Protect Her (Aussie Military Romance Book 2)

by Kenna Shaw Reed

  Over the shoulder of one of his would-be dates, he watched a large, heavily bearded, slovenly dressed guy bail up a petite young woman at the bar. Darby watched as she tried to edge around the guy until he pinned her to the bar. In a crowded place, the bouncer was no where to be seen and the barman was looking helpless. Darby caught his eye and gave a quick nod.

  “Excuse me, ladies, I’ll be right back,” he didn’t wait for a reply, already he could see the situation getting out of control with some of the guy’s mates starting to join in to harass the woman who’d been having a hard enough time trying to get away from one scum bag. Just as he pushed his way to the bar, he saw a hand go up her skirt. Gutsy thing threw her drink at the offender’s face only to have him grab and twist her wrist until she cried out in pain.

  “You don’t want to do that,” Darby stated firmly but only loud enough for the bearded slob to hear. When he didn’t let go of the girl, Darby grabbed the guy’s wrist, applying a gentle pressure to the spot he knew would release the grip and free the girl’s arm. One ass-hole down, but one of the sleazy friends now held her from behind and was making threats about what he’d do to her once they got rid of Darby.

  “The lady doesn’t want to play with you fine gentlemen tonight, how about you let her go and everyone can get back to having some fun.”

  He had tried to be polite, even waited for three punches to land against his chest before he reacted. Punches, well the guy’s fist touched him, but he’d had harder sparring with new recruits!

  Within seconds, two scum bags were on the ground, ready for the first bouncer to arrive in time to claim the glory. The third scum threw idle threats at the girl before being escorted from the premises by a second bouncer. Luckily, the barman vouched for what had happened and when the girl didn’t want to press charges, no one needed to call the police.

  The whole incident lasted no more than ten minutes, but still enough time for him to get his unit medic to check the girl’s wrist, make sure she was okay and put her in a cab to go home.

  “Hero Rip strikes again,” Doug had a fresh beer waiting for him when he got back to the table.

  “Fat good it did me,” Darby nodded to the women who had already moved on to less complicated single men. “Anyway, stop with the ‘hero’ shit, we were all doing our jobs.”

  “Well, if it wasn’t for you saving my ass back there, I wouldn’t be back in the country and able to buy the guys a round of drinks.”

  With all obviously single women now paired up or gone, Darby wandered over to take his turn at the pool table.

  “What’s the first thing you’re gonna do when you get home?” Doug asked as Darby broke.

  “Do you even need to ask?” Darby waited for the local civilian to have his go. Two balls sunk, crap, the young kid was good. Darby was able to pot one before setting another one of his balls on the edge of the pocket.

  “Beer, beach and babes?” Doug laughed.

  The last six months had been more intense than usual, culminating in a tour that had more “interesting” moments than they needed. Living on adrenalin was fine for a while, but he knew he and his men were overdue for a break to rest, recharge and whatever else they wanted to do. “Maybe, as long as I get to kill all alarm clocks and sleep in, what about you?”

  Doug’s dark eyes shone as he thumped his heart before showing off his phone screen saver of a new born baby in the tiny camo singlet the guys had chipped in for. “Hold my new son, kiss my wife, take them home and you don’t need to know the rest.”

  “How old is he now?” Darby asked as they watched the local clear the table to the cheers of a growing crowd. Time for him to make friends and temper his inclination to wipe the table. After his altercation at the bar, it wouldn’t hurt for the locals to see the Defence guys go down even if it was only a game of pool. Darby potted two and left the white ball so his opponent could easily finish off the game.

  “Three months and I can’t wait to see him in person, Elisha says he’s lost the new baby smell but whatever it is, it’ll be new to me.” Doug slapped him on the back after the young guy easily sunk the black. “Guess tonight’s not your lucky night, eh?

  Darby shook the young guy’s hand, appreciating the firm grip. “Good game, let me buy you a beer?”

  He should have gone back to base and grabbed a few hours sleep, or found a hotel with a late check in.

  Instead, some of the stayers from his unit ended up in a pub and club crawl with the locals, stumbling out of the last one at daylight, shielding their eyes with cries of, “bright light!”

  “Man, I’m gonna have some explaining to do when Elisha picks me up.” Even though they’d slowed down drinking a couple of hours ago, neither were in a fit state for Doug’s wife to find them. Once Doug started yawning, Darby couldn’t stop.

  “Well, I’ve gotta go back to that first bar and get my esh bag.”

  “They won’t be open for a couple of hours. How’s you and me go and get brekkie somewhere and wait for Elli to arrive. Then we can get your stuff.”

  It sounded like a good idea at the time, except once Elisha saw the cuts on his fist, she wanted to find a chemist and clean him up. Then they ran into some of the unit and Doug suggested they all come down south to his town just outside Rockhampton to chill for the break. Before he knew it, Darby had his bag thrown in the back of Elisha’s SUV and had agreed to stay with them.

  “The very least I can do for the man who saved my life!” Doug insisted, if he didn’t know better, Darby would think his mate liked throwing him into the spotlight, or was it the fire pit?

  So, he was half asleep in the back of a car, with his thumb in the tight grip of Doug’s three-month-old son. Yet again on the outside of someone else’s happy family life while he never had a chance to meet someone, let alone get to know a woman well enough to start the family he knew had to be in his future. Growing up, it could have easily turned to custard, but a brief stint in juvie courtesy of his biological father was enough of a wake-up call. He could never thank Seth and Grace enough for adopting him and giving him the first taste of structure and stability.

  Then he joined the Army and found a new family.

  An all-encompassing family that gave him no time or energy to pursue one of his own.

  Finding women was never the issue but finding someone special enough to try a long-distance romance was darn near impossible. Darby wanted nothing more than to receive emails that made him blush, skype sessions that were hot enough to keep him warm on the cold desert nights and have someone waiting for him to step off the plane.

  “How’s Maddie,” in the twilight drifting off to sleep, he vaguely heard Doug ask.

  “She’s back from university, has been for a while. Got a job with one of the local accountancy firms and apparently clients love her. She moved in with a couple of friends before going back home.” Elisha had the soft, soothing tone that would never wake a baby.

  “I would have thought living with mum would cramp her style,” the baby stirred at Doug’s louder and unfamiliar voice.

  “Not at all, your mum says she barely leaves her room these days other than for work - maybe she’s grown out of being the party girl.”

  “You’d love Mads,” Doug’s voice broke any thought Darby had of getting to sleep but when he didn’t react, Doug’s rough shove from the front seat did the trick. “Hey, wake up, I said you’d love my sister, Maddie. Always the life of the party and up for some fun. Elisha said she’s back home, so you’ll get to meet her and the four of us can hang out.”

  “Oh, Dougie, don’t pressure the poor boy, Maddie might not be up to meeting your friends.”

  “Nonsense remember the time …”

  Darby tuned out again. If the baby could sleep, he could at least pretend to.

  Despite of, or maybe because of last night, he didn’t want to meet people especially Doug’s baby sister. Not for the first time, he wished he had just grabbed his backpack yesterday and instead of drinking with
the guys, gone bush. Sit out under the stars and try and contemplate the meaning of life, or at least remember that this was the real world.

  No one was out to ambush them, and the back fire of a car was only the back fire of a car. Red traffic lights were not orchestrated by people with guns, and schools were filled with children who weren’t going home to half bombed buildings.

  Maddie

  “You have to leave that bloody room sometime,” Maddie’s mum yelled through the door.

  Maddie twisted her long brown ponytail until it pulled tight against her scalp, ignoring her mother, knowing she would eventually go away.

  No, she yanked at her hair, she didn’t want to see her brother over skype, or even drop in and wait to welcome him home.

  No, she bit down on her lip until it threatened to bleed, she didn’t want to go out for dinner with her parents, or go grocery shopping, or get her hair cut or have a pampering afternoon with her mother at the salon.

  Maybe if things had turned out differently, but they were what they were. Earlier in the day she got a call from Constable Blackshaw to meet up at the station.

  “Ms Whitehead, if you can come down there’s something I’d like to discuss.”

  “Great, I’ll be there after lunch,” Maddie’s nerves were already shot as she prepared to go through her statement again.

  Only to be told there wasn’t enough evidence.

  No, while the Constable believed her, in a matter of fact voice that couldn’t be more different than the turmoil swirling within Maddie’s gut, “I’m sorry Ms Whitehead, there was insufficient evidence to charge him.”

  After all she had gone through, the medical examination and hours of interviews, they couldn’t bloody well charge him because there was insufficient bloody evidence to make any charges stick!

  No, they didn’t need to keep her clothes or any of the other items in the plastic evidence bag. She could have the denim dress and white jacket back. The Constable even tried to joke that the grass stains could come out with dry-cleaning.

  Surely the whole station should have been able to hear the screaming in her head? With every throb her skull felt like it was caving in under her repressed cries.

  Stupid bitch in uniform, didn’t have a clue and couldn’t pull her foot out of her mouth quickly enough as Maddie snatched the plastic bag and half ran back to her car. Hoping no one saw her, not knowing what she’d say if they did.

  Now she had to deal with her mother wanting her to put on a “lovely dress to meet your brother.”

  No, dearest mother and dearest world, she didn’t want to leave her bedroom. It was too soon and the world was just too suckworthy. A far better use of her time was lying on her bed and muffling the tears with her pillow.

  No one knew, and those who did, couldn’t help her prove it.

  It wasn’t fair, her body cried. Not bloody fair at all, her life had changed in an instant and while she couldn’t go back to the person she was, he could walk around as if nothing happened. Because as far as the police and the courts and everyone in town was concerned, nothing happened.

  Maddie got up to check the locks on her bedroom windows for a third time and went through the rest of her new routine. Baseball bat next to her bed, a small sharp knife under her pillow. One final check that her bedroom door remained locked and a pull on the curtains to make sure no one could see in. Not enough to make her fears go away, but most nights she could get a couple of hours sleep.

  No, it wasn’t fair that her brother could go off to save the world, but no one was here to save her.

  Love it? What more? Get Avenge Her today.

  Sneak Peak – Who is Erebus

  If you love reformed players, and don’t mind a man with a past, then you’ll love Who is Erebus. You may have met him in The Intern when he joined Derek and Jade to spice things up. Now, he’s looking for a future but can he really leave his past behind?

  Chapter 1 - A Moment of Truth

  Erebus

  The man they knew as Erebus collected his clothes, taking one last look at the room and sleeping couple. Empty bottles and leather items of clothing were still strewn around. The short dark hair of the man and long black hair of the woman intermingled on their shared pillow as she lay spooned by her lover. The night of passion and her content evident in her sleeping smile.

  No matter – he was finished for the evening and his instructions were to be gone before the couple awoke. He didn’t think his shower had taken long, but clearly long enough for them to fall asleep.

  Quietly closing the door behind him, and not for the first time he wondered. How did his life come to this? As a leading finance analyst, he had the job, the salary, car, mortgage on an inner city apartment and any girl he wanted. All gone with a couple of ill-timed trades. Using the firm’s money and losing his own in a gamble that didn’t pay off.

  Waiting for the lift, he remembered the weeks of running out of money, losing his home and still walking away with a mountain of debt. Unemployed, and unemployable in the financial industry, he finally accepted the offer of a former colleague asking him to help out and as a stripper for her sister’s hen’s night.

  The first gig had been eye-opening. Flirting with the bride-to-be, flirting with her friends. The desire in his ex-colleague’s eyes as he stripped down to a g-string before the offer to make more for a private performance. When he politely turned her down, she booked him again for another friend’s event. Then the money and offers flooded his way.

  No longer able to use his brain to make money, his body stepped up to the task. Within weeks, he had a full diary and almost earned the same sort of money he did from trading. But night after night performing the same routine to the same songs became boring. He couldn’t imagine stripping long enough to clear his debts and those of his parents who had trusted him.

  “You looked good up there,” a guest at one of his shows offered him his towel and a bottle of water.

  “Thanks,” the hardest part of his job was the get-away. The more he insisted on not sleeping with clients, the harder they tried.

  “How would you like to earn double, and there is no dancing involved?”

  “I don’t offer full service,” shame, because if he did she would be the easiest money ever.

  “I’m not asking you to sleep with me,” she leaned in, giving him full view of what she had on offer. “I want to pay you to watch my partner fuck me.”

  That got his attention and a new career. Once a week, his new client paid for him to watch her and her partner engage in whatever they wanted to in the bedroom.

  The rules were simple. Never a full service. The only touching was with women. Never use his real name.

  Usually, his only role was to be in the same room and watch the couple try to outperform each other, be a witness to their inhibitions. Occasionally he offered “stimulation” for the female while her partner recovered.

  Once his number started being passed around, he invested money in outfits, including a mask. Amongst the wealthy, Sydney remained a small town and the last thing he needed or wanted was for people from his old life seeing him use his body or even worse, judge him.

  He could handle the women – in a way he became the perfect man. Ready to make them feel young, sexy and incredibly desirable. They adored him while he lay back and counted the dollars. No, the women were never going to be a problem – it was their partners. He never wanted to see pity or worse, recognition, in the men’s eyes. In a strange twist of fate, it was men like his former colleagues who became his most profitable clients – only able to perform under extreme pressure.

  Proof yet again last evening - there was nothing like having a young, well hung and muscled man in the room to keep a wife or girlfriend aroused and the man determined to perform.

  The problem began when he started seeing one of his regulars as a woman instead of a client. Short bursts of conversation while they waited for her partner. He thought he’d hardened his heart and was immune to fee
lings. Only to realize that he couldn’t keep up this lifestyle forever.

  Leaving the foyer a quick check of his bank balance showed he now had everything financially he’d lost, it was the emptiness in his soul screamed to be filled. Years of working hard and finally he could think about his exit strategy and move onto a life with more meaning.

  The train timetable hadn’t been designed for night workers. Especially night workers who needed to travel from one side of the city to the other.

  It was almost dawn by the time Erebus opened the door to his tiny bedsit. He spent every dollar earned in the last four years on clearing debts, invested in the clothes for “work”, or savings. No more wasting money to rent a fancy address or drive a current model sports car. He even made his own gym equipment from left over items from construction sites. Ironic, really, most woman wanted him dressed as either the hunky tradesman or a masked stranger in their bedroom. Little did they know the only “honorable” money he made came from laboring and using the skills honed from years working on his father’s building sites.

  No woman ever spent time in his bedsit, not that there was room for two. What woman would allow her man to do the things he did? Any woman who would put up with him as a partner was not the sort of woman he wanted.

  He needed another shower before bed. Long and hot enough to clear his head. The past four years had done the job financially and it was time to start planning for what’s next. The online ad that fascinated him for weeks was still live. Yes, that’s it!

  It took an hour to clear his schedule for five free days and he knew exactly how and where to spend them.

  Chapter 2 - She

  Felicity

  Felicity Grainger nursed her broken fingernail and empty water bottle. Too much tapping on the steering wheel waiting for the rude city jerk to turn up and view the property. She had to drop by her father’s home and make sure her father took his diabetes medications, prepare his dinner and do anything else to make his life more comfortable before going home and getting ready for classes next semester.