She heard him run away and the pain became worse. Marie managed to get to her knees and pull the cordless phone off the table, not caring that the base crashed to the floor. She called the only person she knew would save her. Brody. Brody would come and take care of her. He answered on the second ring and she whimpered in relief as she heard his voice.
“Hey, babe, what’s up? You caught me just as Rafe and I were ready to show these guys how it’s done,” Brody said.
“Help me,” she whimpered. “Brody, come home.” His voice instantly took on alarm. “Honey, what’s wrong? Shit, are you in labor? It’s early, way too early.”
“Charlie, he broke down the door…I hit my stomach…he punched me,” she managed to say.
“Hold on, baby, I’m coming. Do you hear me? I’m coming. Stay on the phone,” Brody yelled, then he spoke to Rafe, “Call nine-one-one. Her fucking ex broke into the goddamn house. She’s hurt.”
“Marie, are you there, sweetheart? I’m on my way. The ambulance is en route.” His breath came faster, panting in and out and she knew he was running.
Pain radiated through her stomach again and she moaned in agony.
“Brody, it hurts.”
“It’s okay, baby. You’ll be okay. Grayson will be okay,” he said into the phone frantically.
His voice seemed farther away now, shrouded in a cloud of haze and she sank blissfully into a darkness that was swallowing her mind. “Marie!” was the last word she heard Brody shout before she succumbed to unconsciousness. Maybe when she woke he’d be there and it would have all been a dream.
“I’m going to fucking kill that bastard,” Brody snarled and paced up and down the room.
“Calm down, Brody, you don’t want her to wake up and see you acting like this,” Rafe said.
He couldn’t even bear to look at her in the bed. She was lying there looking so fragile, a bright purple bruise covering half of her face and her eye was swollen shut. Her stomach…well, baby Grayson was okay. The fast thumping sound that filled the room was his heart beat, steady and strong. The doctors said they had managed to stop the contractions. The good part was both mother and son would be fine and upon hearing that, he’d taken the breath he seemed to have been holding for hours. The bad part was the rage that burned in him was unlike anything he’d felt before.
He wanted to kill Charlie. He wanted to see the man dead for what he did to his Marie. For that, he paced like a caged bear, wanting to tear everything apart with his bare hands. Ivy sat beside the bed, silent tears trickling down her cheeks and when she took a breath it hitched and she blew it out slowly, trying to calm herself. Rafe kept looking at her worriedly and he had every right to. The four—almost seven—of them were like their own little family, and no one messed with their family.
Marie moaned from the bed and whimpered, “Brody.” He was by her side instantly and took her hand. “Baby, I’m here. It’s okay, everything is just fine.”
She slowly opened her good eye, and the other was just a slit because of the swelling. “Grayson, the baby. I can’t feel him!”
“Shh, he’s fine, you’re fine. The doctors just gave you something to make sure you wouldn’t have contractions and so you’d sleep,” he explained gently.
“Oh, it was all my fault. I was trying to get Charlie to leave. I goaded him and told him I was pregnant and happy.” Marie licked her lips. “He didn’t like that and kicked the door down. Everything started hurting and he hit me.”
Brody kissed her gently. “No, baby, he came to our home and he is the one to blame. He could’ve walked away, but he didn’t. Now I’m going to hurt him.”
“Oh, Brody, no,” she moaned. “Let the police handle it, don’t get in trouble. Please don’t go, don’t leave me.”
“I won’t get in trouble and I won’t leave you, honey,” he wiped the tears that had started trailing down her cheeks and kissed her eyes gently.
“You rest, okay, sweetheart? We’ll be right here.”
“Rafe, watch him. Don’t let him get in trouble, not over Charlie, not over him…” Her voice trailed away as she fell asleep again. The medicine in her IV kept her relaxed and calm but didn’t affect the baby.
Brody looked over at Ivy. ‘Watch over her until I get back, will you?” Ivy threw an alarmed look at Rafe and then nodded. “I’ll keep my eye on her. From what I remember her saying, Charlie liked to hang out at
Whiskey River Bar.
The one with turtle racing and hacky sack and all that crap. Make him regret what he did to her. Rafe, don’t let him get arrested.
Marie will have all our asses on a skewer.” Rafe smiled and kissed her. “Ma’am, yes, ma’am.” Brody nodded, half relieved and half surprised that she wasn’t going to raise a fuss about him going to find Charlie. Marie was hurt and upset and she didn’t understand that as a man he had to defend her. He had to take a piece out of the man who attacked the woman he loved. He and Rafe left the room and he took one look back at Marie in the bed and closed his eyes. Coming to the house and finding her on the kitchen floor was etched in his memory. Her face contorted in pain and even then the swelling of her face was evident. Even then all she thought about was the baby.
Don’t
worry about me. Take care of Grayson.
A mother’s protection was fierce like a mother lion fighting for her cub. Well, he was daddy lion and Charlie was going to feel his rage, every last bit of it as he pounded him into a pulp.
The night air was cool as they strode outside and Brody didn’t even pause to take in a deep breath. By the time Rafe got into the passenger seat, he was pulling out of the parking lot with tires squealing.
“Damn, Brody, let me get my seatbelt on,” Rafe growled.
“Tell me if that was Ivy you wouldn’t be on a rampage trying to tear trees out of the ground,” Brody snarled.
“Yes, I would, that’s why I’m going to let you get your fight on so you can satisfy that testosterone fueled anger you’ve got going,” Rafe said.
“But you’re going to do this the right way. He is going to throw the first punch and then you’re defending yourself. I don’t need you up on a court martial with our move getting ready to happen.”
Brody tried to breathe past his anger. “Just stop me before I kill him. I could do it easily without a second thought.” Rafe slapped his hand on his shoulder. “That’s why Ivy let me tag along, so I can be the voice of reason. And because if she wasn’t pregnant she would be in this backseat with a baseball bat.” The thought of Ivy swinging on men twice her size made Brody smile.
The women in their lives were spitfires.
He knew exactly where
Whiskey River
was and soon was pulling into the little dead-end bar in a bad part of town. He’d partied there once and met some women who weren’t much to look at or not someone you wanted to take home to mom. Needless to say he went home alone, and wanted to sanitize himself after the experience.
Whiskey River
was a place for cheap beer and women that were loose in morals and body. Needless to say, it was one of the reasons he started throwing parties so his guys wouldn’t need to be disinfected after a night at the flea-ridden bar. They stepped into the little bar and instantly stood out. The music was a tad too loud and the eyes that stared at them were either interested or wary—or both.
Rafe went up to the bartender who was also the owner and whispered in his ear. He nodded and Brody caught the subtle move as he pointed out Charlie. The bartender was an ex-Marine that tried to run a clean, honest place with no drugs, just didn’t have the best clientele. But he was well known for not taking any bullshit and definitely not playing bodyguard to someone like Charlie. Brody assessed the man as he moved forward.
Charlie was about two inches shorter than him but broader across the back. He threw a shot of whiskey back and rubbed the back of his neck and shifted his weight. Brody saw the weakness in his right leg and worked it out in his head how he could use that to his advantage. He pulled up a stool next to Charlie and ordered a drink while Rafe stood close by. He took a sip of the whiskey sour and grimaced because it was made with more whiskey than mix. He pushed it aside because he certainly didn’t want alcohol on his breath when he went back to the hospital. Marie didn’t need that.
“So, you’re Charlie?” he said casually.
“Yeah. What’s my name got to do with you?” Charlie shot back.
“Just want to make sure I have the right guy, the one who kicked in the door to my home and punched my very pregnant girlfriend.” Brody’s voice was deadly.
“You’re the sucker who knocked up that whore.” Charlie roared with laughter and it took everything out of Brody not to beat his head into the bar. “I’m sorry to tell you, buddy, that chick’s been used and abused.”
“No, used and abused by you, you mean,” Brody said and raised his voice so others could hear. “It takes a big man to use his fists on a woman who is half his size and pregnant. Kind of like stacking the deck in his favor. Am I right or am I right?”
The woman standing beside him and who he was talking with before Brody came over moved away with disgust in her eyes. The bar flies at
Whiskey River
weren’t known to be partial, and to have them walk away from you was a new kind of low.
“Where you going, baby?” he said with the charm of a snake.
“Over here where the real men are. I don’t drink with abusers. You hit a pregnant woman.” She shook her head. “You’re a fucking creep.”
“Poor Charlie, you’re batting zero, but what else could we expect from a pathetic lowlife like you?” Brody chuckled. “Washed out of the Army because you’re a bit too unstable in the field. Oh, yeah, I heard about you.
Too scared to fight so you pretended to go insane and when you did go out you ended up under a Humvee crying while your platoon was fighting for their lives.”
The bartender laughed. “Oh, if you hear him tell it, he saved them all.” Other people laughed and Charlie snarled at Brody. “Shut your mouth or I’ll shut it for you.”
“I’m no woman, Charlie, even though I think a few of
these
ladies could take
you
on,” Brody said. “I just wanted to see the man who hit my girl before the cops pick him up and take him away. If the Army made you cry, you ain’t seen nothing yet. In prison, they’ll make you cry and sing a whole different tune when those guys are tagging your ass.”
“Fuck you,” Charlie shouted. “All you motherfuckers wish you were like me.”
Brody shook his head. “A loser? I’d say no to that. I’ve got a woman and a baby on the way. Even when you hit and beat her, you never got her to feel lower than you. When you cheated, it hurt for a while until she met a real man and, in case you didn’t know, I meant me. You’re a footnote in her past, something not even worth remembering. She’s right. I don’t even need to hit you, you’re pathetic enough as is. Why waste my time on garbage like you?”
Charlie let out a roar when Brody turned his back on him and then he felt Charlie’s hand on his shoulder.
Thank you
, he thought with evil delight and let himself be swung around. He caught Charlie’s punch on the chin, but he didn’t really feel it with the adrenaline that was rushing through him. The next swing he blocked and had the satisfaction of planting his fist in the center of Charlie’s gut. The man gagged, ready to spill the alcohol he consumed on the floor. Brody kicked his injured knee and relished in his scream. He knocked Charlie to the floor and began rearranging his face until Rafe caught his hand. Charlie was moaning in pain on the floor. He dragged his hand away from Rafe, ready to hit him some more when Rafe caught him in a half nelson and dragged him up.
“He’s had enough,” Rafe said sharply.
“Not nearly, but I’ll let the cops finish this piece of garbage,” Brody said and turned to the bartender. “I trust you can hold on to him until the police arrive?”
The bartender nodded. “Already been called for starting a bar fight, and lo and behold, it’s also the man who committed an assault tonight. Go figure. Get out of here, Marines.”
Rafe gave him a mock salute. “Thanks.”
Brody let him drive back to the hospital because his hand was actually beginning to ache. He flexed it and thought about getting an X-ray when they got back but decided against it. He’d wrap it when he got back to the house. In the room, Ivy was still sitting there keeping watch and she looked up when they walked in.
“One bruise on your chin. I hope he looks worse,” she commented.
Brody smiled. “Yes, he does, and I wish I could have snapped his neck.”
Ivy nodded. “Good. Now you watch over her so we can go get some sleep.”
“I’ll have the house secured and any mess cleaned up before she gets home,” Rafe commented. “I already had Monroe finish the exercise with our boys and they did well. They’ll be ready. I’ll get you cleared on leave for the next few weeks.”
“Thanks. I mean it. Both of you are truly great friends,” Brody said gratefully.
“No, we’re family,” Ivy replied and kissed him on the cheek. “I’ll be back tomorrow to see how she is.”
“You should be resting—”
Ivy cut off his words. “I can rest here just as well as I can at home. I’ll be here tomorrow.”
He knew better than to argue, so Brody just nodded. “I’ll see you guys then.”
The door closed silently behind them and he turned, taking Marie’s hand in his own and kissing it gently. She murmured and struggled to wake while he crooned words of love softly, trying to settle her. Grayson’s heartbeat was steady and strong and he felt more relief than he thought possible in this kind of situation. He almost lost them tonight and Brody had never known fear like that in his life. He’d faced insurgents being pinned down before and had fought for his life, but nothing compared to the thought of losing them.
“You didn’t leave,” she murmured, her eyes still closed.
“Of course not, baby, I told you I’d be right here,” he replied. He’d clear up the white lie later. Right now, she was most important. “I love you sweetheart and no one will ever hurt you again.”
“Grayson is okay?” she asked. “I feel so numb like I’m wrapped in clouds and I can’t tell.”
“He’s fine, darling, he is perfectly fine.” Brody kissed her hand over and over again.