What I Fight For: A Bad Boy Military Romance (Easy Team Book 1)

by Gemma Hart

  But as we got to the door, I saw Tweety suddenly appear in front of me, his face covered in road dirt and dust from crumbling buildings.

  “Take him!” I said. “He’s the last one!”

  Tweety nodded and instead of helping him walk, he bodily picked up the man and ran towards the city center.

  Everyone had gathered there. I realized Easy Team must’ve pushed everyone out to the square where they would be as far away from the buildings as possible.

  In the distance, I saw one crumbled building, already lying in a heap of rubble. I hoped to god no one had been caught inside.

  “Emilia!” I heard a voice shout from my left.

  I was about to turn towards the voice when there was a loud splitting sound as the ground shook hard beneath my feet. I cried out and covered my head as a huge corner of the front of the meeting hall fell in huge chunks before me.

  I felt a large piece of stone fall hard against my hand, sending a shock of sharp pain through my body. I squeezed my eyes shut as stones fell across me and dust clouded my lungs. I coughed. I heard shouting and screams in the distance as chaos broke out amongst the city people.

  At last, once the hard tremor had passed, I blinked and opened my eyes. I looked around me to see nearly the entire front of the meeting hall lying in crumbled chunks around me, creating a nearly six foot high wall that barricaded me in.

  I couldn’t see towards the square anymore. To get there, I’d have to climb over the rubble and run. Panic started to flood my veins. The reality of the situation started to dawn on me.

  These were just the tremors foreshadowing the big one.

  An earthquake was coming and I was trapped.

  And alone.

  My throat almost seized up from fright.

  Oh god.

  “Emilia!”

  I heard the voice again and I nearly cried in relief and gratitude in hearing that strong, capable voice.

  “Here!” I croaked, my throat sandy from the dust. “I’m here!”

  “Are you okay?” Cooper asked. I could hear him over the wall of rubble but I couldn’t see him. Considering how tall Cooper was, I realized just how effectively trapped I was. Panic began to rise again in my throat.

  I looked down. My right hand was bloody from the impact of a falling piece of debris but it didn’t feel broken.

  “I’m okay!” I shouted back. “What do I do?” I tried not to sound so terrified but I couldn’t help it. There was no way out. The meeting hall only had one door and I was now blocked in it.

  “Can you climb over?” Cooper asked, his voice strong and steady. It calmed me a little to hear him speak so evenly. “Can you find a steady place to try and climb over?”

  I looked around. Everything looked like a jagged, crumbly mess but I found one section that looked a little more stable. It had some bigger pieces of broken wall that looked less likely to disintegrate if I put my weight on it.

  “I can try!” I called back. I started climbing, putting my hands tentatively on the rubble, gripping where I could.

  “Wave your hand where you are, if you can!” Cooper said. “I can help pull you over!”

  Now a little higher up, I took firm hold of a broken bit of wall and stretched out my right arm as high as I could and waved it, hoping he could see me over the wall of rubble.

  “Got you!” I heard him say in satisfaction. His voice sounded nearer and I felt better just knowing he was that much closer.

  “Okay, climb over as quickly as you can and I’ll help you down!” Cooper ordered. It was imperative I climb as quickly as possible. The big one was coming. He and I both knew it. I only had a small timeframe to get myself over the wall and safely towards the city center.

  I reached for another bit of broken wall, pulling myself up the jagged rubble. I gritted my teeth as my feet felt around for stable footing so I could boost myself up higher.

  My left foot found a corner of a wooden beam and I pushed myself up.

  Then a horrid snap sounded and the beam broke, making me lose my balance and slide back down the rocky wall, cutting up my arms and legs in the process. I cried out as I fell.

  “Emilia! Em!” Cooper called out in worry. “What’s happened? Are you okay?”

  “Yes!” I cried out, tears gathering at my lashes as I felt so completely overwhelmed and panicked. I stood up again, refusing to cry and give in to the terror within me. I gripped against a broken corner again. “I fell!” I explained.

  “Emilia, try and—”

  But whatever Cooper was about to say was cut off. The ground started shaking. And it shook hard. And I could tell by the strength of it that this was not one of the foreshadowing tremors that was warning us of the big one.

  This was the big one.

  The wall of rubble in front of me started to buckle and sway from the power of the shaking. I stumbled myself, unable to stand upright. Fear swept over me.

  This is how I die.

  The realization hit me like ice cold water.

  I was going to die alone in the desert, trapped amongst rubble, buried underneath a building.

  Tears fell down my cheek without my noticing. I cried without sound or noise, just piercing fear as I realized my own death was right around the corner.

  I couldn’t see but I heard screams as buildings began to collapse under the strength of the shaking. The ground rumbled like a waking beast.

  And behind me, I heard the meeting hall moan as the remaining walls began to give way. I looked up above me. Nothing to cover me except the bright blue desert sky that seemed unaware of the chaos that blossomed beneath it.

  The building would collapse and I would be buried alive. Maybe I’d be killed instantly. Maybe not. But if I was buried alive, there’s no way they’d be able to recover me before I died.

  Where would they take my body, I wondered hazily as tears fell silently down my cheeks. The shaking grew stronger. I heard an odd sound of ground splitting apart.

  But before the meeting hall completely collapsed upon me, I saw felt the sky darken momentarily.

  I looked up just in time to see the unbelievable sight of Cooper flying up over the broken rubble wall. He threw himself on top of me, knocking the wind out of me as he pinned me to the ground. Immediately, he locked his arms around me and pressed his body over mine, completely covering me.

  I could hardly gather in a breath before a hard, terrifying quake finally took hold of the earth and shook it for all it was worth. I heard the foundation give way as the meeting hall finally succumbed to the earthquake, falling apart like a stack of wooden blocks.

  And all I saw or felt was the ground shake ferociously beneath me and Cooper’s broad body above me, shielding me, as the walls fell on top of him, plunging us into a dark and jagged world.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Emilia

  Everything was dark.

  I groaned as I shifted my body a little. But I was pinned down completely. For a terrible moment, I thought I was paralyzed. I imagined a huge piece of wall falling onto my legs, crushing them, pinning me forever under the pile of rubble.

  But then I felt a heavy weight slowly lift up from me.

  I winced as I opened my eyes, blinking to adjust to the dim light.

  Above me was Cooper, leaning over me on one arm. His face and hair was covered in dust but his eyes were dark and alert. A large hand gently touched my face as he carefully probed my head for injury.

  “I’m fine,” I whispered, quite out of breath for some reason. How could he check me for injuries first?

  His dark eyes searched me carefully before he nodded, his eyes slightly crinkling at the edges as he smiled faintly. “Yes, you are,” he said, a tone of relief laced through his voice.

  He had been the one throwing himself on me during an earthquake and he was worried if I was fine?

  The earthquake! Could the nightmare possibly be over?

  I quickly put my hands out by my side onto the ground as if to brace myself but t
he ground stayed still.

  “I think it’s passed,” Cooper said, noticing my movements. “There might be an aftershock or two but I think the big one has passed.”

  I realized I had been holding in my breath. Releasing it, I nodded. He was right. The ground was still and it felt as if the big quake had come and gone.

  But where had it left us? I finally gave a good look around our surroundings. Although it was dim, I could make out the situation and I realized we had been quite lucky.

  The walls that had collapsed on us had landed against the wall of rubble that had fallen during one of the smaller quakes. This prevented a lot of the chunks from falling directly on us and made a sort of small lean to. The space was large enough for Cooper to sit up in and even stand crouching.

  But regardless of how lucky we were to scrape by without any real physical damage, we were still trapped.

  I wasn’t sure how deep we were buried but judging by how little light was coming through, I could tell we were pretty deep down.

  Cooper sat up and helped me into a sitting position. I groaned, feeling the twinges of ache in my back and shoulders from being thrown down onto the ground.

  “Okay?” he asked.

  “Okay,” I nodded.

  Cooper looked around the space. He got up, stooped, and walked carefully over to one corner of our little space and placed a hand on a jagged piece of rock. He carefully pressed against it.

  Nothing shifted. Nothing gave.

  He looked over the rubble that caved around us. “Well, at least it looks like everything is wedged in good. Nothing should fall on us at least,” he said.

  “But doesn’t that also mean it’ll be harder for people to rescue us?” I asked. “Everything being so packed and buried?”

  Cooper nodded, still inspecting the rocks. “It does,” he said without too much rancor. He spoke as if this was just another daily problem he would have to work through before hitting the hay later tonight. But the tone did make me feel a little less frightened of our situation. Because of his calming presence, I worried less about dying of dehydration under a pile of rubble in a nowhere town out in the Middle East.

  As Cooper walked passed me, I noticed a dark splotch fall onto the dirt between his boots. I squinted at it and traced my eyes upward and noticed an equally dark but much larger splotch on the back of his left shoulder.

  “You’re hurt!” I cried out in surprise. Although why I was surprised was beyond me. The man had literally shielded me from a falling building. I had felt the impact on his body as pieces of rock and wall had fallen on him.

  Cooper glanced over his shoulder at me and threw me a quick smile. “Oh you mean my shoulder?” he said casually as he continued to inspect the space. “Don’t worry. It’s just a scrape.”

  “But it’s bleeding!” I said. “You should let me look at it.”

  Cooper gave one final look at the space and gave a resigned shake of his head. “We’re just going to have to wait,” he said. “I don’t want to shift things around and risk having everything fall on top of us. Especially since I don’t even know how deep we’re buried.”

  He sighed and then turned around, taking a seat next to me. “So we’ll just have to sit tight,” he said with a small smile.

  How could he smile in a situation like this? People died waiting to be excavated in situations like this!

  “But…But what if they don’t come?” I asked, trying to but failing to keep the wavering note of fear out of my voice. “Or at least, they don’t come in time?”

  Cooper looked at me and smiled reassuringly. He shook his head at me. “Easy Team will come,” he said confidently. “They’ll be here and they’ll be here before we die tragically in each other’s arms.”

  I snorted involuntarily and slapped him on the arm at his teasing.

  He made a cry and winced and I realized too late that I had slapped him on his left shoulder.

  “Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” I said. “Here, let me look at it.”

  Cooper managed a grimaced grin. What would you call that—a grimaced grin? A grinace? A grim? Oh my god, Em, get yourself together here!

  Fear and the passing rush of adrenaline was making me nearly delirious.

  He shook his head. “It’s fine, really. We can take care of it when we get out,” he said.

  I shook my head in response and began pulled at his shirt. “No, we can look at it now. If there’s something I can do, I should do it. I am a doctor,” I said.

  Cooper laughed as he gave in and unbuttoned his shirt. “How could I ever forget?” he teased. He took off his outer camo shirt, revealing a tan t-shirt underneath. The whole left shoulder was soaked in dark blood.

  He took off the shirt, revealing his bare torso. I kept my eyes professionally trained on his injury although I took quick notice of his chiseled arms and chest, looking just as strong and tempting as they had during their morning PTs.

  I cleared my throat.

  The gash wasn’t too bad. It was bleeding a lot but it wasn’t a deep wound. “It’ll need stitches,” I said. “But for now….”

  I was wearing a loose white blouse with a tighter white tank top underneath. The blouse was now a grimy beige color but the white tank top underneath was still relatively clean.

  I took Cooper’s shirt and ripped a section from the un-bloodied side. I folded it up into a thick pad and pressed it firmly against his wound. Then taking off my tank top, I ripped it in half and fashioned a bandage, wrapping it around his chest and tying it off right under his right arm.

  “There,” I said, tying the last knot. “That should do for now.”

  I left my hands on the knot ends, unwilling to let my touch end. I looked up and saw Cooper watching me, his eyes dark with a warm knowing, as if also didn’t want my touch to end.

  After surviving certain death but still without certain survival, my body felt lit up with pure adrenaline. Every pent up emotion within me, including the physical ones, suddenly all came bubbling up to the surface, making me itch for closeness and intimacy.

  “Thanks,” he said, his voice deep and rich.

  I felt my cheeks redden and quickly pulled my hands back. “Of course,” I said with false brightness. “Although it’ll all be for nothing if we don’t get rescued. And then my body will be found without my good tank top on as well.”

  Cooper snorted. “Oh the indignity of it,” he teased.

  And I nudged his side, grinning myself, despite it all.

  “Don’t worry,” he said but this time with a more serious tone of assurance. “Easy Team will be here. They’ll find us.”

  I stared up at him. We sat side by side, both now in a state of semi-undress. I just had my blouse loosely over me and Cooper sat shirtless.

  “You have a lot of faith in your men,” I said quietly.

  Cooper smiled faintly. “They’re not my men. We’re a team. And we rely on each other.” He looked down at me. “But yes, I do have a lot of faith in them.”

  A beat of silence fell between us, making the space feel more intimate and quiet than it already was.

  “I have faith in good people,” he continued suddenly. “And I know good people when I see them.”

  I could feel his gaze upon me and my face heated in the realization. “Are you saying I’m good people?”

  Cooper smiled without smiling. I could see it just in his eyes. “Sometimes you can only see the things you lack. A man who has no food appreciates best a full pantry.”

  My brows furrowed. “Are you saying that you have no good in you?” I asked, incredulously. “You have no good in you so therefore you can see it in others?”

  Cooper gave a tight shrug in response, wincing a little when he remembered his injured shoulder.

  “You can’t believe that!” I said. “You’re here on a peacekeeping mission. You’re literally keeping peace! How is that not good?”

  Cooper gave a rueful smile. “This time,” he corrected. “This time I’m here on a peac
ekeeping mission. But what about all the others? What about all the other times I walked away with blood on my hands?”

  I shook my head. “But it’s not like you’re a serial killer, murdering people left and right. The people who get caught in the line of fire are dangerous people. Evil people, even,” I said. He fought in the impossible situations. But he was on the side of right. The side of good. I saw it. I saw it as clear as day.

  Cooper gave me a sidelong glance. “And what about Sora?” he asked quietly.

  I froze at his question, remembering the camp and Sora. The desert flower who knew all too well her own fate.

  “What about her? She wasn’t evil. She was just a girl who was born in a bad place at a bad time,” he continued. “What about that village in El Salvador with Randall? They were poor people trapped by circumstance. They’re blood is on my hand just as much as every terrorist and drug kingpin.”

  I remembered Cooper’s words that day after leaving the camp and Sora.

  “Do you understand what I did? I chose to save thirty seven girls and a doctor today over the one girl I couldn’t.”

  And although it had been hard to accept that day, I realized now that he had been right. Randall would’ve killed everyone at the camp who had opposed him and then taken Sora anyway. He’d then find a bunch of new girls to kidnap and traffic and have that camp filled back up again in no time, the blood of the fallen girls already having been buried deep in the sand by then.

  No, he had made the impossible choice to help those he could, even if it meant sacrificing the few for the many. But that didn’t make him bad. Hardly. He faced tough decisions that most people would never even dream of coming across.

  I touched his arm gently.

  “You saved three dozen girls and me,” I said softly. I noticed him grimace at my words as if they scraped on a raw wound. Thinking him not believing me, I persisted, “And you think doctors are more noble than mercenaries?”

  That took Cooper by surprised. He looked down at me, raising a brow. “I was under the impression that your job involved saving lives,” he said.

  I snorted. “Have you ever met a Chief of Medicine? Have you ever met a hospital administrator? They’ll kiss the asses of patients rich enough to donate money into the hospital while poorer ones get lost in the shuffle. Medicine is not as black and white as you might think.”