Текст книги "Fraternizing"

Автор книги: C. Brown

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Текущая страница: 6 (всего у книги 26 страниц)

Chapter 8

Cassie

Sgt. Cruz must have thought I was a fucking idiot.

As much as Angelica infuriated me, she hadn’t been lying when she said she'd seen them together having dinner. Why would I have thought any differently? The way he’d come on to me at Coyotes could only mean he was aggressive in his confidence, and while he was intoxicatingly good looking, that confidence led me to believe that he had bedded plenty of women, so why would I be any different? He wanted in my pants from the moment he saw me. That wasn't the characteristic of a guy who wants to have a relationship.

The best part of all of this was that we hadn't gone too far, so my disgust with him would make it easier to avoid any more compromising situations. My focus should have been on passing this course and getting out and into a unit, not worrying about my instructor trying to fuck me, then turning around and fucking his co-worker. I don't know where I’d let my mind go, but it was time to reign it back in. Thinking about Cruz nonstop was taking its toll on me. My studies were being neglected, and it had showed in today's test. I couldn't think straight. My mind was all over the place, except for where it needed to be.

At one point, I’d even sat at my desk with his eyes burning into me from behind. Instead of focusing on radio signals and frequencies, my mind drifted to the kinetic energy that I wanted to create with him. His lips, besides other things that I've had the pleasure of feeling, were probably his best asset. Those lips had devoured me and sent chills up and down my spine with just the mere brush of them. Plump, moist, and soft, the next place I wanted them was in between my legs, sucking the life out of me. His tongue, the thick, moistness of it, held the same aggressive nature that he as a person, held. The way he used it, overpowering and inhibiting me, forced thoughts of it inside of me, licking and teasing my clit until I exploded all over him. These thoughts were consuming me, and in every way that counted, they were also destroying me.

He’d told me to stay in tonight, but after internally debating with myself and trying to channel my frustrations with him, there was no way that was going to happen. I would not allow myself to become my mother, waiting on the sidelines for a man while he was out exploring every piece of ass that walked his way. No fucking way. This had my mother written all over it. I didn't want to be anything like her, and my first step to distancing myself from her was joining the Marine Corps, even when she repeatedly belittled me, telling me how much of a failure I would be.

Those words were banging loud and clear. For the first time in a long time, something she had said to me was actually welcomed. Not in the sense that she was right, but her words were my reality check. Failure was not an option for me, but while I didn't have nearly as much to lose as Cruz, I did stand to lose something that I valued–my burgeoning career. As much I told myself that my career came first, I couldn't deny the pull that Cruz had on me and my body. When he spoke so brashly, my body responded, pleading with me to cure the ache and just let him ravish it. I had to work double time to stop the thoughts, to stop the feelings, and as difficult as it was proving to be, I was determined to get it done.

"Hey dreamer. You about ready?" Dalton asked, standing in the doorway of my room. He looked so much different out of uniform with his skinny jeans, black t-shirt, plain black slide-on Vans, and nerdy glasses. I couldn't help but smile at him.

"Yeah, I'm ready. Just let me lock up my locker."

"Shit. I heard about that. Sorry. Newsome can be kind of fucking crazy."

I laughed while locking up the locker and double checking to be sure that I wouldn't have another repeat of Field Day night.

"You're telling me. I thought he was going to put me through these brick walls in here."

"Well, his buddy isn't much better. Sergeant Smith chucked an apple at some Private's head today in class, then was on him like a bad rash after that, screaming in his face because he had dozed off. I thought he was going to pop a blood vessel."

My mind drifted to Cruz who had fallen asleep in class today. I couldn't be sure that anyone else had noticed, but I had, only because I kept stealing glances at him.

"So anyway, what about Sgt. Cruz?"

"What about him?" I asked, my voice stiff and defensive.

"He looked like he was going to smash my face in earlier today. What's his deal?"

I sighed. The last thing I wanted was for anyone to definitively find out that something had been going on between us.

"He's just intense. He's always telling us how our first priority is passing this course so that we can get to the fleet. That's all."

Dalton didn't look like he was buying a word of my lie. His eyebrows shot up, and a faint smile traced his lips, but I didn't feed it. As far as I was concerned, I was going to have nothing more to do with Sgt. Cruz than to listen to him teach me about radio communications so that I could get to a unit and do my job.

"Anyway. Transformers. What is this about?"

Dalton stopped walking and held his chest, breathing hard and pretending to be in shock.

"You're fucking kidding, right?"

"No. I don't know anything about it."

He took my hand and placed it on his chest. His heart wasn't beating any faster than normal, but he was playing up the part, trying to hit home the fact that I was desperately out of the loop.

"They were only my favorite action figures as a kid. I had every single Transformers toy ever made."

"Okay. So what is this movie about?"

"Robots, good and bad, caught in a battle for Earth." I looked half amused. "Trust me, it's kick ass. I've seen it twice already."

"Then why would you want to see it again?" I asked, laughing.

"Because of the pure awesomeness of it. You're going to love it too, rock girl."

"Rock girl?" I asked, confused by the nickname.

"Yeah, rock girl. You must have lived under a rock to not know what Transformers are."

I blushed, then awkwardly laughed. I had been living under a figurative rock with my mom, and not one that I'd wanted to come out from under either.

"Thanks to your depravity as a child, I'm treating you tonight. Movie, popcorn, aaannnddd a drink. Don't thank me, it's the least I can do."

I hit his shoulder and laughed again. "Don't splurge on me or anything, Dalton."

He folded and stiffened his arm, holding it out for me with a goofy grin on his face. I took it, then walked down the walkway, passing the duty room in the process. Looking in, Cruz was sitting at his desk speaking to another Marine. For that brief second that I was able to look into the room, our eyes locked, and I felt time stand still. His hazel eyes burned into me. His lips puckered ever so slightly, and he swallowed… hard, that clit stimulating Adam's apple protruding with the movement of his throat.

I turned away and continued down the walkway with Dalton. If I looked at him any longer, my weakness would prevail, and I would find some reason to stay in my room in hopes that he would make his way up and fuck me until I couldn't see straight. That wasn't going to happen, so rather than set myself up for disappointment, I tried as best I could to block any more thoughts of him from my mind. I needed to be able to see him and not think or feel any salacious thoughts and feelings. I needed to go back to being able to see him the way I had when I first saw him at Coyotes.

Who the fuck was I kidding? From the second I laid eyes on him at that bar, my thoughts wandered aimlessly to what I wanted him to do to me. I was hooked from the onset, so trying to find my way out of that hole was going to be a monumental task.

I was doing a piss poor job of listening to Dalton as we walked over to the movie theater. He had been talking a mile a minute, and unfortunately, I hadn't heard a lick of it.

"…yeah, and an axe murderer is going to come and chop us all up tonight, right?"

"Yeah," I quickly answered, trying to break free from the thoughts that were cruelly shackling my mind while simultaneously breaking me down."

"I knew you weren't listening to a word I said."

"Huh?"

"I just told you an axe murderer was going to come and chop us all up, and you agreed."

"Oh, shit. I'm sorry."

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just have a lot on my mind."

"I can tell." He paused as we were approaching the movie theater. "You sure you want to stay for this? Your mind seems to be elsewhere and, well, jackass of the year is here too." He nodded his head in the direction of the ticket window where Allen was standing with a couple of his buddies. All of them looked like meatheads with the behavior to match. They were yelling out, "I am Optimus Prime!" and other things that I was sure were in reference to the movie.

"I'm fine. He's loud and obnoxious, but I'm not letting him ruin my night."

"Alright. Sweet." He flashed a school boy grin, my facial muscles forming into a tight smile, trying hard to reciprocate the gesture.

We strolled up to the ticket window, standing in line when we caught Allen's attention. He made his way over to where we stood and I rolled my eyes, not in the mood to deal with him or any of his antics.

"You two on a date?" He looked us over, and I could see why he thought that. I was still holding on to Dalton's arm.

"Nope. Just enjoying a night away from the barracks with a friend," Dalton calmly answered.

"Well, good, because I think you should totally go out with me, Bennett. I'll show you what a real man is like, and I'll turn you into the lady that you need to be." He smiled, but there was no sincerity behind the smile. Only malice.

"That's okay. If I want to go out with a real man, I'll just have to keep looking. I don't think you're it." I smiled back, wiping the smug look of asshole right off of his face. He lowered his eyes then cracked his neck before Dalton pulled me up to the ticket counter with him.

Allen reminded me of the chauvinistic pricks who my mom often dated, and I couldn't find one single appealing thing about the guy.

"He's got some serious issues," I told Dalton as we walked into the lobby of the theater, making our way to the concession stand line.

"Yeah. He's just a prick. He's harmless, though. I'm telling you, he just has an issue with women in the Corps, but he doesn't hate women."

"Well, he might as well. I'm in the Corps. I'm not going anywhere."

"True. Just avoid him."

"I try. He hates me. There are other females around here, why me?"

"I assume because you don't back down, and you're top notch. He probably sees you as a challenge or something." He stopped and placed our food order. "Look, I don't want to get into his head. It's too fucked up, from what I can see. Just don't talk to him."

We grabbed our food and walked into the theater, making sure to avoid Allen and his caveman crew.

The movie was mildly entertaining for me, but Dalton, even though this was his third time watching it, was engrossed in it, reciting lines and cheering on the Autobots. I had picked up a few things here and there, but I wasn't pulled in the way he was.

Nearing the end of the movie my phone began buzzing in my back pocket. I took it out to find a text message from an unknown number.

Unknown: Hope you enjoyed that movie. I'll be coming by to see you tonight.

"What the fuck?" I whispered, apparently not low enough as I caught Dalton's attention. He looked over to me and I quickly stuffed my phone between my legs, looking up to him and smiling.

"You alright?"

"Yeah. Just a surprise text, that's all."

Dalton turned back to his movie, but I couldn't focus. What little focus I had before the text was gone now. I knew who it was from, but I couldn't find the right words to respond to him.

"I'll be right back," I whispered to Dalton, grabbing my phone and hurrying out of the theater. I walked into the bathroom and stopped just inside, leaning back against the wall before pulling my phone out and sending a text back to him.

Me: How did you get my number?

Almost immediately, a response buzzed in.

Unknown: Don't worry about that. I have it, and I want to see you. Don't go anywhere else with that pencil dick either. I'll be coming by.

His earlier interaction with Castillo popped back into my head and frustrated me all over again.

Me: Don't you have a dinner date?

Unknown: NO!

I didn't know what to make of that response.

I tucked my phone back into my pocket, then grabbed a few paper towels, wetting them and dabbing the small bits of moisture from my face. Staring at myself in the mirror, I searched hard for my will power. I needed it desperately. I didn't need Cruz crashing back into my life when I was finally able to recognize that I had lost my focus and needed to get it back. I was ready to do what it was I came to Comm School to do– to learn and move on.

I walked back into the theater without another thought on him or his text messages.

Instead of going straight home, Dalton and I walked over to the food court and had an ice cream cone, then stopped at the mini mart not far from the barracks to grab soda, chips, and candy before making our way back to our rooms. Walking to the stairs that led to the upper floor rooms, we passed by the duty room again.

"That was made from scratch, with love. My tia taught me how to make those carne enchiladas. There's more where that came from."

"Thanks, Leti," I heard Cruz answer. "I haven't had a home cooked meal in a long ass time." I inched a bit closer and saw that Leti was, in fact, Sgt. Castillo. She was dressed casually, her hair down and make-up on her face. She was already an attractive chick, but seeing her out of uniform, looking more done up that usual, struck me with a pang of jealousy, making me falter on my goal of forgetting all about him.

"There's more where that came from." The smile on her face was anything but innocent and Sgt. Cruz smiled back, making my stomach turn.

She was leaning over to him as she sat in the seat next to him, both of them laughing while their bodies rubbed up against one another. My hands were beginning to ache, so I cracked my knuckles, and Dalton made his way over to me, concern etched on his face.

"You need to talk to Sgt. Cruz?" Dalton asked, breaking me from my bitter thoughts.

"No," I quickly answered. "I just smelled that delicious food, and it lured me in." I spoke up at that part, stepping further into their view, making sure that my voice could be heard.

Castillo, or, Leti, as Sgt. Cruz so casually called her, looked up and saw me. Her menacing eyes seared into me, but I stood my ground. My inner fighter wasn't about to take her shit lightly, even though she was my superior. Cruz looked up and saw me standing there, looking like I was ready to pounce.

"Can I help you, Bennett?" Cruz asked, his voice harsh but his eyes inviting.

"No. I just smelled that food, and it pulled me in. Smells good, Sergeant. We don't have anything like that around here." My gaze was stuck on him, but I managed to sneak a peek over to Castillo who looked like she would charge at any second.

Dalton moved further into the door frame beside me, much to Cruz's dismay. I couldn't find a reason to stand there any longer, enticing and infuriating my body at the same time, so I turned to Dalton, nodding my head and signaling for us to make our way out.

"Have a good night, Sergeant. Enjoy that meal." There was an undercurrent of sarcasm in my voice that was well intended. As I looked back to Sgts. Castillo and Cruz, they both seemed to have caught on to it. Cruz looked as though I had just given him the green light to come and fuck me while Castillo looked ready to rip my eyeballs out.

I walked up the stairs with Dalton, internally smiling as we walked.

"What the hell was that?"

"What?"

"That bitch fest."

I laughed at the accuracy of his terminology.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Keep saying that. You know exactly what I'm talking about. If Castillo could have, she would've bitch slapped you, and I think you would have done the same."

"Well, I don't know. You know how male Marines treat you guys like shit? Well, she's kind of doing the same with me."

Dalton rolled his eyes but didn't comment any further. When we reached my room, he stopped just before the door, standing aside so I could take out my key and unlock it. He waved his hand for me to lead the way, following in behind me.

I walked into the room and threw my bag of junk food down onto my bed, signaling for Dalton to take a seat. It was late, and Angelica still wasn't home which made me happy. I tried to spend the least amount of time with her as possible.

We sat down, laughing about my lack of knowledge on almost everything that was popular in our childhood. Although Dalton was only nineteen years old, making him two years younger than me, he was the one person who I found it very easy to relate to.

From what he told me, he came from a very well to do family in Kenosha, Wisconsin and had a brother who was currently serving in the U.S. Army. His dad was retired Air Force, so it was a no brainer that he would serve his country in some branch of the armed forces. He chose the Marines because it was a branch that no one else in his family had served in and he wanted the challenge.

We spent the next half hour just getting to know one another a little better, spilling a few personal tidbits here and there. At one point, Dalton got emotional, wiping tears that fell from his strikingly pure azure eyes at the mention of some things in his past. I swallowed hard, unsure how we had gotten to this point and wanting to quickly remove myself from it. I had learned a long time ago to build a fortress around my emotions, not showing any signs of weakness because they could be preyed on. Apparently, Dalton didn't have that same mindset, and it somewhat shocked me that a guy of his stature would cry, but I didn't judge. Instead, I reached over and hugged him.

As we pulled away, Dalton's face flushed red, a sure fire sign of embarrassment, and he wiped his last stray tear, smiling at me and warming my heart.

"It's twenty-two hundred, Marines. Time to get back to your own rooms," a young Private on fire watch called out as he stood out in the hallway looking into my room. I looked up, the face unrecognizable to me.

"I'll come by tomorrow. Run first thing in the morning," Dalton said, standing up and then hugging me.

The Private stood in his spot until Dalton was out of the room and walking down the hallway. I shut my door, then turned to make my way to my dresser, grabbing a t-shirt and shorts to change into for bed. I still wasn't sure where Angelica was, and honestly, I didn't really care. It was nice to not have to deal with her bullshit for a night.

Just as I was washing my face, my cell phone went off on my desk, prompting me to hurry over to it. When I looked down at it, I was a bit shocked by what was on the screen.

Unknown: 2200 is the rule for weekends, but much too late for YOU to have unworthy dicks in your room.  Good night!

My mind was racing to try and come up with a witty comeback but failed to do so. I couldn't think of anything that would show him that he wasn't affecting me, so I typed the first thing that came to mind.

Me: It's too late for any dicks, so I guess I will also bid YOU good night.

A quick response chimed on my phone.

Unknown: Don't make me show you how BIG of a DICK I can be. It's never too late for me. You'd be wise to pay attention to that.

A tight squeeze of my thighs was needed as a charge of sensation burst in between my legs, sending an ache accompanied by the thrill of an intense need pummeling down and into me. A light smiled caressed my lips as I found myself being sucked in by his dirty banter, which I wanted, and didn't want, all at the same time. I didn't need to go any further, even though I wanted to. Instead, I denied what my mind and body craved, and sent a text to quiet him down.

Sent: Good night, Sgt. Cruz.

After sending the text, I shut my phone off. I knew how weak I could be when he was around, and since I had earlier reconciled with myself that I would no longer be playing into his hands or giving in to his advances, I cut it off, then fell asleep watching pointless TV.