Turbulent Desires(5)

"That shows a man's character-to be the one still helping others out when the world has turned its back on them," Martin said.

"I agree with you, my friend," Sherman told him. "Maverick is one of the good guys."

"We've done pretty dang well so far in matching couples. I thought we  might have been losing our touch," Joseph said with a wrinkle between  his brows. "But should we still be matchmaking with everything that's  going on?"

It shocked everyone in the group to hear Joseph even ask such a thing.

"Love is the best medicine of all, and what Lindsey needs right now is a  strong dose or she might be too fearful to ever face the world again,"  Evelyn said with a firm nod of her head.

"I couldn't have said it better myself, dear," Martin told her.

"I guess we do have an ideal track record to date. Haven't lost one yet," Joseph said, sounding more like himself.         

     



 

"I'm at a loss for how to do this," Evelyn admitted.

They all sat there quietly for several minutes as they tried to put  their collective brains together. Then Sherman looked at the group with a  huge smile. The rest of them waited to hear what he had to say.

"The fund-raiser!" Sherman told them with excitement.

They looked at him with confusion.

"Sherry got sick and called last week to tell me she had to step down  from organizing the event this year," Sherman said, barely able to  contain his excitement. "Maverick's raised hundreds of millions for  injured vets since he started the foundation, and this is the biggest  fund-raiser of the year. The money goes to veterans suffering from PTSD.  If we got Lindsey to chair the event, she would meet so many people,  and she'd be alongside Maverick for the entire journey. Maybe it will  help heal her and show them both they are so much better together."

"That is a great idea, Sherman," Joseph said, his voice echoing off the  house as he sat up straight in his seat, practically giddy.

"I'll give Maverick a call right away."

Sherman pulled out his phone and dialed his nephew. It didn't take long  for Maverick to understand what Sherman was asking him. When he hung up  the phone, he turned to the group who were all eyeing him expectantly.

"It's a go," he said.

"Then it's time for a toast," Evelyn announced.

"We can now leave it in fate's hands and get to other business. When are you coming to Montana?" Martin asked.

The group leaned back as they made plans. When they all put their minds  together, the world had better watch out because they were surely a  force to be reckoned with. No one was able to withstand them when they  were on a mission.





CHAPTER FOUR

"What call was so important you had to stop in the middle of our bout?"  Cooper asked as Maverick put down his phone and grinned at his brother.

"It was Uncle Sherman. Should I have ignored the call?" Mav said with a raised eyebrow.

Cooper held up his hands in mock surrender as he grinned. "Oh, hell no.  The old man would have shown up down here and taken far longer than a  couple minutes of our time," Cooper said.

"Yeah, that's why I have a special ringtone for him. I know better than to ignore the old man."

"Ha. Me too," Cooper said. "What was the call about?"

"Are you just trying to get out of the fight?" Mav asked.

He was now incredibly distracted after the call with his uncle.  Sometimes Uncle Sherman had the most amazing ideas ever. Mav refused to  tell him that, though. The old guy's head was full enough.

"Hell no. I can kick your ass any day of the week. I am curious about the grin on your face, though," Cooper said.

Maverick danced across the ring as he gave his brother a look he knew  would egg him on. Boxing wasn't his favorite sport, but sometimes a  decent brawl was good for the soul. And nothing was better than taunting  one of his brothers. Okay, taunting all of them at the same time was  actually better, but Nick was on duty and Ace . . . well, he just missed  Ace like hell.

"Ha. You became a new daddy, and all of a sudden you forgot how to  move," Mav said with a laugh as he got a right jab into his brother's  jaw.

"I can still take you to town any day of the week," Cooper assured him  as he managed to get a hard hook to the left. That one actually hurt his  hand.

But Maverick could tell that taunting Cooper wasn't such a great idea  after all. Not when he was so distracted by that phone call and what  Uncle Sherman had suggested he do for Lindsey. Nah, he couldn't be that  distracted by the beautiful brunette, could he? Maybe he just had to  pick up his speed.

"I don't think so, old-timer. Matter of fact, I can see a few gray hairs  beginning to appear at your temples," Maverick said, trying to knock  Cooper's concentration off balance.

It wasn't working.

Cooper managed to get a right hook followed by a quick triple jab to the  left side. He was going to hate life in the morning. But he would make  sure his brother was hurting too. Going on the offensive, he backed  Cooper into the corner and got off a couple of good shots before Cooper  came back swinging.

That's when it went downhill fast.

Cooper threw a punch to his brother's side and Maverick spun wrong, lost  his footing, and slammed forward against the mat. The room went silent  as a crunch louder than Cracker Jacks being eaten could be heard echoing  through the gym. Cooper instantly paled as he looked at Maverick.

"Shit, Mav!" Cooper shouted as he dropped to his knees beside his brother. "Did it break?"         

     



 

Breathing heavily through his nose, Mav didn't need to look down to know. He'd broken plenty of bones in his day.

"Yeah, my arm's broken," he said through gritted teeth.

"I'm sorry, brother," Cooper said.

"Not your fault, bro. I was fighting like a girl," Mav told him. Cooper  smiled before he pulled out his phone and started to call 911. "I'm not  riding in a damn ambulance. Help me up, and take me in," he said as he  began wobbling to his feet.

Cooper dropped the phone and gave his brother a hand. He didn't argue because he would have insisted on the same thing.

Mav felt the world tilt as he, more shakily than he'd ever admit,  climbed out of the ring. No way would he black out in front of his  brother or the other patrons in the gym.

His arm snagged in the rope, but Cooper grabbed him before he could go  down. Leaning heavily on his brother, Mav let Cooper help him into his  ridiculous sports car. Normally, Mav loved the fine piece of machinery,  but at the moment, he could only curse at it as he ducked his throbbing  head to sit down in the passenger seat.

"Now, you gonna tell me what that call was all about that had you  fighting so damn badly?" Cooper prodded, as he started the engine.

Mav swore. "I've been trying to get Lindsey to talk to me all year, been  trying to get her to get out of the house and go out with me-anything  but sitting there in your guest cottage."

"She's been back at work," Cooper pointed out.

"Yeah, she goes to work, school, and then back home."

Cooper frowned. "Stormy has been worried about her too," Coop said. "To  tell you the truth, I'm pretty dang attached to the girl as well. I know  she hasn't been doing too good, but I haven't known what to do. It's  not something I'm familiar with."

"We don't like to fail. It's something in our blood," Maverick told him.  They hit a bump and Maverick winced. Cooper smiled at him. A curse word  was uttered in his direction, but Cooper pretended not to hear it.

"So what did Uncle Sherman say?"

They were getting closer to the hospital, and Mav was grateful. He would  swear on a bible that his brother was hitting every hole and bump on  the damn road just to make the trip that much more unpleasant.

"My chair dropped out for the fund-raiser. He suggested I ask Lindsey to  step up," Mav said with a real smile, ignoring his pain.

Cooper was silent for a moment before he grinned back at his brother.

"Damn! That old man is good," Cooper finally said.

"Just don't tell him that," Mav said.

"I wouldn't dare," Cooper assured him.

"I've been where she's at. When I was captured . . ." Mav stopped  talking. He didn't speak about those days or what had been done to him.

He'd learned quickly, though, after watching a lot of his fellow  soldiers, that if he allowed himself to wallow in it, then he might sink  to a place he would never come back from. He didn't want to see the  same thing happen to Lindsey. He cared about this girl, though he didn't  want to admit to anyone just how much.

Why she mattered to him, he wasn't exactly sure. It wasn't as if the two  of them were close. Sure, they'd shared a night together-once-but he'd  shared many nights with many women. Never before had he had a woman he  couldn't forget.

"You are taking me to Mercy Hospital, right?" Mav said.

"Of course," Cooper told him with a wink.