Page 19 of Rescuing Mary

“She thinks we’re the dogs,” Lefty said between chuckles. “But you’re the ugliest dog out of all of us.”

And just like that, Mary’s humor vanished. She stepped out of Truck’s light hold and marched up to the other man. She poked him in the chest, punctuating each word with a finger to his sternum. “That’s not funny.”

“Hey,” Lefty said, taking a step away from the pissed-off woman and holding up his hands in capitulation. “I didn’t mean nothin’.”

“Then why’d you say it? Truck has a scar. Big fucking deal. It’s not okay to make fun of him for it. If Brain over there lost his leg, would you start calling him Crip instead? No. You’d respect him and everything he went through. Don’t make fun of the way Truck looks. It doesn’t make you cool. It makes you an asshole.”

Everyone was silent for a second, before Mary heard chuckles erupt all around her, which pissed her off even more. She spun, ready to tell off the others, but Truck was there. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against his chest. He hugged her close and lowered his head so he was speaking right into her ear. “Easy, Mare. He didn’t mean anything by it, and I didn’t take offense.”

“Well, you should,” Mary protested, squirming in his arms. “It’s not cool. You got injured serving your country and they should respect you for it, not make fun of you.”

“We do respect him,” Trigger interjected. “But more than that, we respect you for coming to his defense.”

Mary blinked and stopped struggling to get away from Truck. She stared at Trigger then met the eyes of the other men. They were all looking at her with expressions that ranged from humor to admiration.

Suddenly she blushed. Shit, she’d done it again, spoken without thinking. It would be a miracle if the men didn’t think she was a raging bitch.

She forced a smile on her face and grabbed hold of Truck’s forearm, digging her nails in to try to ground herself. “All right then. Now that that’s settled. Thank you for coming over and helping out today.”

Everyone nodded at her and mumbled various renditions of “of course” and “wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Truck kissed the top of her head and stepped to her side as a paramedic sauntered up to them. She was tall and slender with long brown hair, which was currently up in a ponytail on the back of her head.

Mary smiled, thinking she was coming to make sure she was okay—but instead the woman went up to Truck and smiled flirtatiously.

“My name is Ruth, and I wanted to make sure you were okay. Reports said that there were shots fired. Were you hit?”

Mary blinked at the woman. Shots fired? She hadn’t heard anything, but then again, she’d been inside the vault. The paramedic didn’t look at any of the other men standing around, and she certainly didn’t look at Mary. She only had eyes for Truck.

“I’m fine,” Truck told Mary, seeing her concern. “A piece of the door we busted down broke off as we were breaching the building.”

“Are you sure?” Ruth asked, ignoring the fact Truck wasn’t talking to her. “You have some dried blood on your head.” And with that observation, Ruth reached up and touched his temple with her fingertips.

Truck reacted instantly. He jerked away and glared at her with a look so intense, Mary would’ve stepped backward if she didn’t know Truck as well as she did. He looked like he was about two seconds away from hauling off and slugging the pretty paramedic.

Deciding she needed to do damage control, pronto, Mary stepped into Truck’s side and put an arm around his waist and looked at Ruth. “He’s okay. I’ll be sure to check him over when we get home.”

For once, the words didn’t come out snarky. It was obvious the other woman was attracted to Truck, but for some reason, Mary wasn’t intimidated by her. She felt kinda sorry for her. Truck was hot, and she couldn’t blame the other woman for flirting with him. But Truck was hers. He’d made that more than clear time after time.

“He should be checked out by a professional,” Ruth pushed. She fluttered her eyes up at Truck. “It won’t take long at all. We can just go over to the ambulance and I’ll take care of you.”

Mary felt Truck tense under her, and before she could run interference again, he spoke.

“Are you insane?”

Ruth blinked. “What?”

“Are. You. Insane? I’m standing here with my woman, who was inside the bank when those assholes decided to start waving guns around, and you come up to me, bold as you please, and hit on me?”

“Truck, it’s okay,” Mary soothed.

“It’s not okay,” he countered. “We’re obviously together. You’re in my arms, and she has the nerve to come on to me?”

“She didn’t mean anything by it. I mean, you’re so handsome, I don’t blame her for trying.”

Truck kept his eyes on Mary’s, dismissing the paramedic as if she wasn’t standing there. “Mare, I’m with you. I’m always gonna be with you. It’s not cool for anyone to try to pick me up, especially not in front of you.”

Mary turned into Truck and looked up at him, petting his chest with her hands soothingly. “Okay, Truck.”