All for You by Jessica Scott Read Free Book Online

can be the next commanding general?”
    “We have to try. Everyone deserves a chance.”
    “But what’s the cost, doc? Every day I spend running around after this kid who wants to kill himself or that kid who can’t take it because his sergeant yelled at him is a day I don’t spend training soldiers for war. Which, by the way, in case you missed it, isn’t over yet.”
    Her skin blanched, tightening over her cheeks. “I know that,” she whispered.
    He remembered the right shoulder of her uniform. No combat patch. He could have driven his point home then. Could have pressed his advantage, reminding her that he’d seen a side of war that would leave her trembling from the raw terror of it.
    But he didn’t. Something about the fear in her eyes reminded him of something he tried very hard to forget.
    He lowered his arms as an old memory tickled the base of his neck. Fear, primitive and dark, looked back at him. Reminding him that he’d been young once. Young but never innocent. Never that.
    But younger. Before the war had twisted everything up inside him. Before it killed anything good he’d managed to salvage from home.
    He closed his mouth, swallowing roughly. “What are the visiting hours on the fifth floor?” he asked.
    She shifted, brushing her hair out of her face. “He’s not ready for visitors.” A familiar gauntlet thrown between them.
    “When will he be?”
    “The attending physician will make that assessment.”
    Reza bit back a snarl of frustration and turned to go before he laid into her for the second time that day.
    “What would it take for you to realize we can’t all be strong all the time?”
    Her words whispered across his skin, taunting him. If he closed his eyes, he would see their faces. The men who’d died on his watch. The men he’d destroyed because they’d dared to defend their homes. Men who looked like his mother’s family.
    He turned slowly to face her. She didn’t back down, didn’t step away from the rage grinding between his teeth. “I know all about weakness, honey. And that is not a position I will defend.”
    He stalked back into the gym, the need for a drink snapping at his heels. Taunting him.
    Demanding he slake the thirst. Just a little bit. Just one drink.
    What could it hurt?
    He headed for the weights. He could do this. He could walk away from the anger and the rage and the hate.
    It was a long time before he was calm enough to leave.

Chapter Three
    R eza padded to the front door, the carpet soft beneath his bare feet. Someone was pounding on his door like the damn house was on fire and he felt a strong urge to whip someone’s ass.
    It had been a shit week as shit weeks went. The last thing he felt like doing was socializing.
    He swung the door wide to see Ben Teague standing outside, sporting his Stetson and holding a Heineken in one hand.
    “Get your shit. We’re outside.”
    He hitched the towel around his waist and frowned. “Shit, I forgot.”
    Ben Teague was a captain who specialized in avoiding responsibility. He was one of the more senior guys but as far as Reza knew, he’d never been offered command. Which was a damn shame because Teague was a hell of an ally in a firefight. Teague wasn’t the guy Reza wanted watching his six—he was the guy who wanted to be the first man in the stack, kicking in doors.
    He couldn’t seem to wrap his head around the fact that Reza had quit drinking.
    “How could you forget about mandatory fun night? Grab your Stetson and let’s go.”
    He didn’t make a big deal out of it but nights like this where they were expected to socialize at one of the local bars challenged Reza’s restraint. He was the first sergeant, though, so he had to be seen. The sergeant major would notice if he wasn’t there.
    But he was going, if only to prove that he could handle it.
    “Give me five minutes.”
    “Cool. Hurry up.”
    Reza shut the door in Teague’s face and padded back to the bedroom. He dropped his towel onto the bed