Page 3 of Nomad
“Get your shit together! We leave in ten!”
Aaron and I both rose from our seats and rushed to gather the rest of our gear, our conversation long forgotten. It was time to suit up and head out into the unknown. We had a job to do. This was more than likely the last orders I’d receive as a Special Forces Operator for the United States. The odds weren’t on our side, but I hoped against all hope we all made it out alive, especially Aaron. He had a life outside the military. His wife and kid needed him as much as he needed them.
Chapter One
SANDMAN
Windhaven, Arizona
“Hey, baby.” She smashed the cigarette out in the black plastic ashtray filled with cigarette butts sitting on the bar, then blew a cloud of smoke into the stale air. “You ready to take me home?”
I sighed at the sound of her gruff voice and slid carefully onto the wobbly barstool. For someone so young, she sounded like a ninety-year-old man who was well on her way to having throat cancer from the packs of cigarettes she smoked daily. I didn’t judge. I smoked myself, but not as much as her.
Today, when I closed my garage early and ended my shitty day here at the local bar and grill, I’d hoped Lucy or Shawn would tend the bar. But no such luck. I should have known. Lady Luck was a bitch and was never on my side. Tonight, she spat in my face then laughed, the insult coming in the form of Sadie. Being stuck with her made my skin crawl like a million fire ants had imbedded beneath my skin. It had been a long day. I wasn’t in the mood.
Sadie Donahue, the stepdaughter of the former owner ofShady Sadie’s Bar and Grill, planted her elbows on the wooden bar in front of me, licking her thin lips and eyeing me up and down like a hungry wolf. I held in the curse itching to come out. All I wanted was five goddamn minutes of peace. That was it. Five minutes of peace to drink a few beers, eat a big ass greasy cheeseburger, then go home for the night. I wasn’t in the mood for any of Sadie’s bullshit.
As my eyes slid down her slender frame, it was unbelievable she was twenty-five years old. She appeared a good twenty years older, and the heavy makeup caked on her face didn’t help. Along with the overpowering scent of her perfume that caused my head to ache worse, she had her bleached blond hair piled on top of her head, teased to incredible heights, and stiffened with obscene amounts of hairspray. Her deep, red, thin lips matched a red and white plaid shirt knotted above her navel, and her short cutoff blue jean shorts were excruciatingly tight, highlighting her flat ass. It amazed me she could move at all. I guess it was her failed attempt at looking like Daisy Duke.
The years hadn’t been kind to Sadie. She was the poster child for not doing drugs. She appealed to assholes, like Donnie, the local meth dealer who sat at the corner table every night high out of his mind on his own product.
But not me.
Hope bloomed in her bloodshot eyes as I continued to peruse her frail body, wondering what in the hell she thought I’d ever see in her. What did anyone see in Sadie Donahue beyond a warm body to fuck?
I couldn’t even imagine that.
Her brown-tinged teeth, stained with red lipstick and inching a little too close to my face for comfort when she smiled, brought me out of my thoughts.
“Not gonna happen, sweetheart.”
Her smile faltered a little.
I grabbed the beer she placed on top of the coaster she’d slammed on the long, worn wooden bar in front of me. I took a sip, enjoying the cheap, cool amber liquid sliding down my throat.
“You’re not my type,” I said.
I’d been coming toShady Sadie’s Bar and Grillfor a few years now. The small hole in the wall dive bar was a relic left over from the town’s wild west days that Sadie’s now deceased stepfather had converted from the original town saloon. Jack, the town drunk who was also a relic of the town and loved to talk about the good ole days, said the wooden bar and the wooden porch were original to the bar. And, for all those years I’d been coming, Sadie had tried her damnedest to get me to fuck her, either by flashing her fake tits, like now, or begging.
None of it appealed to me, and I turned her down every time. However, I gave credit where credit was due. She hadn’t given up, despite me telling her no anytime I saw her. She was a real go-getter when it came to landing cock, but hell would freeze over before Sadie Donahue ever landed mine. Not only was she annoying as hell, she had a different man at her side, always—not what I was looking for in a woman, even only for a quick fuck.
“You want me, like everybody else in this shithole town.”
She tried pouting her thin lips as best she could, looking more like a fish out of water than the sexy look she was aiming for. Then she pushed her barely covered chest toward me. I slid back, trying to get as much space between me and her tits as possible so she wouldn’t get the wrong idea.
“When are you going to give me a chance, baby?” She batted her eyelashes that were caked with that black shit women liked to wear. “I’ll show you a good time, William.”
I hated when anyone called me William, especially someone who didn’t know me. I hadn’t been that man in a long time.
The cheap beer and greasy food weren’t worth staying here listening to Sadie’s nonstop begging to get into my bed.
I stood, grabbed a twenty-dollar bill from my wallet, then slapped it on the bar for the half-drunk bottle of beer because I couldn’t get the peace I wanted. “Sadie, there’s not a chance in Hell, or on God’s green earth, I’d ever fuck you. Again, you’re not my type, sweetheart. Keep the change.”
“Never say never, baby!” She waved the twenty-dollar bill in the air. I made my way to the exit, the floorboards squeaking under my footsteps. “I have my ways!”
Like I said, she wasn’t a quitter when it came to getting fucked. I shook my head, choosing not to say any more to the delusional woman and stepped over the threshold of the bar. There was nothing that would change my mind about Sadie.
The fresh, warm air expanded my lungs when I deeply inhaled. The day had been long, and I needed a release. I slid my wallet into my back pocket then pulled out my phone and sent a quick text to Angie to meet me at my home. I hadn’t had a good night’s sleep, dreading the next few days. Hopefully, after a couple of rounds with Angie, I could chase the memories away and fall asleep.
