Page 36 of Last First Kiss
What the fuck?
An elbow jab to the gut and a kick to the guy she felt creeping up behind her. It was dark, so it wasn’t easy. She had to rely on her senses.
“This is bullshit, Joey!” she yelled out loud as she moved quickly to the half-disabled insurgent, arms outstretched forward. One eye on the target, she pulled the trigger just as the air left her in a blow to the rib from one of the recruits, bowling her over in pain.
It took a moment to adjust to the lights that were suddenly turned on. She was on her knees, hunched over, arms around her waist. Recruits number one and two, which she now saw clearly as Shawn and James, didn’t look any better. She looked up to find the droid’s eyes X’ed, which meant he was dead. The mother looked like she’d survived.
“You think you’ll be able to protect a man twice your height and weight against God knows who is trying to terrorize him? You’re on your hands and knees.”
She looked up at Joey and cringed from the stinging pain. Still holding her bruised ribs and ego, she stood. “Motherfucker, you ambushed me. Since when do you send live people in here? You want me to fail, you sonofabitch.” She felt a lump in her throat.
“You think the bad guys will have a sign to let you know they’re coming? You think they’re going to come at you one by one? An ambush is not unheard of, kid. When I agreed to the Monroe job I didn’t think you’d be in actual danger. Now that Colombia’s back on, I needed to make sure you’re ready. Colombia’s no joke. You did good in there, I’m proud of you. Makes me feel better sending you out.”
And that was it. She’d had enough.
She was fighting real battles out in the field and fake fucking battles with her brother.
He didn’t know the shit she’d gone through overseas. “This is bullshit, and you know it. The target is down, the civilians rescued, and two of your fucking men are in no better shape than I am. I don’t give a fuck if you’re proud of me. If I was ambushed on the job, I’ve just proven I can keep the client alive long enough to do my damn job.”
Annie paused to take a breath. “But that’s not what this is about. You thought I couldn’t handle a real ambush? You had to put me through all of that to prove it? I’ll give you a glimpse of my life, Josef. The man I loved, he died three feet away from me. You didn’t know that, did you? You didn’t know I was in love and that I watched him die.”
“Annie . . .” he whispered.
“And my friend, a little girl, she died in my arms. She lasted a few hours but I couldn’t dig us out of the rubble to get her the help she needed, so she died and I held her lifeless body for almost three days! So, I’m not experienced? Have you ever been stuck under boulders, barely able to breathe, with a dead girl in your arms, not knowing if anyone would ever find you? No! You haven’t. And guess what, Joey, even after that, I served my country for another four fucking years. I did not give up. I kept going. So don’t tell me that I don’t know what war is. That I don’t know how to defend myself or protect others. I should not have to prove myself, especially not to my own brother! So fuck you, Joey. Fuck you! And do not fucking call me kid. In fact, don’t call me at all.”
On her way out of the room, she glanced at Shawn and James, who she’d hit full-on. This wasn’t a mock anything, this had been a real gauntlet and they all had real bruises and scrapes to prove it. And the rubber bullet? The one that grazed her shoulder? It burned.
Not bothering with the locker room, she slid off her shirt, took off the Kevlar, threw it on the floor—they’d all seen a sports bra before—put her shirt back on, tossed the weapons on a bench, and got the hell out of ICS.
Was this Joey’s sick way of punishing her for kissing a client or was this his sick way of telling her she wasn’t qualified for the job? Probably both, she thought.
She was fuming, in pain, and pissed. She should’ve gone home, but she’d been gone for three hours and it was time to relieve Clark from Rocco duty.
What got her through the drive (and pain) was that Jacuzzi waiting for her at Rocco’s house. Fuck being professional, she was going to soak in there for the next twelve hours.
Rounding the corner, she pressed the button on the app and the gate swung open. A moment later Clark opened the door. “Holy shit, you okay?”
“Fine,” she hissed. “You’re off. I’m in,” she said walking right past him. “Anything to report?”
“Uh . . . no.”
“Let yourself out.”
* * *
Rocco woke up with a stupid grin on his face and a huge hard-on courtesy of Annie. He couldn’t stop thinking about their kiss. She had been shy, which he hadn’t expected. And that, for some reason, had turned him on. Or maybe it was just her. Everything she did just turned him on. Plus, she hadn’t kicked his ass for being so forward. That had to count for something, right?
He couldn’t wait to walk downstairs and finish what they started last night. He just hoped she’d be on the same page as he was. He’d given her the night to think about it, but now it was time to make a decision.
By the time he finished his morning routine, it was almost eleven. He wondered if she’d slept in. She never seemed to sleep in, but since they’d arrived home so late last night, maybe she’d sleep longer. Sleeping would do her good. Set her mind at ease, put things into perspective. There weren’t many things in life he enjoyed more than a good night’s sleep. And he wanted that for her too.
When he rounded the last step he was startled to see a man in a suit sitting on the couch. Quickly folding his newspaper, the man stood up.
“Who the hell are you?” Rocco snapped.
“Good morning, Mr. Monroe. Wilson Clark, from ICS.”
What?
