C. Brown: Fraternizing

“It’s too bad Pfc. Bennett was attacked because you almost got away with this shit. You hide in the shadows, pretending to be something you are not. Well let me tell you something, Sergeant. You won’t be hearing that title before your name when I get through with you. You won’t be seeing that promotion you’re in line for either. You are a disgrace to me, this unit, and the rest of the fucking Marine Corps. You’re as sloppy as a fucking civilian, and in my eyes, beneath one. Now get the fuck out of my office before I go ape shit on your ass and become unprofessional.”

He let me go, forcefully pushing me away as he did so. He was fire breathing mad, an anger that I had never seen on his face before. My insides were a blended mess. He had me, almost, if not completely. His job was to find concrete evidence to make his claims stick, and I sat there, giving nothing away even though the overwhelming desire to want to spew it all over his desk, like vomit from deep down inside of me was banging on the door—begging to be let out.

While, on the outside, I was calm and collected, my insides were on full panic mode. My throat felt like a spike strip had been yanked up and down, drawing blood and leaving me with the inability to swallow, even though saliva was beginning to build up like a flood.

“I am glad to still find honesty and integrity amongst those around you—that you haven’t tainted them with your affair.” He took a long, deep breath, rubbing his hand down his face. His eyes went into that dark, sinister form that I was becoming well acquainted with before speaking again.

“This shit makes me look bad, and when I look bad, I’m going to make you look worse, you understand that?”

“Yes, First Sergeant,” I replied, looking straight ahead, not giving him any sort of satisfaction.

He studied me for a minute, then looked back down to his notepad.

“Get the fuck out of my office, Marine,” he growled, sitting back down in his chair.

“Yes, First Sergeant,” I replied, showing no signs of weakness where he was concerned. I still hadn’t heard anything about Cassie, so as far as I was concerned, I was leaving pretty much the same way that I went in, only I needed to gather myself and put my insides back together. He had fucking fried them, and now he had me worried about who in our circles went further than necessary and spilled everything. No longer was I worried—I was angry.

Completely fucking angry.

I walked out of his office, sweating a bit but thankful that I was waiting on news that would destroy Cassie, but never came. I rushed off to my truck, headed back to the base hospital, ready to spend the remaining days with Cassie until the hammer would come down hard and heavy over my head. It would be a miracle if he didn’t come after me with a rope to string me from a fucking tree by my balls.

One thing in particular stood out from First Sergeant’s ass chewing, and that was the fact the he mentioned a couple of times that the people closest to us were willing to talk. It had put me on high alert. Not because I was afraid of whatever they had to say—it seemed Cassie and I were out in the open—but because I had to question their loyalty. And loyalty meant too fucking much to me to let this shit slip through the cracks.

I walked up to Cassie’s room, finding Dalton sitting in the chair next to her bed, looking through a magazine with her. They both looked up and met my glaring eyes. Had this motherfucker run his mouth a bit too much? Was he really the loyal friend that she had entrusted him to be? I couldn’t be sure.

They both looked at me, eyes wide open, faces full of worry.

“Are you okay?” Cassie asked, closing the magazine and setting it down on her lap. “How did it go?”

“I’d prefer to speak to you in private,” I lowly muttered, putting a heightened level of bitterness in my words to let Dalton know that he wasn’t welcomed.

He stood, kissing the top of Cassie’s head, then left the room, trying to avoid me altogether. We watched him leave the room, then she turned to me, those sparkling green eyes full of worry, maybe even confusion.

“What happened?”

“Everything that I thought would happen. I’m a fucking predator, and I need to be taken down.” Tears sprang to life in her eyes and rolled down her face. “There is nothing to worry about, Cassie. I sealed my fate from the day I pursued you, so this is no fucking shock for me.”

She sniffled a couple of times, trying to blink away newly formed tears.

“What is a fucking shock to me is that someone, or a few someone’s around us, opened their fucking mouths and gave away quite a bit.”

“You think it was Dalton?”

“I don’t know who the fuck it was. It could have been him—“

“Or it could have been Castillo or Jensen,” she quickly threw in, trying to take the heat off of her friend. I wasn’t convinced. I wasn’t sure of anyone and their motives anymore.

“Look, we don’t know anything, Alex. I highly doubt Dalton would have given more away.”

I rubbed my hands over my head, feeling the growing frustration beginning to overcome me, and I was not about to lose my shit in this hospital room where she was supposed to be resting.

I took her hand in mine, hoping the warmth of her skin would make me remember that, right now she was my only focus.

“And hey, at least I don’t have to go to North Carolina,” she said, smiling her bright and vibrant smile.

“I know. I’m fucking over the moon about that. I guess something good came out of all of this bullshit.”

“Yeah, something.”

“I know something else that would be even better.”

“What’s that,” she asked, looking absolutely confused.

“If you’d marry me.”

Her mouth dropped and her breath hitched. I smiled at her, feeling like I had just hit the lottery. There was no reason to be separated. She was who I wanted, what I needed, and quickly into our relationship or not, I wanted her.

“Yesterday did a few things to me. It showed me that I could have lost you, and since I didn’t, I don’t want to go another day without having you as mine in every way that I can imagine.”

“But Alex, we’ve only been together a short time.” She stopped, running her hand over her face and sighing loudly. “We’ll just be another military couple, getting married on a whim—“

“We will never be just another fucking military couple. You mean more to me than any woman that I have ever been with. You’ve opened my eyes and brought the human side back into my robotic soul. You’ve showed me what it’s like to love and love with all you’ve got, and I know, for a short time or a lifetime, that you are exactly who I want carrying around my last name.”

Another tear dropped from her eye as her lips formed into a coy smile.

“You need to know that through this entire ordeal I tried to fight you off, but I couldn’t do it. And if it were just about the fucking, I would have let you go a long time ago. I couldn’t get you out of my system, no matter how extreme I tried to go. You’re everything I have ever wanted, Cassie Bennett, my Blondie, mi mariposa. The road is going to be rough from here on out, but I want you riding the bumps with me.”

Her hand went to her chest as she let the tears fall. I leaned in and kissed them away, hoping she would grant me permission to make her utterly and completely mine.

“I love you so much, Alex. I just—“

“You don’t have to answer me right now. I just want you thinking about it.”

A knock came on the door and the nurse walked in, carrying a tray full of meds.

“Here you go, Pfc. Bennett. There is a sleeping pill in here, so you will be out in no time.”