Page 9 of Trusting the Team

“You hit like a girl,” Dari wiped her mouth, her lip split.

Gumby heard her mouth off, giving them a direction to find her in the lot. Phantom had gone to check on Piper's vehicle first. And then would swing around the far side if he could. Lowell had followed them out with his teammates.

Dari was getting yanked up again, she saw Rex in a shadow coming at her, she tried to scramble toward him, but the man yanked her back hard, shifting his grip closer to her head as well. She turned toward him as his fist came down into her cheekbone again. He was so focused on her unconscious frame crumbling in front of him he did not see Rex until it was too late. Rex's momentum hit the man like a mac truck, and he fell back into the gravel, Rex did not hesitate and before they had finished skidding to a stop, he was unconsciousness.

Wolf called 911, Gumby knelt to check on Dari, Phantom gave the men a thumbs up on the rest of the women. Dari came awake slowly, recognizing emergency lights as she reached for her face. She felt hands grab her arms and started to struggle. “Dari, damn it!” Wolf was snickering in the background as she got a solid connection on Gumby.

She looked at Gumby as he sat her up, “my head is killing me.”

“That happens when it gets used like a punching bag, hon.”

“He came out of nowhere.”

“Well, between you in the bar, Rex clearing the threat, and his hard landing into the ambulance I think he will leave you alone. Let me get you an ice pack.” Gumby went to get up and Phantom dropped an ice pack over his shoulder instead.

“You're going to look like shit on Monday, you know,” Phantom stated. “And if your boss doesn't do it, we will, you'll be on a tight leash, young lady.”

“It wasn't my fault!”

Wolf intervened, “You all sound like siblings. Dari, we agree it was not your fault and we will tell anybody who asks the same thing. I am sure it'll be fine. In the meantime, I cannot have you busting up my wife's place.”

“Come on,” Gumby grabbed her arm and helped haul her up off the ground. “You can stay with Sidney and me.”

“What? No.” She tripped on her feet, her weight dropping into Gumby's grip.

“You are not staying home alone with what is undoubtedly a concussion. Give me your keys.”

The door was open to the ambulance and Dari looked in, the man’s face was a mess, his shirt torn and stained with blood and dirt. “Rex, a ‘hard landing’?”

“I'm fine though,” he grinned. She tripped again and Gumby shifted his grip around her waist.

Phantom took over Dari so Gumby could get Sidney. The two got them both into Dari's jeep and Gumby headed to the beach house. Rex drove his car back to Ace’s and Phantom took the SUV.

3

DARI

The next morning while the wives were hands off, Dari was clearly not. Bubba came by the beach house, walked into the guest room, and threw open the curtains. Dari rolled off the ice pack she fell asleep on. Bubba lost the steam he was building up, “what the hell?” Both sides of Dari's face were bruised, her right eye almost swollen shut.

“Your wife was cheering last night. Why are you here? I learned my lesson.”

“Ok, well obviously I can't argue that point very well.” He paced in the room, “Damn it, why did you take all the fun out of this?”

Dari sat up, resting her elbows on her knees, her head in her hands. She had on a shirt of Gumby's covering her as the sheet fell to her waist. “I wasn't having fun last night, Bubba. I don't go out looking for a gang fight for kicks. Jeezuz, that beard is so weird.”

Bubba sat down on the edge of the bed, “We're worried about you.”

“I'm not 9 anymore.”

“No shit, Gumby heard a kid talking about you in the bar last night. I’m surprised there weren't two guys being loaded in ambulances.”

“What?”

“Don't worry, we got our eyes out for this kid. If he comes through training, he's ours.”

“What? Can you at least get me some ibuprofen if you're going to stay here.”

“They need to break your jaw next time,” Bubba griped as he headed to the bathroom. Dari got out of bed, following Bubba. “I heard you flattened Phantom,” Bubba looked up from rummaging around in the cabinet with a bottle of ibuprofen.

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