"Hi, Sgt. Riley," I responded, not sure how I should address him.

"Just Riley, Blondie," Alex threw in, rubbing my thigh as he turned his attention to him.

"What's up, man?"

"It didn't take long. I found some shit. You want to come take a look at this?"

He held some papers up in his hand, putting a smile on Alex's face.

"We'll be right back," Alex said, quickly moving away from the island.

They walked into a back room and shut the door. I sat at the island, continuing to eat and pondering what was on those papers that had him so excited.

I stood and cleared my plate, washing it off and placing it in the dish rack. I stared out the kitchen window into the backyard, looking at a lush green lawn in the middle of two patios covered by awnings. There were horseshoes in the grass, making me smile as I pictured this being the party, hang out house on the guys' free time. Three single guys living in one house; there was no doubt in my mind that this was where the fun was had.

Just as I was turning around to clear the remnants of our meal from the island, I heard keys jingling at the front door. I quickly turned and took a few steps toward Alex's room when the door opened, leaving me out in the open for whoever was making their way in. 

Chapter 13

Alex


"Pfc. Bennett, what are you doing here?"

Fuck! What the hell was Smith doing at my house? I jetted out of the back room, leaving Riley sitting there with his eyes damn near dangling out of his head. When I reached the front area, I found Cassie standing there, looking like a deer caught in headlights. Smith stood staring at her in confusion, obviously unaware of what a student would be doing at her instructor's home on a Saturday afternoon. I needed to fix this shit, and fix it right now.

"Hey, man. What are you doing here?"

Smith's confusion laced eyes shifted to me. I needed to stay cool.

"Jensen asked me to come here and grab some stuff for him since I'm headed down to Palm Springs tonight."

His eyes quickly swept back over to Cassie. She stood statuesque, tiny swallows making their way down her throat. Her nerves were fried. I could see the evidence of it piercing through her sparkling green eyes.

"What is Pfc. Bennett doing here?"

I wasn't about to lie to him, so I came right out and said it.

"She's here with me."

His mouth just about hit the floor as his eyes bulged from their sockets. To say he was in shock would be an understatement.

"What the fuck, man? Do you know how much shit you could land yourself in?"

He walked over to me, placing his hand on my shoulder and looking over to Cassie.

"Your promotion, Alex. What the fuck, dude?" The elevated tone of his voice eerily put me at ease. He was concerned for me, and where there was concern, there was loyalty.

"Caleb, calm down. I'm well aware of the repercussions."

"Then why?"

His eyes flashed between Cassie and me, then to Riley who was slowly making his way out of the back room.

"You knew about this, Riley? What the fuck?"

"Hey, man. I just found out about it today," Riley said, looking very defensive.

I coasted over to Cassie, who still looked a bit shell shocked, if not completely frazzled. Putting my arm around her, I calmly said, "Riley just found out and I already know what could happen to me. That's why I'm being very careful."

"Careful?" Smith shouted. "You call this careful? Having a fucking student in your house where fellow instructors live. Does Jensen know about this too?"

"Not really," I growled, growing more annoyed with him and all of his questions. "He thought something was up, but I shut him down."

"Well, does Newsome fucking know?" he mumbled, finally setting me off.

I turned to Cassie and whispered in her ear, "Go into the room while I handle this."

She looked at me with reluctance, but I didn't want her here when things got bad as I felt they were about to do.

"Go."

She turned and walked away. I waited until I heard the click of the door before I went to work on Smith.

"Look, man. This shit wasn't meant to happen. I didn't go in search of a student to start fucking. I met her at Coyotes that night and had no fucking clue who she was until Monday morning during formation."

"Then what? You just decided that since you'd already started something you'd go ahead and finish it?" He stopped for a second, the wheels whirling around in his head. "Wait. This is why you asked me about Pfc. Dalton, isn't it? You wanted to get your competition out of the way."

"Caleb." My stern, baritone voice bellowed out.

"What? You've either lost your mind, or you've gone fucking stupid."

"You better watch yourself, Caleb," I warned. I was beginning to feel like a wild animal backed into corner, and there was no telling what I was capable of if pushed too far.

"I think it's the other way around, Alex. Now you've pulled the rest of us into this mess, over what? Pussy? You can get pussy from anywhere. Why a goddamned student?"

"First of all, I didn't pull you into shit," I roared, my eyes zeroing in on him, the veins throbbing in my neck as I took slow, deliberate steps in his direction. "Secondly, she isn't just pussy, so you better watch how the fuck you refer to her. Believe me, I've gone over this shit in my own mind, wondering if it was even worth it, and every time I convinced myself it wasn't, something would come flying back, telling me it was."

"So you're willing to take the rest of us down with you?"

"I'm not doing shit with you. I didn't pull you into this. You, unfortunately, walked in on it. So now you can either stand with me, or against me."

He looked me over, occasionally taking glances at Riley who stood stoic, not flinching or making a sound. I could see the wheels of debate turning in his head,  the last thing I ever wanted to do was get these guys mangled up in it, thus putting their own careers on the line. But now that I was knee deep, I needed them to hold me, to make sure that my dirty fucking secret remained a secret until I could let it be out in the open.

Smith blew out a slow, deep breath. Running his hands over the back of his head, he finally said, "Fuck, man. You know I'm always gonna support you. I just wish it didn't have to be in fucking secret."

I discreetly blew out the breath holed up in me.

"Who the fuck you telling, man?" I finally allowed a smile to creep across my face. "But, you can't say shit to Jensen. So far, I don't think he'll back me."

He nodded briefly.

I pulled him into a guy hug, patting him on the back, then looked over at Riley.

"I have enough fucking problems at the moment, and this guy here," I said, motioning towards Riley, "is helping me out. The last thing I need is for you guys to blow the lid off of this for me."

"You've got my word, man," Smith sternly replied. I'd known him long enough to know that his word was everything. If he said he would back me, he would definitely back me.

"Alright. Better hurry up and get Jensen's shit. I better get back there to Cassie. She's probably scared shitless right now."

"Cassie, huh?” Smith asked, shaking his head and laughing slightly. “Well, I'm sorry if I scared the living fuck out of her. I was not expecting to see her hot ass standing in your house."

"Watch it, asshole," I jokingly warned. "That's my hot piece of ass you're talking about." He held up his hands in a mocking show of defense. "Have fun in Palm Springs. Riley, I'll get back to you in a minute."

I turned away from them and quickly made my way back to my room. When I opened the door, Cassie was lying face up on my bed, holding the broken boot bands in her hands, worry engrained in her.

"Hey. You okay?"

She sat up in the bed; her eyes looked like tears would erupt from them at any moment.

"Not really. But I'm more worried about you."

"Don't worry about me. I'm fine."

I sat down on the bed next to her, my hands instinctively making their way up to her face, gently moving her hair behind her ear.

"Smith isn't going to say anything. He's on our side too."

"How do you know that?" Her voice grew weak and shaky, splintering my heart with every sound she made.

"Because I know my boys. Right now, the only ones I know aren't with us are Newsome, but he doesn't know." I paused for a second. "And Jensen."

"I know. It's Jensen I'm worried about."

Her response made my blood boil.

"Why? What has he said to you?"

"He hasn't said anything to me directly. I just see the looks he gives me, like he hates me."

"He doesn't hate you. He just sees you as a student, and he is too fucking fixated on what the Marine Corps says. He forgets sometimes that we're human, and our thoughts don't always line up with what the Corps says-- I've been guilty of that too, up until now."

"I never planned on this. I never wanted to ruin anything for anyone--"

"And you aren’t. Stop that shit. I put myself exactly where I am. If anything, I could possibly be hurting you."

"No, you aren't. I wanted this too."

"Then that's it."

"What's it?"

"This. You and me." She stared at me in amazement. "Look, the Corps is designed so that we can't work. And up until a week or so ago, I backed it wholeheartedly. But I see shit now. The rose colored glasses are off."

"But you love the Marine Corps. It's who you are."