Blackout

Chapter 14

Location: Imaia

Code Name: Blackout.

Time: 12:00 am International Time

“Somebody is going to pay for this,” I grunted to my men, who turned paler and tried very hard not to look scared of the threat. So this is how my men and Max had become friends, by playing Shots and Questions, the most idiotic game in the existence of games. I lifted an eyebrow at the thermos of brewed coffee, then at the cup at the side and finally to Max. She was chatting with her friend excitedly. My eyes undressed her slowly while she talked. She dressed in scrubs and had her white robe on. I had about a hundred dirty fantasies about going down on her while she was dressed like a doctor. There was something hot about a woman in scrubs and if that woman was Max…

The little blonde woman elbowed the male nurse who was staring at her as if the sun came out of her ass. That guy was a goner. He had it bad for the woman but the blonde was obviously blind or some s**t like that. The three of them turned to us, and smiled, making me look heavenward. When Max had invited me over to get shots, I’d thought she was talking about vodka or whisky, not f*****g coffee, and not doctor’s coffee for f**k’s sake.

“We only have half an hour during our break so we need to be fast,” said the guy to us, and my men grew excited, forming a circle and turning the chairs around to straddle them. We were in the dining hall and it was midnight. We only occupied the place, which was a long white room with fluorescent lights and large ceiling fans. I moved to the back of the circle, sitting with my back to the wall so I could have a panoramic view of all the exits of the place. Judge caught me calculating all the possible exits to take from the hall in case of an emergency and shook his head at me in admonition. Bad habits die hard and I couldn’t stop being always on alert.

Max stepped close to the little table where the coffee thermos was and smiled at me. I forgot what the hell I’d been doing. My body grew tense at once, following closely when she opened the thermos and the smell of soup filled the place. I frowned.

“Why does coffee smell like soup?” I asked and Judge shrugged at my side, smiling a little maniacally at me.

“That’s how it smells tonight. Last time we played, their coffee smelt like fish,” he said, waggling his eyebrows and looking so damn pleased that I was playing tonight. Bell intervened, lifting his head so he could see me over Judge’s shoulder.

“But it tasted like green beans. I swear to God, it’s a miracle doctors like these are still alive after drinking that s**t,” the blonde woman and the guy turned on their heels to Bell, staring at him as if he had offended them.

“Please, use the correct distinction, we are nurses, she is the doctor that can’t brew coffee for s**t,” said the woman, pointing a thumb at Max. The firecracker shrugged in response, placing her hands inside the pockets of her white robe.

“I know how to make Cuban coffee but I’d never been good at brewing anything else.”

“We forgive you, Doc,” smiled Blue and she smiled back at him. Blue had to be feeling the weight of my eyes on the back of his neck because his shoulders tensed and he stopped smiling at once.

“Anyway,” intervened the male nurse, placing Max at the back of the table and then staring back at everyone, “let’s refresh some of the rules of the game. We state a fact that we think we know about the person standing by the table. They can either affirm or deny the fact by giving one more piece of information about themselves or they can choose to drink a cup of coffee and sit down. It wins the person that answers more questions before drinking the coffee.”

“Who the hell invented this game?” I grunted and everyone turned to me on their seats, staring with identical looks of irritation.

“Well, you forbid us to give coffee to civilians so we thought it was only fair to drink theirs,” explained Judge, “I had one sip of that brown piss and challenged Nathan to tell more all of his secrets, before I fell dead on my ass, by the poison he had given me. One thing led to the other…”

“And since we can’t drink alcohol…”explained Max with an apologetic smile.

“And caffeine is good for our night shift…” continued the blonde woman. 

“We ended up having Shots and Questions nights,” finished Ghost, folding his arms over his chest.  I narrowed my eyes on him. From all of my men Ghost was the quietest. He wasn’t particularly inclined to say much about himself and rarely started any conversation. I couldn’t see him enjoying this.

“What are you even doing here?” I asked him and Ghost gave me one shoulder shrug.

“I don’t play the game, I play the players,” everyone hooted and laughed at his response. Even I smirked, knowing that he was only speaking the truth. Ghost probably only played to get information on the civilians. I could see him answering some questions and then hitting the coffee the moment they asked him something too personal. I had every intention of getting up and calling it a night when Max filled the cup and looked expectantly at us.

“Who will do the honors?” she asked and every single one of my men lifted their hands. Fuckers. Being the pretty thing that she was, Max smiled, pointing at Blue, who got up from his chair too fast, too eager. I could kick his ass from my chair. I even contemplated the right angle to connect my boot with his ass.

“You like dancing over cooking,” said Blue and she nodded.

“I love dancing but can’t cook a sandwich to save my life,” that made everyone laugh and I smiled, crossing my arms and getting comfortable on my chair. Now this was a treat.  I didn’t want to leave anymore. If it was Max talking I could stay for a little longer.

“You have broken many hearts,” said Reptile and Max laughed, holding the cup of coffee with her two hands.

“Not even one.”

“Your favorite color is red,” said Tower and Max shook her head.

“Nah, I love green.”

“You prefer burgers and fries over a salad,” offered Tower and Max smirked.

“Damn right.”

“Your last relationship ended badly,” said Ghost, narrowing his eyes and watching Max carefully. I low-keyed kicked the legs of his chair to make him stop the interrogation, but Ghost kept looking at Max with guarded interest. In that, Ghost was unshakable. He was loyal to the end and protective of his brothers. Not that I’d ever had a problem with that, but this was Max who he was talking to. Max squinted, deep in thought, and then tilted her head to the side.

“My last relationship ended four years ago. Honestly, I can’t remember why we even broke up. We are still friends and email each other occasionally.”

“Your favorite doctor movie is the English Patient,” said the petite blonde, and Max snorted, her nose wrinkling a bit in the process. I wanted to kiss her right then. I would kiss her even after she had a drink of that disgusting coffee that smelt like soup.

“Not even close. That’s not a doctor's movie and we both know it, Rosie.”

“Coronary artery bypass grafting over heart valve repair surgery,” said the male nurse, and it was as if she had been awakened on another different level. She jumped, looking all giddy and excited, the black coffee moving dangerously around the opening of the cup. Her smile became contagious to the point all of my men smiled following her every move. The woman was hypnotic, like a siren I’d found all for myself. 

“Coronary artery bypass always and forever baby,” the guy and her high-fived each other, making me smile again. Why was it that I liked everything about her? Even her little tales, like the way she wrinkled her nose or how she snorted a little when she laughed too hard.

“Kisses over s*x,” threw Judge at her, and Max didn’t even have to think about it. She lifted her elbow all the way up, drinking her cup of coffee while everyone laughed and whistled at her not so glorious exit. She made a face of disgust when she finished the drink, making me laugh under my breath. To my surprise, Max pointed at me right away, making everyone grow quiet at once.

“I challenge you to go next,” she said with a smile, connecting her eyes with mine. It was as if we were the only two people in the room. I couldn’t even see anybody else. Damn, she was beautiful. With her brown, thick hair falling in waves like that and those big hazel eyes staring at me so trustingly. She wanted me to do this s**t? I will do it gladly, but only for her. Actually, there was no one else that would ever make me drink that s**t other than Max. I nodded, getting up while everyone whistled and shouted in excitement. I could tell my men were having the time of their lives, especially after all the work I’d made them do these past weeks. 

I accepted the cup Max passed me and gently caressed her fingers during the interchange. She blushed prettily, moving back and giving me space to get comfortable and rest a leg against the table. When I faced the group of clowns, they all seemed to sport diabolical grins.

“I will go first!” yelled Bell and Tower jumped over, locking him in a neck hold and screaming louder.

“Nah, first blood is mine!”

“This is war fuckers!” chimed in Reptile, moving his chair forward to get closer to me. At the end, it was Max, the one that lifted her hand first and my men groaned when I nodded, letting her ask me whatever she wanted.

“Hummers over trucks,” she said with a clever grin, resting a shoulder against a wall and staring at me with curiosity. s**t, I wanted to get closer to her and have this whole conversation in private. She had a point though. People could serve as buffers between us while we got to know each other. That was the entire point of her inviting me over to this game. It was a smart move on her part, a genius distraction, so I couldn’t get her alone and against a wall, conversation be damned. I would prefer her to be alone and on that wall over this game any day.  

“The Major prefers trucks,” said Blue right away and Tower frowned, bracing the back of his chair with an arm and clicking his tongue.

“Twenty bucks he prefers Hummers.”

“Make that fifty,” offered Ghost with a nod.

I narrowed my eyes at my men and then nodded, “Hummers.”

“I knew it!” Max laughed triumphantly, waving her fingers to Rosie until the nurse rolled her eyes and gave her a twenty dollar bill. That made me shake my head at her. Was she betting on my likes and dislikes, like my men now? Next thing I knew, they would be braiding their hair and singing pop songs.

“Steaks cooked rare, over well done,” said Judge with a smirk.

“Rare.”

“Hunting over fishing,” yelled Tower, who was trying to speak over Reptile’s upcoming question. 

“Hunting.”

“Heckler & Koch USP over a Glock 23,” commented Judge, genuinely interested. We have had this discussion before but neither of us have reached a consensus. I scratched my chin weighing my answer for a moment before looking back at Judge.

“Heckler & Koch, with 18-round and 9mm magazines.”

“The Glock is way more reliable,” fought back Ghost and I shook my head.

“Not in Siberia.”

“That was just a glitch and you know it,” a line formed between his brows while Judge turned to him with his own eyebrows raised.

“I can’t believe you are still mad about Siberia.”

“What happened in Siberia?” asked Max curiously and all of us, including me, shook our heads at her.

“What happens in Siberia stays in Siberia,” said Reptile, and we all nodded. Max waited for me to say something else but I wasn’t going to tell her about the infamous mission that got Ghost sleeping in his front for three months after burning his own ass with a defective gun.

“Reverse cowgirl over missionary style, and please, be honest about this,” asked Reptile, making everyone laugh. I looked at Max through my peripherals and she had blushed so badly that I could see it all the way from the center of the room. I felt the need to reassure her somehow, to let her know that I would have her in any position that humanity had ever created to the end of my days. I couldn’t care for positions, all I cared for was the woman. And the woman was her. Only her.

I said that much. 

Turning to her, I looked at Max in the eyes and let her see it, all the want, all the need. She looked back, accepting the weight of my eyes on her. She was never one to hide away and we both knew it.

“Max,” I said simply, and the room grew silent. No reverse cowgirl or missionary for me. Only  Max. All I wanted was Max. But was I a good man for her? Was my lifestyle suited for marriage? Could I give her all the things she deserved? Did she want a marriage with a man that could maybe give her company some days every other month between missions? Was she aware of all the things she would need to sacrifice if she ever married me?

The moment was broken when a nurse appeared at the south entrance of the dining hall looking for Max.

“Dr. Cruz, the patient in room 2-A woke up. Would you like to see him?” Max nodded, staring at me one last time before turning around and leaving. I followed her with my eyes until she disappeared from sight. I watched after her even when the others kept the game going and I hated them for being loud and noisy. Then I left, heading back to my tent because without Max at my side I would end up killing anyone who tried to make me drink that f*****g disgusting coffee.