by Lauren Wood
“I got into rock climbing years ago. I got this.”
I didn’t know what to say, but I was thankful that he was stepping up. Marshall yelled down to dad the game plan because he would want to know it and then he took off, leaving me and David to take care of the rest. David was about to go over the edge when I stopped him.
“What?”
Not saying anything, I just leaned forward and kissed him for a moment. My tongue slipped into his mouth and his arms crashed around me, pulled me closer to his tall form.
“It’s going to be fine.”
“I know, I just wanted to do that before you went.”
He smiled back at me and went over the edge, his legs and hands holding him up as he slid down to the wider part of the little crevasse stopping to swing over and grab a ledge. It was perilous, but I had to admit, David was making it look easy. He made everything look easy. I just wasn’t able to breathe again until his feet touched the ground.
“How is he?”
I could barely see down and it was frustrating. I could see dad’s legs sticking out from the large ledge that left them both mainly in hiding. I wanted to be down there myself, but the act of getting down there wasn’t something that I could handle all that easily. I was very happy and relieved that David had volunteered. Now I had to stay up top to help the people to find us. They would never see them down there the way the rocks were, not from above and most likely not from where I stood either. I knew they were down there and I still couldn’t see a thing.
David started to rattle off what he saw as far as injuries and my dad was in pretty bad shape. David said he was smiling, but I knew that was because of his super strength that I’d always seen as him being a super hero. There was just something about him that was admirable and now was the moment that it would shine.
While he sounded like he was in a lot of pain and I almost hoped that he passed out from it to spare him some, it didn’t sound like he had much life threatening that had to be fixed at the moment. I was trained in basic medical, but David wasn’t. Though he staunched some of the blood just like I would have and let me know what he was doing.
It was strange to be up here, not able to do much of anything, especially when I wanted to be down there. Dad was hurt, and I wanted to be the one to make sure that he was okay. When I was thinking about getting down the side of the cliff, I’d forgotten why it should have been me and I felt guilty about it. I had been too afraid.
David was amazing, and he kept me in the loop while I waited, so close to jumping out of my skin that it wasn’t funny. I knew that everything was going to be okay because of him and without David there, I don’t know what I would have done.
It was a moment like this that I understood two things very clearly. I knew that I was falling for David in a big way and that I didn’t want to go back. In the military I was forced to do things like this all the time and the push was always hard on me. I know that I was going to have to figure it out, but at the moment I knew that my fate was going to be here with David. At least I wanted it to be.
The sound of a chopper overhead pulled me from my musing and I told the guys that help was here. It wasn’t long before they were, and I watched two men that I cared deeply for come back over the side of a cliff. Dad shouldn’t have been alive, and David had really risked himself to help him. They were both my heroes today.
I rode with dad out of there and looked out the small window until Marshall and David were just small dots beneath me. I took dad’s hand and smiled at him. “It’s going to be okay.”
“I know. Your boyfriend really helped out and stepped up today. It makes me feel a little better about it.”
His answer surprised me, and I just shook my head at him. He must have thought that David was someone else or had himself confused. Dad had been pretty lucid the whole time and I hoped that the injury to his head hadn’t scrambled things in there.
“It’s going to be okay dad. Just lay back and relax. They are going to take good care of you.”
He agreed and closed his eyes. The old man that raised me was getting tired and I could finally see how old he’d really became. He was no longer invincible, and I didn’t know what to do with that.
I also didn’t know what to do with his boyfriend comment. David was not my boyfriend, but I really wanted him to be.
Chapter 19
David
I was back home, in my bed and I should have been happy for it. I was in a way. The bed was certainly softer than the ground that I was sleeping on the night before, but the bed was too big and lonely. I never really felt that way. Never had trouble sleeping, but it was a day of first for me apparently.
Marshall told me that he would call me when they had some news on his dad. He was going to need surgery and I knew that he was going to do great. The man was a rock and I’d gotten even more respect out of him after the scene today. It was inspiring the way he’d responded to adversity and I knew again that I wanted to be like him. It was hard not to look up to a man that would make jokes while part of his leg bone was sticking out of his shin.
I wish I could say that my mind was on him and what had happened, but that would have been a lie. I was thinking about his daughter. I hadn’t been able to talk to her much after they rescued her dad and she got in the chopper with him. I wanted to know how she was doing, but with no answer on her phone and no other way to get ahold of her without raising red flags, I knew that I was just going to have to see how it all worked out. The wait was killing me.
The phone rang around two in the morning and I must have been sleeping. It wasn’t very heavy though, so I got it on the second ring.
“Yeah?”
“Hey David. I just wanted to let you know that dad’s out of surgery and that he is doing well. They expect him to make a full recovery.”
I was trying to wake up and at the same time get over my disappointment of the fact that it wasn’t his sister on the phone instead of him.
“Man, that’s great news. I’m so glad to hear it. I knew he was going to be okay. He’s a strong man.”
“Thanks for your help today David. You don’t know what that means to me. You’ve always been one of the family.”
Those words meant a lot because for the longest time I didn’t have a real family, but I did have friends that were great as a stand in. Marshall had always been one of them and I should have known that after all this time, nothing was going to change that. Not money and not going another way and becoming a family man.
“Well if you have time before you go back, let me know.”
“I might stay and take a leave for a bit. Dad is going to need someone to help him with what he has going on and I have to help Aria get back home. She’s leaving the military and needs to move all of her things from base. Aria is a good driver, but those big trucks scare her. I don’t see her wanting to do that by herself, so I volunteered to help.”
“I can help her if you want. Take some load off of you, so that you can focus on your dad.”
“I thought you had to travel for work?”
“I do. Well I’m supposed to, but I am the boss after all.”
“I would appreciate it David, but I don’t want to put you out any more than you already are.”
“It’s not a big deal, really. I want to help. Your dad was always good to me.”
Marshall said that he appreciated the help and though I had an ulterior motive, I still did want to genuinely help. The family did mean a lot to me and I wanted to make sure that Aria came back safely. She was going to be home and then we would have all the time in the world to get to know each other and figure out where all of this was going to end up. It was perfect really. A sign that I was on the right path, whether I’d been down it before or not.
I got off the phone with him, getting her address and a few more details. It was going to be a bit of a road trip and Callie wasn’t going to be happy that I was flaking out again, but I called her next to get it out of the way.
“What’s up David? I haven’t heard from you in a while? Everyone is going crazy here. We really need you to come back in.”
I was afraid of that and I didn’t like how to upset she sounded. There was obviously something going on and if I asked about it, I was going to rope myself into the problem. I didn’t want to do that at this time.
“I have to go pick someone up in Indiana. I’m not going to be around for a couple more days. That’s what I was calling about. They had a family emergency and I need to help out.”
She was silent on the other end and I made it sound that way for a reason. I might have mentioned that the emergency was over pretty much and the girl I was picking up was seriously ‘the one’ but I left that all out for a reason. I wanted her to think that I had less of a choice than I did. She was mad because I had travelling to do to open up another market, but now all of that was going to have to be put on hold. While it had been my idea, I hadn’t seen Aria coming and I wasn’t ready for her. I was going to have to figure something out, some way, but for now, this was going to have to do. I told myself that I would find a way to make it up to her when I got back.
“Well you know that I’m not going to stop you from helping a friend. You do what you have to do. Just get back as soon as you can please. It’s hard doing this on my own and I’ve really gotten used to you being here to help me out.”
That was as close as Callie was going to get to saying that she needed me. She was a rare person with a strange way of looking at things. I was trying to figure out what else to say, but it was Callie that said she had to go. Maybe she didn’t want to hear me stutter through another lie. Yeah, I was going to have to make it up to her somehow.
With the line on the phone dead, I was left to contemplate what was to happen next. I knew that Callie was going to be okay. She had her husband to help and that wasn’t going to change. I wasn’t going to worry about the factory. Not yet. When I got back, it would still be there, as well as all of the little problems and growing pains from expansion as there was now. I should have worried more about it, but I was far more worried about what I was going to do when I got up north to see Aria. That’s what was on my mind at the moment.
***
The drive up gave me a lot of time to think about everything. I was trying my best to calm myself, but the anticipation just got higher the closer I got to my destination. I don’t know if her brother told her I was coming in his stead or not and I hoped he didn’t. I wanted to surprise her and see her face when that happened.
I was almost a day early. I’d drove all night and hadn’t stopped much at all besides getting some gas on the way. I was too excited to sleep and when I arrived it was dark out. I was supposed to be here in the morning, but I was anxious to see her. I hadn’t seen Aria in a week and I was craving her body like she was the very sustenance that I needed to go on.
My nerves were on high alert and it was strange to be in such a place. I had to have a tag on my shirt that said I was a civilian guest that was visiting. It was checked another three times before I found out where Aria was. She wasn’t hard to find and when I got to her place on the base, I noticed that there was another vehicle besides the red car she said she had. The truck made me notice because it looked like a man’s truck.
Now I was striding to the door a little faster. I couldn’t help it, thinking that she was there with someone else. Thoughts of Nick went through my head and that was all I could visualize in my mind. I knew that there was going to be some man there.
When I knocked, she opened the door and I pushed past her. I wanted to see for myself so that I would know I was right, though she hollered at me when I came in.
“David, hello? What are you doing?”
I didn’t know what to tell her because there was a part of me that had to know what was going on. I wasn’t proud of the surge of jealousy at even the idea of it all, but I knew that there was going to have to be something that made me feel this way.
“What are you doing?”
I stopped when I saw a man standing at the stairwell. He was looking at me in shock and I knew then that this was Nick. This was the man that shouldn’t be here, and he was the man that had a face I was going to smash. I started towards him and ignored the hollering coming in from behind me. I wasn’t going to take this lying down. I was going to fight for the woman I loved.
Loved. I fucking loved her and what a time to finally figure that out.
Chapter 20
Aria
“Stop David! Stop being an idiot! What the hell are you doing!”
The man wasn’t listening to me in the least bit. I could tell that he had pushed me out of his mind altogether and there was nothing that I could do about it. He was going towards Nick and Nick didn’t stand a chance. While my brother made fun of David because of his money and turning soft, that could be no further from the truth. David was strong, and he was about to make short work of the man that I was breaking up with.
Nick was just getting his things together, so that we could leave at the same time and get our deposit back. It wasn’t a pretty sight when I’d told him that I didn’t want to be with him anymore and I was leaving, but we’d came to a good place.
He looked at me for a moment before he was hit in the face by David. Nick fell back, and he was back up on his feet rather quickly. David of course was on him, but Nick had an advantage being higher up and he used it to lunge and drive him back, landing on top of him. It was a mess and I yelled several times for them to stop. They were acting like kids, but that didn’t seem to bother either one of them in the least bit. I was sure that something was going on, something that I didn’t know about.
“David! Nick! Stop!”
No one was listening to me and I wasn’t even going to try to pull them apart. They were doing their best to hurt each other and I didn’t want to be a part of it. I really didn’t. I was ready to walk away from it all and I would find my own way home. It was the best idea that I had anyways.
David was winning as I knew he would, but both were bleeding and it only ended when David threw Nick down and he finally didn’t bounce back up. I was silently trying to tell Nick to stay down because I didn’t want to see it go on. There was nothing worse than two people that I cared about fighting and I’d seen enough. I wanted to help them, make them feel better, but in the end all I was doing was making it worse.
“I’m leaving.”
David looked at me shocked.
“I’m here to pick you up. Your brother sent me.”
“This is what you were sent for?”
I was mad, and I gestured to Nick that was slumped on the ground. I tried to help him up, but he pulled his hand away and it was rather obvious that he was mad at me.
“Well not this, but you told me that you were going to break up with him and get rid of him. You’re still living with him…”
I stopped him because he didn’t even know what the hell he was talking about. Yes, I was still living with Nick, but that didn’t mean that we were still together. I didn’t like being told that I was a liar and it pissed me off more than it was supposed to. All I could think about was how wrong he was.
“I broke up with him. He’s moving out, as am I, thus why you are here. He didn’t deserve that David.”
He had the decency to look like he was guilty of his actions and that’s all I could say for him. I bet that he wasn’t that guilty feeling and would do it again if he heard wrong. I just knew it and I wasn’t going to argue with him.
“You’re taking his side?”
“I’m taking the side of common sense. You don’t have the right to act like this. I’m not with you, remember? You made it quite clear where we stood before at the creek.”
“You know that I was just saying that.”
“How am I supposed to know when you’re lying and when you’re not?”
He groaned out loud and I was feeling the same frustration my way. He was so upset, and he was still huffin
g and puffing, even though he really didn’t have a reason to be mad at me. I’d done nothing wrong.
“It’s not like that. You’re twisting my words up.”
I wasn’t in fact doing that at all. I couldn’t believe what David had done and I wanted to yell at him. This was on base and it was going to be a mess. It was just going to be that way. There would be an investigation because Nick would most likely want to press charges. I don’t think David knew what kind of trouble this could cause. I wanted him to apologize, but then when I suggested it, he asked me where my things were.
“Why?”
“Because I’m not listening to this and I’m certainly not going to say sorry to your boyfriend. I’m not worried about going to court over this.”
I sighed, and I should have known that it would be his answer. Of course, he wouldn’t be worried about it. He would be able to buy his way out of it. Now I was the one that was mad. I had the right to be mad, while he was just starting fights for no reason.
“My crap is in the bedroom. Get it so we can get out of here. I’ve never been so embarrassed in all of my life. And I really hadn’t. This was bullshit.
Chapter 21
David
Well that sure the hell didn’t go as I planned. I knew now that Nick was on his way out and Aria had gotten rid of him like she said she would, but I hadn’t listened. A rage had taken over me and I wasn’t able to deal with it. I should have been able to, but it was impossible as far as I was concerned. The more I tried to push the thoughts of her with Nick away, the harder it was. Whether he was leaving or not, I felt justified to hit him just because he was with Aria. I wanted to pluck out every man’s eyes that had seen her naked from her past. Every. Single. One.
