C. Brown - Fraternizing

Newsome came marching out of the building, and I took it as my opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.

“Hey, Pfc. Ruiz. Are you okay?”

Her guilt riddled eyes cautiously coasted over to me, apprehensively landing on a wrathful stare. She knew exactly what I knew, and her expression told on her long before she ever opened her mouth. Newsome now stood next to me, looking like the concerned instructor that I couldn’t be.

“I’m okay, Sergeant.” Her cheeks flushed a bright shade of red.

“What’s going on?” Newsome asked, trying to gauge the situation.

“Our student has some scratches on her face, so I was just making sure she was alright.”

Newsome’s eyes swung from me to Ruiz. Her breathing began to pick up as I smirked at her, but I could tell she was working diligently, trying to keep it under control.

“I took a sparring class at the gym. Got a little rough, that’s all.” Her eyes told a different story as she fixated on Newsome, wholly avoiding me altogether.

 Newsome nodded his head, then continued on his way. I stood there a moment longer, wanting to see her sweat. She was a feisty little bitch, I would give her that. But where Cassie was concerned, none of it was going to be tolerated.

“You’re walking on thin ice, Ruiz. Don’t make me help you fall,” I gruffly whispered into her ear. Not only did I now confirm what I had known all along, but I’d hopefully, for the last time, put this girl on notice. She looked away, averting the intense heat from my searing gaze. I turned, looking back to find Cassie laughing with her friends, and Ruiz looking like she was about to vomit. Flashes of what may have happened between the two them hit me again, bringing a double dose of wrath with it. I was infuriated by what I’d discovered, and I could have chewed through concrete with that bit of news. 

Cassie

Class had a very strange vibe to it after the lunch hour. Alex, with his brazen acts of sexual goodness, had all but convinced me that I needed to take him up on his offer and run off with him for the weekend. His very capable tongue proved once again that I had a weakness for all things physical when it came to him. But when we came back into the classroom, the looks he gave off were nothing but menacing, even in my direction. Something had happened between his meal and class, and it worried me, leaving me anxious to find out.

Dalton waited for me outside in the courtyard as the day came to a close. Alex was inside, speaking to a few more instructors, so he wasn’t easily accessible for me to pull away and figure out what had crawled up his ass. Angelica rushed by us, not stopping to say a word. Caring about her mood swings was the last thing on my mind. She had become a bothersome fly to me, and I couldn’t wait for the next time that I’d get a chance to swat her.

We began our trek to the barracks, Dalton going on and on about Data and all of the wonderful things the he was learning. Unfortunately, my mind was occupied with thoughts of Alex. I had become a horrible friend to Dalton, always thinking or speaking of Alex, but I couldn’t help it. The man had embedded himself inside of me, and was making it damn near impossible to get rid of him.

“So, you gonna go with Cruz this weekend?” Dalton asked, abruptly switching topics, fully aware that this would finally make me pay attention.

“I don’t know. What are you doing? I don’t want to just leave you here.”

“Don’t worry about me. This guy from back home, Ben, is flying out to see me, so it’s you I’m worried about.”

I ribbed him a bit. “Ohhh, a boyfriend, huh?” Do tell.”

Dalton laughed, the kind of laugh that soothed the soul. “He isn’t my boyfriend. Although, I’d like him to be. We’ll see. We had just started to get know one another when I left for bootcamp. We’ve been keeping in touch.”

“That’s sweet. I hope you have fun.”

“Me too, but I’m worried about you. I won’t be here, and I don’t want you staying behind with Ruiz and Allen for a long weekend. I can only imagine how nerve wracking that will be. Please go with Cruz. For me?”

He batted his long lashes, his face softening and his eyes exuding puppy dog innocence. I laughed at him, but the reality of spending the weekend with Ruiz and quite possibly running into Allen did set my radar off, knowing that some fireworks would surely explode if that were to happen. As much as I wanted to go with Alex, I didn’t want him to think that with one lick of his tongue he had me. But the alternative was much more cringe-worthy than stroking Alex’s ego.

“You’re right. I’ll go with him.”

“Thank you. Good times for the both of us.”

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out, seeing Alex’s name light up on the screen. It was odd that he called instead of texted.

“Hello…”

“Ditch Dalton and go somewhere where you can be alone,” he said. His voice had irritation swirling through it, making me anxious.

I looked around and found him sitting inside his truck with the phone up to his ear. Dalton looked at me wide eyed and full of curiosity.

“I’ll catch you later,” I said, tapping his arm and walking off in the opposite direction. When I found myself away from any other living soul, I brought the phone back up to my ear. “What’s gotten into you?”

“You’re coming with me this weekend. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.”

“Whoa. Slow down.”

“No. You listen to me. Your fucking roommate is a psychotic bitch, and I know she put the scratches on your forehead. Why the fuck didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I’m a big girl and I handled it, okay?”

“No, it’s not okay. She is a different kind of crazy. She’s got a record, and I don’t want you staying anywhere near her while I’m away. I don’t give a shit if you don’t want to spend the weekend with me. You’re at least going to let me get you away from her.”

“That’s what crawled up your ass this afternoon?”

“Don’t get condescending, Blondie.”

“I was going to tell you that I would go away with you, but you are making me want to change my mind.”

“Then it’s settled. Be ready to go Friday afternoon. And trust me, I knew you were coming with me all along.” I could hear his smile through the phone. He was a cocky son of a bitch and didn’t make any qualms about it. “Lay low, please. I don’t need any more blemishes on your beautiful face.”

He hung up.

I was a bit peeved by his assertions. He had just demanded that, one way or another, I leave with him for the weekend. Of course, he was coming from a good place, but still. I didn’t want to be ordered around—not unless it was work related or in the bedroom. Then thoughts of Alex and me, alone for a whole weekend, his commands on every sexual position his kinky mind could think of, came fluttering in. I quickly lost the up-in-arms demeanor and plastered a giddy grin on my face at all of the wondrous thoughts of a naked Alex floating around in my head.

Friday morning came without any more occurrences. Angelica had distanced herself from me, which was a welcomed move, and Allen didn’t say anything else. Surprisingly, Castillo hadn’t been lurking around either. The week finished on a definite upswing.