Embattled Hearts 1 by J.M. Madden Read Free Book Online Page B

woman he’d left his jeans and leg on, in spite of her protests, and everything had worked out great, though it had felt shallow. Not as mind-blowing as his first fuck post-injury should have been.
    Finding the perfect woman was probably an impossibility for him.
    “I tell you what, we won’t go looking for girls. We’ll just go get a drink, and see if we can get a couple of the other guys to go, too. We’ll just hang out and watch the game tonight.”
    Zeke sighed over the line but agreed. Chad promised to text him where and when once he’d talked to the others.
    They settled on a new sports bar in the Flat Irons Mall area, to the north of the city, called Frog Dog. When they walked inside, it was busy. Chad looked at his buddies and saw the same trepidation he felt at being in a group like this, and he would have faded right back out the door if the hostess hadn’t arrived just then.
    “Four of ya?” She smiled at them all then scanned the wipe-board on the podium. “This way, please.”
    She started to weave through the noise toward the back of the restaurant. Chad was about to stop her, but she led them to a table along the back wall, a bit detached from the rest of the room. It still had a perfect view of the flat-screens. “Your waitress will be with you in a minute.”
    He looked at the guys as they sat down. Ortiz took the chair farthest away from the crowd and backed it up against the wall even further, arms crossed over his chest. Chad, Zeke and Terrell took the other three seats, and they all tried to look relaxed, though they were all scoping out the numbers they’d have to take out to get to the exits. Zeke was the only one okay with the crowd at his back, because it was more comfortable than being under scrutiny for his scars.
    Chad swallowed heavily and forced himself to sit back. Ortiz was the most newly discharged, and his tension was feeding that of the group. Five years after combat, Chad had learned to tamp down the urge to fight in crowds like this, but the younger soldier had a long road to go.
    “Hi, guys! What can I get you?”
    The cute little brunette waitress was unaware of the tension she’d just help dissipate. She grinned at Chad with a toothy smile, and her eyes didn’t flicker at all, even when she glanced at his hand.
    “Ah, beer, please. What do you have on tap?”
    “Well, Frog Dog is our in-house brew, but we have just about anything you’d like.” She reeled off a list of names but he chose the house stuff. Ortiz asked for a cola, Terrell the same as Chad. All eyes swung to Zeke. The waitress rested her hand on his shoulder, and his eyes widened when they looked up at her. Color leeched from his face.
    “And what about you, big guy?”
    His mouth worked, but he couldn’t articulate what he wanted. The waitress waited, though she had patrons calling her, until he finally wrenched out the name of a domestic brew. She smiled even wider. “I’ll get your drinks for you. Menus are there on the table and I’ll be back to get your order in a minute.”
    She turned away and they all watched her cute little backside disappear into the crowd.
    “F-fuck! I didn’t think I was going to be able to spit it out. She…surprised me.”
    Chad grinned at Zeke. “But you worked it out, buddy, and she didn’t seem to mind at all.”
    Zeke grinned and nodded.
    Chad handed him a menu. “Decide what you want now so you can plan it in your head.”
    Zeke ducked his head to the menu. Chad knew it would take him a few minutes to work things out, but he’d gotten faster over the past year. In Afghanistan, he’d been standing on the opposite side of a ten-foot cinder-block wall when a mortar exploded. He’d received a traumatic brain injury from the blast, then being buried beneath the rubble, and the bricks themselves had ripped up his face. The docs had patched him up, but he needed a few more surgeries before he would feel confident enough to respond to a woman like their