Las Vegas Sidewinders: Drake (Book 2) (14 page)

“I’m trying!” she
whispered.

“I know.” He stroked
her hair. “We don’t have to have sex if it’s stressful for you.”

“It’s not—I just want
you
to make love to
me
. I don’t want to be in charge of anything—I can
barely figure out how I’m going to make it to court next month, much less take
charge of something intimate!”

“First thing on Monday,
I’m calling my attorney and I’m going to have him find you an attorney here in
D.C. We will find someone more experienced, meaner and much more expensive than
whomever you have now.”

“I don’t have an
attorney because there is no reason for him to fight me on this. I didn’t even
know Shay listed me as his beneficiary! I figured justice would prevail.”

“That was your first
mistake.” He shook his head. “Tell me what else I can pay for that will make
your life less stressful—I know you don’t want to, but do it anyway.”

“I’d like to see a
private therapist, not one on base.”

“Done. Have him or her
bill me directly—I’ll leave you the name and number of my accountant. She pays
all my bills and takes care of things when I’m on the road. I’ll let her know
she’ll be hearing from you. What else?”

“That’s it right now.”
She lifted herself onto her elbow and looked at him. “I don’t know what would
have happened to me if I hadn’t met you.” Big, fat tears rolled down her
cheeks.

“But you did meet me.”
He pulled her close again, rubbing her back. “Please don’t cry. I will do
everything in my power to make you happy. And I will help you pass your
physical so that you can stay in the Marines, even if you decide not to. I know
that you want to pass the test as a matter of pride—and we’ll find a way for
you to do it.”

“Why are you so nice to
me?!”

“Because I’m in love
with you and I’m going to do whatever it takes to make you love me back.” Then
he kissed her and she couldn’t think of anything else for a long, long time.

January seemed long and
cold. With the change in command, Erin had more to do and Colonel Nicoletti
expected a lot from her. More than anyone had since she’d returned to work, she
noticed. They’d become close quicker than she ever had with any other
commanding officer, and she wondered if their experience on Christmas Eve had
somehow helped the new relationship along. She liked him, and he talked often
about his wife and children. She also discovered that he was a big hockey fan
and now kept track of how Drake and the Sidewinders were doing.

She’d met with both a
new therapist and a new lawyer, and felt as though things were getting better.
Her new lawyer was terrifying—and Erin loved her. Somehow, Drake had found a
female ex-Marine who was now a successful lawyer in D.C. with a reputation for
destroying anyone who sued people in the military.

Her new therapist
specialized in PTSD and had several behavioral therapies in mind to help her
with the nightmares. They were also helping her prepare for Kate’s departure.
Kate had been paying some of the bills since her apartment in New York had been
rented out, so now Erin also had to rearrange her budget. Though Drake had
offered her money, she was going to try to make it on her own. Technically, she
had enough money to live on. She hadn’t bought an overly expensive townhouse
and she had used the time that Kate had been helping her to pay off the
appliances and furniture she’d bought. She had just paid off the appliances and
had two more payments on the bedroom furniture. She was also paying off the
last plastic surgeon she’d seen before she met Mack—$350 a month for six more
months. It seemed like forever.

As she re-worked the
numbers on paper during her lunch hour, Colonel Nicoletti came up behind her.

“Everything okay,
Captain?” He nodded at the spreadsheet she’d created. There was no doubt it was
a household budget and there was a negative balance at the bottom; anyone who’d
ever run a household knew that meant there was nothing left at the end of the
month.

“Seeing private plastic
surgeons costs a fortune,” she sighed. “And getting screwed in your divorce
means you have to buy a lot more things than you thought you would need. When
Kate moved in, I didn’t even have a wine opener! Every few weeks, I would go to
do something and realize I didn’t have a mixer or a vase or something, all of
which wound up on a credit card. Most of it is paid off, but now that Kate is
moving out…” Her voice trailed off. “Never mind. Did you need me?”

“No. I know it’s your
lunch hour.” He glanced at the barely touched sandwich. “You’re not eating,
Marine. Is everything okay?”

“My court date is
tomorrow and I guess I’m a little sick to my stomach.”

“Would you like me to
go with you?” His normally hard, focused eyes turned kind and supportive. “I
heard you got a kick-ass lawyer, but having me there might just put a little
fear of God in him.”

“Yes, sir, but I’m sure
it’s a huge inconvenience.”

“No, Captain. That’s
what Marines do—we have each other’s backs. And I have a surprise for you.” He
whistled and there was movement behind her. She turned and her eyes filled with
happy tears as she practically flew across the room to jump into the arms of
her friends. Eric Lopez was a big Hispanic teddy bear of a man and she wound up
in his arms first. She hadn’t been able to attend the ceremony in Puerto Rico
but she’d met his fiancée last year when they’d come through D.C. and she’d
been adorable.

“Eric! Ronnie!” She
turned to Ronnie Marshall and hugged him next. He’d been the one who taught her
to play poker and how to beat Shay, who’d always seemed to win. A few weeks
under Ronnie’s tutelage and everything had changed. Shay had threatened to make
Ronnie scrub toilets if he kept teaching her card tricks.

“Hey, babe.” Ronnie
kissed her cheek and then reached out to run his hand along her face. Normally
a fellow soldier would never do something so intimate, but having seen her
before Mack had fixed her, she knew it was a gesture of happiness and genuine
interest. “Damn, you look good. Liv said you found a great surgeon, but I
wasn’t expecting
this
.”

“She looks hot!” Eric
grinned. “And she got a new
boyfriend
!”

“Shut up!” She hugged Mark
Garrison last. He’d been Shay’s closest friend in the military and knew more
about her than probably anyone else, although they were not necessarily as good
of friends as she and Eric or Ronnie were.

“You do look great,” he
said.

“We’ll see after tomorrow.”

“That’s why we’re
here,” Eric said. “And Liv is flying in tonight.”

“What?!” She gaped at
them.

“That was a surprise,
dumbass!” Mark smacked Eric in the back of the head.

“Yo, bite me, fool!”
Eric talked like a gangbanger when he wanted to scare people, and though his
friends knew better than to take him seriously, it was always entertaining.

“You didn’t think we
were going to let that ass-hat say that Shay’s money should go to him? You
didn’t think we’d let you face him
alone
?” Ronnie folded his arms. “Hell
no. We got permission to be here to back you up.”

“Shay would kick my ass
up one side and down the other if he knew I wasn’t there for you.” Mark shook
his head. “Why didn’t you tell us things had gotten bad?”

“Dickhead actually came
on base and told you to watch your back?” Ronnie looked annoyed, all 160 pounds
of him. Though he was over six feet tall and ate around the clock, he never
gained weight, but could probably lift all four guys in the unit with one arm.
He was one of the strongest men she’d ever met. It was Ronnie who had picked up
Shay’s broken 200+ pound frame and put him in the back of the Hummer.

“He better not even
look at you cross-eyed,” Eric muttered. “I’ll go street cred on his ass!”

“You grew up in Sherman
Oaks!” Erin rolled her eyes. “You wouldn’t know street cred if it bit you on
the ass—obviously.”

“No, but I know how to
kick ass like a Marine!” he met her gaze squarely, showing her that all kidding
aside, they supported her.

“You guys are the
best.” She swiped at her tears. “I’m so happy to see you!”

“Why don’t you four go
find somewhere else to be annoying?” Colonel Nicoletti cleared his throat.
“I’ll cover your desk this afternoon, Captain.”

“But sir, I’ll be out
tomorrow too and—”

“And you need to relax
before you see that guy in court. Go, enjoy your friends. I’ll be there in the
morning.”

“Thank you, sir.” She
saluted him smartly and he replied in kind.

Since Eric, Mark and
Ronnie weren’t in uniform, they weren’t required to salute, but they did
anyway.

“So let’s
go
!”
Eric whined, like he’d always done while they were deployed and it was meal
time. “I’m
starving
!”

The others rolled their
eyes simultaneously. “You’re always hungry!” they said as one, laughing.

It was a late night,
sitting around Erin’s apartment with Kate, ordering pizza, drinking beer and
playing poker until the wee hours of the morning. At some point, Kate and Erin
went up to Erin’s bed and the boys took the floor, the couch and Kate’s bed. In
the morning, the guys were showered and dressed long before the girls came down
and Ronnie had taken the rental car to go get Liv, who was arriving at 7:30
a.m. on a red-eye from Hawaii.

Mark poured a cup of
coffee and handed it to Erin, who gave him a grateful smile. “Thanks,” she took
a sip and sighed. “God, I just want today to be done.”

“Are you going to give
him the dog tags?” Mark looked at her poignantly.

“No.” She shook her
head. “I was actually thinking of giving them to you.”

“To me?” Mark looked
startled.

“I want them to be with
someone who will cherish them, but it can’t be me anymore. I can’t hold on to
him and move on at the same time, but I’ll be damned if Clay gets them.”

“I’d be honored to have
them.” Mark looked away, his eyes misty. “He was the best friend I ever had.
And I don’t know what happened between the brothers, but I know that something
between them broke bad when Clay asked Shay to let him have you. I think at
first, Shay thought it was just a phase, but as time went on, he realized that
Clay didn’t love you and just wanted to hurt him, but he didn’t know what you
wanted. By the time he figured it out, it was too late. You know he loved you,
don’t you, Erin?”

“Not until minutes
before he died,” she whispered. “Although I was starting to think so.”

“You guys were doing
the right thing, not getting involved while we were out there. It would have
been complicated and dangerous, but I guess it already was.” He paused, looking
out the window. “I haven’t been around as much as I should have been—it’s been rough
since we lost him, but I know he expected me to keep an eye on you if anything
happened and I’m here now. I want you to know that. I’m sorry I haven’t been
here as much as I could have been—but with you having surgeries and stuff, I
didn’t know if you’d be embarrassed by my presence. Girls can be weird about
stuff like that.”

“It’s okay.” She
squeezed his arm. “I’ve always known you were there for me; I just didn’t know
if you wanted me to reach out. Everyone scattered after the accident.”

“Erin, tell me the
truth—why are you still here?”

“Here?” She frowned.
“In the Marines?”

“Yeah.”

“How can you ask me
that? I love the Marines!”

“Still? After
everything that’s happened, take your life back. You know if you pass the
physical and go active, you’ll be deployed again. That’s what our division
does. You’re not going to stay at a desk.”

“I know.” She looked
away.

“You
want
to go
back?” He was shaking his head at her in confusion. “Is that it? Why, Erin? I
wasn’t even hurt and I don’t want to go back—I can, I will, and I’m happy to do
my duty, but I’m also happy at my post here on U.S. soil.”

“Don’t you see? That’s
the only way I’ll ever get closure,” she whispered. “I
have
to go back.”

Drake paced outside the
courthouse. He had no idea what was going on inside because Kate hadn’t texted
him since they’d gone in. He’d landed at the airport and told her that he was
on the ground when she told him they were going in. He’d taken a cab straight
here but opted not to go inside. His presence might prove to be the kind of
negative attention Erin didn’t need, and he didn’t want to do anything to hurt
her case. Even though he’d gladly give her the money, he knew it was more
important for her to do what Shay had wanted.

Frustrated, he looked
at his phone for what seemed like the hundredth time. He hadn’t dared move too
far away because he knew they would be coming out the front; Kate had told him
she would make sure of it. It was almost 11:00, which meant they’d been in
there two hours already. How long did it take to decide that Shay was in his
right mind when he’d made Erin his beneficiary?

He didn’t know what he
would do if she lost. He hoped by having the members of her unit with her,
along with himself and Kate, she would be okay. It had taken some work to find
everyone, but Liv had helped. She herself had arrived just in time to go in
with them, but he hadn’t heard from her either.

He put the phone in his
pocket and looked up to see a group of people emerging. He could already see
Kate’s big smile and Erin was literally on some guy’s back, riding piggyback.
He couldn’t help but stare at the group for a moment, feeling a sense of being
the outsider, as she celebrated with her friends. The man carrying her was
laughing and her hair whipped out behind her as they came outside into the
freezing cold and wind.

Drake knew the moment
Erin saw him. Her smile faltered for a moment and was immediately replaced with
a huge grin as she shouted his name. The heavyset Hispanic man put her down and
she ran to him.

“You’re here!” She
threw herself into his arms. “You came! We won! The judge said the money would
be released to me by the end of the week! You really came!” She ended with a
huge breath and kissed him.

“Of course I came. I
wouldn’t miss this, but I couldn’t be sure Coach would let me out of practice
today. I’m meeting the team in Ottawa tomorrow, so you’ve got me for 24 hours.”

“I’m so excited!” She
tugged his hand. “Come meet my friends.”

She pulled him to where
the group was waiting with her lawyer and Colonel Nicoletti. “You guys, this is
Drake Riser. Drake, meet Lieutenants Mark Garrison, Eric Lopez, Olivia Mitchell
and Ronnie Marshall.”

Drake shook their hands
and hugged Olivia.

“It was great of you to
fly me out,” Liv told him. “Haven’t seen my girl in a while!”

“It was my pleasure. I
wanted this to be a good day for Erin, no matter what the judge ruled.”

As they stood there,
her hand in his, he felt her suddenly squeeze more tightly and he glanced at
her. He followed her now somber gaze and realized Clay was coming out and down
the steps. Several people were with him and the moment he spotted Erin, he
headed in their direction. Drake instinctively moved in front of her, causing
the rest of her friends to do the same.