Protecting Alabama (SEAL of Protection Book 2) (8 page)

The next couple of weeks were some of the best in Alabama’s life. She’d been spending a lot of time with Christopher and tonight they were going to go out with his SEAL teammates and their girlfriends.

Alabama was beyond nervous. She wasn’t good in crowds, especially out in public, but she wanted to do this for Christopher. He’d been so good to her. He hadn’t pushed her to have sex, even though it was obvious he was ready. They’d had a few serious make out sessions on her couch and she knew it’d been hard for him to stop. Hell, it’d been hard for
her
to stop.

The last one ended with both of them with their shirts off and he’d actually made her explode with just his lips on her breasts. She’d never experienced that kind of passion before and it had freaked her out. Christopher had immediately noticed, and instead of pressuring her to continue, he soothed her. He pulled her into his chest and just held her. He’d been so good to her. She knew she was in way over her head with him. Alabama was pretty sure she loved Christopher. She wasn’t sure she really knew what love was, but not a minute went by during the day that she didn’t want to talk to him, to see him, to spend time with him.

The first time she’d called him on her new mobile phone, Christopher had been so happy. He didn’t try to hide his excitement and joy that she’d actually called him. When he’d calmed down to find out what she needed, he was speechless for a moment when she’d told him she’d just wanted to say hi.

So tonight they were going to a local bar, called
Aces Bar and Grill
, that apparently catered to military members, especially SEALs. Alabama had heard a lot about Matthew, also known as Wolf, and his girlfriend, Caroline. But apparently there were four others on the team that were like brothers to Christopher. There was Sam, whose nickname was Mozart, Hunter, whose nickname was Cookie, Kason went by Benny, and finally Faulkner who they called Dude.

There was no way she’d remember everyone’s name, but she’d try to go with the flow. Christopher had promised to help her. When Alabama asked about the team’s nicknames and their history, he’d only chuckled and told her that it was up to each man to explain it, if they so choose.

She shrugged. That was the least of her worries.

Alabama clutched Christopher’s hand, desperately, as they headed toward the entrance of
Aces
. Before they went inside, Christopher stopped and pulled her to the side of the door and backed her against the wall.

Christopher bought his hand up to her face and cupped her cheek. He did that a lot when he wanted her to look into his eyes while he spoke to her. It should irritate Alabama, but it didn’t. It made her feel warm inside. She loved his hands on her.

“It’s going to be fine, sweet. I’ll be right there with you. You’ll be safe. They’ll like you, I promise.”

At her nod, he held her eyes for a moment then leaned forward and brushed his lips over her eyebrows, then her nose, then finally her lips. He didn’t linger, but nipped her bottom lip gently once, and drew back. “You’re the bravest person I’ve ever met. Come on; let’s go in before you have a heart attack.”

Alabama could feel her heart beating double time in her chest. She was nervous, but having Christopher there helped. She wanted his friends to like her, but she didn’t really know how to make friends. She wasn’t good at it.

They walked toward a large table in the back of the room. There were a group of people already seated and laughing together.

There was a pretty waitress standing at the table taking drink orders. She was about normal height and was wearing a pair of sneakers, unlike the other waitresses who were all wearing high heels. She also stood out from the other servers in the bar because she was wearing a modest tank top and a pair of jeans, instead of a skimpy shirt and a mini-skirt. Her attire did nothing to distract from how pretty she was.

She had long black hair which was pulled back into a braid that ended midway down her back. She finished up taking everyone’s drink order as they arrived at the table.

“Hey! You got here just in time, what can I get you from the bar?”

The nametag on the waitress’ tag read, ‘Jess.’

Abe turned to Alabama and gestured for her to order.

“Coke please,” Alabama said softly.

Christopher squeezed her hand to reassure her and Alabama tried to relax. “Hey, Jess. I’ll take whatever you have on tap tonight.” It was obvious Christopher knew the waitress, probably because the group of friends came to the bar frequently.

“No problem. I’ll be back soon,” Jess said in a confident voice.

Alabama watched as the waitress limped away from the table. She had just a second to wonder what was wrong with the pretty waitress before Christopher put his hand on the small of her back and turned her to the table.

Alabama looked up to see that everyone was looking at them. She gripped Christopher’s hand as if it was the only thing keeping her above water.

“Hey guys,” Abe said easily. “This is Alabama. She’s nervous to meet all of you, so go easy all right?” He said it lightly, but there was steel running through his words.

He’d had a talk with his team that day and they all knew how shy Alabama was, just as they knew how important she was to Abe. Abe had also told them a little of her childhood and they’d all been taken aback. They all knew such abuses happened all the time, but they hated it’d happened to someone who was so obviously important to their teammate.

Finding a good woman was new to the team. They’d all been there when Caroline had almost died at the hands of terrorists and had seen how hard Wolf had struggled to finally get the nerve to claim her.

None of them would admit it, but they were all a bit jealous. Seeing the close relationship they shared had finally brought home to them all how meaningless their one night stands were. They were all itching to find someone for their own, and it looked like Abe just might be the next in line to find a woman for himself.

Tamping down the impulse to look around the room, Alabama gripped Christopher’s hand so hard she knew he’d have indentations from her fingernails, and simply said, “Hi.”

“Hey, Alabama, glad you could make it,” said a gorgeous man who’d stood as they’d arrived. The other men also added their greetings and Christopher led her to a seat at the end of the table against the wall. He waited until she was seated and then settled next to her. He put his arm on the back of her chair and leaned in.

“Okay, sweet?”

Alabama looked at Christopher and nodded. He really was a good guy. She vaguely noticed how all the men were seated in such a way that they could see the rest of the room. Obviously they all felt the same way Christopher did about putting their back to a room.

“I guess we should all introduce ourselves,” a beautiful woman sitting in the middle of the table said in Alabama’s direction. “Don’t worry, if you don’t remember everyone’s names. It took me forever to remember them myself!”

Everyone around the table laughed.

“And I’ll do it, ‘cos if the guys do it you’ll only hear their nicknames and you’ll never learn their real names. I’m trying to get them to use their given names, but they’re hopeless! I’m Caroline and I’m with this big lug, Matthew. Sitting at the end is Sam and his girlfriend Molly. Next to them is Faulkner and Brittany. Then there’s Kason and Emily, and finally, across from you, is Hunter and Michele.”

When she’d introduced them, everyone said hello at once and then started talking again. Alabama breathed a sigh of relief that no one seemed to want to draw her into conversation yet.

Alabama listened as the men joked with one another. It was tough to keep everyone straight, especially when the men called each other by their nicknames and the women used their real names. It was if there were double the number of people sitting at the table.

“Hey, Christopher, how did you guys meet?” Alabama thought it was Kason’s girlfriend that had asked, but she couldn’t remember her name.

“Remember that fire a month or so ago?” Christopher asked. When the women all nodded he continued. “Alabama saved my life. She was there and helped get me and a bunch of other people out of the building.”

“Whoa, that’s intense,” Michele said. “Didn’t you go to that party with Adelaide?”

Abe’s eyes squinted like they did when he was pissed. Alabama didn’t know what was up with Michele and her attitude, but it obviously pissed Christopher off.

“Yeah, I did, but it didn’t work out. I met Alabama that night and things went from there.”

Michele obviously didn’t know when to stop, because she continued, “What did Adelaide have to say about that?”

Cookie didn’t give Christopher time to respond because he jumped in. “What the hell Michele? Abe’s with Alabama now, give it a rest.”

Alabama was confused and freaked out. She’d never met Michele, but it seemed as if she didn’t like her…at all.

“We all know you and Adelaide are tight, but Jesus, woman, Abe dumped her because she was acting crazy. I told you to let it drop and here you are bringing it up in front of his new woman.” Cookie was obviously pissed. Strangely enough him being pissed seemed to calm Abe down.

“Let’s go,” Cookie told the woman at his side. “We’re done. Abe man, sorry. Alabama, it was nice meeting you. You’re way too good for an asshole like Abe here, but damn glad you’re overlooking that. Hope to see you again soon.” With that, Cookie forced Michele up with a hand on her elbow and without giving her a chance to say anything, led her away from the group.

Alabama didn’t know what to say, so she just sat there embarrassed.

“Jesus, sorry about that Abe, Alabama,” Benny said softly, leaning across the table toward his teammate and his date. “Alabama, he’s been seeing Michele for a while. She and Adelaide are friends. Obviously it was a mistake to bring her tonight.”

Abe nodded stiffly. Jesus, he’d wanted to make sure Alabama would meet his friends in as stress-free of an environment as possible, and Cookie’s girl-of-the-month had to go and ruin it. He looked down at Alabama.

Feeling Christopher’s eyes on her, Alabama looked up. He looked tense and pissed on her behalf. She giggled a small quiet giggle and watched as his eyebrows rose questionably.

Alabama knew she had to grow a backbone. The whole thing was pretty funny if she thought about it. She wanted to reassure Christopher that she was all right. She didn’t want him to think she’d cry every time some woman brought her claws out. Hell, with the way he looked, she’d be crying all the time. She knew every woman in the place was jealous as hell of her, and it strangely cheered her up.

Not being able to stop her eyes from scanning the interior of the bar before reassuring Christopher she paused, then leaned up toward him and whispered in his ear teasingly, “Any other friends of your ex-girlfriend I have to worry about tonight?”

She pulled back and smiled at him, making sure he knew she was teasing him. She watched as his eyelids fell and his pupils dilated. “Shit, Alabama, I was worried you’d be freaked.”

Not breaking eye contact she told him quietly, “I
am
a little freaked, but you’re here with
me
, not her. Hunter didn’t let her stay, and I like your friends. I’m determined not to let it bother me.”

Abe let out the breath he’d been holding. He’d been ready to escort Michele out himself. Damn her. She’d brought up Adelaide purposely, just to be catty. He hoped Cookie wouldn’t be seeing her anymore. Anyone that deliberately set out to hurt someone else wasn’t someone anyone on the team wanted to be around.

Before Abe could pull Alabama into his arms and kiss the hell out of her, Emily piped up, “So, Abe huh? I’ve heard the stories about the others, but what’s the story of your nickname?”

Normally the guys would leave it up to their friends to explain their own names, but Dude jumped in before Abe could say anything.

“Abe, like Honest Abe,” he explained. “There was this one time in BUD/S when this one loser decided he was too tired to clean his own shit, and in the middle of the night swapped it with Abe’s gear. Dumbass didn’t realize the gear had serial numbers on it. So in the morning when inspection was going on and Abe saw his gear wasn’t his own, he went on a mission to find out who’d swapped it. Didn’t take long. Abe made sure to teach him a lesson he wouldn’t forget. Asshole rang out that morning.”

There was a lot about the story Alabama didn’t really understand, but she nodded as if she did.

Dude continued the explanation. “Ever since then anytime anyone stepped out of line and tried to get out of something by lying or stealing, Abe called ‘em on it. The name stuck.”

Abe revealed more when he continued. “I can’t stand it when people lie or steal. There’s just no need for it. We’ve seen some crazy shit on missions. People in poor countries stealing food from women and kids. People lying their asses off just to get an extra cup of water or bread. On one hand, I know desperation makes people do things they might not otherwise do, but it sticks in my craw every time. I hate it. I’d rather people be honest and upfront about what they need or want them to lie about it.”

Benny jumped into the conversation agreeing. “Yeah, remember that one chick you…er…dated that was wearing that smokin’ hot dress, but when you got her home you found she still had the tag on it? She was gonna bring it back to the store and get her money back after wearing it…”