Page 65 of Operation K-9 Brothers
“That really is awesome.I’m headed over to Jack’s now.If he doesn’t have plans, we can all three go celebrate.”
“Great.I’m gonna grab a shower.Call me after you talk to him.”
“I will.”
“Nic,” he said when she reached the door.
She glanced back at him.“Yeah?”
“Thanks.I know I’ve been a pain in the ass, but I’m working on being a better me.”
So much to thank Jack for.“And I’m really proud of you.”She walked back and hugged him.There had been a time when she and her parents had thought he wouldn’t live long enough to see him grow into a young man.She’d been so exasperated and annoyed with him for the last year or two that she’d forgotten to be thankful she still had her brother.“I love you,” she whispered.
He slipped his arms around her.“Love you back.”
Leaving him to shower and dress, she headed to Jack’s house.He wasn’t home.Could a doctor’s appointment last this long?Possibly if there was a problem.Her worry for him intensified.
She peeked in the front window.“Hey, girl,” she said at seeing Dakota staring back at her.If he didn’t have his dog with him, then he must still be at the doctor’s.Deciding she wasn’t leaving until she saw him, she settled on his porch swing, took out her phone and brought up her Kindle app.Thirty minutes later she realized she was spending more time watching the road than reading, so she set her phone down next to her.
“Where are you, Jack?”
Jack was stinking drunk.Where locationwise he’d arrived at this condition he wasn’t exactly sure.He looked around him, narrowing his eyes in an attempt to see through his blurry vision.He’d stopped here sometime after leaving the VA hospital, the doctor’s words a fucking echo in his fucking head.
Dr.Patel had peered over the rim of his glasses and said the words that had knocked Jack on his ass.“The muscles in your shoulder and arm are permanently damaged.You will never be back to one-hundred percent.”
Permanently damaged.Permanently damaged.Permanently damaged.
He would never return to his team, no matter how much they needed him to.He leaned his elbows on the bar and dug his fingers into his scalp, wishing he could scrub those words out of his mind.
Where the hell was he, anyway?He remembered driving around for an hour—or maybe days—while ignoring the ringtone he’d assigned to Nichole.Each time the Temptations’ “MyGirl” had sounded, he’d picked up his phone, fully intending to answer.He’d promised her he’d call her after his doctor’s appointment, and he was a man who kept his promises.Well, he used to be that man before the doctor had said the fucking words that had Jack now sitting in a...He blearily peered around again.As best he could tell he was in a biker bar.
Hooyah!
Each time Nichole had called, he’d wanted to talk to her.Needed to.But he hadn’t been able to because then he’d have to admit what a failure he was to his team...to her.The military was all he knew, and now he had no future, nothing to offer her.She deserved a man who had a future, a place in this world.That wasn’t him.Not anymore.
He slammed his empty beer bottle down on the bar.“Again!”
The bartender warily approached him.“Maybe you’ve had enough?”
Jack growled.“I say when I’ve had enough.”
A miniscule voice he was determined to ignore tried telling him that he didn’t act like this.But he was entitled to act like an ass.Not every day a doctor got to ruin your life.The doctor’s report would probably land on his commander’s desk bright and early tomorrow morning.
Goodbye fucking Jack.You’re no use to your team anymore.A farewellhooyahto you, boyo.
“Saw your truck outside, thought I’d have a word with you.”
Jack grinned at hearing the voice of Nichole’s ex.He swiveled on the barstool—barely managing not to fall off—and met the gaze of the man he’d very much like to put a hurt on for all the times the prick had hurt Nichole.
“Got nothing to say,” he said, glad that he’d managed not to slur his words.He wouldn’t start something, but if the asshole wanted to mix it up, Jack’s black mood made him ready for a fight.Before his doctor’s appointment, he would have worried about doing more damage to his arm.Now, he gave zero fucks.
“Then you just sit there and listen, ’cause I got something to say.Stay away from Nichole.”
“Go to hell.”Done with this conversation, Jack turned back to his still empty bottle.
“I’m talking to you,” Gregory said, pushing Jack’s shoulder, the damaged one.
“Touch me one more time, asshole, and you’ll need to see a doctor about your broken fingers.”
