Priest’s face went from concern to rage. She put her hand on the side of this face and kissed him. His rage dissipated.
“Don’t worry, I had enough one day and kicked the living shit out of him.” Priest grinned. She pointed to her collarbone, “It’s how I got this. He threw me down the stairs in our home. I was dazed, but it knocked something loose and I had enough from that moment on. I was wearing heels that night and one had fallen off as I tumbled down the stairs. One was still on and as he came down after me and I kicked him with my heel into the side of his knee. It buckled, and he fell, so I kicked out again, this time at his groin. The heel entered.”
“Did you say entered?”
“I did.”
“Holy shit.” Priest made a squeamish face. “I bet that hurt.”
“It was enough for him to pass out!”
“Sweet.”
“We were both in the IDF and so I went to his Command and told them the entire story. They put him in the “brig” as you call it. I filed for divorce two days later.”
“Damn.” Priest looked at her for a long moment, “You are beautiful to me, scars and all, seriously.” Lia bent down and kissed him, her wet hair tickling his face. As she straightened back up, she ran her fingers over the multitude of scars that covered his body. She asked him to roll over, and she saw even more on his back. He turned back over and a look of concern swept across her face, “Battle? She asked.
“No, crazy ex-wife,” he snickered. She jumped on him and they wrestled around with her squealing and him laughing. They stopped after a while and were laying side by side facing each other.
She looked into his eyes, “Where did you get all those?”
He took in a lengthy breath, exhaled it, “Some from combat but almost all on my back from being a prisoner in Yemen. They like to use the whip over there.”
“Oh my gosh,” she gasped.
“Don’t worry, my boys busted me out, and we made them pay. Took their whole fucking compound to the ground. A few survived and we…”, he paused, “Well, let’s just say we sent them to find their 72 virgins with missing limbs, missing teeth, mmm… missing eyes, etc.”. She just laid there grinning at him. He lay there looking in her eyes. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure,” she said.
“Why are you here?” She was taken aback slightly.
“What do you mean?”
“Why are you here with me? Why did you choose me?”
“Why not you?”
His eyes held a deep sadness and she could see hurt there. He didn’t believe it to be true, like he was waiting for the punchline. She ran her fingers through his beard softly.
“My God, has life given you nothing but hurt and sorrow? No one that has loved you for who you are?”
Lia had tears in her eyes, “You want to know why I am here?” She paused for a second and made sure he was looking into her eyes.
“I see strength in you and not just in your body, but in the way you lead, in the way you care for your men and others, in the way you feel the need to do what’s right. I also see the way you look at me, with what I can only describe as pride. I don’t know why, but I can see it in your eyes when you look at me. You are hard and rugged, soft and caring, loyal and humble, all rolled into one. So, yes. I am here with you because there is no other place I feel as safe and happy.”
That brought tears to his eyes, and he dropped his head. She pulled his head back up, wiped the tears away with her thumbs and kissed him again.
After a few moments, he touched her face, “Just to clear one thing up. When you came out of the bathroom, that look I gave you, was lust.” She let out a chuckle and slapped him on the shoulder. They turned off the light, embraced each other, and that was all the talking they did that night.
The next morning, Priest woke up to an empty bed. He got up, washed his face, put on a t-shirt and sweatpants and made his way down the dorm hall. Half way down, something reached his nose. It was an aroma of meat and spices. It reached up, grabbed his nose and carried him toward the dining hall like in one of those Bugs Bunny cartoons.
Before he reached the dining hall, he heard voices and laughter. It was almost foreign to him since it had been so long since he had experienced that genuinely. Sitting at the table was Lia, Allison and Dr. Caulfield, all drinking coffee and it smelled heavenly. There was giggling coming from the kitchen and he could hear Neville going on about something.
The dining hall had a fully equipped and stocked kitchen. As he reached the dining hall, he saw Neville and Dr. Rand standing at the stove cooking together, joking and laughing. That brought a smile to his face, then he was startled by a pair of lips on his cheek. He was focusing on Neville & Dr. Rand and didn’t see Lia walk up to him.
“Whoa, you okay?” she asked.
“Yeah, sorry. Probably still torqued up from the past few days.”