Warrior (First to Fight #1)(42)

His tiny pants tangle around his legs and it takes a good five minutes just to convince him that I’m not playing some sort of tug-of-war with him. By the time I actually get them off he’s smiling at me, which I’ll take as a success.

“You’re making this difficult, you know. We could have been done by now. I bet you don’t pull this kind of nonsense with your mom.”

He answers by blowing spit bubbles.

“I see you’ve got her attitude. Which is a hell of a good thing. Just don’t tell her I said so.”

Butt clean and redressed, I lift Cole up and turn to find Olivia watching us.

She clears her throat. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to spy on you guys. I called for you, but you must not have heard me.”

I ignore that, not wanting to get into it. “You okay?”

“I’m fine. I told you I would be.” She holds out her hands for the kid, but I angle him backwards.

“Doctor’s orders. You need to be resting. No heavy lifting or strenuous activity,” I tell her.

“Ben, c’mon. He’s not that heavy. I would hardly characterize that as heavy lifting.”

I frown at Cole. “I think we should be insulted.” The kid actually mimics my frown and surprises a laugh out of me. “See?” I tell her.

“Ganging up on me already, I see.”

She tries to hide it, but I can see the beads of sweat on her hairline and the pallor of her skin. I’ve known men twice her size that bitch about wounds a lot less severe. “Get used to it later. Right now you need to get your ass back down on the couch. I’ll order something for dinner.”

“You’re still not staying here, Ben.”

Cole laughs at her and I can’t help my smile. I haven’t felt this good in a long time. “We’ll talk about it later.”




“Let me get those for you,” I say, taking the empty paper plates from Olivia as she tries to get up from the couch. Cole holds out his arms to me from his spot on the floor. I manage to balance him and the plates. Out of the two of them, she’d given me more trouble than the kid.

I’d managed to keep her corralled through the afternoon with minimal fuss. The color had finally returned to her cheeks and she’d regained her spunk around the time I forced her to watch all four Lethal Weapon movies in a row.

“Please tell me there isn’t another one. Seriously. I’d rather eat another runny hospital breakfast.” She sits up on the couch and brushes the hair that’s escaped the ponytail away from her face. Even in sweatpants and an old T-shirt, I still want her. In another time, in another place, I could have had her. I look away until the feeling passes. When I’m reasonably sure I can control myself from slipping behind her on the couch, I turn back.

Her face is tight with concern and I can tell by the way her eyes flick to my ear that she’s studying my hearing aide. I sit back down on the chair and bounce Cole on my knee to keep my hands busy. Might as well go ahead and get it over with, much as I don’t like talking about it she was bound to ask sooner or later.

“I’m sorry,” she says, “I didn’t mean to stare. I’d heard around that you’d been hurt.”

“You don’t have to apologize.”

“No, I do. People used to see Cole sometimes, even people we knew, and would stare. You can’t even tell anything is different about him. Not really. But most everyone around here knows me. They can’t help it, really, but I get it. I get it and I should know better.”

“You get used to it.”

“I want to ask what happened, but I don’t want to pry.”

I swallow thickly. “Can’t we go back to the surprise baby news? That was a much more interesting conversation.” The pity in her eyes doesn’t help. “Don’t look at me like that. It’s over. I’ll never be able to hear out of my right ear, but the gadget helps. I’m alive.”

Realization dawns on her face. “I’ll try to be more aware when I talk.”

“Don’t. You don’t have to treat me any differently.”

“Is that why you got out?”

The credits from the last movie come to a stop and the DVD resets to the menu screen, but neither of us move to change it. The soundtrack fills the dim room with background noise and lulls the little guy into a stupor against my chest.

“I couldn’t stay in, not with my injuries.”

“Injuries?”

I tap my head with a finger. “TBI. Traumatic brain injury. But let’s not talk about me. What about this guy?”

She smiles at him, her love for him brightens everything about her. Not something I ever thought I’d find attractive about a woman, but on her it’s beautiful. “It’s been rough, I’m not going to lie. But I didn’t do it alone. Jack and Sofie were there for me every step of the way.”

“I’m glad. I’m sorry that I wasn’t there for you. I never really planned on having kids, but I want you to know that I’ll do right by the both of you.”

“I don’t expect you to do anything other than get to know him. I would love for you to be a part of his life. But…” she trails off, her fingers picking at the blanket covering her legs.

“But, what?”

“I only want you to do that if you plan on being there, for everything. For always. I don’t want him to lose as many people as I have. If I can protect him from even the smallest part of that pain, I will. I just don’t want him to get hurt.”