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“We’re trying to do ou?—”
“Obviously, you suck at it,” Hudson interrupts. “Anyone who’s ever dealt with this kind of situation knows you need to explain your intentions to the person you’re treating and tell them who you are, jackass.”
Most of them dip their heads in shame and take a step back, except for loudmouth, who hasn’t quite learned yet that we aren’t fucking around.
“You did your jobs. Now let us do ours.” He steps toward Aurora again. “You’re not in char?—”
Crunch.
The crunch of breaking bone reaches my ears before I realize that it’s my fist that connects with the asshole’s face. Blood pools gushes out of his nose as he falls to the ground.
Fuck! Oh well… if I end up in the brig, it was worth it.
His buddies throw me cautious glances before scrambling to help him to his feet. One of them hands him a towel to catch the blood spilling over.
“Get the hell outta here,” Bennett orders. “We’ll handle this ourselves.”
“I’ll be pressing charges,” the asshole whines.
“Go for it.”
“No, you won’t,” General Parks and I say together.
I raise my brow at him in question. I hit a civilian, which could easily land me in deep shit. Granted, I wasn’t thinking, but we’re Marines. We’re taught to keep our cool in stressful situations, and I lost it when I saw Aurora screaming. Not my finest moment, especially in front of a four-star General.
“Do you know who I am?” General Parks calmly asks the EMTs.
He whispers something into Aurora’s ear that I can’t hear. She nods, and he places her on her feet. She sways, so I move to stand behind her so she can lean on me, which she does.
One thing you need to understand is that General Victor Parks never throws his weight around. It’s one of the reasons he has so much respect from his men. Not because his position demands it, but because heearnedit. He paid his dues, entered the military much like the rest of us, and worked his way up. General Parks never played the political game and got where he is from hard work and the respect of his men and those above him. He was a member of a Marine Recon Special Ops team, so he knows the situations we face daily and backs us up.
“I’m assuming their boss,” another EMT answers flippantly.
“You’d be right,” his voice clipped. “I’m also the General who runs the base you’re currently a guest on. I have your complaint. Now, get off my base. Your services are no longer needed.”
“We’ll go over your head,” broken nose sneers.
“You can try.” General Parks smirks. “However, I’ll be filing a complaint with your superiors about how you handled this situation withmydaughter and how she feltthreatenedunder your care.”
They throw us dirty glances before getting into their ambulance and taking off.
I hang my head. “Sorry, Sir. I shouldn’t have lo?—”
General Parks rests his hand on my shoulder “You protected my daughter like I assigned you to do.” He scoops her back into his arms.
“What do we do now?” I ask.
“Sir, I have a suggestion,” Hudson calls. “We’ll escort you to the Naval Health Clinic. I think it’ll be better for Aurora to stay on base anyway.”
Carver twirls a set of keys on his finger. “Let’s roll out.”
We split into two groups. I ride with General Parks, his driver, Aurora, and Hudson. The rest of the men ride behind us. It’s only a five-minute drive from the airstrip to the hospital on base. Hudson called ahead and informed them that we were on our way and also requested women providers, if possible.
When we arrive at the emergency room bay doors, two female doctors and three nurses are waiting for us. I exit the vehicle first and open the door for Aurora. I lean down so only she can hear me.
“Aurora, you’re safe,” I promise. “My men and I will be here for you. We’ll stand guard outside of every room if you want us to. You’ll never be alone, I swear it.”
Her emerald eyes search mine as if she’s looking for any sign of deceit, which she won’t find.