Chapter 14 #2
“Mandy, the dog was probably eating dirt and rotting animals when he couldn’t catch a fresh one. I don’t think he’s gonna be picky about what kind of dog food you bought him.”
“Whatever,” she mumbled.
Buck chuckled. “But I’m glad you’ve got food again. I didn’t have a chance to do any of that. Been in meetings and trying to answer everyone’s questions about what went down.”
“Oh, when we come back, I can send some stuff home with you so you at least have something to eat for breakfast,” Mandy told him, sounding and looking alarmed that he hadn’t had time to go to the store yet. Her tender heart was showing itself again.
“I wouldn’t mind that,” he told her, as he opened the passenger-side door of his Subaru Outback for her. She smiled at him as she sat, and he waited until she’d buckled her seat belt before closing the door and jogging around to the driver’s side.
As he drove toward Anchor Point, he said, “I also wanted to let you know I called a guy I know to have him start looking into Blair.”
“You did?”
“Yeah. I know you’re interested in adopting Bibi and Michael, and with Blair acting weird, and with our suspicions about the raid on the school, I wanted to have him start looking into things sooner rather than later.”
“Who is this guy?”
“His name is Tex. Once upon a time he was a Navy SEAL himself, and he has some crazy computer skills. Anyway, if there’s something going on, he’ll probably dig it up.”
“Okay. But even if he does find something, it’s not going to change anything now,” she said reasonably.
“You’re right. But if she did have anything to do with that kidnapping, you can bet I’m going to do everything in my power to get her kicked out of the country. It’s not safe for the kids who are still there, or anyone working for her.”
“True.”
“I don’t know how or what will happen, if anything, but I just wanted you to know. If there’s dirt to be found, Tex will find it.”
“Thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me. I might not know the kids the way you do, but your actions proved your love for each and every one of them.
I saw it with my own eyes, when you thought little James was missing and ran to look for him, sacrificing your own rescue in the process.
I saw it when you had to say goodbye to them at the school.
I heard the agony in your voice when you told me you weren’t sure Blair would put in a good word to allow you to adopt. ”
She gave him a small smile, and Buck reached for her hand, relieved and pleased when she didn’t hesitate to intertwine her fingers with his own.
“Besides,” he said, wanting to lighten the mood, “if the bitch had anything to do with the hundred or so bug bites on my ass that I got from sleeping on the ground in the jungle, I need revenge.”
At that, Mandy giggled.
“What? You probably don’t have any on your ass because I protected you when we slept. All snuggled up behind you. My ass was the one out there flappin’ and apparently attracting all the bloodsucking creatures of the rainforest.”
Mandy giggled some more. “Right, but you don’t have bug bites on your boobs like I do, because I was protecting your front side every night.”
Immediately, Buck got hard. Thinking about her tits, and kissing each and every one of the bites she claimed to have.
Shit. He needed to get himself under control.
Tonight wasn’t about sex. It was about sharing her with his friends.
About showing her off. About getting to know her without the drama they’d endured for the last couple weeks.
“True. So we’re even?” he asked.
“I don’t know about that, but I’ll go with it for now,” she said, still smiling.
Thankfully by the time he pulled into the Anchor Point parking lot, he’d managed to get control over his libido. The lot was full, and he had to park near the back. Which was annoying, because there weren’t any lights in the back part of the lot, so it would be very dark by the time they left.
He met her in front of his car, and this time, Mandy reached for his hand as they walked toward the door, and Buck felt on top of the world.
They joined the rest of his friends in a back corner of the bar, and they immediately did their best to make Mandy feel at ease.
They wanted to know all about her, where she’d worked previously, what she was planning on doing now that she was back in Virginia, about the kids she’d taught down in Guyana, how she got into teaching…
it was a little like the third degree, but done in a friendly and open way that Buck didn’t think Mandy minded, considering she patiently answered their hundred-and-one questions.
They asked so many questions, in fact, she actually didn’t have much time to ask any of her own in return. Something she pointed out hours later.
“I feel as if you guys know me really well now, but I don’t know you at all,” she complained.
That was after enjoying two beers, which seemed to go straight to her head, despite the meal she’d eaten earlier.
Her cheeks were flushed, and she’d run a hand through her hair several times as the evening continued, making the smooth hairdo she’d had at the beginning of the night a thing of the past. She looked more like the woman he’d gotten to know in the jungle, which pleased Buck to no end.
“You know us,” Edge countered. “I’m the good-looking one, Chaos is the clumsy one, Pyro is the one with the best sense of direction, Obi-Wan is the charmer, Casper has the brains, and Buck is the all-American pretty boy.”
Everyone laughed.
“What does that make me?” Laryn asked. She’d been kind of quiet, content to sit next to Casper, drinking water with her meal then nursing the same beer the last couple of hours.
But Buck had no doubt she’d been observing carefully.
She was protective not just of the helicopters she slaved over, but also the men who flew them.
“You’re our real leader,” Edge said wisely. “Without you, we’d be nothing.”
“Damn straight,” Laryn said with a grin.
Buck leaned back with satisfaction. He loved these people so much.
Because of them, he loved his job, felt safe when he flew in the worst of circumstances, and he knew he could rely on them for whatever he might need.
The addition of Laryn to their inner circle was a good one.
She softened their sharp edges a little and offered a new perspective on the things they talked about.
“It’s getting kinda late and I’m tired,” Laryn announced. “I’m going to use the restroom before we head home though. Mandy, want to come with?”
“Sure.”
Buck stiffened. It wasn’t that he didn’t want Mandy to go with Laryn, it was more that he was unsure what she might say or do. Laryn was a tell-it-like-it-is kinda girl, and if she didn’t like Mandy, she might say something that could hurt her feelings. And that was the last thing Buck wanted.
“I’ll be back. I probably should get home to Rain anyway.”
Buck nodded, then watched Laryn and Mandy weave their way through the crowd toward the restrooms.
“I don’t understand why women have to go to the bathroom in pairs,” Chaos grumbled. “I mean, they have stalls, it’s not as if they can hold hands and sing kumbaya while they’re pissing.”
“Safety in numbers and all that,” Casper said with a shrug.
“Nothing happens at Anchor Point. This is a safe bar,” Pyro argued.
“No bar is completely safe,” Obi-Wan argued.
“Right? The parking lot is dark as fuck,” Edge agreed.
“Is Laryn going to be cool with Mandy?” Buck blurted, looking at Casper.
“Of course. Why wouldn’t she?”
“It’s just that she has a tendency to speak her mind. Which I love, but Mandy is still trying to acclimate back to life here in the States. Where she was in Guyana was extremely rural. And of course, there was all that time she spent in the rainforest. I just don’t want her to feel—”
“Relax, Buck,” Casper said. “Laryn likes her. Said she’s a badass.”
“She did?”
“Yup. Said anyone who can survive what she did is okay in her book. Then she said if she could put up with your ass for as long as she did, she has to be all right.”
Everyone laughed, but Buck didn’t care that they were laughing at him. He was simply relieved that Laryn seemed to like Mandy.
He took a deep breath then swallowed the last of his water. He’d switched over an hour ago, not because he was getting tipsy, but because he was driving and he’d never do anything that might put Mandy in danger. Also, he wanted to be fully alert in the bar’s dark parking lot when they left.
“Heard you called Tex today,” Chaos said, changing the subject. “He have anything to say about this Blair person?”
Buck had given his teammates a basic rundown of the situation in Guyana and what had happened when Mandy returned to the school. They were concerned, and agreed that Tex, if anyone, could probably shed some light on the situation.
“Not yet. He needs some time. He’s got a shit-ton on his plate, and after what he and his wife went through recently, he’s slowing down some.
Says he won’t stop helping people altogether, but he’s trying to put a little more space between him and the assholes he comes into contact with on a daily basis. ”
“That was some nasty business,” Edge said softly.
Everyone was silent for a moment. They’d all heard what happened to Tex.
How he’d been kidnapped. They’d even donated money toward his ransom.
Thankfully, he had more than enough friends with the necessary skills, who’d been able to immediately get to work tracking him down and figuring out who’d kidnapped him, and where he’d been taken.
“Anyway, he said he’d get back to me with what he found. Would email me anything pertinent,” Buck said.
“Good. If you need anything from us, let us know,” Casper said sternly. “We’re a team. We stick together.”
“I will. And I appreciate it.”
“Nothing to appreciate. It’s just how we operate,” Obi-Wan told him.
“I’m headed out,” Pyro said. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”
“Same,” Chaos said.
“Might as well go too,” Edge said as he stood.
Soon it was just Casper and Buck at the table, waiting on the women.
“Relax, Buck. They won’t be too much longer. Then you can go home and have some alone time with Mandy. Sorry we all crashed your date, but we wanted to get to know the woman you seem to be enamored with. And for the record…I like her. We all do.”
Buck nodded. He didn’t need his team leader’s approval to date Mandy, but he was relieved he had it all the same.
He couldn’t resist looking over at the hallway that led to the bathrooms. He could admit that he was anxious to do exactly as Casper suggested…spend some alone time with the woman who’d gotten under his skin.