Lance Corporal Nelson greeted me, having me sign in before rushing to the back to let Captain Hedlund know that I had arrived. She came back just as I was taking a seat, letting me know that I could go back.

“Good morning, Sergeant Cruz. How are you?”

“I’m doing okay, I guess.”

I took a seat in front of his desk. There were papers scattered about, and he looked as if he’d been deep into his work.

“O’Hara went to Major Godinez and claimed he had more than enough to get the ball rolling on the court-martial. I got word this morning that the pre-trial hearing is set for Monday morning.”

Fuck! This dick was pushing and pushing hard, leaving me little to no time to maneuver things and get ahead of him the way that I had wanted to.

“I am going to go and see Pfc. Bennett this morning since I’ll be representing you both.”

I sat back in my chair, stewing over what he had just told me, when an idea popped into my head. “Captain, what if I marry Pfc. Bennett? What if I marry her now?”

“You want to get married now?”

“We’re already engaged. We just don’t have a date. I’m going to marry this girl, and I know that if I do it sooner rather than later, it might be better for both of us in the long run.”

He sat back in his chair, watching me intently before speaking.

“I need to warn you, Sergeant. Just because you and Pfc. Bennett get married does not remove the fraternization charge, nor will it make O’Hara or Godinez go any easier on you two.”

I could tell he was thinking I was rushing this, and that I was probably of the mindset that marriage to Cassie would make all of my problems float away. He couldn’t be more fucking wrong. I wasn’t naïve enough to think any of that, but by marrying her, I would set up some roadblocks for them while also cementing the love that I had for this girl. In my eyes, it was a win-win, no matter what.

“Captain Hedlund, I’m well aware of all of that, but I see nothing but positives by marrying Bennett, so I think I’m going to do it.”

“I can’t stop you, but I just wanted to make the reality clear.”

“It’s clear, sir.”

We wrapped up the meeting, and I took off for the Admin section of the school house, feeling a little better about the day, now that I was sure of my next move. That good feeling went flying off a fucking cliff when I spotted Sgt. Vernon looking quite chummy with Sgt. Castillo.

“Good morning, Alex. Nice to have you in our section now,” he greeted with fucking snake-like eyes and a devil’s smile. Leti had the deer in headlights look staining her face.

I looked between the two of them, smiling ever so slightly, trying hard not to let Vernon goad me into something. The door pushed open and Gunny Rawls walked out, looking incredulously at the three of us.

“Well, fuck. The government doesn’t pay your asses to stand around and look at one another. Get inside and be productive.”

I looked back at the other two, then over to Gunny Rawls before replying, “Yes, Gunny,” and strolling into the building. The other two weren’t far behind. As I was making my way to my temporary work station, my phone began to buzz.

Blondie: O’Hara is a fucking creep. He is making me his personal bitch.


That motherfucker was beginning to get under my skin in the worst way. At the moment, there was nothing I could do about it, so I tried hard to calm her down, when it was me that needed that treatment.


Me: Fuck him! And I need to talk to you about something. Can I get you for lunch?


Blondie: Can it wait ‘til this evening? I promised Dalton lunch. I miss him.


As much as I wanted to say it couldn’t wait, I didn’t, and figured I’d take the time to tackle other pressing shit.


Me: All right, see you this afternoon. Love you!


Blondie: Love you too!


I worked tirelessly, gathering more fucking paper cuts while sorting through the endless stacks of papers blanketing the desk. Where all of this shit came from, I had no clue. It seemed ridiculous that this stuff wasn’t done electronically, and I couldn’t find a reason to keep this old school way of doing things going.

When lunch time finally rolled around, I walked out of the building, hoping to take care of a few things while I had the time. The scorching desert heat seemed to sear me through my cammies, making me pick up the pace to get out to the cool confines of my air conditioned truck. Of course, just as I was stepping off of the curb, Castillo was making her way out to her Jeep and noticed me. She sauntered over to me, seemingly clueless that I wanted nothing to do with her ass.

“Hey, Alex, want to grab a bite to eat?”

I turned around to face her, the coldness of my gaze the complete opposite of the furnace engulfing us. “I’ve got shit to do.”

“Well, put it aside for a second. We need to talk.”

Sincerity framed her face, but I didn’t give a shit. She was toxic to me, and after everything she’d done to Cassie, I couldn’t look at her the same. I didn’t hold an ounce of respect for her. I hated even being around her.

“Sorry, Leti. I can’t,” I replied, then got into my truck and peeled out. In my rearview, I could see her standing there, fuming. Her hand was on her hip as she slouched a little to the side. This bitch wouldn’t take the hint if it slapped her upside her face a few times. I didn’t need any more negative attention flying my way, so I bit the bullet and moved on.

Lunch went by much too quickly, as did the rest of the work day. Castillo kept her distance. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the cold reception I had given her earlier, or if she was truly busy, but whatever it was, I was thankful for it.

I walked out to my truck, finding Cassie leaning against it. She looked tired, worn out, and melancholy.

“What’s the matter, babe?” I asked as I approached.

She looked up and gave a half-hearted smile. “Nothing, hey, I’m going to stay in my barracks room tonight.”

“Why? Are they doing room checks?”

“I don’t know, but O’Hara is a dick and I just don’t want any more nonsense. I’m still attached to his command, you know.”

I didn’t like the sound of this. I didn’t know what that prick had said to her throughout the course of the day, but whatever it was, it had her noticeably rattled. “Get in the truck. We’ll talk about this at the house.”

“Alex! Did you hear me?”

“Yes, I did, Cassie, but I don’t want to talk about it here. Let’s go back to the house, and I’ll bring you back later.”

She complied, hopping into the truck and removing her cover. Even with the sweat sticking to her forehead just below where the cover sat, she was still so fucking gorgeous to me.

We took off, passing through the gates of the base and out into the sparse, open desert landscape. The air conditioning blew cold and hard, encapsulating us in an arctic box which felt a million times better than the roasting heat barreling down outside.

“What happened today?” I asked her, growing uncomfortable with her silence.

“O’Hara had me doing stupid bitch work for him all day. He told me that I still had the opportunity to free myself from all of this if I wanted it but that my time was running out since the pre-trial hearing was set for Monday.”

“Fucking prick. I can’t believe he’s pushing this hard.”

“You knew?”

“I just found out this morning from Captain Hedlund. Speaking of which…did you see him today?”

“Yes.” She rubbed her forehead then sighed. “I didn’t get my lunch with Dalton because he came and saw me. I guess he’s representing the both of us.”

“He’s a good guy, Cassie. We’re in good hands.”

She shook her head then turned and looked out the window. Her unease with everything was beginning to put me on pins and needles. She had a hard time with all of this and I saw no immediate way to help calm her fears, thus putting fear into my own heart.

“Cassie…this sounds like the end of the world, but it isn’t.”

“That’s not true, Alex. I joined the Corps because I wanted to make something of myself. I wanted to show my crazy ass mother that I could do more than she ever thought I was capable of, and here I am floundering. Being taken down before I’ve even had a chance to spread my wings and fly.”

Her face was shrouded in anger. Was she pissed that she had met me? I didn’t want to know the fucking answer to that because if she had said yes, it would have absolutely killed me.

“And to top off this bullshit, my mom won’t stop calling me. Apparently, she’s still here in Twentynine.”

“What? Why?”

“Beats me. She’s left me like five voicemails asking me to come and see her, but I don’t want to see her. She’s going to do nothing but spit bullshit my way, and I’m done with that. I’m done taking it.”

“You’re not going to take it. If anyone is going to see her, it’s going to be me. After what I saw of her in that hospital room, I don’t ever want you alone with her again.”

She nodded her head, agreeing with me. Knowing that Emmalyn Bennett was still in the vicinity sent chills down my spine. The woman was toxicity to the highest degree, dipped in venom, waiting to attack. The reason behind her phone calls to Cassie was unknown, but she was unwelcomed. I didn’t want Cassie having to deal with her when she was already having a hard enough time with everything else going on. I sure as fuck didn’t want to entertain her, but if her getting her ass chewed was the best way to send her packing, I guess it would just have to be done.

++++

Stepping into the house, I could hear the sound of the TV, but I couldn’t see anyone sitting down watching it. I stepped in, holding Cassie behind me, when Riley sat up on the couch and looked our way.

“Hey, Alex. Can we talk, man?”

I blew out a deep breath, then walked into the living room. “Yeah, in a minute.”

“No, right now, Alex. I thought long and hard about what happened last night with Nat and that shit really bothered me.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

He stood, almost frozen in place as I uttered two words he’d probably never heard me string together before. Cassie came walking up next to me.

“What?” Cassie asked, shock laced throughout her words.

“I’m fucking sorry. Don’t act like I’m speaking a fucking foreign language. I was wrong for going off on Nat like that.” I walked off into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water, needing to cool down.

“Alex, who did you talk to on the phone last night? Something has been up ever since then,” Cassie questioned, narrowing her eyes as she turned to me.

Riley walked around the couch and stood next to her, almost as if they were in a show of solidarity. I didn’t want to spill it, but the determination written all over Cassie’s aggravated face told me I really had no other choice.

“It was my mom.”

“So why would speaking to your mom rile you up so badly?” she asked, moving closer to the kitchen. Riley followed behind her.

I looked between the two of them, then downed the rest of the water. “Because it seems that not only was I a complete jackass to Nat, but she wasn’t the only person giving info to O’Hara.”

“Your mom ratted you out?” Riley asked, stunned.

“She didn’t fucking rat me out. She didn’t know. She said a man called the house and spoke to her and my grandma and was asking about Cassie. They didn’t know what it was for, and from the sounds of his questions, they thought that something had happened with me, so they told him what they knew.”

Cassie shut her eyes as she breathed loudly through her nose, and Riley just shook his head.

“That jackass is using people close to me to hang me fucking dry. And after speaking to my mom last night, I realized that she knew about this shit just as much as Nat did. I was fucking wrong for going off on her like that. I fucked up.”

“What the fuck, man? Now what?”

I looked to Riley, who stood consoling Cassie. “Now, I move forward to beat this motherfucker at his own game.”

“What does that mean?” Cassie asked, looking and sounding completely worn out.

“Now, baby. We get married now.”

“What?” she asked, shock taking over. “What did you say?”

“We’re already engaged, Cassie. The best thing for us to do now is to get married. It cuts some of the weight from O’Hara’s argument that I’m some dick who gets off by fucking my students. It also ties us, hopefully making it harder for the Marine Corps to separate us, and it cements us. I want you here. I don’t want you sleeping in some fucking barracks room, always looking over your shoulder for the next psycho to come your way. I want us to be Mr. and Mrs. Cruz, making a life right here together.”