brother and fellow brothers in arms that day.”

  I came back to see the look on his wife and daughter’s faces, and it nearly destroyed me. I made a promise to them that I would bring him home safely. They call me every day to leave messages and send me letters, but I can’t find it in my heart to reply. I failed them. Everything that happened haunts me every night. The screaming, bombs going off, gunshots. You have no idea what kind of hell is over there until you have seen it yourself. I should have died that day, not him.”

  Mason slammed his fists into the ground until his knuckles started to bleed. Tears started to form but never fell.

  “I should have died that day! If it weren't for Thomas pushing me out of the way, I would have been blown to bits, not him! HE HAD A FAMILY, PEOPLE WHO LOVED HIM!”

  Pushing myself off the ground, I leaped into action. I grabbed his wrist, and I held on tight. I could feel the tears falling, but I refused to move. “He died saving you. He chose you, to look after his family now that he is gone. You are the Godfather to his daughter. He made sure one of you made it home that day.”

  “I’m nothing. They would be better without me.” Mason tried to wrench his wrists from my grasps, but I refused to let go.

  “I will never understand what happened over there. But I do know this; you have people here that love you. You just said they call you every day and send letters. They love you, Mason.”

  “They love who I used to be. Not the monster I am now.”

  Mason wrenched his wrists free and continued to pound the ground and not listen to a word I said. If I didn’t get him to stop soon, every bone in his hand will be broken. Crawling back through the tunnel, I went to talk to Ryan.

  Trying to avoid looking at the tunnel wall, I emerged on the other side. Ryan had his arms crossed and was waiting for me.

  “Don’t just stand there, spiders will attack me!”

  Not a single trace of a smile was on his face. Bending down, he helped me get out of the tunnel. Wrapping me in his massive arms, he kissed the side of my neck and didn’t let go.

  “Are you trying to give me a heart attack? He could have killed you,” Ryan said.

  “I was fine. My gut told me to go and talk to him. So I did. But I have a question.”

  Ryan released me from his embrace and waited.

  “Where does Thomas’ wife and daughter live?”

  “They live about an hour away. She got in contact with me a few months ago and asked how he was doing. I give her updates as much as I can. Why?”

  The wheels in my brain were starting to turn. Maybe, just maybe, seeing the people he loves might help him. Or maybe a little girl who loves her godfather.

  “Can you call them and have them here, ASAP?”

  “Sure, but why?”

  “Trust me. I have a plan.”

  ~*~

  Mason continued his tirade of slamming his fists into the ground or threatening to kill himself, when I came back into the room. I prayed to the fates that this plan worked or else I didn’t know what to do. But sometimes, when you are at your lowest, the only people who can bring you out of the darkness are yourself or your family.

  I calmed Mason down and asked him to tell me stories about his tours or Thomas. I let him do most of the talking and just listened. He seemed to calm down and gave his hands a break from their torture.

  “Brianna?” I heard someone whisper in the tunnel and I went to investigate. Mason was on the floor, lying on his back, talking about the first football game he went to with Thomas and wasn’t paying attention whether I was present or not.

  Crouching on the ground, I saw Ryan on all fours with a small little girl holding onto a pink pony. She had jet black hair that came to the middle of her back and hazel eyes. This must be the goddaughter Mason was talking about.

  “Where is Unky?” The little girl asked.

  Ryan put his finger to his lips to tell her she needed to be quiet. “It’s a surprise. You see that woman right there?”

  The little girl nodded her head and snuggled her pink pony to her chest. “Yes.”

  “That is my girlfriend, and she is going to take you to your Unky. Ok?”

  Before Ryan could finish, the little girl was already halfway through the tunnel. Crawling on all fours, she had her pink pony in her mouth and was determined to reach me. Reaching the end of the tunnel, I helped her out and dusted off her clothes. Making sure she was good to go, I placed my finger over my mouth and motioned for her to follow me. Please let this work. Please. I made a silent prayer to whoever was listening and went for it.

  “Mason? I have someone here who wants to see you.”

  Mason pushed off his elbows and gave me a skeptical look. The little girl was hiding behind my back and poked her head out when she heard Mason gasp.

  “Lilly?”

  “UNKY!” Lilly ran from behind me and leaped into his waiting arms. “I missed you, Unky. Why did you leave me?”

  Tears started to flow from Mason's eyes. “I didn’t know how to come home, pumpkin. Unky was lost.”

  Lilly pushed off his chest and pulled her pink pony in close. “I never leave without my pony. I always tell my friends that my Unky will come home. He gave me this pony as a promise he would never leave me.”

  Lilly kissed Mason on the cheek and proceeded to make horse noises and fly her stuffed pony around in the air. Leaving them to it, I went to the door and started removing nails to let everyone in.

  After removing what felt like the hundredth nail, the door was finally free and an older woman, with eyes similar to Lilly’s, but with brown hair, strolled into the room. She looked at the scene in front of her and gave Mason one of those ‘you are in big trouble, mister’ looks.

  “Lilly baby, can you go with Ryan and see if Unky’s dog is ok. I need to have a chat with him real quick.”

  “Ok!” Lilly hopped off Mason’s lap and ran towards Ryan. He gave me a shrug, like he had no idea what was going on and walked to the back room with Lilly. I went to leave the room, when the woman stopped me.

  “I need someone here to make sure I don’t kill this man.”

  “Um…”

  “Mason, how could you? I just lost my husband, and then I lost you because you wallowed in self-pity, locking yourself up in this Godforsaken hell hole. I had to get in touch with the local VA, and track down the Sheriff to find out where you were. Thank goodness some of your old platoon buddies are here. Lilly has been writing you letters and sending you pictures for months. She misses you. You broke her heart when you left. How could you do that to her? To me? You are family. Does that mean nothing to you?”

  Standing near the open doorway, I slowly inched myself out of the room to get away from what was about to happen. This was not a conversation I needed to be a part of. The woman turned to stop me, when I bolted out of the room. This was a conversation meant to be in private, and I did not want to be around to incur her wrath.

  CHAPTER 12

  Ryan was silent on the way back to the cabins. When Thomas’ wife and daughter arrived, the atmosphere seemed to change. Mason turned into a pile of goo with his goddaughter, but at the same time looked like a dog with his tail between his legs.

  Thomas’ wife, who I soon learned was named Andie, was a firecracker. She lit Mason up and shredded him to pieces. I felt bad for the guy, but in all honesty, I understood what he was going through. He saw his best friend die, and blamed himself. He didn’t know how to confront his demons, so he let himself go. Cut himself off from the world and withered away. I have a feeling things were going to be a lot different from here on out.

  But my biggest concern was Ryan. I tried to talk to him
and see what was wrong, but it was like talking to a wall. Mute, emotionless, and stone cold. I knew crawling through the small hole and praying to whatever god was listening that a nail wouldn’t impale me, would be a huge risk. But sometimes you have to take a risk in life. Granted this was one that involved my life, but everything turned out fine.

  Giving up on talking to the wall, Ryan took a turn and my cabin was in sight. It was about eleven o’clock at night and I knew the girls would be home by now. Taylor and Leigh Ann love being outdoors and being one with nature, but at the same time they can only handle so much. They were city girls, after all, and hated bugs.

  Making one last attempt, I turned to face Ryan. “Look, I know what I did was reckless and stupid. But it was worth the risk. Mason needed someone who could get through to him on a different level. He was on the brink of killing himself and I had to try something.”

  Silence.

  “Hello.”

  Nada. Stone cold Peterson.

  “God dammit, Ryan. Talk to me!”

  The sound of frogs croaking in the background filled the tense silence. Why was he being like this? We were having the time of our lives and then that call happened. If Ryan was not going to give me any answers. I knew Jason would.

  “Ryan?” I reached for his hand on the steering wheel, but before I was able to make contact, he pulled away. What the hell?

  “I think you should leave.” Ryan said, with a clipped tone. I knew what he was doing, he was shutting me out.

  “Ryan. Don’t do this.”

  “I said goodnight!” And that was the final straw. Tossing everything I was taught not to do with a soldier out the window, I hopped out of the car and slammed the door. Two could play at this game. He hadn’t changed. He was the same man I knew three years ago and I knew this was a mistake. I was getting too close and he was ready to run.

  Without a backwards glance, I stormed inside my cabin. A part of me wished he would follow, but when the roar of the engine and crunch of the gravel came from behind me, I knew he’d left.

  “Asshole!” Slamming the front door, I ran upstairs, ignoring the weird looks on Taylor and Leigh Ann’s faces.

  “Fuzzy?”

  Holding back tears that were threatening to fall, I ignored Taylor and bolted into my room. I knew opening my heart to him again would be the worst decision of my life. Take a chance, Taylor said; you have cobwebs and dust in your hoo-ha, Leigh Ann said. It’s time to loosen up and let yourself go, they said. Well, now look at me. I did what they told me and that asshole was shutting me out.

  You are overthinking, Brianna. Stop it.

  “Whatever.”

  Stop being over dramatic.

  “Ha! I am far from over dramatic.”

  “Seriously? You haven't seen the guy in three years and you expect puppy dogs, rainbows and people shitting sparkles. Get a grip and put on your big girl panties.”

  My inner vixen was right. My expectations got the best of me. Lawson and the guys told me I was the light in Ryan’s life and he was a better man because of it. Jason and Mike wanted me to stick around. Not to mention, I needed to have a word with Leigh Ann about what she did.

  “Knock, knock.”

  I turned to see my two best friends sticking their heads inside my room. “Is it safe? You’re not going to throw pillows at our heads, are you?”

  “Do we need to prepare for a feather war? Cause shit is about to get real. Me and feathers do not go together.” Taylor scrunched her nose and made her way to my bed.

  Trying to contain the laughter that was trying to escape my lips, I kept a straight face. I was mad and these two were trying to make me laugh. “Feather war?”

  “Oh come on, you have never heard of a pillow war?” Taylor looked like the world was ending and I just shattered hers. “Leigh Ann, we must correct this right away!”

  Thwack!

  “Pillow fight!” Leigh Ann was holding one of my decorative pillows and just whacked me in the head. She went to strike again, but I dodged her attempts and she hit Taylor smack dab in the face.

  “Oh, it’s on.”

  ~*~

  Feathers covered every surface in my room. It looked like a blizzard blew into my room and it was Christmas morning. But instead of snow, we had feathers.

  “Now that is what I call a pillow fight.” Taylor jumped onto the bed, causing feathers to fly in several different directions.

  My ribs had been hurting for the past ten minutes. Not to mention, my arms were killing me. Having a pillow fight when you are an adult is not the same as when I was a kid. We hit a lot harder than we used to and we get mean.

  “We are getting too old for this. I swear, Brianna left a few bruises.” Leigh Ann was sprawled out on the floor, staring up at the ceiling.

  I reached down to pluck a feather from her hair, when she smacked my hand away. Avoiding her attempts, I pulled a small feather out of her hair and noticed a small piece of hay.

  Recovering from our near death feather war experience, or whatever Taylor called it, I took a good look at them. They were covered in dirt and a few strands of straw looked to be stuck in their hair. Whatever happened at the ranch, it must have been a wild ride. No pun intended.

  “So, who went rolling in the hay bales? You both look like a couple of ranch hands.”

  Leigh Ann joined us on the bed and laid her head on the small of my back. “We kinda were. It was supposed to be a fun day at the ranch, but it turned into something completely different. We went on a three hour trail ride, I got bucked off my horse, fell onto a pile of shit, gave Matt a shit ton of smack for making fun of me, and then we ended our day in the barn, making whoopie.”

  “You had sex in the barn covered in horse shit?” I asked, a little shocked. This was a girl who would have a heart attack if her nail broke or dirt was on her clothes. Who the hell was this girl?

  “Bubbles, I think we need to go to the hospital. Leigh Ann has to be ill.”

  “Oh you don’t know the half of it. Taylor’s story is worse than mine.” Leigh Ann flipped onto her stomach and rested her forearms on the small of my back. “Go on, tell. And don’t you dare fart, Brianna, or I will gut you.”

  Clenching my butt cheeks, Leigh Ann gave me a nasty look and turned her attention towards Taylor.

  “Ugh, why? I would rather forget this day ever happened.”

  “Spill, Bubbles.”

  “Fine. We got to the ranch and met up with the guys. Mind you, this is supposed to be a relaxing trail ride, but it was never relaxing. Leigh Ann was bucked off her horse and the guys lost it. She was covered in horse poop, so being the vengeful person I am…”

  Oh hell. She did not do what I think she did. “You didn’t?”

  “Yep. She did.” Leigh Ann was ready to lose it and I had to know what happened.

  “Hate you, bitch.” Taylor grabbed a handful of feathers and tossed them at Leigh Ann.

  “Nope, you love me.”

  “That is debatable. Anyway, without thinking, I grab a handful of shit and toss it at John. It smacks him on the side of the face and war started. We ended up having a shit ball fight. The tour guide was mortified and the rest of the group didn’t know what to do. So Leigh Ann landed in shit, I threw shit, and we are both covered in shit.”

  Everyone in the room erupted in laughter. We all may have had a bad day, but when we look back at it, we were all a bunch of idiots.

  Then it dawned on me. They both had horse shit on them, sprawled out on my bed covered with feathers and hay. “You both are nasty.”

  “Took you this long to notice?” Leigh Ann teased.

  Pinching the brim of my nose, I pretended to make gagging noises to show them how bad they stunk. The problem was they smelled of dry grass and dirt. If they hadn’t told me about the fight, I never would have noticed.

  “Cut it out. It’s your turn, Fuzzy, spill. What happened with you and Mr. Long and Hard?”

  “Your turn.” Taylor smacked my ass and waited.
>
  I told them everything that happened since we left the house. Stopping at Rise and Grind Café, stopping at the VA and meeting the guys, kicking ass at Battlefield, Ryan’s phone call, and Mason. They were totally silent as I recapped the day and no one spoke when I was done.

  “So yeah. That was my day.” Resting my chin on my hand, I stared at the wall and waited for someone to speak.

  “There is a Café called Rise and Grind?”

  “You were attacked by spiders and lived to tell the tale?”

  They both asked a question at the same time.

  “Yes and yes.”

  “How is Mike? Is he ok?” Taylor went from playful laughter to dead serious, in a matter of seconds.

  Turning around to face them both, I just shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t know. Ryan refused to tell me anything and I haven’t called Jason. You both would love Mike. He is one hell of a cook and not bad looking either. I may not have known Jason and Mike long, but they reminded me a lot of Jack. I hope to bring him out here one day and show off everything Whitetail has to offer. He may not like the country, but he would love the scenery.”

  Whenever I was worried and had no idea what to do, I would babble. It was a safety mechanism I have had since I was a kid. Mike and Jason warmed their way into my heart and I hoped to get to know them more in the future. Right now, I wanted nothing more than to see how they were doing, but we just met and I didn’t want to push my luck.

  “Just text him. The worst that can happen is he won’t text back.” Taylor nudged my leg and tossed me my phone. “You know you want to.”

  Sticking my tongue out at Taylor, I sent Jason a quick text.

  Hey, it’s Brianna. Is Mike ok?

  I hit send and received a text back immediately.

  Brianna! Mike is stable and out of harm’s way.

  Thank God.

  That’s great, Jason. I’m so glad to hear that.

  Ryan refused to tell me what happened and I didn’t want to wait till morning.