A Solder's Tale (Book 1 of Something Series) (Completed)

Chapter 23 (Edited)

"You shouldn't have tried to reach for the bat when Marisol Swung, Ry," Bellie scowled, wrapping my hand. "You broke your hand, again." She moved a hand through her hair and huffed. "I thought you have learned from last time."

"Well, I am glad that I have you to take care of me when ," I replied, giving her a smirk when she blushed. I chuckled lightly when she smacked me in the arm.

"Now, why did you have to go bare chested while I worked on your hand?" she asked, handing me back my shirt. She raised an eyebrow when I didn't take it, trying not to look at my body.

"I can't put it on," I said with a mock whimper. I held out my hand, pouting. "I can't grab anything because my hurts hurt."

"Your dick is going to be what hurts next," Bellie muttered. She smirked when I reached down to protect my man parts. "You didn't answer my question."

I flexed my pecs, causing her face to turn a much redder color. "So you can see what you are missing," I teased, causing her to snort and roll her eyes. "I'm serious, Bellie. You don't know what you are missing." I stuck my arm in my shirt when she held it out for me.

"I have seen you naked plenty of times," she muttered. "Above the waistline, and I do not want to see what's underneath." She moved around me and looked at my back where I had a small flag on my right shoulder with the words 'never forget' underneath and a rose with barbed wire around it's thorns on my left. "When did you get these?" she asked, touching them softly.

"The one on the right I got before my first tour. The second, was from a Muslim woman on my fifth tour as a gift. I showed her kindness, and she showed me hers. Her husband did it for me."

"What did you do to earn it?"

"Her kid stole from one of the soldiers, a real nasty redneck, who tried to kill the kid. I told the soldier to stand down and then got the kid to me. The mother was begging for me to let him go, saying that he was hungry. I took what the kid stole and handed it back to the redneck before giving him food and money, telling him not to steal again and if he did, don't get caught."

Bellie shook her head and chuckled. "Did you know the language?" she asked.

I hummed and nodded my head. "Arabic, and I made the woman happy and the translator amused. Some of the soldiers called me a terrorist, so I just told them to shut up in Spanish."

Bellie snorted and moved in front of me, starting to button up my shirt. "So, where did you get this and who is it for?" she asked, jealously filling her voice when she saw the necklace where a diamond ring hung.

"Also on tour," I replied. "And it's for a beautiful female who hadn't noticed me yet."

Bellie sighed. "Do you like her?" she asked. She looked down before looking into my eyes.

"So much that I will wait until she notices me," I replied.

Bellie had this thoughtful look on her face while she finished buttoning up my shirt. "What if she doesn't want to get hurt?" she asked. "She heard that the guy liked to play with girls hearts and didn't want hers to break."

"And what if the guy hadn't done anything to make this girl fear for a broken heart?" I shrugged. "The guy was too busy noticing this girl with pigtails to even think about what the other females had to say." I shrugged, again. "Most of the stuff were rumors, so far fetched from the truth that all he could do was laugh out loud."

Bellie frowned. "Well, she doesn't like him laughing at her even if what she had to say was absurd and so far from the truth that it didn't really matter."

I chuckled and took hold of her hand. I kissed her hand and smirked. "Then he is sorry for laughing at her all those years ago. He thought she knew him better than that." I hopped off of the hospital bed and smiled at her. "I'll see you later, Bells. I have to make sure that the group will be able to take over what needs to be done for the rest of the time."

"No hard work, Butthead," Bellie called out to me.

I just smiled and waved my hand before walking out. I couldn't help but think of what she had told me and wondered if she did have any feelings for me just as I did for her. If she did, would she still love me even though I was a broken man?  

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A/N: So, he admitted he liked her. Even though she doesn't know it yet. Laters.