BEAST (23 page)

“What the fuck are you looking at, Nigger?!”

Ashleigh’s mouth dropped in shock. Lance shook Kendra loose and stood up quickly. Blood was streaming down his face but he pushed the girls behind him.

“What the hell is wrong with you?!” He screamed. “You could have hit these ladies and one of them is pregnant!”

“I’m going to hit
you
, faggot.” The leader said. He looked mean and full of hate even though he couldn’t have been twenty-five years old. The rest of them trailed behind him as he crossed the street towards them and Ashleigh gripped Lance’s arm and then she pushed Kendra behind her. Things were about to happen fast and she didn’t want Kendra hurt.

The sound of several car doors slamming could be heard and one guy very nearly got run over by Rick. He stopped his car with a screech of tires and didn’t even bother to shut the door. The rednecks took in the two big black guys that were heading for them and the one huge white guy with the scary face, and it dawned on them that they had selected the wrong three people to harass tonight.

They held up their hands trying to plead innocent but the sight of Lance’s bloody face said otherwise. Rick’s eyes were red like demon eyes as he went barreling at the leader. He caught him at a dead run right in his middle.

Jeffery looked like a crazed bull as his nose flared while he breathed in ragged breaths. With lightening speed that seemed unnatural from such a big man he caught one of the men that thought he could run past. He slammed a big ham sized
fist
right into the side of the man’s head…and he was out cold.

Christopher’s face was like a mask. His eyes had gone
dark,
his expression was drawn in rage. He had one man by the back of the neck and the other by his upper arm. They looked like two children that had misbehaved in school instead of two grown men caught in the middle of committing a hate crime.

He slammed them into each other and Ashleigh grimaced at the sound of bones snapping. The men began screaming and crying. Christopher did it again. One was knocked out the other was holding his broken nose and teeth and moaning in agony.

He dropped the men quickly when he saw that Rick was slamming his fist repeatedly into the face of the leader who was now unconscious. Lance was hanging on his lover’s arm, trying to pull him back but Rick neither felt him nor heard his cries to stop. Jeffery and Christopher rushed forward and grabbed the enraged football player, pulling him away from the battered, limp form of a man that would probably never be recognized again…if he lived. It took Lance throwing his arms around Rick’s neck and holding on to him for the large man to finally snap out of it. 

Rick gasped when he realized that Lance was hugging him and trembling.
He blinked at the sight of his hurt lover.
“Oh god, baby.
Oh god, you’re bleeding. Let me see, baby! Are you okay?” Lance was trying to tell him that he was okay and Myrna burst from the bar where everyone was gathered at the picture window watching what had just transpired. She grabbed Christopher’s arm.

“You and your friends got to get out of here now, Chris! The cops are on their way!”

Christopher was frowning. “I’m not going to run away. We did nothing wrong.”

“You said you can’t fight because you’re a Marine.” Myrna said quickly. “Your hands, aren’t they considered weapons?”

Christopher paled.

“We got to get out of here.” Lance said in a shaky voice. “We can’t have this in the papers…” The Bengals already had a bad rep without something like this appearing in the papers.

The bartender came out then. “Get your friends out of here Chris. Leave this no-account trash for the cops to deal with. They probably got warrants anyhow and have been nothing but trouble around the neighborhood. You get your people home before the cops
cause
you trouble.”

Jeffery had a protective arm around his wife and was already leading her to their car. Ashleigh had sobered completely and was already giving Rick instructions to get Lance to the Emergency room.
They were all going to meet at the ER
and there was no longer any doubt of sticking around. Lance was hurt. They had to go.

As they drove to the hospital Ashleigh could see that Christopher was upset. His muscles seemed to bunch and he was glaring at the road. She reached over and placed her hand on the white knuckled grip that he had on the steering wheel and he took a deep breath and looked at her. She was surprised at the depth of pain she saw in his eyes.

“I’m so sorry, Ashleigh.”

She shook her head in confusion. “Why?”

“I should have been there. I should have never left you alone.” Anger seemed to take over his expression. “I heard what that guy called you. I wanted to kill him. I wanted to do to him what Rick did.”

“Baby, it’s not your fault-”

“Nobody is ever going to use that word against you while I’m around.
EVER!”

She saw the muscles clenching in his jaw as he glared at the road again, gripping the steering wheel tightly. 
“Ever.”
He said more to himself. “Not against my woman, not against our children, not against our friends.”

Ashleigh stared at him.

His woman, his children, his friends.

She gently pulled his hand from the steering wheel and when he released his strangle hold on it she kissed his knuckles hearing a slow breath release from his body.

“I wasn’t scared because I knew you’d come back. I knew that everything was going to be alright, Christopher, because you were coming back.”

Christopher bit his lip. He was a Marine…and more than that, he fought terrorism. He loved his job, he loved the reason he did his job. But what if…one day he wasn’t able to come back
?

~***~

Sunday they went to Christopher’s parent’s house and she noted that he was still subdued. She didn’t want him to feel so bad about Lance, or bringing them to a redneck bar, or whatever it was that was causing him anguish. Lance was going to be perfectly okay, despite having a slight concussion. And no one blamed him one bit.

Alma had indeed apologized for her actions, under her brother’s watchful eyes and then she had retreated to the kitchen…and had basically not acknowledged her since. They still didn’t let her help in the kitchen, regulating her out to join Christopher and the other men. They treated her well and she was happy that at least Christopher had a family, although she didn’t necessarily feel included. Her father and mother were divorced. Mama had moved to Tennessee and her father was remarried and living in Florida. She had two sisters who were just
a
phone call away...which was the best way to keep it.

As they lay in bed Sunday night, Ashleigh ran a soothing hand over his brow. Christopher closed his eyes but turned his face towards her. She traced his brow and then down his nose where a lot of the damage to his face was centered. Christopher had no bridge and therefore had a concaved look. Her fingers moved over his lips where scars created raised lines…perfect for exploring with the tip of her tongue.

She leaned forward and did just that. They had already made love twice but Ashleigh already felt like they could go for number three…

His hands came up to
cup
the back of her head and they kissed. After she withdrew she stared at him, his hands still there on the back of her head. She lay down and snuggled against him and he closed his arms around her protectively. She needed this type of love from him, where there was no judgment, no expectation to be someone else, where she could learn how to be just Ashleigh. This is the type of love that was slowly healing all of the damage that she had heaped on herself all of her life; from the time that she was the fat one in the family and Mama kept putting her on diets that didn’t work…because she had secreted candy away and would binge when no one was around.

Even DeAngelo didn’t know about it. Every time he stepped out on her with one of his many pretty slender girls, Ashleigh always found solace in food and fantasy; movies where the ugly duckling turned into the swan.

And now, for the first time in her life, she didn’t care about being a swan. Christopher had shown her the
value
of the most important beauty of all; internal beauty. Ashleigh closed her eyes and pressed her lips against Christopher’s neck and that is the way they fell asleep.

CHAPTER 8

The first thing Monday morning, Christopher marched into his Commander’s office.  “Sir…I need to talk to you about something pretty important.”

Bruce Koepke sighed. He liked Beast. He didn’t want to lose him, but he already knew what he wanted to ask.

“Beast, you’re a heluva Marine. You know that or you wouldn’t be on an elite force. I don’t want to lose you, son.”

Christopher could barely meet his Commander’s eyes. Finally he relaxed his formal posture and looked steadily at the older man who was more than his Commander, who was his friend.

“Bruce, I’m a Marine for life. That’s never going to change. But…I can’t go out on missions anymore. I’m not going to quit The Marines…but I want to step down from the DHS.”

Bruce frowned. “TK, some of the others have spouses, girls,
kids
-”

“Yes, sir.”
He looked uncomfortable. It wasn’t easy to talk about his facial deformity and how it makes you take a step away from the rest of the world, until you didn’t even feel like you belonged. “When I didn’t feel like I had anything else, I always had The Marines. I always fit in here. When my father…couldn’t even remember my name I had the guys here—and you. The team is about as close to me as my own blood family.

“What made me into a person fit to serve in this Special Task Force is that’s all I had and I put everything into it. But now…I got something else. It
don’t
mean that I don’t want to serve my country, or my protectees. It
don’t
mean I won’t deploy when I’m called. It just means that I don’t want to go out on any more special missions.”

Bruce studied him and then nodded once. “Damnit
, son…start
putting in for other jobs then. I’ll start the paperwork to remove you from the duty roster. Are you sure about this?”

“Yes.”

Bruce stood and shook his hand and clapped his back. “Well, if you found something that you love more than The Marines, I’m happy for you, Chris.”

He nodded and his face broke into a happy smile. “I have.”

~***~

Bruce told him that it might be best not to mention to the rest of the team that he would be reassigned. It bothered him that the guys might be mad at him or even
feel
that he was letting them down. He couldn’t think of a better group of guys to work with. And he didn’t like holding back from them, but there was no need to create tension over something that was purely a personal decision.

Also, he didn’t feel the need to mention it to Ashleigh either. They had never discussed his missions in
any detail
and he didn’t
see any reason to tell her about his decision until he had at l
east found a new position. He hoped he could find a post nearby. He could even see himself being stationed at the airport…though he would miss watching Ashleigh on the monitors—not that she would be happy knowing that he had been
perving
her at every available moment.
But
he didn’t think he was doing it in a stalker
I-got my eye on you kind of way…well…maybe
he was
. But it was done more to give him joy
and not to keep tabs on her
, t
hough he had seen that she hadn’t returned to the vending machine for more candy bars
.

Over the course of the next few days i
t seemed that everything
was falling comfortably in
to
place.
Ashleigh noticed that the tension had left Christopher
; h
e joked and laughed again. And Christopher was contemplating
some very important steps into his future; first
step was the
career change from
special
forces
and then next
…
he wanted to make
his relationship with Ashleigh p
ermanent.
He realized that t
hey were still new and he worried about her feeling rushed but he
also
knew that he wanted to live with her for the rest of his life. He’d known that after the
very
first night they’d made love.