Meagan's Marine (Halos & Horns) (6 page)

“Ben?”

The man of the hour turned to face her,
all big hazel eyes set in a chiseled, handsome face.

“Yes ma’am, Ben Bonin.” He extended his
hand, giving her a strong handshake.

Meagan winced at the title. “Well it
sure is nice to meet you, Ben Bonin, but if you call me ma’am again I might
have to hurt you. I’m Meagan and I’m only twenty-seven. You’re
what…twenty-three or so?”

“Twenty-two, ma’am.”

“Meagan,” she insisted.

“Meagan…ma’am.” He stood straight, tall,
and unapologetic.

She studied his haircut, military high
and tight, the rod-straight back, the politeness…all so very familiar to her.
“You’re a soldier aren’t you?”

His brow furrowed just a little. “No
ma’am!”

She grinned, pegging him with one simple
question. “Ah…then you must be a Marine.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Active or Veteran?”

“Active, ma’am.”

She nodded, checking out the handful of
friends who’d gathered around to come to his defense if needed. “Pre or
post-deployment?”

“Pre-deployment.” He opened his mouth
and closed it again, seemed to ponder her familiarity with military
terminology. “You have someone over there, ma’am…Meagan?”

Right on cue, the familiar tightness
appeared in her chest, although not nearly as severe as in the past. “I had
someone.”

He stared at her for several seconds
before nodding slowly. “I am sorry.”

She smiled at him. “Thank you, but I’m
glad you’re here, Ben.” Meagan couldn’t help but notice Haley stealing glances
at him behind his back. “I have a feeling she is, too. You
gonna
be around here tomorrow night?”

He cast a glance over at his friends. “I
don’t think so. I believe they have a pool party and a fish fry or something
lined up at another buddy’s place.”

“FYI, Haley will be here tomorrow night
to collect her free birthday shots. She can’t do it tonight because she’s
competing tomorrow. Just
sayin
’.”  She gave him
a wink and returned to her spot behind the bar.

The steady flow of customers didn’t let
up enough to enable her to relax for another two hours. At a quarter to
midnight, Meagan finally got to sit for a few minutes as she readied to leave
for the night.

“You out of here at twelve?”

She looked up at Mitchell’s approach.
“Sure am. Tonight flew by.”

He gave her a hangdog expression. “No
chance you could hang around just to visit with us for a bit?”

“I can’t Mitch. I need to get home.”

“Isn’t your roommate there with Buck?
I’m sure they’re both asleep by now.”

“It’s not as simple as that.
Niki
doesn’t care to
st
…” She
stopped suddenly, knowing she’d said too much.

“Stay in the house at night,” he
finished for her.

“Well, not without me being there with
her.”

“The ‘sad man’ still making his presence
known, is he?”

She bit her lip, thinking that maybe it
wasn’t such a good thing that he knew so much about her home life. “This isn’t
the place to be talking about this.”

He opened his mouth to speak then
snapped it shut again. After seeming to mull things over he finally spoke,
breaking the uneasy silence between them. “Do you still have my number from
last year?”

She pulled her phone from her pocket to
check, and nodded. “I do.”

“Don’t hesitate to call me if something
happens that you can’t or don’t want to handle alone. There’s no shame in
asking for help, you know. That’s what friends do.”

“I’ll call if anything comes up.” She
hefted her backpack onto one shoulder and waved as she headed out.

chapter 9

Fear of Flying Photos

As soon as she pulled into her driveway,
she suspected there had been some trouble. If the fact that it was lit up like
the Vegas strip didn’t clue her in, seeing
Niki
curled up on the couch with Buck certainly did. Though Buck was sound asleep,
Niki’s
eyes were wide open, glued to her as she approached.

“What happened?”

“Jesus Christ, Meg. Maybe you ought to
ask what didn’t happen.”

Meagan lifted her son gently and walked
down the hall, stopping to open the closed door of his room. She stood for a
moment to check its condition before tucking him into his bed. She heard her
roommate’s sharp intake of breath at the doorway and met her gaze. “What
Nik
?”

“It’s warm again.”
Niki
,
her voice shaky and faltering, stood at the threshold, stiff as a rod. “The
last time I was in here, my nipples practically had icicles on ‘
em
.”

Meagan checked the room again. “It seems
to be fine now.” She walked over to the picture frame of Christopher lying face
down on the dresser. She picked it up, startled to see the cracked glass
covering his handsome face. “What happened?”

“It, uh…flew off the dresser and broke.”

“You mean it fell off the dresser?”

“Hell no!”
Niki
hissed. “When I tell you that thing flew off the dresser, that’s exactly what I
mean.”

Meagan caught her friend’s reflection in
the mirror and knew she was telling the truth.
Nik’s
face was a masque of terror wrapped in a façade of nervous tension. Her thin
arms hugged at her middle as if she struggled to keep from falling apart. It
was as though it took every ounce of strength she possessed not to bolt in the
opposite direction of Buck’s room.

Meagan took one last look at Buck before
approaching her friend. “Come on back to my room with me. I want to hear
everything.”

They stopped in the kitchen to pull a
chilled bottle of cheap wine from the fridge and two glasses off the shelf.
“I’m
gonna
need this to sleep tonight, hon,”
Niki
said, twisting the cork out of the previously opened
bottle. She filled her glass to the brim and took a huge gulp before settling
on Meagan’s bed.

Meagan filled her glass halfway and
settled back against the headboard. She took a sip then faced her friend. “Tell
me.”

Niki
took a deep breath as though to build her courage. “Everything was fine, Meg. I
fed Buck his supper and gave him a bath, and he fell asleep watching
Prancer
. He didn’t give me a bit a trouble, as
usual.” Her big green eyes seemed to grow even larger and brighter as she
continued with her story. “As soon as I tucked him into his bed, all hell broke
loose.”

Niki
gulped her wine and held the glass to her chest with both hands. “When I turned
around to leave the room, the temperature dropped.” She shook her head in a
violent, jerky movement. “That doesn’t describe it nearly good enough. It was
more like running smack dab into a wall of icy air! From one second to the next
I was blowing smoke, Meg. Then…that picture fell on its face. I went to pick it
up and it slid all the way to the other end of Buck’s dresser…a good two and a
half feet, I tell
ya
. And fast!” She stopped long
enough to throw back the rest of the wine and refill her glass.

“I went to pick it up again and the damn
thing flew across the room, Meagan, I swear to God. It smashed right into the wall
on the opposite side of the room. It about scared the life right out of me! I
couldn’t help it, Meagan. I screamed and it scared Buck. He woke up screaming.
I picked him up and left the room with him. It took me a good fifteen minutes
to calm him down. As for me, well hell I’m still trying to calm down, as you
can see.”
Niki
raised her wine glass and took another
swallow before resting it on the nightstand. She sat in a ball against the
headboard, hugging her knees to her.

Meagan groaned and reached out to rest a
hand on her friend’s arm. “Now I know why you closed the door of his room.”

Niki
shook her head. “I didn’t. He did.”

“Buck?”

Nik’s
eyes were saucer round and filled with terror. “No—
him
—the sad man. He
slammed it closed as soon as I walked out of there with Buck…who told me he
saw
the sad man do it.”

“Holy crap.” Meagan lifted both hands to
her face. “What the hell am I
gonna
do about this?”

“I called
Elvinia
and told her everything that’s been going on.”

“Who?”

“My friend,
Elvinia
.
The one that’s been on vacation? She made it back last week but has been too
busy playing catch up to call me back. So, I called her. She’ll be here the day
after tomorrow.”

“What do you think she can do,
Nik
?”

“I’m not too sure—communicate with him,
maybe? Find out what it is he wants or needs from you. If you give it to him
maybe he’ll leave you in peace…go to wherever he should have gone after he
passed on.”

“What if what he wants is too much to
give him?” Meagan shuddered at the one thought she was too afraid to put into
words.

What if he wants Buck?

CHAPTER 10

Cowboys, Crowds and Competitions

The muffled thump of bass blasted to a
driving beat as Mitch pulled open the door of Red’s club. He followed his
houseguests, Tex and Haley, along with Trevor, a dick with a perpetual
attraction to pretty cowgirls, into the building. After a quick scan of the
bar, he found Meagan in her usual spot, tending to the area along the east side
of the establishment.

He took the lead as they painstakingly
made their way to her.

Meagan looked up at them and grinned.
“Hey, I’m glad to see y’all back.”

Mitch pointed his thumb at Haley. “She’s
coming to collect her birthday shots.”

“Ah, that’s right! If my memory serves
me, you wanted to think about it. Have you come to a decision, yet?”

Haley gave her a huge grin. “Actually, I
believe I’ve decided to support the Louisiana sugarcane farmers. Ben said it’s
real smooth.”

Meagan beamed at her. “
Ben
would
be correct.  It’s fabulous mixed with cola, but smooth enough to shoot
straight. I highly recommend it. You want the Silver or Spiced?”

“Let’s start with the Silver, please.”

Meagan set out a large plastic tray,
placed the bottle in the center and added a few cans of coke and four shot
glasses.

No sooner had they taken the set-up to an
empty table, than Mitch came back to the bar, asking for a beer.

“What’s wrong, Mitch? Are you worried
that rum’s got too much bite?”

He laughed. “It does have a gator on the
bottle, but no. I may have a shot or two, but I like my beer.”

She nodded and handed him a beer.
“What’s the deal with the cowboy sniffing around Haley? He doesn’t look her
type.”

Mitch leaned against the wall to watch
the guy in question brazenly stare at a gorgeous blonde-haired woman making her
way into the women’s restroom.  “He isn’t, but they have the rodeo thing
in common and she invited him to hang with her tonight.”

Meagan frowned and sucked in her breath.
“Oh damn, that’s
gonna
break that big ole heart of
his
.”

“Of who’s?”

“His.” Meagan’s gaze landed on the tall
Marine walking in their direction. “He’s been bugging me for the last hour to
let him know when y’all got here.”

Mitch grinned as he shook Ben’s hand.
“Hell, yeah, just what that asshole needs—a little friendly competition.”

Ben’s brow furrowed. “Which asshole?”

“That one right over there.” Mitch used
his longneck beer bottle to point at what he considered an unwelcomed
interloper.  “She met up with him at the arena this afternoon. I think
they used to date once upon a time and he’s hoping to date her again.” He sipped
from his beer and shook his head. “Except every damn time she turns her back
he’s trying to pick up some other chick.” He sent Ben a meaningful gaze. “I
don’t like him, and Tex has been ready to kick his ass since he showed
himself.”

“Maybe I should just leave,” Ben said.
“I don’t want to stir things up.”

“Trust me, as many times as I heard that
girl mention your name today, she’d want you to stay. I’m looking forward to
seeing you stir up a little shit with that jerk. Look, there he goes again,” he
said, as Trevor ogled another woman behind Haley’s back.

Ben gave a snort of disgust. “What an
ass-wipe.”

“See what I mean? I think you
sh
—”

“Excuse me.” Wearing a determined look
on his face, Ben walked toward the corner table.

“Go get ‘
em
,
Jarhead!” Meagan called softly as Mitch swung around to face her.

“Jarhead? Ben is a Marine, too?”

“Well, yeah. Didn’t you know?”

He stared after him, chuckling as Trevor
got his first look at the competition. “He never said a word. Is he still
active?”

“Yep, he’s pre-deployment…not sure where
he’s going.”

Remembering Haley’s comment about not
dating a military man, Mitch sipped at his beer and headed back to the group.
“This should be interesting.”

By the time he got there, Haley had just
seen Ben.

“Hey! I thought you weren’t going to be
able to make it tonight,” she said, her face lighting up at the sight of him.

“I didn’t know for sure until this
afternoon. I cancelled some plans to be here.”

“Did you really?” She laid a hand on her
chest. “I’m honored. Now, come shoot a round of birthday rum with me.”

He grinned, bearing a beautiful smile
that had surely cost his parents a small fortune in dentist visits. “I’ve
already had a couple of beers, so I’ll pass on the rum. But how about if I watch
you shoot and offer to hold your head when you’re hugging the porcelain throne
later?”

Trevor stepped up and threw an arm
possessively around Haley’s shoulder. “Uh, excuse me, but that’s what I’m here
for, buddy.”

Haley jarred Trevor in the side with her
elbow. “Don’t be a jerk,
Trev
. You don’t own me.
Trevor Jameson, this is Ben Bonin. I met him here last night. I ended up
dancing with a human octopus and he rescued me.” She left them to pour herself
another shot of rum.

“So, you rescued the lady from a
hands-on
kinda
guy, huh?” Trevor drawled. “Well, I’ve
known Haley nearly all my life, Ben
Boner.”
He extended his arm for a
handshake. “There’s nothing for you here, so you can run along now.”

Mitch held his breath to see if Ben
would take the not so subtle insult or do something about it. It turned out
that the younger Marine could be just as effective without being an asshole.

Ben took the mouthy cowboy’s hand and
spoke without cracking a smile. “The name’s B-O-N-I-N, and pronounced
Bon-ay—you know, like the letter “A”. Then again, I’m
bettin
’
you didn’t see too many of those in school, did you,
Trevor?
You’ve got
“D” for dumb-ass written all over you.”

Trevor’s face sobered as he practically
sunk to his knees during the handshake and monologue. When Ben finally released
his hand, Trevor flexed it as though trying to get his blood circulating again.

Haley returned from their table, totally
unaware of the overflow of male testosterone crackling in the air. “Here’s to
being twenty-one!”

Mitch clinked his beer bottle with her
shot glass. “And all the fireworks that go along with it.”

“Here’s to free booze!” Trevor brayed,
reaching for a shot glass, only to have Tex pull it out of his reach while
sending him a scorching look.

Ben clicked his own beer bottle to
Haley’s shot glass brimming with the clear liquid. “Here’s to you, Haley. I
hope you have nothing but great birthdays from here on out.”

****

Anything involving horses, cowboys and
competitions equated to large crowds for the local bars and dance clubs. Red’s
always had admirable business, but his excellent selection of country bands and
huge dance floors always made it a favorite with people in town for the rodeo.
The last two work nights had nearly driven Meagan to exhaustion with the
non-stop bustle of activity. That, coupled with events at home, and a severe
inability to sleep the night through, had her feeling edgy and irritable. The
guy across from her wasn’t helping matters.

“Come on, honey. Do some of those fancy
bartender tricks for me. I heard you’re the best in here.” He pulled a thick
wallet from his pocket. “I’ll make it worth your while.”

“Sorry, sir. There’s no time for that
tonight. Do you see the line of people behind you waiting for drinks?” She
wiped up a minor beer spill with the dishcloth and met his gaze. “Now, is there
anything else I can help you with?”

“I don’t
want
anything else, and
I don’t give a flying
fu
…”

“Sir!” She cut off what was sure to be a
tirade of foul language and unclipped her radio. “Come in
Micky
!
This is Meagan and I need assistance at the bar, please.”

“Aw shit! There wasn’t no need for that.
Especially since you and me are from the same great state of Texas.” He leaned
across the bar to get close to her. “We could spend some time together after
you leave this place tonight.”

“Sir, I told you, I’m too busy for this.
Would you please move along? You aren’t the only person who’d like a beer
tonight, you know.”

A man spoke up from behind him. “Yeah
dude, you’re holding up the line.”

The cowboy, a good 6’3”, turned on the
guy and leaned over to sneer in his face. “You might
oughta
get in another line, then buddy.”

“Hey screw you, man. She said she didn’t
have time for your bullshit. I see you have your drink, now move on so the rest
of us can order.”

Cowboy reached for the man’s shirt and
Meagan reached for her radio again. “
Micky
, I’ve got
trouble. Where are you?”

The bouncer appeared to her left. “I’m
right here, Meg.”
Micky
placed a beefy hand on
cowboy’s shoulder. “Okay, man, let’s go. From the sound of it, you’ve had
plenty of chances to back off.”

Cowboy jerked out of
Micky’s
grip. “Get your hands off me, you
sonovabitch
! I
don’t need to be lead anywhere like a prisoner. Let me at least take a swig of
the beer I just paid for and I’ll walk out on my own.”

Micky
lifted both hands and nodded. “That’s fine, man.” He turned to Meagan. “I think
it’ll be all right. He seems agreeable
enou
—”

Meagan had witnessed enough fights in
her earlier bartending years to recognize the distinctive thud of a beer bottle
hitting a skull. However, witnessing the aforementioned skull, cracking open
with an accompanying gush of blood was an entirely new experience. She screamed
as
Micky
pitched forward onto the floor like a pine
tree in a hurricane.

She grabbed a clean dishcloth from the
bar, dropped to her knees beside him and pressed it to his gaping wound, hoping
to stem the flow of blood. “Somebody call 911!” she called out, even as a
scuffle above caught her attention. She looked up just in time to see Mitch
take the offending cowboy down in two swift moves. As he held him there, face
down on the floor, arms locked in a tight grip, she wondered if there was
anything Mitch couldn’t handle.

Mitch met Meagan’s gaze and yelled over
the din. “How bad?”

“Bad enough. He’s
bleedin
’
like a stuck hog, poor thing. Did someone call for an ambulance?” she asked
those nearest to her.

Kelly Broussard, an acquaintance who
occasionally visited the club, waved her phone.

“They’re sending an ambulance now, as
well as the cops, Meg,” she said.

“Thanks, Kelly.” She increased the
pressure on the wound and dropped her head, thinking they couldn’t get there
fast enough. When Mick groaned and tried to sit up, she pushed him gently back
down. “Don’t move, hon. You’re cut open pretty bad. This will definitely need
stitches.”

“Son of a bitch, that hurts,” he
growled, flinching when she applied more pressure.

“Don’t move, I said. Every time you do,
I lose pressure on the wound and blood comes gushing out. You
wanna
bleed out on the floor of this club?”

“No, but damn that stings. You’re
pressing too hard, Meg!”

“Yeah? Well the fact that you’re strong
enough to whine like a big ole ta-ta tells me I must be doing something right.
Otherwise, you’d be too weak to say a
flippin
’ word
to me.”

“
Ta-ta?
No fair, Meg. You know I
can’t speak east Texas hick.”

“I was trying to be nice, but since you
won’t let me, it’s a
tit
, you crazy ass Cajun! I called you a big
titty
-baby. Now hold the hell still before I lose my supper
all over the place.” Her comment, meant as a joke, was closer to the truth than
she wanted to admit.

She stayed there on her knees with him
until another woman knelt beside her, holding out a hospital ID badge.

“Hey, I just walked in and they told me
what happened. I’m an emergency room nurse. You want me to take over? You’re
looking a little green around the gills.”

Meagan sighed in relief. “Dear God,
please do! What’s your name, honey?”

“April Fontenot, and I work at Lake
Coburn Memorial.”

Meagan waited for the EMT’s out front
and cleared a path for them and the local cops when they arrived. Though the
cops left immediately with their charge, it took a good fifteen minutes for the
technicians to get
Micky
loaded into the ambulance.
By then, Red McAllister, the club-owner, had arrived on the scene to check
things out.

“Two fights…two nights in a row.” Red
shook his head. “You can always tell when the rodeo’s in town.”