The next morning, after a couple of hours of sleep, I took the early morning to go for a run and try to purge the violent thoughts of me and what I wanted to do to O’Hara out of my system. Running along Highway Sixty-Two, the speeding cars, the bright headlights shining in my eyes, gave me clarity. It made me sort through some of the fucking bullshit roaming around in my head, and it made me realize that I had to head off O’Hara. I had to get a few steps ahead of him if I wanted a chance at beating him and making him eat his fucking efforts. I wanted to see the look of disdain mixed with a hefty dose of defeat plastered on his fucking face, giving me the satisfaction of making his life a living hell.

When I returned to the house, Cassie was standing in the kitchen wearing a sports bra and some athletic shorts, brewing coffee and scrambling eggs. I snuck up behind her and slowly wrapped my arm around her taut middle, making her jump and squeal.

“You asshole! You were about to get hot eggs and a pan to the face.”

I laughed. Even flustered she was still so fucking beautiful, but the look on her face was serious, and I realized how close to home that innocent little act had been for her.

“I’m sorry, Blondie,” I apologized. “You’re so fucking hot looking all domestic. I like this look.”

She sighed heavily. “It’s okay. Don’t get used to it, though.” She continued scrambling. “Anyway, where have you been?”

I released her and grabbed two plates, then sat them down on the island. “I went for a run. I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

“I know. I woke up, and you weren’t in bed with me, then I saw the light on in here and heard you talking. I was so tired that I just fell back asleep. Who were you talking to?”

She moved over to the plates with the pan of eggs, divvying them up between the two. I watched her move, graceful as all hell, like this had been a routine we’d been doing for a while. My mind skipped to me and her making this a normal routine, and for a brief second, I was actually able to smile.

“Alex—”

“Sorry, I just had to take care of some shit. You have so much going on that I didn’t want to bother you.”

“And you don’t?”

Those green eyes focused in on me were not buying into the brush-off answer.

“Cassie, I’m not getting into it right now. Let’s eat. We need to get to work, and I need to see Captain Hedlund. Where are you reporting today?”

Cassie swallowed her food, then looked forlornly into my eyes. I could tell I wasn’t going to like whatever was about to come out of her mouth. “To O’Hara.”

“What the fuck for? Why don’t you have your new orders yet?”

“I don’t have any yet.”

“Yes, you do. I saw them.”

“What? When?”

“I’m a desk bitch now, so I came across your orders. You’ll be in three seventy-four with—”

“Angelica.”

Her face fell. Even though that bitch had come to her hospital room and apologized for being a stupid cunt to her, I still didn’t care for her, and apparently, after gauging Cassie’s reaction to her orders, she didn’t either. We finished up our breakfast with more pleasant topics of conversation. As much as I wanted to tell her about O’Hara’s phone calls to my family, I just couldn’t place more worry on her shoulders. I wanted to bear the burden of all of this because it was my duty. Cassie deserved none of this blowback, and if I could work things just right, she wouldn’t take any of the impending heat.

++++

Stopping at the front gate to present ID to the guard was something that usually would have been just another part of the morning routine, but today, with Cassie in the truck, there was a liberating feel to it. I didn’t have to sneak her on the base with me. It was strange how something so fucking trivial was such a bright spot in what was sure to be another horrendous day.

“Should I drop you off at O’Hara’s office?” I asked Cassie with a smirk. She didn’t seem to find the humor in it.

“No, Alex, don’t press buttons.”

“Fuck that guy, Blondie. We’re a couple. Why the fuck are we hiding it?”

“We aren’t hiding it. We’re just being smart and not rubbing noses in our shit.”

I hated that analogy, but decided not to press further and let it go. After circling the parking lot for a space, I finally parked in front of Captain Hedlund’s office building since Cassie insisted on making the long walk back over to O’Hara’s office on her own. I took the moment to savor that soft, sweet vanilla aroma that permeated from her sun kissed body, kissing her with all I had before we both hopped out of the truck and went our separate ways. The more I thought about O’Hara, holding on to her and dangling a noose in front of her, the more irritated I became. I tried to wrangle that shit in since I was sitting down with Hedlund in a minute and needed a clear head.

Lance Corporal Nelson greeted me, having me sign in before rushing to the back to let Captain Hedlund know that I had arrived. She came back just as I was taking a seat, letting me know that I could go back.

“Good morning, Sergeant Cruz. How are you?”

“I’m doing okay, I guess.”

I took a seat in front of his desk. There were papers scattered about, and he looked as if he’d been deep into his work.

“O’Hara went to Major Godinez and claimed he had more than enough to get the ball rolling on the court-martial. I got word this morning that the pre-trial hearing is set for Monday morning.”

Fuck! This dick was pushing and pushing hard, leaving me little to no time to maneuver things and get ahead of him the way that I had wanted to.

“I am going to go and see Pfc. Bennett this morning since I’ll be representing you both.”

I sat back in my chair, stewing over what he had just told me, when an idea popped into my head. “Captain, what if I marry Pfc. Bennett? What if I marry her now?”

“You want to get married now?”

“We’re already engaged. We just don’t have a date. I’m going to marry this girl, and I know that if I do it sooner rather than later, it might be better for both of us in the long run.”

He sat back in his chair, watching me intently before speaking.

“I need to warn you, Sergeant. Just because you and Pfc. Bennett get married does not remove the fraternization charge, nor will it make O’Hara or Godinez go any easier on you two.”

I could tell he was thinking I was rushing this, and that I was probably of the mindset that marriage to Cassie would make all of my problems float away. He couldn’t be more fucking wrong. I wasn’t naïve enough to think any of that, but by marrying her, I would set up some roadblocks for them while also cementing the love that I had for this girl. In my eyes, it was a win-win, no matter what.

“Captain Hedlund, I’m well aware of all of that, but I see nothing but positives by marrying Bennett, so I think I’m going to do it.”

“I can’t stop you, but I just wanted to make the reality clear.”

“It’s clear, sir.”

We wrapped up the meeting, and I took off for the Admin section of the school house, feeling a little better about the day, now that I was sure of my next move. That good feeling went flying off a fucking cliff when I spotted Sgt. Vernon looking quite chummy with Sgt. Castillo.

“Good morning, Alex. Nice to have you in our section now,” he greeted with fucking snake-like eyes and a devil’s smile. Leti had the deer in headlights look staining her face.

I looked between the two of them, smiling ever so slightly, trying hard not to let Vernon goad me into something. The door pushed open and Gunny Rawls walked out, looking incredulously at the three of us.

“Well, fuck. The government doesn’t pay your asses to stand around and look at one another. Get inside and be productive.”

I looked back at the other two, then over to Gunny Rawls before replying, “Yes, Gunny,” and strolling into the building. The other two weren’t far behind. As I was making my way to my temporary work station, my phone began to buzz.

Blondie: O’Hara is a fucking creep. He is making me his personal bitch.


That motherfucker was beginning to get under my skin in the worst way. At the moment, there was nothing I could do about it, so I tried hard to calm her down, when it was me that needed that treatment.


Me: Fuck him! And I need to talk to you about something. Can I get you for lunch?


Blondie: Can it wait ‘til this evening? I promised Dalton lunch. I miss him.


As much as I wanted to say it couldn’t wait, I didn’t, and figured I’d take the time to tackle other pressing shit.


Me: All right, see you this afternoon. Love you!


Blondie: Love you too!


I worked tirelessly, gathering more fucking paper cuts while sorting through the endless stacks of papers blanketing the desk. Where all of this shit came from, I had no clue. It seemed ridiculous that this stuff wasn’t done electronically, and I couldn’t find a reason to keep this old school way of doing things going.

When lunch time finally rolled around, I walked out of the building, hoping to take care of a few things while I had the time. The scorching desert heat seemed to sear me through my cammies, making me pick up the pace to get out to the cool confines of my air conditioned truck. Of course, just as I was stepping off of the curb, Castillo was making her way out to her Jeep and noticed me. She sauntered over to me, seemingly clueless that I wanted nothing to do with her ass.

“Hey, Alex, want to grab a bite to eat?”

I turned around to face her, the coldness of my gaze the complete opposite of the furnace engulfing us. “I’ve got shit to do.”