Love Heals All (Once Broken Book 2) Read online

  “It started out okay and got progressively worse.”

  “Oh no, what happened?”

  “Well, first I had to recover an abandoned vehicle. Then I get it back to the shop to look at it and the thing is a mess. We don’t have the part we need to fix it, and then to top it all off, Brody tore up the house. I have trash everywhere.” He sighs into the phone. “I totally didn’t expect this and I don’t know what to do.”

  “He’s looking for attention. He missed you and was probably lonely. He went from being in a home where he was with his owner all day, to being in the shelter, to spending an entire weekend with you. He didn’t expect to be alone all day. I’m not telling you it’s okay that he did it, but I want you to understand.”

  “That’s fine, but what do I do now?”

  “What did you do when you walked in the door and saw the mess?”

  He lets out a deep breath. “I yelled at him and sent him to his bed. He whimpered and ran off.” He sounds so sad and it breaks me.

  “Do you want me to come over?”

  “No, it’s fine. I think I need to handle this on my own. I’m going to clean up and then take him for a walk.”

  “Are you sure? We can go for a walk together.” I’m trying to cheer him up because I have a feeling he’s just as sad as Brody right now. He chuckles into the phone, telling me my sing song voice works. “I’m not taking no for an answer. You better let the MPs know I’m on my way.” He starts laughing and cuts the call. My man and his dog have had a rough day and they need some cheering up. I shoot him off a quick text telling him I’m grabbing dinner on the way, but he never responds. He’s probably trying to clean Brody’s mess.

  I pull up to Vaughn’s house almost an hour later. I had no problem getting on the base, which means he listened and called over to the gate. I picked up some chicken, mac and cheese, and corn on my way over. I’m hoping he will like it. The place I got it from is fast and the food is good. I climb out of the car to find Vaughn at the door with a much happier Brody. Too bad Vaughn still has a look of defeat on his face. He grabs Brody’s collar and opens the door for me. “You have good timing, I just finished cleaning up.”

  “Good, we can eat and take this bad little boy for a walk.” I pet Brody’s head talking to him in a baby voice. He barks at me and wags his tail. “Go lay down while we eat.”

  He follows us to the kitchen and sits at our feet. “Brody, go lay down.” Vaughn points to the living room and he takes off. When he lays down outside the kitchen as he was asked, Vaughn rewards him. “Good boy.” He pets his head. “Now stay and we’ll go out soon.” The dog stays and Vaughn heads to the sink to wash his hands before we sit down to eat. He finally joins me. “Before I forget, do you have any plans for Friday?”

  “No, why? Do you have something in mind?”

  “Would you and Courtney be interested in joining us guys for a night out again?”

  I shrug my shoulders. “I can ask her. She could use another night out. She broke up with her boyfriend a few months ago and is having a hard time of it. She found out he cheated on her and it’s the second time she’s been cheated on. She swears she’s never going to find the right man.”

  “Well, she and Callen seemed to hit it off pretty good, and the guys and I make it a point to get together at least every other Friday. We try weekly but stuff often gets in the way. We usually go to that bar I saw you at to have a beer or two and grab some food.”

  “That’s cool.”

  “Yeah, it’s a good way for the new guys to feel welcome and we’ve all become friends. Plus, the guys on base get bored. I have three guys who don’t get as much freedom as Callen and I do.” He digs into his plate.

  “How come?” I have no idea what military life is like. Why would some guys get more freedom than others? That’s not very fair.

  “While you’re a lower enlisted soldier, you have restrictions, plus the kids can’t usually afford a car. It’s expensive to store if they get called on an overseas mission or if your duty station changes, it can be hard to transport your vehicle to the new location, so most of them deal without one. The base has stuff for guys to do, but after a little while it can get old. The guys live in the barracks, and hanging there gets old, especially if you’re with guys you don’t get along with.”

  “I can’t imagine that’s easy.”

  I shrug. “That’s why I try to get together with them. It boosts their morale, and for a short time we’re just a bunch of guys hanging out.”

  “You’re so sweet.” I lean in and kiss him on the lips. His tongue darts out, licking across the seam of mine. I open to him and our tongues explore one another. He tastes of Vaughn and fried chicken. Not a bad combo.

  “Let’s clean up and take him out before we get out of control.”

  “Good idea. I can’t stay too late. I have to get my clothes ready for work tomorrow.”

  “Yeah, me too. I have no idea what I’ll wear.” He laughs mocking me.

  “You’ll pay for that.” I toss my dirty napkin at him. He throws it back, missing me completely. Brody jumps up and starts to bark but never sets foot into the kitchen. I run over to calm him down. “It’s okay, boy.” I pet the top of his head and he sits back down. We quickly pack up the leftover food and get it into the fridge.

  When we’re about done, Vaughn pulls the dog’s leash from the drawer and hands it to me. “Can you get him hooked up for me?” He grabs our dishes and starts to rinse them for the dishwasher.

  “Sure.” I hook up his leash, and because he knows we’re going out, he gets excited.

  Vaughn dries his hands and comes over, patting his head. “Are you excited to go out? You need to be a good boy tomorrow while I’m at work, though. No more playing in the trash.” He takes the leash in hand and my hand in the other and we take off on our walk.

  “So, what’s up with Courtney?” he asks as we walk down the street hand in hand.

  “Like I told you, she’s been cheated on a few times. The first time he had given her a key and she showed up at his place to surprise him and found him in bed with two other women.”

  His brows shoot up. “Holy shit. That’s messed up.”

  “Tell me about it. She had just started working at the clinic with me. I felt so bad for her. She was a mess for the longest time. She dated a few guys and said it wasn’t working out. Then she met Ted. He was really nice to her and treated her well, or at least she thought. Her friend Tiffany sent her a picture of him kissing another girl on the sidewalk outside a restaurant.”

  He shakes his head. “What is it with men? It kills me. Guys like that give us a bad name.” Brody pulls us to the side of the road where he finds a tree to do his business. “Thank god he didn’t leave me any messes like this to clean up.” He bends over with the bag wrapped around his hand to clean the mess. Being an apartment community, there are receptacles set up to dispose of things like this. I can’t help but giggle at the face he makes when he ties off the bag. We turn the corner to head down the next street. “That’s where Callen lives.” He points to Callen’s building.

  “Cool. What’s the plan for Friday?”

  He shrugs. “We usually meet up around six. I’ll try to get the same big booth we had last time.”

  “Sounds good. We’ll plan to meet you about the same time. I’m on-call this weekend, so I can’t go too far in case there’s an emergency.”

  “Does that mean I won’t see you this weekend?”

  “I honestly haven’t thought far ahead, but I’m sure we can do something.” We walk back up to his place, he opens the door, and Brody darts into the house. I pause on the porch. “Listen, I think I’d best be going.” He smiles down at me. “I think it’ll be good for you spend the rest of the night with your buddy, and maybe tomorrow he’ll be a good boy for you.”

  He nods but he looks concerned. I press up on my tippy toes and grab his shirt. He lowers his lips to mine and I instantly open to him. He moans into my mouth and the sound
awakens the butterflies in my belly. I pull away. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

  “Drive careful.”

  “I will.” He and Brody stand by the door, watching me get into my car. I wave and drive off, feeling a little bit better. He still seems a bit off, but owning a new dog can be overwhelming. I can tell he’s really happy with Brody, though. They’ll be fine. My phone chirps and when I pull up to the light I see it’s a text from Vaughn.

  Vaughn: Thanks for coming over and bringing dinner. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.

  I smile and put my phone in my purse to finish my ride home.

  Chapter 9

  Vaughn

  A yawn escapes me as I pull up to the house after a long ass week. I need to hurry so I can take Brody out. He’s gotten a lot better as the week has gone on. He’s no longer making a mess in the kitchen with the trash. Now he just takes his toys out of their bin and scatter them around the house. That I can handle. We’ve started to create a nice routine, and he seems to be adjusting nicely. He’s smart as hell too. He sensed me having a nightmare the other night and jumped up on the bed and began licking my face to wake me up. Just thinking about it makes me smile.

  I open the door and I’m instantly greeted by my boy. “Hey buddy. Do you need to go out?” He whimpers, telling me he does. I run to the drawer to grab his leash and hook it to his collar. “Come on, buddy.” We head out and my mind drifts to the other night. I was dreaming about a mission we were on, it was rough. We were losing guys left and right. Vehicles were breaking down and we had lost a bunch to mortar attacks. Thanks to my new buddy, that’s as far as it got. I thanked him for waking me, he jumped off the mattress, and went back to his bed. We both fell back to sleep, and that was the last of the nightmare for that night. I do still need to catch up on a bit more sleep, but I’ll work on that this weekend.

  Brooke is spending the night, but we can’t go far because she’s on-call this weekend. I’m sure we’ll hang here and take it easy. Brody is finally done doing his business. I clean up his mess and we both head back into the house. I need to shower and get changed out of this uniform. Brooke is meeting me here and then she’s taking a cab with Callen and I over to the bar. We both agreed not to be out too late, but neither of us wants to drive after having a beer or two. Unhooking Brody’s leash, I head straight for the shower, washing off the day’s grime. Rubbing soap all over reminds me of Brooke’s hands on my body as she wrapped her warm, wet lips around my cock. It instantly stiffens as I stroke myself, it’s been a while, so it doesn’t take me long before I’m shooting my load down the drain of the shower. It was helpful, but didn’t feel nearly as good as her mouth, and I can’t wait to be buried in that tight pussy of hers.

  The water runs cold. I shut it off, quickly dry off, and tie the towel around my waist. I go straight to my closet in search of something to wear, I need to hurry up. I’m finishing up tying my shoe when there’s a knock at the door. Brody starts barking and jumping around the entry. “Down, boy. It’s Brooke.” I grab his collar and open the door to find her standing there in a gorgeous sundress, her long blonde hair is curled, and she has just a touch of makeup on. Damn, she looks fucking hot. I pull her into the house, closing the door and pinning her to it. My mouth crashes down on hers and our tongues explore each other’s mouths. Her hips grind against my now fully erect cock. Fuck, I don’t even want to go out now. I want to pick her up and carry her fine ass to my room. Our kiss is interrupted by a knock at the door. Brody starts up his barking yet again. I press my forehead to hers as we both try to calm our breathing. “Fuck me.” I’m panting.

  “I was hoping for a bit of that tonight.” She bites her lip.

  I press my lips to hers one more time and then grab her hand and pull her away from the door. I open it to find Callen standing there with his arms crossed. When he sees Brooke next to me, a smile spreads across his face. “Did I interrupt something?” He’s trying to fight his laughter.

  “Fuck you, man. Get your ass in here.” He steps inside and begins petting Brody to calm him down.

  “Dude, your dog acts so vicious but he’s such a softy.”

  “Yeah, well, I don’t need an attack dog…” my words trail off. I almost say more but I bite my tongue and he gives me a look like he knows what I need but he drops it. “Come, Brody.” I take him into the kitchen to feed him.

  Callen and Brooke follow behind me. “I already called for the cab. It should be here any minute.”

  “Courtney is meeting us at the bar.”

  “Nice. She’s hot. Can you hook me up?” Callen rubs his hands together.

  “Listen, she seems to like you, but she’s been through some shit. She needs a good guy, and it’s going to take her a while before she trusts anyone,” Brooke warns him.

  “It kills me when guys pull shit like that. It gives us all a bad name.” Callen shakes his head. “Maybe we can all hang here or at my place one night. Ya know, have like a game night.”

  “That sounds like fun. Then she can get to know you a bit and give her a chance to get comfortable with you.” She looks up at me and I shrug my shoulders. I don’t care what we do. I’m cool with hanging with Callen. “Let’s see how tonight goes and we can make plans.”

  “Thanks.” His smile grows.

  We hear a horn, and when I look out the window I see the cab in the driveway. I tell Brody to be good and we run out the door.

  When the cab driver pulls up outside the bar, I let him know that I’ll be calling him in a few hours for a ride home. He tells me it’s no problem and pulls away. We walk into the bar. It’s early, so the table we want is still free. We head straight over to it and the waitress from last time comes over. “Back for more?”

  “Yeah, we have more people joining us, but we’ll take a round of beers, please,” Callen tells her sliding into the booth.

  “Who’s coming tonight?” Brooke leans into me.

  I wrap my arm around her shoulder. “Well, you’ve already met Max, Liam, and Callen. Tonight Nolin joins us, and I believe he’s bringing his girlfriend, Vicky.”

  “He said they were coming. He told me he talked to her about it when I told him Brooke and Courtney were coming,” Callen adds as the waitress drops our first round of beers.

  “Do you want to wait for your friends to get here before you order?” The waitress has a pad in her hand.

  “Nah, we’ve already agreed to split the bill. Can you order us nachos, two cheese fries—one with bacon and one with chili—onion rings, potato skins, boneless buffalo wings, and mozzarella sticks.” The waitress nods at me as she writes it all down.

  “Sure, I’ll put everything on a few large platters to save space for you guys on the table.

  “That would be awesome. Thanks.” Callen sips his beer. She winks at him and walks away.

  Courtney arrives next, and Callen’s face lights up when he sees her. She looks cute wearing a pair of capris and a light weight purple top. She has her hair pulled back and she, like Brooke, keeps her makeup light. “Hey, guys.”

  “Hey, gorgeous.” Callen checks her out as she slips into the booth.

  Courtney instantly blushes sliding into the seat next to him. Looking to the floor she says, “Hey,” and gives him a shy smile.

  “Can I get you a beer?”

  “Yes, please.” The waitress comes over and Callen orders her a beer, but before she can leave Max and Liam join us. She takes their drink order and walks off to get three more beers. The guys say hello and slip into the booth. “Can I sit next to Brooke?” Courtney asks Callen. He promptly gets out to switch with her. The girls quickly hug and begin chatting.

  “We already ordered a bunch of food and it should be out soon,” I tell everyone.

  “Thanks, man.” Liam sips the beer the waitress just dropped off. She told us our food will be out any minute. It’s a pretty big order, so she went back to check on it, but I imagine it would take some time.

  Courtney and Brooke are chatting next to us about
animals in the shelter, and the guys are talking about the shop. There are always rumors flying around about the MPs and the shit they pull on base. The guys who abandoned the Humvee we recovered are in some serious shit, and the latest rumors are all about why they abandoned it and what’s going to happen to them. The guys burst into laughter as Nolin and Vicky arrive. He looks pissed, and she has a fake smile plastered on her face. It appears they’re late because of a fight, and I’m hoping it doesn’t dampen the night, because everyone is having a great time.

  “Hey guys. This is my girlfriend, Vicky.” He goes around the table giving names until he gets to Brooke and Courtney. He looks at me.

  “This is my girlfriend, Brooke, and her friend, Courtney.” The girls each hold out their hand and shake with both Nolin and Vicky. Nolin finishes the intro with Callen and they take a seat next to Liam and Max. Just as they’re getting comfortable our waitress arrives with another following her. They’re each carrying a tray of food. The waitress puts down plates and gets us one more round of drinks.

  Brooke’s leg bounces under the table as we make our plates. I place a gentle hand on her knee and give it a squeeze. “What’s wrong?” I whisper close to her ear.

  She turns to me with a smile on her face. She bites her lip for a minute, and then whispers back, “I’m itching to get back to your house.”

  “Hey, you two going to keep whispering to yourselves all night?” Courtney teases. We both chuckle.

  I press a kiss to her lips. “Busted.”

  We all start laughing and eating. Nolin and Vicky look like they’re in a better place. Callen is talking with Courtney, who has a huge smile on her face. The food is delicious and in no time it’s almost all gone. I’m glad we ordered enough. We were slightly concerned we would need to order more, but decided to start with this and add on if we needed to. After a short time the music kicks up a notch, and Your Body is a Wonderland by John Mayer begins to play. My hand glides up the inside of her leg. Her skin is warm and soft. I feel her body shiver slightly at my touch, but no one else notices because they’re all so engrossed in conversation. My thumb glides over her pussy, her breath hitches, and she turns to me.