Page 30 of Always Mine
Annie got into hers and drove home thinking about the stilted conversation she had with a man she’d loved. It made her sad.
* * *
“Are you ready guys?” Diego asked his men. “This is gonna be a tough one.”
“We’re ready, Sarge.” Tully raised his fist in the air. “Let’s go get’em.”
It was damp out and hot as they crept to the wall. Their feet squished in the mud.
Bullets rattled through the night air.
Pain exploded in his shoulder.
He fell.
The gunfire raged on.
Eyes slitted, Lt. Diego Rodriguez witnessed his men drop to the ground one-by-one. It was surreal, like something out of a movie; he reached for his weapon. But his arm wouldn’t move. His face was smushed into the wet dirt. Afraid for his life, he laid still.
The world went dark.
“Diego, what’s wrong?”
“Oh, God, Oh God.”
A strong hand shook him. “Diego.”
“No, God, no.”
A slap on his face.
He sat up suddenly. Will sat across the table. “I…I… don’t understand.”
Will frowned. “I do, buddy. You had a flashback.” He stood and got a bottle of cold water from the fridge and tore paper towels off the roll. When he came back in, he handed Diego the towels. “Here, wipe your face and neck.”
Diego didn’t even know he was sweating. He wiped his face. Then grabbed the bottle and sipped.
“I was awake, Will. We were sitting right here, in the kitchen.”
“Don’t you know guys who’ve had these episodes?”
“Yeah, I guess. Experiencing them myself is a different story.”
“They happen in a myriad of ways. Any time, any place. You can go into one just sitting there like you were. Diego, you need to talk to somebody.”
He sighed. “Don’t go there again.”
“Somebody has to.”
“I can’t talk…it’s too much.”
“Diego, it’ll keep plaguing you like this until you get it all out.”
He scrubbed his face.
“You had two nightmares when you were asleep. Annie told me.”
“She shouldn’t have.”
