Rolling over to the edge of the bed, I take my leg off so I can lie comfortably with her. She sits up and watches me move before I lay back down and motion for her to come and lay with me, but she stops.
“Tell me what happened.” It’s a whisper, but she wants to know. Not because she’s nosey, or she wants to pry into my life, but because she wants to know me and this, this is a huge part of who I am… now. Plus, we’ve been together for a while. I think I should probably take my own advice that I’ve been giving to her for months and confide in someone. I mean, I used to go to therapy and some group meetings, but it’s been a while.
“We were in a Humvee,” I’m talking before I even realize it, “on patrol, when we were hit by an RPG. I was the only one who made it out.” It looks as if something registers to her.
“The medal with the cross at your mom’s house?” She asks, and I nod my head. “There’s got to be more to the story than that.” I sit quietly for a few minutes before she reaches over and looks at me. “Please…”
Looking up at her, I sigh before I grasp onto her and pull her into me. “I woke up after I had been blown out. I saw them closing in on us and got to my weapon…”
“You killed them all?” She whispers as she’s looking up at me in awe. I don’t need to tell her because she already knows.
“I called for help and secured the area until they got there.”
“How? With your leg?”
“I couldn’t feel it.” She gasps before she looks down at my stump of a leg. “It’s okay. It’s been years. It rarely hurts anymore.” I smile at her, and she nods her head.
“Rarely?”
“It’s weird. Some days I swear I can still feel it.”
“How long were you in…?”
“3 years.” She looks back down at it. “You can touch it if you want to, you little weirdo.” She laughs before she looks down and I lift it up so she can see it. She just looks at it, not touching, but not afraid of it. More like she’s worried about upsetting me.
“That’s some Medal of Honor shit.” She laughs as I just shake my head. “What?”
“Nothing.”
“Axe, tell me. What is it?”
“I told them not to put me in for it.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because I got lucky. Had I not been sitting in the back seat on the driver’s side. Had I not been leaning all the way back against the door because Mac was trying to hit me from the shit, I was talking to him. Had I not been sitting in that exact position. I wouldn’t be here right now. All I did was what I would expect of my brothers if they would have gotten lucky instead of me.”
“Jesus.” She whispers before she leans back down to me, and I wrap my arms around her. “You’re incredible.”
“I’m not, Babydoll. I was just put in a position that was to protect my brothers or die trying.”
“So, why come to the MC?”
“Um, my sergeant actually went to high school with Ash. I guess they were friends. Knew about the MC. Knew that I was into bikes. Told me where to find him if I wanted to.”
“Why? If he was friends with him in high school, then he knew about the MC.”
“Yeah, but he also knew that the MC and The Corps are similar in brotherhood. He also knew that I would probably need it.”
“I guess I could see that.” She shrugs and then lies back down on me before she smirks and looks back up. “Regret it, yet?”
“Nope.” She smirks at me, tilting her head as if she doesn’t believe me. “Babydoll, the last few months with you have been the best of my life. But if I regret it, even for a second, I wouldn’t be anywhere near worthy of being with you right now.” She smirks before she nods her head, laying down and I rub my hand up and down her arm.
I’m awakened by yelling from downstairs when I sit up. Somehow, I fell asleep with her a little while ago. “Babydoll,” I whisper over, “I’m going to go see what’s going on. I’ll be right back.” She sleepily looks up at me, a smile on her swollen lips as I lean down and consume them again.
I fucking love this woman.
I just need things to be perfect before I tell her. We can’t be made to hide. Because she deserves the world and I intend to fucking give it to her.
