Way of the Warrior (Troubleshooters #17.5)(106)
Jonah put down the hammer and picked up the piece of art and hung it on the wall.
“Am I what you want? What do you truly want from us?”
“I need to be able to communicate with you,” she replied quickly. “The sex is electric. That’s never been a factor for us, but we barely stay put to talk. We have to make that work, and when we argue we have to promise to stick with it until we get to that common ground.”
“You’re talking about ‘Rules of Engagement.’ I’m good with that. Let’s pound them out now and add to them as we need to.” Jonah put out his hand. “My word is my bond.”
“As is mine.” Her spirit settled into the comfort of his as they figured out the details of what they each needed. She shook his hand and then reached up for his kiss. This item topped the list of her personal “needs” list.
CHAPTER 7
A weight was lifted from both of their shoulders as they went back to work. They had made fast work of a good portion of the checklist by the time Kevin’s van pulled into the driveway at nine a.m. There was still a serious amount to be done, but they had a few hours before the party at noon.
“You’re late. We were expecting you at 0500,” said Jonah as Kevin entered the room.
“Blame my wife. She needed bagels from her favorite shop, and that meant driving several hours out of our way, both there and back.” Kevin yawned. “We could have been doing something more fun, hon.”
“Trust me, that was fun,” said Julie, kissing her husband. “I’ll make it up to you. I promise.”
“Coffee! Julie, you are an angel,” said Jonah, taking the proffered cup of steaming caffeine. “If this is how you greet a man, I know why Kevin married you.”
“It better be for more than that,” said Julie with a wink. “Where’s Alisha?”
“In the kitchen, unpacking,” said Jonah, holding off on raiding the bagels until Alisha was done with her task. He liked the idea of them eating together. Damn, he had it bad for her.
“Hey, man, I thought about last night…leaving you here with Alisha. I was up all f*cking night thinking about you and her here. She’s like family, a sister. Tell me that you two didn’t knock boots.”
Jonah didn’t say a word. The man said not to tell him. He went back to unpacking the ram’s head fixture. The wires were in a plastic packet, and they were tangled. Wonderful! His fingers worked through the mess of wires.
“Well, crap! I’m such a jerk to leave her with you.” Kevin looked pained.
“Thanks, Kev. Love you, too.” Jonah leaned in. “You know how I feel about her. She’s incredible. I’d rather hurt myself than bring her pain.” Jonah finally got the electrical wires untangled and threaded through the fixture.
“Appreciate that. She’s precious,” admitted Kevin. He coughed and then cleared his throat…twice.
“Whatever it is…spit it out. Sounds like you’re choking on a duck.” Jonah looked up at his friend, pausing in his task and giving his full attention to Kevin.
“Since we’re alone, the ladies are otherwise occupied and stuff, I, ah, I’m sorry about our last phone call. I knew you were busy, and I didn’t want to bring shit up, but you needed to know what’d happened…”
Jonah nodded his head. “No worries. I get it. There are things you need to say in person.”
Kevin shook his head. “Man, we’ve been friends for a long time, and I shouldn’t have been an *, but I needed you and didn’t want to ask for help, especially with you across the planet doing God knows what. The timing was wrong and the thing is…the mind is tricky. For months, I couldn’t remember anything leading up to the explosion. I didn’t even know my feet had been blown off until I hit the ground and I couldn’t get up again.” He ran his hands through his hair, scrubbing his scalp. “Without those memories, it was like doubt ran through my brain like wildfire, and I couldn’t count on myself or contain the inferno.”
“What changed?” Jonah’s voice was low and calm as his hands continued pulling the wires until he reached the end and then he picked up another one and followed the same procedure. He didn’t need to look to know what needed to be done.
“My wife. That lady fights like a lioness protecting her cubs. She was fierce with the doctors and harsh with some of the things she said to me, to put me back on track. The best part was…she didn’t give up. She pulled me out of darkness and forced me to interact with her and others.” He laughed. “Man, I never want to be on the wrong side of her.”
“She’s quite a lady. You’re blessed.”
“I am.” The rough sound of Kevin’s voice filled the room. “That’s why…during that call I yelled like a maniac at you. We had just lost a baby, only a couple months into the pregnancy. Our first. It was hard…to keep fighting. Julie wouldn’t let me back away…from anything.” He patted his legs. “So, I picked myself up and I did a lot of soul searching. And, I took those freaking PTSD classes; even did some regression therapy, too, and other shit like that. It surprised me that those Wounded Warrior programs helped…a lot. The hardest part was talking, but once I started, just jawing with other guys who had experienced similar stuff and were going through the same things with a desire to reach the other side…it was easier. Like we shouldered the weight for each other. It’s like you’ve got this choice: either sit still and dwell in this infinite loop of hellish turmoil or you get moving, go for the gold and grab life by the balls.”