Chapter 4
CHAPTER 4
“What’s wrong?” Clem asked when he heard her and caught her expression.
“Who’s that?” Scott asked Sara after seeing where she was looking.
“Ass-Boom-Boom-hole Garrison. He’s a tool.”
“Why?” Clem asked as they turned to look at the man that just entered.
“Where do I start?” Sara sighed then looked at the two men. She made a quick decision and leaned in to whisper. “He grew up here, as did Julie and me. He’s three years older than Julie, six older than me. I don’t know if you know this, but when I was fifteen, Julie was eighteen and had just graduated from high school. Our parents were killed by a drunk driver. Julie put her life on hold for me to finish school here, and when I went to college, she went into the military. Thankfully, her recruiter was understanding and helped her with all the paperwork to hold her off from joining. Once I was in college, she left for boot camp. Ever since coming back here, Boom-Boom has been trying to get a date with Julie. I wouldn’t say she hates him, but she always turns him down.”
“Okay, but why did you call him a tool?” Scott scowled when he watched the other man watch Julie.
“When he left here for college, he had a full ride football scholarship. In his senior year, at the game where all the NFL recruiters were in attendance, he broke his ankle. He spiraled when he didn’t get picked for the draft, flunked out of his last semester, didn’t graduate, and came home with his tail between his legs. He’s working at a scummy used-car dealership outside of town, a business his family owns, and makes it known to anyone who will listen to him that no one has ever been injured as bad as he had been. That no one would understand the pain and suffering that injury caused him.” She rolled her eyes so hard, Scott thought he’d have to whack the back of her head in order to get them to return. Thankfully, he didn’t have to.
“He only broke his ankle?”
“So, he says, but technically, he twisted it. He could have walked it off, but he didn’t. I had heard that there wasn’t even a hairline fracture. He played it up like it was the worst injury a person could ever have.”
“Doesn’t he know that Julie is missing half of her left leg?”
“How do you know that?” Sara asked Scott in shock.
“You can see she limps slightly, and you can see the prosthetic brush her pant leg above the knee.” Scott smirked when Sara whipped around and watched her sister walk.
“Holy crap, I never realized that.”
“Some of the people that work at Broken have prosthetics. One of the guys, and one of the gals. At least on their legs. There’s one woman that is missing an arm from about mid-bicep, but doesn’t wear a prosthetic.”
“That’s what you meant by challenged?”
“Yes, and they don’t let their challenge slow them down in any way, shape, or form. Just like Julie doesn’t let hers impede her.”
“I know she doesn’t do that, but if you actually listened to Boom-Boom, then his severely sprained ankle should have been in the Guinness World Book of Records for being the worst one to ever happen.”
“Hell, I’d hate to hear what he would say if he knew what happened to me.” Scott had murmured, but the other two at the table heard him and they exchanged shocked looks, but shrugged when they realized the other didn’t know what he was talking about.
“Oh, hell no,” Scott said as he rose from his chair and started forward. Sara turned around in time to see that Boom-Boom’s hand was on Julie’s ass. She quickly stood and whispered to Clem.
“I gotta see this.” The two of them went over and stood off to the side.
Scott walked up behind the man that had his hand on Julie’s ass and waited to see what she would do. The tone of her voice was so cold, he shivered, but the words were directed toward Boom-Boom.
“If you don’t want to pull back a stump, I would suggest you remove your hand now.”
“Ah, come on, baby, why are you playing hard to get?”
“Because I don’t like you, and you’re an asshole.”
“Is there a problem here?” Scott asked, trying to defuse the situation, but the guy turned to him and scowled.
“No problem, run along, little boy, I got this woman under control.”
“Julie, did you give this man permission to put his hands on your ass?”
“No, I did not.”
Before anyone could even blink, Scott had Boom-Boom’s face plastered to the table, and he leaned over him and whispered in his ear. The entire restaurant was silent as they watched the exchange, but all they saw was Scott had his hand on the back of Boom-Boom’s neck, and he whispered in his ear. The next thing they saw was he stood, and stepped back. With a wrinkled nose, he said, “Clean up on aisle four.” Everyone looked at the puddle that formed out the bottom of Boom-Boom’s pant leg. The other man jumped to his feet and literally ran out of the restaurant. By the time he hit the door his face slammed into the glass because he couldn’t get the door open fast enough. No one commented on the puddle he had left behind, nor on the dark spot on the front of his jeans after he’s pissed himself from what Scott had told him.
It was still silent in the restaurant, and Scott turned to Julie. He didn’t know if it shocked him or not when he didn’t see anger or disgust in her expression. However, it did shock him when she walked over, put her hand on the side of his face, then stood on her tiptoes of only one foot, and gently laid her lips on the side of his mouth. Before it even registered, she had stepped back from him.
“Thank you,” she said, and that seemed to break the silence. Half of the restaurant stood and broke out in applause. At his look, a man laughed.
“It’s about time someone put that asshole in his place! That man thinks a twisted ankle gives him the right to be a bully. I want to ask you what you said, but I have a feeling you won’t tell us.”
“No, I won’t. Not that I don’t want to, but I told him something personal about myself, and I really don’t want to make my conversation public.”
“That’s okay, I just want to shake your hand,” the man said as he started forward and it took twenty minutes before Scott could leave. He didn’t know if he was more embarrassed, or angry at all the attention. Once he finally made it outside, he breathed easier. Sara told him goodbye and that she would see him on Sunday when he came to the house, and he only winced a little when she hugged him. Both he and Clem watched as she climbed into a car and they waited until she drove off. Neither man said a word until they reached the hotel.
“Beer?” Clem asked as they entered the back entrance. Before Scott could answer, he nodded. “I have a room here for the night. I’m going to head to Fool’s Gold in the morning.”
“Ah, got it.” Scott stood there lost in thought for about ten seconds, then nodded. “Sure, I could use a beer.”
“Since you bought dinner, I’ll buy the drinks.” They walked down the hall and found the hotel bar. Instead of sitting at the bar, they ordered their drinks, then went to a table in the corner. Neither of them said a word for several minutes, and it was Clem who broke the silence.
“Honestly, how is Noomi?”
“She was good the last time I saw her.” Scott frowned at the man, and shook his head. “First, I do not lie. Everything I said at the restaurant is to the best of my knowledge.” He paused then sighed heavily. While he looked Clem directly in the eye, he shook his head. “I didn’t get into minute details with you, but on my last mission my team was ambushed. Some members were killed, while four of us were taken captive. They separated us. Two went to one hole in the basement, my best friend and I were kept in another one.”
“Shit. I never served in the military, but I can imagine.”
“No, you can’t. I’m not being a bastard, I’m not, but we weren’t just held. We didn’t find this out until after we were rescued and recovering in the hospital, but the fuckers that took us wanted a kidney for their leader.”
“Are you telling me they took your kidney?”
“No. They weren’t completely successful. Because we had been knocked unconscious, we didn’t know that they had been able to take some of our blood and have it typed. That was it, plus that information is on our dog tags. It turned out the two that were in the other room didn’t have the same blood type as their leader. My buddy and I did.”
“What happened?”
“I might as well tell you the names, because if you’re going to be working at The New Double, you’ll meet these people. Ryan Carter and Ben Hissop was held captive in one room. Manny Sanchez and I were held in the other. Manny and I were the ones with the same blood type. I’m going to try to keep this short, and I’ll apologize now if I clam up. I still have nightmares about it.”
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I understand.”
“Thank you, maybe when I can deal with it better, I’ll tell you.”
“Okay.”
“I can tell you that because of the injuries I sustained while being held captive, I can’t sit for long periods of time behind the wheel of the truck. The eighteen-hour drive from here to home I will make in three, possibly four days.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah, and just a quick recap, I told Boom-Boom some of what I went through. Or what Hissop went through. That is one man you will not meet. May he rest in peace.”
“Dare I ask what happened?”
“The fuckers disemboweled him because they didn’t know where the kidney on the body was located. They sliced both Manny and I up trying to get out a kidney. They had just made the deep cut when our rescuers arrived.”
“Shit, that was just the nick of time.”
“If they had been three minutes earlier, we never would have been cut. As it stands right now, both Manny and I have these deep, but healing wounds on our bodies. They are all on the stomach, back, and sides.”
“And this Hissop is dead?”
“Yes.”
“What about the man named Carter?”
“They literally used their fingers to pop one of his eyes out of his head. He too had cuts, but not as bad as ours. Don’t get me wrong, his injuries are no less horrific than ours, but he was more or less beaten. He had broken bones, a missing eye, and we all sustained psychological trauma.” He paused and stared down at his beer bottle, then looked up with a small smile. “Maybe Sara can get her PhD, come work at Broken, and take us on as clients.”
“Would she be able to?” Clem smirked at the younger man.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means, from what I saw tonight, you have the hots for her sister, Julie, and wouldn’t it be a conflict of interests if the two of you hook up and she’s your therapist?”
Scott was too shocked to respond. He hadn’t thought his feelings for Julie was that obvious, and before he could say anything Clem laughed.
“Sorry, but one of my perks at being a trainer for horses is that I’m very observant. I had to be to see if there was anything wrong with either the horse or the rider. It was my job to see any discrepancies and halt any further activity until the issue was resolved. I looked for the minute, yet subtle changes. I saw the way your eyes followed her around the restaurant. I also saw the look in your eyes when that ass had his hand on her.”
Scott only shook his head and finished his beer, remaining silent. They enjoyed the silence and after their beers were done, they went their separate ways to their own hotel rooms.