I lie in my bed tossing and turning. I hated not being with my team. This gaping wound was just a fucking scratch and now I’m getting benched for a while. Still, the doctor believes I wouldn’t be able to keep up with the antibiotics if I went back out there. He says it’s to prevent infection and I hate to admit it but he was right. I probably wouldn’t take my medication or be on top of cleansing the deep gash on my back. On top of it, the TBI was the cherry on top of my injuries. I hated these protocols. I’m healed already and I can’t go against the rules or it would be the end of my career.
It’s two in the morning and all I can think about is my team, our next mission, and Ari.
This is a first for me. A fucking girl added to my list of worries. I’ve been a selfish asshole all my life. An unfamiliar feeling slithers through my chest and I hate it. I resent her for it. When Paul made us all promise him to watch over his mother and sister if he died, I feel the guilt wash over me like a big ocean wave crashing into my soul.
I hadn’t kept my promise and I was always a man of my word. The other guys kept tabs on them but I hadn’t. I stayed away, I’ve never wanted to worry about anyone but myself. Running into her at the bar, taking her to my house, all I wanted to do was fill her up with my cock. As I got to know her, I knew she wasn’t going to be easy to forget. She’s not going to be like these other girls I fuck and move on, with nothing attached. But then finding out she’s Paul’s sister, everything changed.
I knew the minute I met her, a pure innocence was attached to her and I couldn’t help but feel like I have to taste it. Everything about her intrigues me. The way she smiles, the way she laughs, the way she smells, it’s like a sweet perfume. And her short frame.
Paul and Ari look nothing alike. Paul was tall. Almost as tall as me. He had brown hair and was fair-skinned, his nose had a strong bridge. Ari is olive-skinned. She has long black hair with honey-brown eyes that almost look hazel. She’s short and has beautiful full cheeks I want to bite. Full soft lips that I’ve pictured grabbing with my teeth. Heat and blood rush to my core at the thought of me, breaking her.
I don’t know how it happened but I felt like I had to immediately take care of her, watch over her. I never knew how to express my feelings and I’m not about to start now. I had been so cold to her at the hospital but I couldn’t help it. I don’t want her to be here. I don’t want her to see what happens when there’s a war going on. I don’t want her so close to me when I’m working. My selfishness pushes through and now I have to worry about her.
I was in complete shock to see her that night in the emergency room. I knew she was a nurse but not in a million years would I have imagined that we would reunite on a fucking deployment. In Iraq. In a Warzone.
I run my hand through my beard sitting on the edge of the side of my bed. Rereading the harsh text messages from Kane, one of the men on my team. He was also close friends with Paul. He was filling me in on everything that was going on at the moment and I felt anxious to just try and escape this place. Against the doctor’s orders. But that would land me in a massive amount of trouble and I didn’t want to risk losing my job.
I’m in my boxers, sweat on my forehead and chest. Fuck, it’s so hot in this place. It’s two in the morning and I want to find Ari.
Maybe I can keep convincing her to leave this place. Leave this Warzone and go back home, far away from this type of evil. I was going to be here for a while on post and I feel like I need to see her again before I leave back to my team. Who knows when I would return back to post? My work schedule is always all over the place. I need to fight against this overwhelming attraction toward her. To fight against this drowning need to be watching over her.
I need to protect her though, we’re on a battlefield and she needs to open her naive little eyes and go back home. I don’t want her to see what I’ve seen. I want to shield her from it.
Fuck, what the hell is going on with me?
I made a promise to Paul. Maybe it didn’t matter to me back then but it wouldn’t hurt to start now and keep my promise. Unfortunately, I know somewhere behind the rational parts of my head, it’s not just the promise that sucks me in. It’s the sinister side of me that wants to indulge in my dark desires and take her.
