Page 19 of Shane
Kelsey leaned in, her fingers circling his wrist. “Have you eaten today?” She might be timid and quiet, but she’d gotten to the root of the problem.
“No, ma’am, but I’ve got sandwiches in my truck and—”
“My treat!” Everlee exclaimed. “Breakfast in the cafeteria everyone. Now, big guy! Let’s go.”
By then, Shane knew he was standing in a circle of, well, people who might become friends. No name-calling, except for Everlee calling Alex and Beau jerks, and him big guy, which was weird. There was no judgment on any of these people’s faces. No pity in their eyes, either. Only relief that he was okay, and that was, well, different.
Doc Fitz was standing behind him, shrugging Beau’s hand away and growling at him to, “Back off, honey. I’m working,” as she ran her gloved fingertips up the back of Shane’s neck. “He’s got a knot the size of a golf ball back here, and its bleeding. Might have a concussion.” She torqued her body around Shane’s shoulder to peer up at him. “Did you hit your head when you fell? Did you black out?”
She had to know he hadn’t just fallen. More like checked out and collapsed like a damned sissy. But the second he answered with a definite, “No, ma’am,” Everlee piped up with, “Yes, he did, McKenna. His head bounced. I saw it and I heard it. He hit the floor so hard I thought he cracked it. And he definitely blacked out.”
“Did not.” And now he sounded childish. But Jesus, she was getting up in his grill. The woman needed to cease and desist.
“Did, too,” Alex growled.
Well, damn. There was no winning with these people.
“That does it,” Doc Fitz declared, her hand firmly cuffing his wrist. “You’re coming with me, Shane. Beau, please make sure he doesn’t fall again.”
Oh, for shit’s sake.“No, really. I’m not going to fall, everyone. I’m okay. Just need to catch my breath,” Shane insisted, needing his girls to stop clinging to his legs like they did after his meltdowns. That would make his lie more credible. He didn’t like being the center of attention. He was a loner. Didn’t these people understand that about former snipers? He eased away from Doc Fitz and Beau and shook his dogs off his leg with a firm, “Sit.”
“But you need to eat, big guy,” Everlee reminded him. “If you’re not going with Doc Fitz, I’m taking you to the cafeteria. My treat. Buckle up and prepare to pig out.”
“No, thanks, ma’am. I’m good,” he told her in no uncertain terms. Hell, he’d come in here a badass and was walking out a pansy ass. How’d that happen?
She cocked her head back like she was prepared to argue, but Doc Fitz beat her to it. “Are you sure you’re okay?” The stethoscope from her neck was now stuck in her ears and she was sliding the business end of it between the buttons of his shirt like she had a right to examine him in public. Cocking her head while she gave a listen, she told everyone to, “Shush people. Give me a few seconds of silence, will you?”
Shane obeyed and kept quiet along with everyone else. No sense in arguing with the doc.
“I’m not hearing any irregularities,” she told him after a long, quiet minute, her eyes incredibly intense. “But rules are rules. Come to my office for a thorough check-up, as soon as you’re done with whatever Alex wants you to do, today. He thinks he’s the boss, and we let him think that, but we all know better, don’t we?”
Shane had no idea how to answer that loaded question, so he kept inhaling and exhaling as steadily as he could, wishing everyone would go back to work and leave him alone. But then he thought better. He’d been living the solitary life since his last missions with Staff Sergeant Carl Schnitzler. At the time and considering the country, he’d been okay with his solitary life. But these people were his new TEAM. Which meant they were one step away from becoming his one and only family. Yeah, they weren’t blood relatives, but neither was Carl. Yet he’d been the closest thing to a friend Shane ever had.
Begrudgingly, he admitted his biggest hang-up. “I’m still back there, some days. Back in Kabul. At the airport. Triggers are…” He cast his gaze at the ceiling where a terrorist dressed in black might still be hiding behind all those sprayed black pipes and shit. “God, they’re everywhere. Even… up there.”
And around corners.
Beneath freeway overpasses.
In shadows.
Hell, even in sunlight.
When everyone’s gaze lifted upward, Beau chuckled darkly, his eyes half-closed as if he too saw the same potential threat. “Fuck, that ain’t nothing. Try watching your brother drop through what looked like a solid concrete floor and then land on a bed of rusty fuckin’ spikes.” He dropped his chin and his fierce gaze stabbed Shane. “Thought Maverick was a goner that day. He had filthy-as-shit rebar sticking through his gut, for Christ’s sake, and his leg, and… and shit!”
Shane nodded, having seen worse atrocities, but so damned thankful for the angst pouring off Doc Fitz’s husband. Even his f-bombs spelled camaraderie in harsh, bold caps. It offered a link between the newbie Shane was and the war-hardened TEAM warriors these men and women were. They were him. They understood.
Beau shook his head as if that helped get his brain back on track. “Seeing him down there bleeding to death still comes back on me sometimes, and I can be a mean, stupid son of a bitch when it does. Next time I lose my shit, you have my back, okay? Remind me that Maverick’s okay. That he’s alive today, and that bitch Catalina Montego is fuckin’ dead. Understood?”
Wow, the vehemence. That Shane understood. “Yeah, yeah, sure, I will.”Once I know who Maverick and Catalina Montego are.
“And…” Doc Fitz breathed. “Understand you’re not alone, Shane. Every single one of us has been through one or two levels of Hell in our lives. We don’t judge because we know exactly what you just went through. Traumatic events leave imprints on human psyches. On everyone’s, not just yours. Yes, setbacks are hard, and sometimes we think we’ll never forget what we’ve seen or forgive what we’ve done. But brains do heal, and in time, yours will, too.”
“And we’re all here for you,” Kelsey added timidly. “We’ve got your back.”
“Anytime,” Alex growled.
“Any day,” Beau declared.