Mercy's Angels Box Set (83 page)

I could tell the moment Annie started to lose her composure—her face was pale, a light beading of perspiration was on her brow, and her fingers were gripping onto each other in a white knuckled grasp. Her chest rose and fell as she attempted to draw air into her lungs. We had already reached the large, sprawling vineyard that was hosting the fundraiser. Rather than try and find a parking spot close to the entrance, I pulled my Chevy into the first spot I found. Jumping from the driver’s seat, I ignored Gabbie’s questioning stare as I rounded the car and opened Annie’s door.

“Swing your legs around, Sunshine,” I encouraged, helping her move her legs so they were planted firmly on the ground. Then I pushed her head down to her knees. “Big, deep breaths,” I murmured as I kneeled before her. I felt Gabbie’s presence behind me but concentrated solely on Annie. “That’s my girl.” With my hand on her back, I could feel her take long, deep breaths. After another minute, Annie sat up with a little more color in her cheeks, her eyes glassy with unshed tears.

“Sorry,” she whispered, clearly embarrassed.

“No apology necessary, sweetheart. You and I have been here before. There is nothing for you to be ashamed of.” And we had been here before. I’d guided Annie through several panic attacks, but it had been a long time since her last one. My stomach coiled with tension as I wondered what had set it off. “Maybe we should have taken this a bit slower, dinner and movie,” I wondered out loud.

Annie’s laughter drew my attention. “Dillon, any slower and we wouldn’t be moving.” I grinned and her worried eyes softened. She glanced over my shoulder. “Sorry for the freak out, Gabbie. I guess I’m more nervous about tonight than I thought.”

She was lying; her eyes darted away, and she shivered as she took in the shadows around us. I found myself searching the hidden spots, looking for signs of movement. Annie’s anxiety was rubbing off on me, but the jumpy look in her eyes was real and made me wonder if her worries were, too. Was she in some sort of trouble? Had Phillip threatened her? It was the only thing I could think of, and it made the way she had been acting the last twenty-four hours make sense. If there was a chance that Phillip was coming for Annie and Eli, then we shouldn’t be out in public like this. Suddenly, I felt too exposed.

Gabbie easily waved her words off. “Annie, I go into a panic attack every time I look at a pair of heels!”

Annie managed a nervous laugh, and when she began to stand, I took her hand in a tight grip. It only took us a couple of minutes to reach the wide steps to the sweeping front porch of the exclusive estate. We were a good fifteen minutes late, so a few people lingered out front. By the time we reached the ushers at the doorway, Annie seemed to have regained her coloring, and she was a whole lot steadier on her feet. I, on the other hand, felt off balance and unprepared.

“Let me text Larz, just to let him know we are about to make our grand entrance,” Gabbie said with a playful smile.

“You sure you’re okay? We don’t have to stay if you don’t want to. We can go get Eli and grab some ice cream or something,” I whispered in Annie’s ear.

She squeezed my hand and offered me a grateful smile. “As tempting as that is, I’m okay. Mercy’s has done a lot for me; the least I can do is show my support by coming along tonight.”

Gabbie turned her dark brown eyes on us, her smile full of delight. “Okay, show time.”

The girls took an arm each as I escorted them into the building. I pushed the nervous apprehension away and put on my game face, watching for anything out of the ordinary. The foyer was easily the length of the entire building, and a few guests loitered with glasses of champagne. The giant double doors that led to the wide open reception hall stood open, giving us a clear view of the crowd that mingled within. Front and center stood Larz, Drew, Parker, Samuel, and one brooding Bomber. Annie held on a little tighter as we moved through the doors and towards my team.

Bomber glanced my way with a raised brow. “Looks like you have your hands full tonight, Boss.” He looked Gabbie’s way and although he was scowling, I could see the humor in his eyes. Gabbie let go of my arm and took a step towards Bomber, her eyes watching him carefully, female appreciation clearly evident. Bomber handed her a champagne flute. I was about to protest, reminding them that Gabbie and Larz would be on the clock in just a few short hours when Bomber explained it was just orange juice. “Well played, sweets.” Bomber grinned, before turning and strolling confidently towards a group of young women who were watching my team a little too enthusiastically. Whispering into a pretty blonde’s ear, she blushed and nodded, then allowed Bomber to escort her to the dance floor.

Gabbie frowned, a little crease on her brow marring her flawless skin.

“Come on, darlin’. Care to show an old man how it’s done?” Larz said, breaking the subtle tension that had fallen over us.

Gabbie smiled gratefully and followed Larz onto the dance floor. Parker and Drew flanked Annie and me. Parker handed Annie a glass of champagne.

“If you think the look on his face as you walked in here was good, wait till you see the picture Larz took when he knocked on Gabbie’s door. Priceless.” Parker chuckled.

“Everything okay, Boss?” Drew asked, obviously picking up on my tension. I gave him a nod, which by the way his body took on an air of sudden alertness, meant he knew I was full of shit. He was also willing to slip into soldier mode even if he didn’t know what the situation was.

“Poor Bomber,” Annie sighed.

“Trust me, he needed to be dropped down a peg or two,” Parker said with a grin. “If he wants to win her over, he needs to drop the ego.”

“He’s just nervous around her,” Annie murmured. We all gave her an incredulous look. Bomber was anything but nervous around women. “Oh, come on, the rules are as old as time. When a boy likes a girl, he teases her, pulls her pigtails, and snaps the back of her training bra in an attempt to get her attention.”

“I’m pretty sure there are no women wearing training bras here, Annie.” I laughed, and Annie playfully nudged me.

“No, but the rules don’t really change that much as we get older. The man still tells silly jokes and teases. It’s almost like a peacock fanning its feathers and strutting before a prospective mate. In an attempt to mask his nerves and look calm and casual, he overcompensates. Bomber is probably the worst case I’ve seen, but he’s not unlike any other man I know.” We all stared at Annie, her perceptiveness taking us by surprise. She shrugged and blushed. “I studied behavioral psychology in college.”

That threw me for a moment. I thought I knew everything there was to know about Annie, but I never knew she went to college. “You went to college?” I asked, surprised.

Annie looked nervous as her eyes flitted over the crowd before us. She took a sip of her champagne before glancing back at me. “It was around the time Phillip’s behavior began to change. He wanted to suddenly move; it was unexpected and impulsive, and I dropped out and never picked it back up,” she carefully explained. “Ironic I was studying behavior when his illness affected just that.”

“Why don’t you go back and finish?” Parker asked exactly what I was thinking.

“Things are different now. My priorities have changed and I have Eli to provide for.” Her words trailed off as an awkward silence surrounded us.

I filed the information away, and I knew exactly what I was going to do with it, when the time was right. Annie was going to finish her studies, even if it meant part-time study around the coffee shop.

Our silence was thankfully interrupted by the lady of the evening herself, Mercy Carter. She approached us with a gentle smile, her tiny figure wrapped in a beautiful sapphire blue evening gown that did not betray the fifty odd years she must be by now. Her boyfriend, and if rumor served to be correct, soon to be fiancé, Dave, held her hand, dressed in a grey suit that complimented his greying hair, they looked the seamless perfection of a couple in love. Even though Mercy had fought her own battles with an abusive husband before Jax was born, she had rebuilt her life and moved forward. That’s what I wanted for Annie; I wanted that easy smile on her face and the nightmares behind her eyes vanquished.

“Annie, you look stunning.” Mercy wrapped Annie in a hug.

“Ms. Carter,” Parker, Drew, and I all said at once, receiving our own welcoming hug and kiss on the cheek. Dave shook our hands before resuming his place beside Mercy.

“So, who’s the lucky one tonight?” she asked. I had no doubt Parker and Drew were mirroring my raised eyebrow and assuming she wasn’t talking about the kind of lucky we automatically thought of.

Mercy rolled her eyes. “Typical boys,” she scoffed.

“Rebecca and Charlie have Eli,” Annie said at my side, her head obviously not in the gutter like us men. Dave just grinned and shook his head.

“Oh, no, they’re going to return him full of sugar and barely contained energy,” Mercy sighed.

“We’re hoping they did the sugar thing this afternoon, that way they can experience firsthand how much fun it is to wrangle the little fella to bed after candy and ice cream.” Mercy laughed and Annie elbowed me in the ribs.

“We are not hoping that,” she muttered.

“Oh, trust me. They need to learn sooner or later. I’ve got money on Rebecca being pregnant by November.”

I groaned. “Don’t tell me Jax has another bet going?”

Dave nodded. “When does Jax not have a bet of some sort going?” It didn’t really surprise me. He had been just the same when we were serving. Placing bets on which arrogant soldier would be the first to get slapped by the self-righteous and completely unavailable hot nurse, Lieutenant McKenzie, to which particular part of bum-fuck Afghanistan we’d be posted for a mission.

“You had better get your money down quick. It’s only a matter of time before Charlie gets it right and finally knocks her up.” I shook my head as Parker gifted Mercy with a wholesome smile, dimples and all, which appeared to easily smooth any offense she may or may not have had over his comment. I was fairly confident there wasn’t a woman alive who was unaffected by Parker’s charm.

“Speaking of Ella, how’s she doing? I haven’t spoken to her for a couple of days, and I have money down on the baby being born on April second,” Annie asked.

Mercy’s gaze turned wistful. “She’s thirty-eight weeks now, and she’s begun having false labor pains. I’d say it will be sooner rather than later.”

“Not soon enough as far as Jax is concerned. Apparently his little angel has morphed into a little demon for the last trimester,” David said, which resulted in a gentle yet firm slap across the arm courtesy of Mercy.

“She’s pregnant. She’s entitled to a little moaning and groaning.”

“You got dragged into Jax’s whole gambling nonsense?” I asked Annie, a little surprised. A light blush colored her cheeks.

“There is two hundred dollars in that pot, and Eli wants to play Little League,” she murmured a little defensively. “It was only five dollars to place a bet, and if I win, the money will come in handy.” I knew the confession embarrassed her, and I hated that she had to struggle to make ends meet.

The thought that a friendly bet could mean so much to her financially had me gritting my teeth in anger. Before I had chance to soothe the defensive tension that suddenly sat on her shoulders, the MC for the evening called us all to quiet as the night’s proceedings got under way.

As the night continued, I was awed with Annie’s social grace. With a little champagne in her system, her shoulders relaxed. She wore a constant smile and always carried genuine interest in the conversations she was a part of. She held herself with a poise and grace that had me smiling like a lovesick goon while she won the hearts of everyone she met. Gabbie and Larz slipped silently away, but not before I noticed Bomber finally pull Gabbie to the dance floor. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes carried a little spark when she said her goodbyes. Perhaps she wasn’t as immune to Bomber’s charisma as she liked to think. Finally, the small crowd that seemed to follow Annie around the room dissipated, and I carefully took the champagne glass from her slender fingers.

“Dance with me,” I whispered in her ear, gently guiding her to the dance floor. I didn’t miss the terrified look in her eyes.

“Dillon, I’m not very good . . . I can’t . . .”

Drawing her into my body, she was quickly silenced. Taking one hand in mine and encouraging her other arm around my shoulder, I moved slowly around the dance floor, the slow playing music suddenly nothing but distant background noise as I watched Annie look nervously around us. I let go of her hand long enough to guide her chin around so her eyes were on me. “Who is it you keep looking for?” I murmured. Her gaze held mine and I pulled her a little closer until I could feel the warmth from her body seep into mine. “What triggered the panic attack tonight?” I persisted, and she said nothing. Her body tensed slightly, and when she would have turned her gaze to once again look anywhere but at me, I gently grabbed her chin and held her focus on mine. She took my hand and pulled it away from my face, but instead of allowing her to resume the correct stance, I held her hand close to my chest as we continued to slowly move.

“Just bad memories,” she said, not really answering my question.

“What kind of bad memories?” I probed.

She bit her bottom lip and scrunched her face a little, an action of irritation and frustration. “The kind that are bad,” she said through gritted teeth.