Fraternizing (18 page)

That. Killed. Me.

While I wanted
the satisfaction of seeing fear spread over her, I also wanted to take Cassie
with me and get her out of the clutches of that evil that was in her midst. I
was damn near certain that I had sealed her mouth as far as Cassie and I were
concerned, but I couldn't be sure that Ruiz wouldn't try and make Cassie's life
a
living fucking
nightmare. As I angrily stomped out
of the barracks and down the stairs, I grew nauseous with the thought of her
having to endure any undue stress thanks to my actions.

Thoughts of what
to do next raced through my mind as I jogged out to my truck, finally settling
on the one thing I didn't want to do, but knew I had to do-- I pulled out my
cell phone and called Riley.

He answered on
the second ring.

"What up,
dickwad? You only had duty, not an all-night bingefest, so drive your own self
home."

"Shut the
fuck up, Riley. I'm in a bind, and I need you to hear me out. Is Jensen
home?"

He went quiet for
a second, picking up the intensity in my tone.

"Um, no. He
went golfing this morning in Palm Springs with that Asian chick from
Coyotes."

"Sweet. I'm
on my way home. I need you to get ready to come to base to do a job for me.”

"Oh, shit.
This sounds serious."

"It is. I'll
be home in a bit. Be ready, please."

"Will do,
man. I feel all covert right now. Hurry home, this is too cool." His goofy
ass chuckle bellowed out. This dude couldn't be serious if you begged him to.

"Riley…"

"Yeah?"

"Shut the
fuck up and be ready, please."

He laughed hard.

I angrily pressed
end on the call, skimming through and calling the local taxi service that we
sometimes frequented when we hit all of the area bars.

 
After the call, I shot a quick text to
Cassie.

Me: Get out of that room and over to Subway
ASAP. Don't let that bitch know where you're going.

She took a minute
to respond, sending my anxiety level through the roof of my truck.

Blondie: She's in the shower. Haven't we
trudged the ledge quite enough today?

Me: No. Get there! A taxi will pick you up.

I had to get her
out of there.

My heart shattered
into a thousand pieces, feeling like a sledgehammer had been taken to it from
the moment I walked out of that room without Cassie's hand in mine. Deep
inside, it felt like wolves had surrounded her, and I had left her there to
fend for herself and she was failing miserably while they attacked, poached,
and devoured her. Ruiz was only one person, but the eeriness of her tone sent
an arctic chill over my bones, leaving me fearful of what she was capable of
with someone less hardened than me.

Cassie didn't
answer my text, so I parked in the parking lot of the movie theater, hidden
under a few trees so as not to arouse suspicion when the taxi came to pick her
up.

My mind was
everywhere in that moment, searching for reasoning to the madness that I had so
willfully thrust myself into. Normally, pussy was pussy. It was nothing to get
excited about, lose my head about, or possibly destroy my career over.

But something
here was different. Something here was worth all of the turmoil and so much
more.

How my life had
taken such a detour in a very short week was beyond me. Since I had joined the
Corps, my life had been carefully planned out. I followed and enforced all
rules, never skimping over or cutting corners to get things done. The Corps
instilled honor, commitment, and courage into me, but somehow I had lost that. I
had lost my ability to see things in the black and white that they used to be
presented in. I had lost my way… and I couldn't be more relieved.

I felt a
connection to her, all formality now leaving where she was concerned. Cassie
was showing me that not everything comes in black and white, that our best laid
plans don't always pan out and that sometimes you just have to take a leap
because life isn't as unyielding as we would like for it to be.
 
I hadn't even fucked her yet and somehow
she meant more to me than any other female I had explored every inch of. The
scariest part about this whole scenario was that the feelings I felt for her
weren't terrifying me. Since Evelyn, I had promised that no female would make
their
way to a special place with me, and yet here was
Cassie in all of her vanilla scented glory, doing just that. The thought put a
quaint smile on my face after such a horrendous morning.
 

Before long I saw
her, strutting into the Subway and ordering some
food to make
her visit seem
harmless. Just watching her from afar, her hair loose and
long, not tied up in that stuffy bun, showcased the carefree spirit that I
wanted all of. Waiting until she graduated wasn't an option because by then she
could have orders halfway around the globe, stealing my chance to ever have
something with her. I needed her now. I needed to feel her, to delight in her,
to really explore all parts of her.

A few minutes
after she sat down, the taxi pulled up, giving me the go ahead to leave. I
raced off, trying to get home in time to hopefully fill Riley in before she got
there.

Luckily, my house
wasn't too far from base, and I got there in only twelve minutes. I jumped out,
running into the house, looking for Riley. He was in his room, playing Xbox or
some shit that took up too much of his time on a daily basis.

"Hey, man. We
need to talk," I said, slightly out of breath from pure adrenaline
filtering through every vein in my body.

He paused his
game, turning to look at me with concern tightly held on his face.

"You look
stressed, man. What's going on?"

I didn't answer
him right away. My mind was drifting back to Cassie and what she could have
possibly endured after I left the room. My stomach knotted with the visuals,
making me want to kick my own ass even more.

"Alex--"

His call jerked
me back into the here and now.

"Alright,
Riley. I need you now more than ever," I started, knowing that as
ridiculous as he could be, he was loyal, and right now, I needed it. He didn't
say anything. Instead, he focused on me with sincerity and caution scouring his
face as he awaited whatever was about to come out of my mouth. "Pfc.
Cassie Bennett is on her way over here."

"What?
Why?"

"Because,"
I stopped, running my hands over the back of my head while growing frustrated
with myself for even allowing my dick and now my heart to get me to this point.
"Because she and I have something and her bitch ass roommate found
us."

"What the
bejeebus, man? Are you fucking nuts?"

"A little bit,
yes," I spit out, not wanting to deal with any questions at the moment.

"Okay, so
you bring her here, and then what?"

"I don't
know yet. I just needed to get her out of that barracks room for a bit. Are you
sure Jensen went to Palm Springs?"

"Yeah. He sent
me pics of his hot ass chick out on the green. She had some skimpy ass top and
her tits, man--"

"Riley! I
don't really want to hear about that right now."

"Oh, yeah. Sorry.
What do you need me to do?"

My mind had been
so focused on Cassie and her bitch ass roommate that I hadn't even thought
about what Riley could do in this situation. Thoughts raced through my mind,
but nothing stuck out in particular since everything was moving much too fast. Finally,
it hit me.

And Riley would
be the perfect man for the job.

"I need you
to dig. Dig through everything at your disposal on Ruiz. I need ammo in case
this bitch tries to go to war with us."

"You got it,
man. But why is she so hell bent on destroying you?"

"Coyotes,
the night of my selection celebration, she spotted me and had her ass all over
me, but then Cassie came up and I was fucking gone.
 
Stupid as shit since I didn't even know
either of them, but yeah, she must have been pissed because I've noticed her
taking little jabs at Cassie ever since."

"Bitches. Catty
little bitches. I'm so glad to be a dude."

I swooped over to
him, landing just before him and grabbing him by his t-shirt.

"Don't ever
call her a bitch," I barked, feeling like the insult against Cassie was a
direct insult on me.

"Not her,
man. Ruiz." Fear went off in his eyes in that moment, causing me to let go
and back away from him. My feelings for Cassie were deeper that I had
originally thought.

"Sorry. I
don't know what came over me."

He fixed his
shirt then stood upright, craning his neck to look at me, but I wouldn't let
him. I was too ashamed of what I had become in his eyes, but also much too
proud to have my
heart land
in the hands of such of
incredibly amazing woman.

"Dude, you
really have feelings for this chick, don’t you?"

I looked up at
him, silence filling the space, but my facial expression doing all of the
speaking necessary for him to get his answer.

"Shit, man. This
isn't just another fuck and duck for you. You have feelings."

"Riley, shut
the fuck up."

He flashed me a
smile then patted me on the shoulder.

"I'm happy
for you, man. You haven't been like this since Evelyn, so it's nice to see it. Even
if it is a jail sentence waiting to happen." Laughter erupted from him,
spurring me to do the same. In all of his silliness, he always had a way of
being so profound. He was refreshing in every sense of the way that I was not. He
was my polar opposite, but more so than that, he was loyal. And right now, I
was going to need all of the loyalty that I could get.

"Enough
sentiments, asshole. I'm going to jump in the shower before she gets here. If
you're still here, let her in. If not, leave the door unlocked." I ripped
my shirt over my head, turning to walk to my own bedroom.

"No need,
she's here," he said, looking out of his bedroom window.

My heart rate
escalated. Why I was so nervous to have her in my house was beyond me, but I
was.

And I had the
perspiration filled brow to prove it.

The doorbell
rang, and I stood frozen, letting Riley answer it since he was closer anyway. He
flung the door open, greeting her while moving aside and letting her walk into
the living room.

"Hey,
Cassie," he said, trying hard to be casual.
 

She looked at him
and nodded, her eyes averting his while looking back to me.

"I'm off to
take care of that job," Riley sputtered, looking from me to Cassie and
then back to me. He was always awkward, so it didn't shock me, but Cassie's
eyes shifted to him in surprise, probably unsure of what the job was and why he
seemed so at ease.

I rushed her,
taking her in my arms and squeezing like it was the last time I would get to
hold her. She reluctantly hugged back, not nearly matching my intensity. It
worried me.

"Are you
okay?" I asked, my eyes searching and trying desperately to get a good
read on her.

"I don't
know. I don't know what's okay anymore."

I pulled her back
into me, holding her head to my chest. Something had happened in that room
after I left, and my feelings from earlier came back, haunting me in droves,
driving home the point that I had fucked up. I had fucked up by being in there
much too long, and I had doubly fucked up by leaving her.

"Hey! What's
wrong?" I asked, taking her delicate hand and leading her into the
kitchen. She took a seat at one of the stools at the island. I sat down on the
stool next to her and turned her around to face me. I held on to her hands as I
peered into her eyes, trying to find any trace of emotion, but coming up empty.

"What
happened after I left?"

She looked at me
with something, I couldn’t place it, but it was more than the barren gaze that
she gave off since she'd set foot in the house.

"Sgt. Riley
knows about us? What are you thinking?"

Confusion and
anger seemed to be taking over, and the longer I let the thoughts fester, the
more they grew.

"He's good
to go. He’s on our side."

"How can you
be sure? I don't trust
anyone.
" The
inflection on the word wasn't lost on me. She was sending me a message, and it
came through loud and clear. My jaws tightened at her words. I swallowed hard,
shutting my eyes and cracking my neck to relieve the tension that had suddenly
lodged itself inside. This was going south in a hurry.

"What the
fuck does that mean?"

"Exactly
what I said, Alex!" she shouted, raising her voice and pulling her hands
out of mine. Even though she was mad, she was arousing me and had no idea. "A
little over a week ago, I was heading to Comm School to learn a trade, and now
I'm worried every single second of every day that I'll be pulled in and read my
rights. The stress is killing me."

"So what are
you saying? You want to squash this? Because you and I both know that’s
un-fucking-realistic. We've been down that road and turned right back around. What's
next on your list?"

She stood in a
hurry, her petite yet muscular arms flailing, sending that decadent vanilla
aroma straight for me and teasing my senses. I slowly breathed it in, hoping to
never lose the trail of the scent that had somehow become my latest addiction.

"Alex, you
have no idea. You have protection. I don't."

"What are
you talking about?" I asked, my eyes thinning into two tight slits as I
moved closer to her. She put her hands up to keep me away, which I painfully
obeyed.

"Your side
chick, Castillo.”

The purse of her
lips and the roll of her eyes sent rage flurrying through me. I wasn't sure
what was about to come out of her mouth next, but I already knew it wasn't
anything good.