“I walked into a drug deal taking the trash out at my brother’s bar,” Liam answered. He had learned when dealing with Parker the shortest answer was always the best. It required less memorization of details. The lesson had served him well over the years.
“Mmm, I have a hard time believing your brother would allow drug deals behind his bar.” Liam had forgotten they had met one of the times Parker’s family had come to visit. “Go have it checked out. Don’t want to have you more of a liability to your men than an asset.”
“Yes, sir,” Liam answered, turning to head to the base hospital.
“Oh, Lieutenant.”
“Yes, sir,” he said, stopping at the door to the commander’s office.
“As soon as you get a release to return to duty, you come back so we can discuss how I expect the officers under my command to act during leave.”
“Yes, sir.” With a sigh, Liam quietly closed the door behind him.
When he woke up this morning, at no time did he think his Monday could only get better with a nice ass reaming from his commander.
Maybe it would match the twenty-minute tirade from his oldest brother that he got the pleasure of yesterday when he finally got to his apartment. All he had wanted to do was sleep. But he knew whatever Parker had been threatening to do in the message before Astrid yelled at him would probably come to fruition if he didn’t answer the phone.
After apologizing to his oldest nephew for not giving him a proper goodbye (apparently the youngest one couldn’t care less), he called Ronan. He couldn’t remember ever getting bawled out by his twin, but the sound of disappointment in his voice had been worse.
The one person he wanted to talk to more than any other, he hadn’t had the guts to call. After two days of silence, he assumed Chiara didn’t want to talk to him either.
“Hey, Lieutenant.” One of the men under him caught up to him halfway to medical. Liam had chosen to walk, though slowly, since his car was an equal distance in the opposite direction.
“Hey, Sarge.”
“Did you choose to get between the legs of the wrong daughter or wife?” the sergeant asked with a laugh. Liam liked the man. He was a damn good leader, but sometimes his humor left something to be desired.
“It was a sister actually,” he mumbled. He might as well be honest, knowing the rumors otherwise would flourish. It wasn’t like he could avoid his men seeing his face anyway.
“Big fucker?”
“SWAT officer.” The man chuckled for a second, shaking his head.
“You know how to pick ‘em, sir. Well, I’d better get back. See you at the briefing later.” With a wave, Sergeant Craig jogged off.
Liam entered the base hospital shortly after leaving the sergeant. It took him convincing four different people that he wasn’t filing any charges, including the military policeman brought in.
They took so many x-rays, he was positive he would glow in the dark for a week. He finally got the paperwork stating he was cleared for duty.
He returned to his commander’s office and stood at attention for the fifteen-minute lecture about officer conduct. By lunchtime, his face and abdomen hurt so bad he debated whether he wanted to eat or try to find an empty couch somewhere to lie down. He decided his growling stomach won out, so he headed to the food court.
Settling slowly into one of the tables, he stared at the tacos he had wanted. They reminded him of sitting on Chiara’s desk sharing lunch. Everything reminded him of Chiara. It made his chest hurt.
Somehow, he made it through the various meetings he had scheduled that afternoon. Swinging through one of the fast-food places on the way back to his apartment, he was relieved to finally collapse on his couch. Taking out the large container of macaroni and cheese he had decided on for dinner, he checked his phone.
He had already responded to Astrid’s inquiry about how he was doing earlier. Ro’s text just wanted to see if he was going to catch the game tonight. It didn’t require an answer right now. Still none from Chiara.
Tuesday brought much of the same. The afternoon he spent making sure his seventeen men and three women, including his other sergeant, were fully prepared to ship out the next morning.
Some form of the story about why he was sporting a black eye and busted lip must have made its way around based on the seventeen looks of understanding and the three of scorn from the female soldiers he received. It promised to be a very long deployment.
On Wednesday, he got to the airport in Lawton early to avoid having to see all of the teary goodbyes as his troops’ significant others dropped them off. Since there were only twenty-three of them in all, including both sergeants and himself, the Army had decided to fly them to a base in Georgia via commercial airlines. They would join an infantry division on a troop transport overseas.
After half an hour, his sergeants reported that they were all present, so he led them through the check-in process. Once they reached the gate in the small airport, he dismissed them to use the restrooms or scavenge the vending machine. All returned quickly when it was announced that boarding had begun. They had a short flight to Oklahoma City. There was a layover before boarding a larger plane to Georgia.
Liam noticed, as they deplaned at Will Rogers Airport, that it was busier than he had expected for a Wednesday. Checking their flight information, he released his platoon for an hour to grab snacks or something to read from the limited shops. He debated briefly getting something, but decided it sounded like too much effort.
Finding a quiet place along one of the walls next to their gate, he sat on the floor. He pulled out his phone. No messages. Fishing his earbuds out of one of his pockets, he started one of the movies he had downloaded for the trip. He nodded as Sergeant Jacobson joined him before returning to his movie.
