You're Not Broken(13)

Al shook his head again, his wild gray hair flinging about. “No, man,” he said. “This is a girl girl. She’s no Army floozie. She’s wearing a sweater.” He said the last word as if it were a sacred word only meant to be used in church.



Jason’s brow furrowed a bit. Although Al sounded a little crazy to be worked up so much over a sweater, Jason understood what he meant. The only kinds of women that populated a rough bar like Reggie’s were women who knew exactly what they wanted. Usually, it boiled down to a one night fling or a wedding ring. Army benefits were nice when you could get them and a lot of these women were on their second or third Army marriage.



Most of the soldiers from Fort Bragg were warned not to patronize Reggie’s but that didn’t stop infantry soldiers. They knew where their people were and damn the brass.



But no nice, decent girl came into these kinds of bars. They would be eaten alive.



“Where’d you see her?” Jason asked, debating whether he wanted to get involved or not. He had only wanted a few beers after a particularly rough night of sleep the night before. The nightmares only seemed to be getting worse not better.



Al pointed towards the back where the bar was. “She was heading towards the bar. I heard her asking about Reggie,” Al added in a confused voice. He was clearly perplexed as to how a nice girl in a sweater would know about a man like Reggie.



“Hmm,” Jason said, taking another swig. “Maybe she’s not such a girl girl like you think. Not if she knows about Reggie.”



But before Al could respond, there was a loud crack like the sound of wood splintering followed by raucous shouts. Over at the far end of the room, towards the bar, Jason could see a huge ball of angry fists and leather jackets tumbling together. Violence at Reggie’s grew like tornados—it swept up everything in its path.



Jason would’ve just waited it out till the tornado eventually petered out like it normally did when he suddenly caught a flash of a color he had never seen in Reggie’s.



Mint green.



He jerked to his feet and peered through the shouting crowd and saw a girl wearing a mint green sweater. He only caught the side of her face, which was obscured by her long caramel colored hair, but he could tell by her hunched and frozen posture that she was terrified.



And as well she should be, the dummy, Jason thought in irritation as he quickly shoved his way towards the bar. This was no place for someone like her. She looked like a rabbit caught in a wolf’s den. And if he didn’t get to her soon, she’d be eaten whole.



The crowds yelled and cheered whoever was fighting. Jason was quite sure even the instigators of the fight had forgotten why they had started fighting. Jason shoved and ducked as he made his way through the thick crowd to the bar.



The crowd shoved to the right as one body as the fighters pushed towards the opposite end of the bar. Jason could see a burly arm raised for a powerful punch towards his opponent who was standing right in front of the girl.



With one great lunge to push himself free from the tightly packed crowd, Jason wrapped his arm around the girl, pushing her against his chest, then turned in one swift movement so his back faced the brawlers.



The punch landed on its intended target but the power of the punch sent its victim reeling, knocking hard into Jason’s back. Jason grunted as he felt an elbow dig deep into his ribs as the man hit him with the full impact of the blow.



Shaking himself free, he pulled himself and the girl free from the crowded and now wrecked bar. It was slow moving with how thick the crowd was. Jason could feel the girl squirming against him but he kept his arm tight around her, not giving her an inch to get away. She’d be mauled and he’d be damned if he let this dummy do that to herself.



He could feel under his hands the slenderness of her shoulders. Her bones felt as delicate as a bird’s. The top of her head barely reached his shoulders. He felt the heat of her shuddering breaths against his chest.



And this frightened little rabbit is thinking to squirm away into this mob? Jason snorted as he tightened his arm and continued to push their way out.



It took nearly fifteen minutes but finally, they reached the cool night air. Bursting free, Jason took in a deep, refreshing breath as the girl wrenched free from his arms. This time, he let her go.



The girl wrenched free and whirled around, turning her back towards him. She wrapped her arms around herself, taking in deep breaths of the fresh air.



Jason took in another breath and leaned against the outer brick wall of the bar. Crossing his arms, he leaned his head back.



“I don’t know who you are,” Jason said, looking at the turned back, “but you’re a damn idiot to be here. It’s too fucking dangerous.”