Meagan's Marine (Halos & Horns) (5 page)

chapter 8

Birthdays, Brawls, and Brothers in Arms

The three of them entered Red’s club
around eight p.m. at Haley’s anxiousness to get her evening of legalized
drinking started early.

Mitch led them straight to Meagan’s end of
the bar, just in time to witness an unruly customer giving her a hard time.

“Come on baby, what other tricks you got
up your sleeve?”

“I’d be willing to show you more but I
have customers,” she said, sounding apologetic. He grabbed her arm, jerking her
to an abrupt halt as she turned away from him.

She turned slowly toward him. “If you
don’t want to be banned from this place for life, you will take your hands off
of me right now.”

He released her immediately and raised
both hands. “All right. No harm done!” He spun on his barstool and walked away,
grumbling to himself.

Meagan shook her head and grinned at
Mitchell’s approach. “I almost hate to start the bartender tricks. There’s
always one guy looking for a little more than I have time for.”

Mitch’s gaze followed the dude she’d
just chased away. “I think that one wants something more substantial than a
flame throwing orange.”

“Oh yeah? Well, you should know.” A
slight lift of one brow accompanied her comment. She shrugged. “Besides, he’s
harmless. Who do you have here?”

Tex didn’t waste time on a third party
introduction. He flipped his hat off with a flourish and reached for her hand.
“Matthew Broussard, ma’am, and it is truly a pleasure to meet you, especially
you having such a lovely accent and all.”

Meagan laughed, putting things together.
“You’re Tex, Mitchell’s buddy from Beaumont! I’ve heard about you, but he sure
as heck left out the fact that you were so darn good looking. Blonde hair, blue
eyes, and dimpled, to boot…Good God all mighty, you must have to fight the
women off with a stick!”

Tex winked at Mitch. “A woman with
excellent tastes. I like this girl.”

Mitch felt Haley’s eyes on him and faced
her. He could only assume his features revealed the sheer terror he’d felt at the
sight of Tex towering over Meagan. Whatever she sensed had her stepping up to
nix her brother’s onslaught of pure Texas charm.

“Haley Broussard.” She extended her
hand. “I’m his sister,” she said, pointing at Tex.

“Nice to meet you both. What can I get
you guys? And
darlin
’, if you’re ordering alcohol,
I’ll need to see some ID.”

“Gladly!” Haley whipped her driver’s
license from her pocket as though she’d been waiting all her life to do that
very thing.

Meagan studied it for a second before
her face lit up with anticipation. “We’ve got us a birthday girl!” she shouted
out to the bar patrons. “You know what that means don’t you?”

“First drink’s free!” about a dozen
people shouted.

Meagan climbed the ladder behind the
bar, bringing a large brass cowbell with her. She began clanging it loudly
until she had everyone’s attention. “Not only is it this young lady’s birthday,
but it’s her twenty-first birthday…and y’all know what
that
means don’t
you?”

About fifty people shouted in unison.
“Second drink’s free!”

“What number is that, Meagan?” a guy
shouted from the back.

One of the other workers handed Meagan a
small dry eraser board from behind the bar. She beamed as she erased the #99
from the board and wrote a big fat #100 then lifted it for all to see. The bar
filled with whistles, cheering and hoots.

“What does that mean?” Haley called to
Meagan over the din.

Meagan stood as tall as she could on the
ladder and quieted the crowd. “She wants to know what it means. Shall we tell
her? One…Two…Three…”

The entire club bellowed, “Free
shots…all night long!”

Mitch had to laugh at the sour face Tex
produced at the news. “Come on, bro! You know she’s earned it just for being
your sister for twenty-one years.”

“I don’t want her sick as a dog. She’s
got another race tomorrow.” He leaned over to address his sister, who was
listening to Meagan. “You haven’t forgotten about tomorrow, have you?”

She turned on her brother. “
Jeeze
Matty
, give me a little
credit, would you? Meagan was just telling me that I get a complimentary bottle
of my choice of whatever I want. I was just about to ask her if she’d hold it
for me until tomorrow night since we’ll be back then and I don’t have to race
on Sunday.”

“Absolutely! Just make sure you have a
designated driver with you. Red has a strict policy that no one leaves here
with keys if they’re too drunk to drive. We’ve got Big Man at the door to stop
them if they try to leave.” She indicated the huge bouncer they’d passed coming
in. “So, have you decided what you’ll be shooting tomorrow night?”

“Mm…how about
Jagermeister
?”
Groans from the two men had her spinning around. “What’s wrong?”

Tex shivered in revulsion. “Bad drunk,
sis. Believe me, I know.”

“Okay then, Hot Damn!” This time
Meagan’s groan caught her attention.

“Even worse. Want my advice? Keep it
simple. You can’t go wrong with Crown, JD, or a good brand of tequila. On the
other hand, you could try the new rum made right down the road from here. Bayou
Rum is made from Louisiana sugar cane grown by area farmers. Smooth enough to
shoot straight and it’s got a real fine aftertaste.”

Haley seemed to consider her words.
“Hmm…I’ll have to think about it. For tonight, I’ll just have a beer please.
Why don’t you surprise me? My brother’s paying.”

Tex balked. “I am? After you walked away
with first place in barrels today?”

“College money, big brother. Mom says I
can’t use it for any other purpose but college.”

He frowned at his sister. “Oh sure,
bring mom into it to make me feel guilty as hell.”

Mitch laughed at the siblings’ antics,
wishing his own mom was around to make him feel guilty. His mood took a dark
turn, remembering he already had plenty enough reason to feel guilty where his
parents were concerned. He’d never really been there for either of them during
their illnesses. Sarah had shouldered their health problems alone.

****

Meagan glanced at Mitchell, taken back
by the look of dark brooding covering his face. She placed an icy cold bottle
of Dos
Equis
with a slice of lime tucked into the neck
in front of Haley. “Here you go, sweetie. Enjoy your birthday, and I’m honored
to hand you your first legal beer. And take my advice…if you’re going to drink
alcohol, drink responsibly and always have a designated driver who isn’t
drinking.”

Haley lifted the beer and tipped it at
Meagan. “I certainly will, and thanks.” She sipped the beer, closing her eyes
in appreciation. “
Mmm
…good and cold. I like the
lime.”

Meagan planted a second bottle in front
of Mitch. “A beer for your thoughts, Marine.”

He cocked his head at his companions.
“Thanks, but after this it’s water or soda for me. You’re looking at their
designated driver for the night.”

“What’s on your mind, Mitch? You look
kind of sad.”

He gave a casual shrug. “I was just
thinking about my own folks…wishing I’d been man enough to be there for them
when it counted, instead of letting my baby sister do all the heavy lifting.”
He scratched at the corner of the label. “It’s too damn late for anything but
regrets.”

“It’s never too late to make up for past
neglect, even though I doubt anyone else sees serving in the military as
neglecting your family. Even if the people you think you neglected aren’t
around anymore, just do unto others. And I know, for a fact that you have
been.” Meagan placed a hand on his arm. “Have I told you how grateful I am for
you showing up at the park the other day? Buck had so much fun.”

“Aw, hell. I had as much fun as he did.
It was nothing.”

“It was a lot for a kid without a dad.
That boy is still toting that kite around the house…climbs up on the couch and
jumps off so
Mitch
can fly.” She laughed as Mitchell’s brow furrowed.
“Yes, he named his pterodactyl kite after you. There is simply no way to
interpret the thoughts or actions of an almost four year old boy.” She grinned
when his face lit up with the news.

“Thanks for telling me, Meg. It’s nice
to know I made an impression. Buck’s a great kid.”

“I think so,” she beamed at the thought
of her son, and turned away to wait on a fresh group of customers. She couldn’t
help but think about the butterflies in her stomach at her first sight of Mitch
tonight.
He’s just a friend.
 The good Lord knew she was juggling
too much as it is. No way…no way in hell could she add a relationship to the
mix.

A packed house always made for a
time-flies-by kind of night, and tonight’s crowd had the building almost at
capacity. As a result, she barely got to visit with Mitch and his friends. A
full two hours later, a prickle at the back of her neck made her look up toward
the dance floor. Just in time to see Haley, struggling with a guy who seemed to
have eight hands…and every one of them was all over her. As soon as she’d push
one off her breast, another landed on her butt.

Meagan scanned the area searching for
Mitch or Tex, with no luck. Just as she was about to  radio the bouncer
for back-up, she saw a much taller young man place a hand on the shoulder of
the human octopus and say something to Haley. At her nod, the tall young man
leaned in to speak to the other guy. Mr. Octopus shoved hard at Dudley Do-Right
and grabbed Haley’s arm.

Hoping to keep Haley’s birthday from
turning into a free for all if her brother caught wind of the situation, Meagan
stepped around the corner of the bar. She approached the trio in time to hear
the taller guy speak, his voice steely and determined, as though trying hard to
control his anger.

“Let her go man, you don’t want to do
this tonight.”

“What I
wanna
do tonight doesn’t include you, so why don’t you buzz on outta here before you
get hurt…
junior
.”

The guy had an iron grip on Haley’s arm
and, judging from the look of it, she’d have a bruise tomorrow. Megan stepped
between the two and turned to the shorter, well-muscled stocky man. “Let her go
then get on out of here. Your time here is up and if you don’t want it to be forever
you’ll leave without another word.”

He turned his icy glare her direction,
seemed to consider saying something for a split second, but turned to Dudley
Do-Right again. “You don’t want a piece of me, bro. You Louisiana boys don’t
know dick about getting the better of somebody like me.” He shoved hard at
Dudley Do-Right’s chest, his eyes widening perceptibly when his target barely
shifted an inch.

The bouncer pushed his way through the
gathering crowd’s nucleus, packed tight with onlookers. “Break it up, now.”

“
Micky
, that’s
the one causing all the trouble.” Meagan pointed to the man still gripping
Haley’s arm. To her horror, she saw him take a swing at Haley’s defender, who’d
taken his eyes off Mr. Octopus for an instant. Before she could warn him, the
taller man had grabbed the guy’s fist, twisted it neatly with his left hand and
whipped it around. As smooth as any dance move she’d ever seen, he’d pinned
both of his arms behind his back, rendering him defenseless. He held him there
as he spoke.

“I’m
gonna
let
you go, okay buddy? Just go on home now and leave the lady alone.”

“Yeah, okay!” the guy groaned. However,
lacking the good sense God gave him, the second his captor freed him, he took a
healthy swing at him.

Meagan winced, expecting to hear the
thud of fist connecting with unsuspecting facial tissue. She heard the empty
whoosh of a swing and miss, then a trio of lightening quick
pop
…
pop…pops
.
Mr. Octopus  groaned, and would have hit the floor if
Micky
hadn’t been there to catch him.

“Can’t say you weren’t warned,”
Micky
chided Mr. busted nose, as he ushered him toward the
exit.

Meagan spun around to tend to Haley, but
saw her rescuer guiding her away from the scene with a gentle hand to her lower
back. The crowd parted for the two of them like the Red Sea before a
staff-wielding Moses. He settled her into an empty chair on Meagan’s end of the
bar.

She pushed her way to the two of them.
“Haley, are you all right? Did that guy hurt you?”

“She needs ice on this. I doubt if it’ll
stop it from bruising but it may keep the swelling down.”

“Right away!” Meagan scrambled to fill a
freezer bag with crushed ice and wrapped it in a dishtowel. By the time she
returned, Haley and her rescuer were already deep in conversation. “Keep this on
your arm. You sure it isn’t fractured or anything? That guy seemed to have a
pretty good grip on you.”

“Ben says it’s not, and it doesn’t hurt
like it’s broken.” Haley’s eyes glittered with excitement.