Sneak Peak – Avenge Her
These military heroes don’t fall in love easily, but when they give their heart, they’ll do anything for the woman who has it. I wrote Avenge Her for the 1 in six women who understand that you might not remember the date, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. It is for every woman who wanted someone to protect her, and will cheer on Darby as he avenges Maddie. Here’s a sneak peak with my love to you. K
Chapter 1 - What the?
Darby
How on earth did he wind up in the back seat of an SUV with a sleeping baby holding onto his finger for dear life? The last twenty-four hours should have ended up with Captain Darby Greenwood pool side at some beach resort, a beer in one hand and a gorgeous woman trying to convince him to buy her a drink, or ten. Or, he should be camping in the national park, away from civilization and technology. He could have even dropped in on his adopted dad and taken the kids out fishing or to kick a football around.
Instead, he was nursing a swollen fist, listening to Captain Doug Whitehead and his wife chatter about family and friends. He had no problems with going south to Rockhampton for his leave pass, he just didn’t expect to be playing third wheel in the back seat of a car.
Then again, after last night, he was in no mood to knock back his mate’s offer of a soft bed and home cooking.
It wasn’t as if his unit intended to get into trouble. One night on the town, local bar with cold beer and hot food. A pool table ready to take their money and a well stocked karaoke machine ready to turn any drunken Army guy into a lead singer.
With his cropped dirty blonde hair and fit body, Darby didn’t have to work hard to attract the ladies. Hell, he had two of them actively vying for his attention, only he wanted more substance than silicone. If only one of them had the brains or personality to hold his attention, he’d be pool side or at a camp site by now with memories of a night with no sleep.
His guys were all having a great time, but at the expense of some of the locals who always struggled to compete with the Defence boys when they hit the town. Despite having a couple of beers, Darby sensed the trouble before it happened. He expected it to be blows between some of the guys, not at all expecting that he’d be the one starting something because of a girl.
Over the shoulder of one of his would-be dates, he watched a large, heavily bearded, slovenly dressed guy bail up a petite young woman at the bar. Darby watched as she tried to edge around the guy until he pinned her to the bar. In a crowded place, the bouncer was no where to be seen and the barman was looking helpless. Darby caught his eye and gave a quick nod.
“Excuse me, ladies, I’ll be right back,” he didn’t wait for a reply, already he could see the situation getting out of control with some of the guy’s mates starting to join in to harass the woman who’d been having a hard enough time trying to get away from one scum bag. Just as he pushed his way to the bar, he saw a hand go up her skirt. Gutsy thing threw her drink at the offender’s face only to have him grab and twist her wrist until she cried out in pain.
“You don’t want to do that,” Darby stated firmly but only loud enough for the bearded slob to hear. When he didn’t let go of the girl, Darby grabbed the guy’s wrist, applying a gentle pressure to the spot he knew would release the grip and free the girl’s arm. One ass-hole down, but one of the sleazy friends now held her from behind and was making threats about what he’d do to her once they got rid of Darby.
“The lady doesn’t want to play with you fine gentlemen tonight, how about you let her go and everyone can get back to having some fun.”
He had tried to be polite, even waited for three punches to land against his chest before he reacted. Punches, well the guy’s fist touched him, but he’d had harder sparring with new recruits!
Within seconds, two scum bags were on the ground, ready for the first bouncer to arrive in time to claim the glory. The third scum threw idle threats at the girl before being escorted from the premises by a second bouncer. Luckily, the barman vouched for what had happened and when the girl didn’t want to press charges, no one needed to call the police.
The whole incident lasted no more than ten minutes, but still enough time for him to get his unit medic to check the girl’s wrist, make sure she was okay and put her in a cab to go home.
“Hero Rip strikes again,” Doug had a fresh beer waiting for him when he got back to the table.
“Fat good it did me,” Darby nodded to the women who had already moved on to less complicated single men. “Anyway, stop with the ‘hero’ shit, we were all doing our jobs.”
“Well, if it wasn’t for you saving my ass back there, I wouldn’t be back in the country and able to buy the guys a round of drinks.”
With all obviously single women now paired up or gone, Darby wandered over to take his turn at the pool table.
“What’s the first thing you’re gonna do when you get home?” Doug asked as Darby broke.
“Do you even need to ask?” Darby waited for the local civilian to have his go. Two balls sunk, crap, the young kid was good. Darby was able to pot one before setting another one of his balls on the edge of the pocket.
“Beer, beach and babes?” Doug laughed.
The last six months had been more intense than usual, culminating in a tour that had more “interesting” moments than they needed. Living on adrenalin was fine for a while, but he knew he and his men were overdue for a break to rest, recharge and whatever else they wanted to do. “Maybe, as long as I get to kill all alarm clocks and sleep in, what about you?”
Doug’s dark eyes shone as he thumped his heart before showing off his phone screen saver of a new born baby in the tiny camo singlet the guys had chipped in for. “Hold my new son, kiss my wife, take them home and you don’t need to know the rest.”
“How old is he now?” Darby asked as they watched the local clear the table to the cheers of a growing crowd. Time for him to make friends and temper his inclination to wipe the table. After his altercation at the bar, it wouldn’t hurt for the locals to see the Defence guys go down even if it was only a game of pool. Darby potted two and left the white ball so his opponent could easily finish off the game.
“Three months and I can’t wait to see him in person, Elisha says he’s lost the new baby smell but whatever it is, it’ll be new to me.” Doug slapped him on the back after the young guy easily sunk the black. “Guess tonight’s not your lucky night, eh?
Darby shook the young guy’s hand, appreciating the firm grip. “Good game, let me buy you a beer?”
He should have gone back to base and grabbed a few hours sleep, or found a hotel with a late check in.
Instead, some of the stayers from his unit ended up in a pub and club crawl with the locals, stumbling out of the last one at daylight, shielding their eyes with cries of, “bright light!”
“Man, I’m gonna have some explaining to do when Elisha picks me up.” Even though they’d slowed down drinking a couple of hours ago, neither were in a fit state for Doug’s wife to find them. Once Doug started yawning, Darby couldn’t stop.
“Well, I’ve gotta go back to that first bar and get my esh bag.”
“They won’t be open for a couple of hours. How’s you and me go and get brekkie somewhere and wait for Elli to arrive. Then we can get your stuff.”
It sounded like a good idea at the time, except once Elisha saw the cuts on his fist, she wanted to find a chemist and clean him up. Then they ran into some of the unit and Doug suggested they all come down south to his town just outside Rockhampton to chill for the break. Before he knew it, Darby had his bag thrown in the back of Elisha’s SUV and had agreed to stay with them.
“The very least I can do for the man who saved my life!” Doug insisted, if he didn’t know better, Darby would think his mate liked throwing him into the spotlight, or was it the fire pit?
So, he was half asleep in the back of a car, with his thumb in the tight grip of Doug’s three-month-old son. Yet again on the outside of someone else’s happy family life while he never had a chance to meet someone, let alone get to know a woman well enough to start the family he knew had to be in his future. Growing up, it could have easily turned to custard, but a brief stint in juvie courtesy of his biological father was enough of a wake-up call. He could never thank Seth and Grace enough for adopting him and giving him the first taste of structure and stability.
Then he joined the Army and found a new family.
An all-encompassing family that gave him no time or energy to pursue one of his own.
Finding women was never the issue but finding someone special enough to try a long-distance romance was darn near impossible. Darby wanted nothing more than to receive emails that made him blush, skype sessions that were hot enough to keep him warm on the cold desert nights and have someone waiting for him to step off the plane.
“How’s Maddie,” in the twilight drifting off to sleep, he vaguely heard Doug ask.
“She’s back from university, has been for a while. Got a job with one of the local accountancy firms and apparently clients love her. She moved in with a couple of friends before going back home.” Elisha had the soft, soothing tone that would never wake a baby.
“I would have thought living with mum would cramp her style,” the baby stirred at Doug’s louder and unfamiliar voice.
“Not at all, your mum says she barely leaves her room these days other than for work - maybe she’s grown out of being the party girl.”
“You’d love Mads,” Doug’s voice broke any thought Darby had of getting to sleep but when he didn’t react, Doug’s rough shove from the front seat did the trick. “Hey, wake up, I said you’d love my sister, Maddie. Always the life of the party and up for some fun. Elisha said she’s back home, so you’ll get to meet her and the four of us can hang out.”
“Oh, Dougie, don’t pressure the poor boy, Maddie might not be up to meeting your friends.”
“Nonsense remember the time …”
Darby tuned out again. If the baby could sleep, he could at least pretend to.
Despite of, or maybe because of last night, he didn’t want to meet people especially Doug’s baby sister. Not for the first time, he wished he had just grabbed his backpack yesterday and instead of drinking with the guys, gone bush. Sit out under the stars and try and contemplate the meaning of life, or at least remember that this was the real world.
No one was out to ambush them, and the back fire of a car was only the back fire of a car. Red traffic lights were not orchestrated by people with guns, and schools were filled with children who weren’t going home to half bombed buildings.
Maddie
“You have to leave that bloody room sometime,” Maddie’s mum yelled through the door.
Maddie twisted her long brown ponytail until it pulled tight against her scalp, ignoring her mother, knowing she would eventually go away.
No, she yanked at her hair, she didn’t want to see her brother over skype, or even drop in and wait to welcome him home.
No, she bit down on her lip until it threatened to bleed, she didn’t want to go out for dinner with her parents, or go grocery shopping, or get her hair cut or have a pampering afternoon with her mother at the salon.
Maybe if things had turned out differently, but they were what they were. Earlier in the day she got a call from Constable Blackshaw to meet up at the station.
“Ms Whitehead, if you can come down there’s something I’d like to discuss.”
“Great, I’ll be there after lunch,” Maddie’s nerves were already shot as she prepared to go through her statement again.
Only to be told there wasn’t enough evidence.
No, while the Constable believed her, in a matter of fact voice that couldn’t be more different than the turmoil swirling within Maddie’s gut, “I’m sorry Ms Whitehead, there was insufficient evidence to charge him.”
After all she had gone through, the medical examination and hours of interviews, they couldn’t bloody well charge him because there was insufficient bloody evidence to make any charges stick!
No, they didn’t need to keep her clothes or any of the other items in the plastic evidence bag. She could have the denim dress and white jacket back. The Constable even tried to joke that the grass stains could come out with dry-cleaning.
Surely the whole station should have been able to hear the screaming in her head? With every throb her skull felt like it was caving in under her repressed cries.
Stupid bitch in uniform, didn’t have a clue and couldn’t pull her foot out of her mouth quickly enough as Maddie snatched the plastic bag and half ran back to her car. Hoping no one saw her, not knowing what she’d say if they did.
Now she had to deal with her mother wanting her to put on a “lovely dress to meet your brother.”
No, dearest mother and dearest world, she didn’t want to leave her bedroom. It was too soon and the world was just too suckworthy. A far better use of her time was lying on her bed and muffling the tears with her pillow.
No one knew, and those who did, couldn’t help her prove it.
It wasn’t fair, her body cried. Not bloody fair at all, her life had changed in an instant and while she couldn’t go back to the person she was, he could walk around as if nothing happened. Because as far as the police and the courts and everyone in town was concerned, nothing happened.
Maddie got up to check the locks on her bedroom windows for a third time and went through the rest of her new routine. Baseball bat next to her bed, a small sharp knife under her pillow. One final check that her bedroom door remained locked and a pull on the curtains to make sure no one could see in. Not enough to make her fears go away, but most nights she could get a couple of hours sleep.
No, it wasn’t fair that her brother could go off to save the world, but no one was here to save her.
Love it? What more? Get today.