Ford
Fuck, that woman gets to me.
It’s fun to tease her, but it’s damn frustrating when she keeps giving mixed signals. One moment, I can tell she’s all hot and bothered, the next she’s pulling away from me as if she doesn’t recognize me.
I take a deep breath in an attempt to calm my frustration while I pace.
I don’t know what’s really going on between the two of us. I know I want her, but at the same time, she’s my fucking charge.
If there’s one rule I stick to, it’s that I don’t get involved with the people I’m protecting. It’s a recipe for disaster, and I hate that shit.
As the battle inside my head rages on, a ruckus outside becomes louder and louder.
What the hell is going on out there?
I stop, then listen for signs of any possible danger.
The woman may have me confused and all tied up in knots, but I have a job to do, and I’m not about to neglect it.
It doesn’t sound like there’s any danger based on the voices I’m hearing. In any case, I hurry outside to get a visual on the situation.
Villagers are hurrying toward the end of the road. Others are standing by curiously to see who is coming.
“Help! Help!”
I see two young boys carrying a stretcher between them as they hurry towards my and Adelaide’s hut.
The two look familiar. As they come closer, I recognize that they’re from the next village.
When they stop in front of me, I see a woman lying on the stretcher.
Adelaide suddenly comes bursting out of the hut. Her face shows nothing except the professional veneer of a doctor about to treat a patient. I can see, though, by the tightness of her eyes that she’s worried.
“What happened?”
“She was in an accident. Her motorbike broke and threw her off. Her leg just snapped when she hit the ground,” one of the boys explained.
“Okay. Take her to the hospital so I can take a closer look and see how bad her leg really is.”
The boys carry the woman behind Adelaide. I bring up the rear.
Adelaide goes into full-blown doctor mode. She’s pulled back the woman’s skirt to clean the scrapes on the leg and gently examines the injured body part.
“It doesn’t seem to be too bad. A simple splint after I reset the bones should do the trick,” she explains out loud to the room.
“You won’t be able to walk around too much, though,” she then tells the woman. “The leg needs to heal, and it won’t heal properly if you put weight on it. You’ll have to wait a few weeks before going back to work.”
The woman looks crushed to hear this. Adelaide consoles her as best she can while working to fix the leg. Once finished, Adelaide begins to clean up.
I walk over to her.
“What does she do for a living?” I ask curiously.
The woman must love her job if she looked that upset to hear her leg has put her out of commission for several weeks.
“She’s a midwife.”
Her expression is tight and worried.
“What’s wrong?”
She lets lose a heavy sigh. “She’s the only midwife close by. All the others are so far away, they aren’t much help in this region. I have a friend who lives in a village nearby who’s expecting any day now. Without the midwife to help her through the birth, I’m worried something bad may happen.”
“Murphy’s law,” I grunt. “If anything can go wrong, it will.”
She whips her head to look straight at me and give me a furious scowl. “Real encouraging there, you jackass.”
I shrug.
“Comes with the experiences I’ve endured through life,” I explain. “Anything and everything goes wrong especially when people are worried that something will go wrong. That’s life, Adelaide.”
“Whatever. You’re just pessimistic as shit. The least you could do is not have those negative thoughts around here. The people are struggling enough without you throwing all that bad juju around.”
“Bad juju?” I ask mockingly. The corner of my mouth lifts in a slight smirk.
She responds by glaring at me even harder.
“Yes! Bad juju!” she angrily says. “It’s a thing, and like I said, stop throwing it all out there in the universe. There’s no need nor want for that here, understand?”
She’s dead serious right now, isn’t she?
I nod and give a grunt.
“I mean it, Ford.”
“I got it, Adelaide. No more bad juju.”
She walks away. I give a low chuckle.
That night, I’m still smirking at her ridiculous belief in “bad juju.” The woman really is something else.
I’m lying in bed. The room is completely silent when a loud knock breaks through the night air. Someone is knocking on Adelaide’s door. Who the hell could that be this late at night?
I go to investigate.
A large man is standing outside. He’s yelling as he bangs on the door.
I don’t understand what he’s saying but the furious tone does not bode well. There’s no fucking way I’m letting this jackass near Adelaide.
My hand lands on his shoulder, and I jerk him away from the door.
“You need to leave. Now,” I tell him.
The bastard doesn’t leave, though. He charges for Adelaide’s door. Not happening, asshole.
I punch him in the face, and he goes stumbling backwards.
My gun is in my hand now and pointed at the asshole.
“I said leave,” I growl at him.
Suddenly, the door behind me swings open.
Adelaide comes flying out and looks around.
“Ford!” she screeches. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? Put that damn thing away before you shoot someone.”
She tries to move past me towards the asshole who was just banging on her door in the middle of the damn night.
I grab her arm.
“He’s dangerous,” I tell her.
“Dangerous?” she scoffs. “The only dangerous one right now is you. You’re the one pointing a gun at him. He’s here because of his wife, you jackass. The pregnant one I told you about earlier, remember?”
I do remember. I let her arm go, and she goes straight to the guy looking at his face as they speak.
He may not be a threat, but I still keep a close eye on him in case that little fact changes. A man frantic about his pregnant wife can be a man without reason or thought due to his rising panic for his loved one.
I listen to their conversation. The man is speaking in English now.
“She’s gone into labor, Doctor. As soon as her pain started, I ran here as fast as I could. It’s been hours since I left. I’m worried for my wife. She needs help, and I heard the midwife was injured and can’t help. Please help us. Please!”
“Okay. Okay. Just breathe. I’m going to help. Let me get my things, and we’ll head back to your wife.”
“Thank you, Doctor,” the man gushes, unable to hide his gratitude.
Adelaide runs back into her hut. I follow.
She changes into clothes more suitable for travel, grabs her doctor bag and kit, and heads to the truck.
The old rust bucket won’t start, though.
“Damnit!” she yells. “Fucking piece of shit!”
The only thing left for her to take is the motorbike.
“Adelaide, what are you doing?”
“What does it look like, Ford? I’m doing my job, and I’m going to help a friend. Shit, I need to find my nurse. Let her know I’ll be gone for a while, and that she’ll be in charge.”
She runs off to find the nurse.
I run back inside to pack my bag.
Like hell I’m letting her run off without me. Anything can happen while she’s away. Anyone can see it as the perfect opportunity to kidnap her and ransom her to her family.
I was hired to prevent that, and I’m damn well going to make sure it doesn’t happen.
Adelaide comes back to the hut.
“I’m coming with you,” I tell her.
She stops in her tracks and turns to me. “What?” she asks incredulously.
“You heard me. I’m not letting you out of my sight for a second. I wouldn’t be doing my damn job as your bodyguard if I did.”
She stares at me for a few seconds as if I’ve grown two heads. “You can’t come,” she finally states.
“Like hell I can’t,” I growl. “I’m going. End of story.”
“Only two people can fit on the motorbike, Ford! I want to take the husband back to his wife. It’s better if he’s there during the birth to help comfort and calm her.”
“I don’t care about the damn husband, Adelaide. You have to go because you’re the doctor. I have to go because I’m the doctor’s bodyguard. Now unless you want to keep arguing while the poor woman continues to be in labor without any help, be my guest. If not, shut up, and get your ass on the motorbike and tell the husband to start running back home.”
We stare off. She soon realizes I’m not budging on the matter. She huffs in anger before turning to the husband.
I attach our bags to the motorbike while she talks to him.
Soon, the man is running back the way he came.
“Let’s go, jackass,” she grumbles.
I hop on the bike, and she hops on behind me. She wraps her arms around me tightly as I kick the bike on.
Shit, her arms are feeling fan-fucking-tastic around me. If she lowers them a little further, she’ll notice the hard on I’m sporting right now.
Fuck, Ford. Not the time nor the place.
“Hold on,” I yell, trying to overpower the roar of the bike’s engine.
“Just drive. We need to get to her and quickly. Every moment counts.”
I rev the engine, and we shoot forward.
Nothing but a dark sea of desert spreads out in front. The night shrouds us in pitch black darkness, and the chilly night air whips us in the face as we travel to another village, where Adelaide is the only hope of one woman who is about to deliver her baby.