I knocked on Riley’s door, calling out, “See ya later, man,” before walking for the front door. He came darting out of his room, wearing just his boxers. “I don’t need to see your shit first thing in the morning, Riley. I have enough traumatizing shit going on in my head right now.”

“Fuck off,” he joked, the goofy, awkward Riley back. “I just wanted to make sure you remembered what I said last night.”

“I remember, man. I’m going in to see First Sergeant O’Hara.”

“Alright. Don’t do anything stupid, Alex.”

I flipped him off and turned for the door, leaving with his words replaying over and over in my head.

Standing in front of First Sergeant’s door, I contemplated the different ways that I wanted to approach this issue. I couldn’t give anything away that this was a personal matter for me, but I also didn’t want this shit swept under the rug. I needed to make sure that Allen got what he deserved, and at this point in time, it would be better coming from the higher ups than it would be coming from me. I knocked on the door, turning the knob and removing my cover before stepping in after hearing O’Hara tell me to come in.

“Good morning, First Sergeant.”

He stood and walked over to shake my hand. “Morning, Sergeant, Cruz. Sorry to have to bring you in so early to deal with this shit. Students, you just never what you’re going to get.” He laughed, and I tried hard to join him, but I couldn’t force more than a tight chuckle out.

“Anyway, Sgt. Newsome came and reported an incident of sexual harassment between two of your students. And I know you were TAD during all of this, but as the lead instructor, I need to get your input.”

I nodded my head, well aware of what had happened, and wanting to hurry up and get to what we were going to do about Allen.

“Private Allen and Private First Class Bennett were apparently given orders to the same duty station. He expressed his dismay about it, to which she countered, and that’s when the inappropriate sexual comment took place. Now, I asked Newsome for his records, his PFT scores, his test scores, and I see a fine young Marine who lost his mind for half a second. When I spoke to him, he was remorseful and apologized profusely. I saw no reason to end this young man’s budding career because he spoke before he thought.”

“First Sergeant—“

“So, Sgt. Cruz, as their instructor, I have to ask, have you seen anything in class that you believe I need to know about before sitting down with Sgt. Major Thomas.”

“Actually, First Sergeant, Private Allen was involved in a physical altercation in the barracks one night, and I saw something very recently.”

“Yes. That incident. What else have you seen?”

His lackadaisical response to the altercation had my blood boiling.

“I had the students pair up to work on radio systems, and Private Allen called for Pfc. Bennett to be his partner. The look she gave was—“ I stopped and ran my hand over my face. “It was more than not wanting to work with him. It almost looked like fear.”

“Did you ask her about it?”

“I did. She was a bit hesitant to tell me what was going on. She just said it was an argument they’d had, but I couldn’t get any more out of her.”

He sat back in his seat, his arms folded across his chest as he exhaled harshly from his nose.

“Listen to me, Cruz. The Marine Corps is knee deep in sexual harassment training, and we have a goddamned zero tolerance policy. I won’t have this shit going on in my company. I am going to scrape the bottom on this swamp and find out exactly what the hell is going on here. So for today, Private Allen remains in your class. You are to keep him and Pfc. Bennett apart. Do you understand that?”

“Yes, First Sergeant.”

“Good to go.”

I turned for the door, affixing my cover to my head before striding out of his office, down the hall, and around the corner to mine. When I got inside, I quickly took out my phone and texted Cassie, forewarning her that she would more than likely be called in to speak again.


Me: Just a quick FYI, First Sergeant O’Hara will probably be calling you in again. Tell him exactly what you told me and nothing more.


Me: Oh, and good morning, Blondie.


I didn’t get a reply right away. I sat my phone down on the desk and placed my head in my hands, wishing that none of this shit had happened and that it would hopefully blow over quickly. The door squealed. I looked up, and my eyes met with Jensen’s—cold and empty. He walked further in, sitting down at his desk and not bothering to say a word to me. The longer I allowed the silence to fester, the more agitated I grew, so I finally stood, walking over to where he sat and said what was on my mind.

“I need to know why you like Allen so much.”

He looked up at me. “Why don’t you like him? He’s just like you and me, Alex. He’s young and motivated. He wants to do well, and he loves the Corps. That was us when we were in his shoes.”

“I was never like Allen,” I snarled, taking offense to the comparison.

“Sure you were. You just can’t see it now because you have your dick stuck up inside of his competition.”

He was taunting me, and if everything that had happened recently wasn’t stirring such a shit storm, I probably would have decked him.

“I just know you better not be trying any underhanded shit where Pfc. Bennett is concerned. You don’t like what I’m doing, that’s your fucking problem. But she is off limits.”

“I wouldn’t stoop that low, Alex. I’m not you.” He grabbed something from his desk drawer then stood and stalked over to the door, turning around to look at me with his hand on the door knob. “Be honest with yourself. If you weren’t fucking Allen’s target, none of this would be that big of a deal.”

“Fuck you,” I growled, feeling self-control slowly slip away from me. My phone buzzed on the desk, and I reached over to retrieve it.

“Your girl?” he asked, smirking as stood there staring at me. “You go ahead and take care of that while I get shit ready for our students who need their instructors to prepare them for their final exams.”