“It was something my mother commented on once. She said on several occasions that it was sad Conrad let Katie’s mother drag his daughter all over the country when he could’ve provided Katie with a much more stable home here.”
“What judge would give a kid to a single man when the mother is present?”
“One who knew the father was a police officer. Especially once he was Chief of Police.”
“Okay, so what does he want from you and us?”
“Going out on a limb? I’d guess he’s looking to replace her security team.”
If what she assumed was true, it would help us get this business off the ground. I just had to keep her from shooting us all in the foot.
Taking a deep breath, I said, “Lucia, you know…”
She held her hand up in front of my face.
“Don’t. I do not need a lecture from the bull in the china shop. You wouldn’t know diplomacy if it bit you in the ass. I will bite my tongue and do what I can to secure a contract to protect Katie.”
“Good.”
“But… I will not pander to that man. And… I will make sure he is not who we report to.”
“I’m good with that.”
And I was. I didn’t mind the chief. He, my dad, and Lucia’s father had been best friends and fishing buddies since they’d all served in the Army together, but he liked to treat me like a kid. More specifically, he treated me like a kid,hiskid. My dad wasn’t the greatest, especially after my mom died, but he was still my dad, and I didn’t need or want another one.
She pulled her tank top off and dropped it on the bench beside her. “Alright. Get out. I need to shower so I can see what’s what.”
I grabbed her upper arms, yanked her to me, and smacked a kiss on her forehead, leaving her to shower.
The guys were cleaning up the mats and equipment when I returned to the gym. We might’ve all walked away from the Marine Corps, but we still had one another’s backs. And the shit-talking banter still flew fast and furious wherever two or more of us were together.
The friendships I made with Lucia and the guys were my lifeline. One that I clung to with ferocious determination after being discharged from the Marines.
I still don’t remember what happened. I read the reports more times than I could count. All the guys were there when I got hurt, so I had their accounts to fill in the Swiss cheese the knock to the head made out of my brain. But it was as if it had happened to someone else.
A series of unfortunate events dumped my stupid ass out of a chopper. My head struck the chopper’s doorframe on the way out,, which wouldn’t have been as big an issue had I not taken my damn helmet off when I climbed onboard. I’d knocked my goggles loose during the dash to the chopper, and I’d taken off my helmet to check my gear. The next thing I knew, I rolled out the door and fell into the ocean feet first. The height, hitting the chopper, and, according to the guys, my boots smacking the edge of the oil platform’s helipad before I plunged to the ocean below was a recipe for disaster.
Initially, the doctors thought the TBI was my only issue. It was severe enough that they kept me sedated for days and then confined to bed even longer. The real issue, the one that ended my military career, came to light when they got me up and moving: numbness and tingling from the waist down. The scans showed I busted several vertebrae in the fall. Everyone was so focused on my head. The swelling around the fractures disguised just how bad they were.
Those early months were hell on earth. I spent every waking moment rehabbing my brain and, later, my body. I was lucky that I managed to recover at all.
The day the doctor told me a therapist would be by to fit me for a cane and teach me how to get around was the day I knew my life, as I’d known it, was over.
That was also the day I royally fucked myself over. Yet again.
When the official medical discharge came through, I stayed in Cali. The thought of going home to Washington didn’t sit well. Anytime I considered it, I felt like a washed-up has-been.
I was allowed to work, but that was a joke. I was a Recon Marine with a broken back using a cane to get around. There wasn’t much out there for a guy like me with the limitations I had.
So, I moved in with Priest and became a beach bum until he dragged my ass out of the house. I’ll never forget that day. It was the first day since the accident that I felt… not useless.
* * *
“Put your shoes on.”
“What? Why?”
“Because we got invited somewhere.”
