Torn (part 2)
By PrettyPynkLemonade
Part 1
Author's note at the bottom
proofread by @trippinsorrows
cw/tw: alcohol use, violence, military, sexual tension, power dynamics, flirting, character growth (let me know if I've missed anything)
Word count: 1.7k
August 5th, 2016
Adora wasn’t sure how to contain her excitement. This was easily the best day of her life, not counting the day she had enlisted. Being promoted to Major and then 2 months later being asked to join a special task force? Nothing could bring her high down.
She was one of very few women of color to have the many opportunities that had been afforded to her whilst she’d been enlisted. She knew part of it was being a legacy kid. Her mom had been a Command Sergeant Major in the army and being an army brat who could speak 4 languages by the age of 10 had intrigued a lot of the higher ups before she’d even been of age. It was no wonder she had exceeded expectations all with an air of excitement.
When she made the decision to enlist, it was an easy one. Adora spent most of her life on bases and travelling the world. She wasn’t comfortable staying in one place for too long, and while she was particular about her environment, she was adaptable. Joining a new team and being able to work on specialty projects was something she had only dreamed of and was more than capable of excelling at.
And Adora was riding high on that feeling until she walked into the shabby building housing more boxes filled with paper and dust than she’d ever seen in her life.
She knew this Special Unit that Reacher was putting together was new, but she wasn’t exactly prepared for the building to be so…decrepit. To be fair she hadn’t been prepped for any part of this new endeavor, but that was always the exciting part of the army: expecting the unexpected. And no one was more unexpected than Jack Reacher.
He was a tank of a man and she’d be lying if she said that she didn’t have a massive crush on him. His striking eyes and his body were one thing, but his rank and intelligence? Beautiful. He’d risen through the ranks like her, was heading up his own unit, and was known to follow a strict code of conduct. Just tell Adora that he also loved puppies, and she was a taken woman.
Walking into the spacious room behind Calvin Franz (another seemingly nervous) recruit and Reacher, Adora couldn’t help but feel there was some tension between their new “team” to say the least. She took survey of the mismatched group while Reacher was putting an obnoxiously blonde man in his place. Outside of the blonde who she believed was named O’Donnell; she took note of a black woman with soulful eyes, a white woman with dark hair who looked like she worked at a bank, a cute Asian man strumming a guitar, a black man that was old enough to be her dad (she’d have to see if he knew her mother), 2 beautiful Latino men (one with a large back tattoo), and of course Franz and Reacher. 10 people who would be tasked with working together for an unspecified amount of time.
She blanked out during the beginning of Reacher’s monologue, where she realized this was the most, she had probably ever heard the real-life G.I. Joe speak. They hadn’t interacted with each other much during their time enlisted, but in the few interactions they had shared he didn’t say much, but he handled his business. She wasn’t sure if his silence was intentional or if it was to keep himself distant from others. If it was to keep people away, that was unfortunate because she could definitely see herself keeping a close eye on him.
“…The army wanted a unit for particularly complex matters when they arose. To do that I need Special Investigators, not generic MPs.” Reacher concluded.
One of the Latino men with Orozco tatted on his back raised his hand before speaking “If we’re so special, why did the stick us in this dump? I mean, what is up with this place?” he asked with a laugh, which others on the team couldn’t help but join.
“Few years ago, Uncle Sam made an auction bid for some land down the road. Entered the address backwards and became the proud owners of this building and the contents of the now-defunct Callahan Insurance Agency…But you’re right. Place could work a little better.” Reacher explained.
Adora snorted “A little better? This place is a dump with a capital D and only bleach and hard work could make this even remotely workable.”
With a blink and you’d miss it smile, which she did not miss, Reacher continued and said, “Okay team, you heard the woman, straighten up these boxes and move these old tanker desks to the middle of the room.”
The rest of the team sighed and shifted their glares to Adora. She rolled her eyes and flipped her hair completely nonplused, “I just said what everyone else was thinking and I won’t apologize for it.”
Reacher sensing the tension said “Let’s go. You don’t have to call me ‘Major,’ but you do have to move your ass when I say so. Get to it.”
Adora stretched her legs and shoulders before grabbing a tanker box with the Black girl with the soulful eyes and they began exchanging pleasantries. She came to learn her name is Frances Neagley “Just Neagley please” and she was a Seargent, which was surprising. Not because she didn’t seem capable of the job, but Reacher picking someone relatively new seemed intriguing and she loved things that piqued her interest. Adora was never one to undermine Black women and if Neagley was on her team, then she knew they were more than equals, titles be damned.
“Reacher’s paying for beers once we’re done here” Franz announced walking over to the two women, and while the rest of the team looked slightly more upbeat after that, Adora could only think *This team is gonna need a hell of a lot of beer to make this thing work*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nothing could have prepared her for the uncomfortable silences during their bar visit. Adora wasn’t a heavy drinker, but she put that thought behind her while she sipped her 3rd beer to stay present during the more than awkward hang out session. She looked around the room, putting on her surveillance eyes and noticed too many men looking in their direction. She wasn’t sure why Reacher chose this place to drink, but she was almost a thousand percent sure this wasn’t going to end well…
And well…
Adora loved and hated that she was right about that outcome.
When the 91st approached their table and threatened Neagley, she was more than ready to go to bat for her sister in arms. But she didn’t get the chance before Reacher was already aggressively defending Neagley and the rest of the team. Of course that did lead to a bar fight, but what better way to unite a team than beating the shit out of another one?
And when Swan (the cute Asian) suggested they get out of there, because he knew the perfect place for a bonfire, how could the team refuse? And they warmed up to each other even more when Adora suggested they stop to pick up food and drinks on the way.
They’d all been fraternizing after drinking a few drinks more than she’d ever admit to, and she could feel the heavy and intoxicating effects of the alcohol and now all she wanted to do was get under a certain someone before the night was over.
Before the angel on her shoulder could stop her, Adora walked over to the Jeep where Reacher and Neagley were drinking and laughing at Swan’s perfectly imperfect singing. She didn’t care if Neagley heard her drunken attempts at getting Reacher to loosen up, someone had to get that man’s hips to move and Adora was the perfect candidate.
“You knew that fight was going to happen, didn’t you?” she asked coyly. She may have been drunk but she was all too aware that asking him to dance straight-up wouldn’t work, even if she was a little impatient.
“I mean, he didn’t ask nicely.” Reacher supplied with a sly smile.
“Was there any way he could have asked that didn’t end up with us throwing hands?”
“He could have said please.”
“And if I was to ask you to pretty-please dance, does that mean you’ll say yes?”
Reacher looked her up and down and Adora spun in a circle to give him an even better view. She knew he’d been looking at her anyways and who was she to not help, when help was obviously needed? She may be slim, but the girl had curves in all the right places that decades of exercise only seemed to enhance exponentially.
“As nice as that sounds, these 2 left feet prefer to stay planted on solid ground” he said while biting his lip, recognizing that she was trouble and while he never ran from trouble in his life, she was more than he could handle right now especially with the many beers in his system.
Adora smiled “Well, you know where to find me if you ever need a dance lesson.”
As she walked away, with an undeniable sway in her hips, she missed Neagley shoving Reacher and saying, “You should have taken her up on that offer, I doubt she makes it again.”
“I’m her superior, no amount of cute smiles and fluttering eyelashes is going to make me forget that… no matter how pretty she asks” he was slightly disappointed in himself for never letting his code falter. If she wasn’t on his team and if they weren’t drunk as hell, he wasn’t 100% sure that his answer would have been a no. To a dance or otherwise.
Adora’s good mood didn’t falter by Reacher’s unexplainable dismissal, she knew what she had to offer and what his code was. She was capable of just being happy to be in his presence and the presence of her new team members. This was the beginning of the rest of her life, and there was nothing that could bring her down.
Author's Note:
Thank you so much to everyone who read the first part of the story and showed love. I really appreciate it, especially with me just getting back into writing. Please ask me any questions you have, give your opinions and please be respectful. I'm doing this for fun and want to keep that energy going for any interactions.
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