Battleborn Read online

  She loves Glory, and perhaps it’s her proximity to the school that brought me here. She lives just outside of Durham, where the school is, which is just an hour and a half from the base. So it’s all local. The ocean is even just a two-hour drive. I think I may suggest a road trip this weekend, just Tim, me and Glory. She’s never seen the ocean. Maybe we’ll bring mom too, unless she and dad have plans. I know they try to do a date night once a week. What better night than a night without us kids in the house? I’m rambling in my head. I do that when I’m trying to deflect my thoughts. I don’t need them trailing back to pool guys.

  Chapter 6 Jarod

  “I was surprised when you called, didn’t think I’d hear from you. You didn’t seem too thrilled with me after our last date.” I sat across from a sexy little brunette named Abigail, whom I’d gone out with a few times after an old unit buddy suggested it. I had thought the last date was going well, but I had only just had my new prosthetic adjusted and was sore, so I may have been in a bit of a mood. My old one was made of plastic and I tended to get a rash from the contact. This metal one was nicer, smoother, and I had a far better range of motion with it. But, when she tried getting physical with me and I wasn’t responsive, she left pretty disappointed and ducked my last few calls. So her calling was something of a misnomer.

  “I’ve had a bit of time to think about it and decided that maybe you deserved a second look.” She smirked at me from over her third glass of wine. If my memory served, this was about her limit, anymore and she would be pretty sloppy.

  “You wanna slow down there, Abs? I’m not looking to carry you out of here.”

  “Would if you could.”

  “Actually, I wouldn’t have much of an issue.” Bitch. Now I just want to finish my beer and go. I remember why I didn’t get it up for her. She was something of a cunt. Making snide and teasing remarks, like she was doing me some favor by dating me.

  “Listen, I hate to end this... Actually, you know what, I’m lying. I’m looking forward to it. I’m going to take you home now, and don’t bother calling me because I’m going to be otherwise engaged.” I motioned to the waiter for the check as she stared at me, seething. Next thing I knew she had thrown her drink in my face and was storming off!

  “Guess I deserved that,” I muttered. I watched as she slammed into a waitress and didn’t even say pardon me. I apologized as I paid the bill and left the restaurant to watch her climb into a cab. At least she’d get home safe.

  Maybe I really wasn’t ready to date yet. Seemed they all ended similarly. With me shooting my mouth off instead of my load. Like I said, my heads were in a disagreement.

  HOME. Not so silent with a growing puppy. Sampson was happy to see me when I got there, so much so that he peed all over the kitchen floor. I put him out in the yard while I mopped up the mess. How a bladder so small can hold so much liquid is beyond me. He is such a good boy, otherwise, though. He yips at the door and I let him in, giving him kisses and a bowl of puppy chow. I open the fridge, it’s mostly empty, but there is some bologna and mustard. I’m sure I have some rolls around here somewhere. Nothing on the counter... ah, freezer. I find two hard rolls and toss um in the microwave for forty-five seconds while I go and change into some sweats.

  By the time I come back, Sampson has finished and is playing with his little squeaking hedgehog. He wants to play fetch, so I toss the thing across the house and he’s off, bounding after it. I shouldn’t be hungry, I just had dinner, but Chinese food is like that, and the Moo Goo Gai Pan was a bit salty for my palate. I fixed my sandwiches and put on the news. Nothing good, as usual. More talks of expanding into Israeli Territory, more ISIS Terror groups on American soil. I sighed, flicking the channels, maybe there was a new Sharknado flick I could laugh my ass off at. That Syfy channel was always coming up with something crazy nowadays. I was just about to doze off when my phone rang.

  “Hello?” I asked groggily.

  “Jarod?”

  It was Tim Colton. Strange.

  “Tim? Hey, what’s up man?”

  “I’m in a spot, and need a ride. Think you could come and get me? I didn’t know who else to call.”

  “You sound plastered. I thought you didn’t drink?”

  “Long story man. Please. My family can’t see me like this.”

  “Yeah, where are you?”

  “The Lucky Strike?”

  “I know it. Gimmie twenty. Be outside, alright?”

  “Yeah, man. Thanks.”

  “No problem.”

  “Hey, Sampson, wanna go for a ride?” I grabbed his leash and off we went. I wasn’t getting out of the car so there was no use in getting dressed up.

  IT FIGURES, I TELL him to wait outside and there he is, at the bar, still drinking. I sighed heavily, pulled out the keys, rolled down the windows for Sampson and locked up the doors. I didn’t want to go in there. I had been a bouncer before the accident, and didn’t want to rehash any of the old days.

  “Tim,” I grunted as I walked in. He sat on the chair with a toothy grin.

  “Jarod, come have a drink with me, wallow in the fucked up, and forget the bullshit for a minute.”

  “I’d love to, but I think you may have drunk my half already dude.” I shook my head, looking at a bartender I didn’t know. I let out my breath, glad for it. “C’mon, I think she wants to close up. She nodded to me, in appreciation.

  I noticed that the bar no longer had a bouncer and I wondered how long that had been going on with a woman, alone, behind the bar.

  “You alone here, honey?” I asked, concerned, lifting up Tim. “You need somebody to hang around while you lock it up? I used to be the bouncer here, back a few years ago, just ask Gio about Jarod Trainor and he could tell ya.”

  “I’ve seen a few pics of ya.” She smiled. “You used to be bigger.”

  I laughed. “Yeah, I’ve slimmed down a bit.”

  “It looks good on you. But I’m good, just me and my Colt .45.” She put the gun on the counter and I nodded.

  “Hot girl with a gun!” Tim chortled. “I’m in love!”

  “Oh, boy, with that, I’m gonna go. It was nice to meet you...”

  “Jenny.”

  “Jenny,” I repeated her name and smiled as I carried Tim to my car. Sampson climbed into the front and I dropped Tim into the back. If he was gonna puke, I would rather it not be in my lap.

  “What is this all about Tim? You tell me you don’t drink and now I pick you up and you look like you’ve taken on the brewery.”

  “It’s my fault, man. All of it. It’s all my fault. She’s so fucked up. All broken and all because I couldn’t keep it in my pants.”

  “Who? What are you talking about?”

  “CC, she’s all messed up, and it’s my fault. If I’d been a better chaperone. Listened to her... Fuck man... She got... Cuz of me... I didn’t protect her.”

  “Wait, who’s CC? Tim, you’re not making sense, who’s hurt?”

  “CC, my sister. Listen, man, you can’t tell anyone I told you. That beautiful baby girl, she can’t ever know how she got here.”

  I pulled over the car as Tim started climbing into the front seat.

  “I need to tell someone; I need help man; my sister needs help. She’s got that PTSD shit, since it happened. You know something about that, don’t you?”

  He was begging. He was desperate and I was starting to make sense of what he was saying about his sister and her awkwardness began to click in my head.

  She was a survivor, just like me. Only her wounds weren’t for all to see.

  Chapter 7 Tim

  I woke up in Jarod’s house. It was really nice, all one level like my parents’ house, and just as big. The puppy was all over me, and it occurred to me that it was the same breed CC was talking about getting. The idea that this guy was perfect for my sister was in my head, but, at the same time, she wasn’t ready for all of that. What she did need, though, was a friend. Maybe he could be that to begin with. There was no harm i
n trying to arrange that, was there?

  My head pounded, and I remembered how I ended up here and just what I had done. This was the second anniversary of the night she had been assaulted and it tore me up something fierce. I know I should have been home for her, or some other brotherly shit like that, but she had barricaded herself in her room with Glory and they were already fast asleep when I beat it out of the house. My guilt over that night has never left me. If I hadn’t been so wrapped up in a piece of ass... Uggh... We all have our crosses to bear from that experience. Our dad, for letting us go in the first place, our mother, for not seeing the signs. We all take the blame. The only one not to blame, that night, really was Caitlin. She didn’t ask for any of it. She should have been able to trust the people she was with. I just wish I could have gotten my hands on that fucker, Todd.

  “YOU FEELING BETTER this morning?” Jarod’s voice screeched, although I’m sure he’s whispering as he hands me some coffee and Advil.

  “Yeah, man.” I push my hair back; it’s gotten long since I busted out of the army. I couldn’t re-up and do rehab for the booze. Seemed I was going to have to call my sponsor and tell them I was turning over my six-month chip. “I’m sorry for laying so much on you last night. Please don’t let on to her that I told you.”

  “I wouldn’t. But thank you for trusting me.” He sat down on the loveseat, opposite me, and I couldn’t help but stare at his leg.

  “Does it still hurt?”

  He let out a short chuckle. “I get these phantom pains, randomly, like it’s still there. Sometimes, in the night, I think I’m wiggling my toes.”

  “That’s gotta suck, I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s been almost four years. With this new one, it’s been better. I don’t have so much trouble. The other one would slip, this one I can run, swim, it’s almost like being normal.”

  I nodded my head. “Listen, what are you doing over the weekend?”

  “Other than puppy training? Nothing, why?”

  “The sister and I were going to go out to Topsail Beach, thought maybe you might like to come with us.”

  He raised a suspicious eye at me, running his hand over the top of his head. “Well, I don’t know; I mean, I’d have to get Grandad to watch Sampson.”

  “Bring the pup, CC would love that, and Glory would too.”

  He seemed deep in thought, so I added to his toiling.

  “I’m not trying to set you up man, just hoping, maybe, you might be able to help her out with her anti-social issues. Maybe if you mention your PTSD she will open up about hers. The doctors and the medications are doing jack for her. But you seem to have a handle on it, at least, now. Please man, something’s gotta give here. If you can’t help, I get it, but if you can, dude, it would be so fucking great. I mean, seriously, she needs someone who gets it, because, believe me, we just don’t.” I was practically in tears.

  “Alright. I can’t promise anything. If she doesn’t open up to me, or if it doesn’t seem like a thing to bring up, I’m not going to. Understand me? But I’ll come, and I’ll bring Sampson. We can take my Navigator. I’ll pick everyone up at six a.m. since it’s like a two-and-a-half-hour drive and you want as much beach time as possible. Make the hotel reservation, let me know which one and I’ll pay for mine.”

  “Dude, thank you. Just one other thing...”

  He raised his brow.

  “Think I could get a lift back to my car?”

  Chapter 8 Caitlin

  “You did what!” I was livid. Here I was, trying to be a good sister and invite my brother out for the weekend and he invites his friend to just tag along! “Seriously! He’s picking us up? At the ass crack of dawn on top of it all! MOM!” I couldn’t believe my ears. I was flabbergasted.

  “Yes, dear?”

  Oh Christ, it was the mom voice, you know the one, the bored, not really caring what you were gonna say because she didn’t care about your opinion because she had her own and it opposed yours, tone?

  “I think it’s a wonderful idea. I was wondering how you were going to cram all of your things into that little hatchback of yours, anyhow. This way, at least Glory will have a secure space in the back of this boy’s truck and you can sit with her.”

  “Uggh! Now I don’t even want to go.”

  “But you promised that little girl she would see the ocean.”

  I chewed my thumb, it was my newest nervous tick. “I swear, if you are trying to set me up with this guy, I’m gonna cut your balls off, Tim.”

  “It’s nothing like that! I swear!”

  “It better not be!” I stomped off to take a shower, since I wouldn’t have time in the morning and I still had to pack for the weekend. I was glad I had picked up a new swimsuit, at least I wouldn’t be hanging out for all the world to see. Specifically, this guy, Jarod Trainor.

  SIX A.M. ON THE NOSE and he was sitting outside the house. My stomach was twisted all up in knots and Glory was fast to run outside and straight to him.

  “Tin Man!” She squealed, running up to him and hugging him as he held three tall cups of liquid gold.

  “I brought coffee. I wasn’t sure how you drink them so they are black, but there’s cream and sugar here.” He smiled. He was wearing black and blue board shorts, a Marine Corps. tank top, his dog tags visible around his neck, and that dammed Yankees baseball hat again.

  “Are you from New York?”

  He nodded.” I was, till I was twelve, some things just stick with ya.”

  “I know what you mean.” I took the coffee.

  “Cream? Sugar?”

  “Please, I’m an ant.” I laughed, taking six sugars and three creamers.

  “That makes two of us.” He returned the smile and my insides kind of stirred. Nothing like a kick to the ovaries first thing in the morning. Of course, waking up with the crimson tide did kind of kill this weekend for me. But I would be taking that little one in the water, sharks be damned. That’s why they invented tampons!

  “Ah, how kind my good sir!” Tim smirked, taking his black coffee.

  “Yuck, how you drink it bitter like that I’ll never know.”

  “Hey, I don’t like the twitch of a sugar bomb okay.”

  “Whatever. I packed sandwiches for the ride up. Hope you like bacon and eggs on hard rolls, cuz that’s what we gots.”

  “Works for me,” Jarod grabbed the bags off the stoop, suddenly coming face to face with my dad.

  Chapter 9 Jarod

  “Lieutenant.” I straightened up seeing him standing there fully dressed in his uniform. He was obviously on his way to the base, and also trying to make a silent statement. I was no longer in the active military, but old habits die hard and I saluted him.

  “At ease, son.” He nodded and I took the step out as he looked me up and down. I was sure Tim had told him about me from his lack of surprise at my appearance.

  “My children deserve a good time, see to it that they arrive in good standing and return as they left, exactly, if not better. Understood, Staff Sergeant?”

  “Yes, Sir.” He clasped my shoulder firmly as he walked down the steps and disarmed the car he was to leave in. “Oh, and remember, I can find just about anyone nowadays with a key stroke.”

  I nodded, picking up the bags once more. Well, if that wasn’t a not so thinly veiled threat to my life about his kids. But I understood after what had happened to his daughter. Not that I was supposed to know any of that. Right?

  “THAT WAS A LITTLE INTENSE.” Tim whispered, coming over to me and helping with the bags. As he opened the car door, Sampson jumped out, bee lining for Caitlin and Gloria.

  “Sampson! No!” I shouted just as the puppy knocked into Caitlin. She screamed and the Lieutenant slammed on the breaks as Sampson ran around in circles like the little retard that he is. Gloria was just a mess of giggles as the pup found her just sitting in the grass.

  “Is everything okay?” The Lieutenant asked, concerned.

  “Yeah daddy, just a puppy!” Caitlin ca
lled back.

  “I’m so sorry he was asleep, I forgot about him completely.”

  “It happens. I did that with Glory once or twice.” She laughed shortly, rubbing Sampson’s belly.

  “You are gonna spoil him.”

  “Something tells me you already do.”

  I smiled, shaking my head, she seemed to have me all figured out. “I’m gonna just go finish getting the stuff in the car so we can go.”

  “Okay. We’ll keep him busy. Won’t we, Glory?”

  “Yup.” She giggled. That little girl was such a sweet babe and I was starting to begin looking forward to this weekend and maybe getting to know her mamma.

  THE RIDE WAS PRETTY uneventful, all three of them fell asleep on me like ten minutes after we finished the coffee and sandwiches. It was a good thing I didn’t need the company to stay alert on the road like some people. I was actually pretty hyper aware when I drove. Probably a throwback because of the accident that took out my parents. Their lack of attention led to a collision, it’s why I never talk on my phone while driving, ever. The hotel was really nice as we pulled up to it. Nothing super special, just a nice little spot in Jacksonville. A twenty-minute drive to the beach. I left them sleeping while I checked us in. By the time I came back, the little one was awake and staring out the window at the big old horse and carriage, just parked outside. Apparently, this place did a romantic ride at night.

  Not that any of us would be going on that unless Caitlin takes Glory, which is, I suppose, possible.

  “Mommy!” Glory pushed on Caitlin and she jumped up, grabbing her hip in response. If I didn’t know better, I would swear she had a weapon, but I know that there’s nowhere on that outfit she could hide it. Trust me, I did look.