"Hey, man," he said, his voice low and timid.

I looked at him, trying hard to focus but failing miserably.

"We're about ready to go. I don’t know though, maybe you should stay home."

"No. I need to go. I’ll be ready in like ten."

He sighed. "Look. I know what this--"

"Riley, I'll be ready," I sternly countered. I didn’t need him filling me in on the obvious.

In ten minutes, just as I had said, I was ready and walking out the door. The little bit of sleep that I’d caught helped and all I could think about was getting the leftover thoughts of Cassie out of my head. For the first time since these plans had been made, I finally found some enjoyment in the night.

Riley drove all of us in my truck since it was biggest and comfortably sat all of us. He volunteered to be the DD, leaving me with no limitations on just how piss poor drunk I could get drowning out the residual thoughts of my very own kryptonite.

The Tavern was packed. Next to Coyotes, it was our second favorite hang-out spot. It was a little larger than Coyotes but was lacking the vibrant feel. It didn’t really matter to me because I planned to be carried out by the time we left. Eliminating Cassie from my thoughts was my goal, and if it took five drinks or fifteen, I was going to make that happen.

Smith ordered the first round, holding up his shot glass and belting out, "To Alex, NCO of the motherfucking quarter."

"Oorah," Jensen and Newsome hollered, before throwing back their shots and slamming the glasses down on the table.

I threw mine back and quickly called for another, throwing that back before Castillo and Collins walked up with two more.

"Well, hell. We're late to the party," Castillo said, grinning at me and handing over another.

"Well deserved, Alex," Collins said, smiling as well.

There wasn't enough alcohol in my system to take their compliments, so I took the other shot in Castillo's hands and downed that one too. Her hooded eyes bore into me, prompting Riley to tap me on the shoulder.

"Dude, I know what you're doing. Slow down."

"Fuck off, Riley," I growled, throwing his hand off of me. "I'm here to celebrate, right? This is how we do it."

He didn't look offended. Instead, apprehension filled his face. I didn’t care. Riley had no fucking clue what I was grappling with, and I wasn't about to fill him in on anything.

Another round came out, and this time Jensen lifted his glass while yelling out, "Every motherfucking Marine in here needs to come say hello and congratulate my friend, Alex. It's a pleasure serving next to you, brother. Probably one of the best fucking Marines I've ever met."

Loud "oorahs" filled the room, making me smile. The tequila was finally settling and doing exactly what I needed it to do. I threw the shot back, blowing out a deep breath after allowing it to ooze down my throat.

"You deserve some pussy, man. This one is perfect."

Some random brunette— leggy, and tan—stepped out from behind Jensen. She smiled, but it did nothing for me. I couldn’t find anything special about her. But then again, I just needed to forget about Cassie, so she would probably do the trick.

"I'm Taylen," she said, her eyes raking me over, begging to be fucked.

She sat down on my lap, a fruity drink in her hand as she leaned down and whispered in my ear, "You wanna fuck me, Alex?"

I stared back at her, trying to figure out if I wanted to or not. A part of me wanted to say "Hell yes," run her off somewhere, and bang Cassie out of my system. Another part of me knew I'd regret it, so I smiled and lifted my hand to play with her hair.

"I might, Taylen," I answered, not giving a definitive answer.

She laughed and put her drink to my mouth, pouring it down my throat. I licked my lips afterwards, taking in the residual fruity flavor, when Taylen leaned down and kissed the fuck out of me. For such a small girl, she had power behind her lips and tongue, and I liked it.

Or did I?

Whatever I was feeling, her tongue was winning out, and I forgot all about the conflicting thoughts swirling around in my head and just went with it. Shockingly, my cock didn’t jump, didn’t twitch… nothing. Her kiss did nothing to incite it, but I ignored that and dug my tongue deeper into her mouth.

"Come up for some fuckin' air, bro. And a drink," Newsome said, tapping me on the shoulder and handing over what smelled like a Captain and Coke.

"Thanks, man."

"I'm Taylen," she said, holding out her hand for Newsome. He took it, kissing the top of it before saying, "I kind of like this fucker, so let him breathe every now and then."

She laughed-- a laugh very similar to what had hooked me with Cassie.

"I need another drink, man."

It was almost as if he had read my mind before even delivering the first drink. Another Captain and Coke was placed in my hands. I drank that one just as quickly as the first, Taylen's hands all over my chest, snaking under my shirt, her tongue gliding over her teeth.

We sat for a while longer, Castillo's eyes catching mine from the opposite side of the bar every now and then. She was off talking to some guy, but paying little to no attention to anything he had to say. A few times I caught the pucker of her lips, like she wanted to yank Taylen off of me and take her place. I had no intention of going down that route.

"You ready to fuck me yet, Alex?" Taylen's voice was whiny, and with the excess amounts of alcohol in my system, it was grating my nerves.

"I'm always ready to fuck," I told her. "I'll fuck just about any girl in here tonight."

The gleam in her eyes quickly faded.

"I'm not just any girl."

"You are to me," I quickly countered.

She jumped off of my lap and slammed her hand down on the table.

"You're a fucking asshole. Fuck Marines."

"Naw. I'll pass," I told her, smiling as her face contorted through her anger.

I laughed, not giving a damn about her temper tantrum. She stormed off, finding her friends and pointing over to me before walking out of the bar.

I stood, wobbling for a second before finally catching my balance. I walked to the bathrooms, needing to piss and feeling like I could do it anywhere, but had enough common sense left in me to not do so.

When I walked out, Castillo was sitting at my table, involved in a heavy conversation with Collins. They quieted as I walked up. I took my seat and leaned in, hoping to engage them on whatever they were discussing.

"Ladies, what’s going on?"

"We should be asking you that," Castillo said, winking at me. "Where'd your little girl toy go?"

"Yeah. I thought you were well on your way to getting a piece of that groupie, Alex," Collins said, chuckling a little.

"Groupie?"

"Um, yeah. Didn't you see the tan line on her ring finger?" Castillo asked then took a sip of her drink.

I threw my head back, exhaling out the frustration of what I had almost done.

"I'll be right back." I stood and walked over to ask Newsome for a cigarette, even though I wasn't a smoker.

"You don't smoke, man."

Before he could say anything else, I glared harshly at him, looking like I could viciously attack at any second. He reached in his pocket and pulled out his pack of smokes, patting it in his hand.

I took it and the lighter that he was holding, then walked outside and lit it up. The feel of the burn as it hit my chest pained me, but I was wound so tightly I needed to finish it. I hoped that it would calm even the slightest part of me down.

About halfway through the cigarette, Castillo came walking outside, a cigarette in her hand.

"Mind my company?" she asked.

I shook my head, taking a long drag of the cigarette before blowing out a mouthful of smoke.

"Sorry to freak you out. I just know how much you hate groupies."

"Thanks."

We stood smoking in silence, the cars whizzing by on the pitch black Hwy 62 the only sound to be heard. When I finished, I felt sick. The mixture of too much alcohol and a cigarette had put me in a bad place. I felt like at any minute I could throw up, and if I didn’t get a quiet place to sit down, I was sure it would happen.

"I'm going back in to get the keys from Riley. I need to chill out for a minute."

"You don't need to go back in. I have my keys. You can chill out in my Jeep."

She pulled the keys out of her pocket, dangling them before me as she smiled wickedly at me.

The chance to lie down never sounded so good, so I followed her out to her Jeep and slowly sat down in the passenger seat before lying back and shutting my eyes. Castillo moved around to the driver's side, hopping in and letting the windows down.

I began to drift when her voice woke me.

"What's the deal, Alex?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, my eyes still closed as the warm desert night air hit me.

"You know what I mean. You and Bennett. Some people might be blind or oblivious, but I see it."

That woke me up. My eyes shot open, and panic flared in my chest, but I couldn’t let her see any of it. I kept my head turned away from her, not willing to let her read my expression.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Leti."

She laughed.

"Bullshit, Alex. I'm not fucking stupid." She paused, waiting for a response that I wouldn’t give.

She leaned over, her moist lips on the tip of my ear.

"I know there's something, but I also know I can do so much more." Her tongue reached out, lightly skimming me ear.

The move did something to me. What it was, I couldn’t place. I turned my head, lazily looking at her through beer-goggled eyes.

"Bennett seems like a nice girl. For someone else. You need these Latin hips and lips."

Cassie's face came thrashing back in my head. The pain it brought with it was worse than the headache that had somehow filtered in. The joy of looking at her was overshadowed by the sting of her beautiful eyes staring into me. I needed to get rid of her quickly.

Castillo turned in the seat and leaned toward me. She made quick work of my belt and pants, snaking her hands inside my boxer briefs. I inhaled, relishing the feel of a feminine hand on my dick. She stroked me, finally getting me hard and erect since her presence and touch alone wasn't enough to make it happen. If this was how I was going to get rid of Cassie, then so be it. Any chick would do the trick, and apparently I wasn't too picky about who it was.

She lay down, placing her mouth on my cock, her moist walls clamping down like a tight suction cup. My eyes shut as I bit down on my bottom lip. I placed my hands in her hair, grabbing hold of it while she started slow and meticulous sucks, moving her head up and down. I lifted my hips, hoping to get more of her around me, even if almost all of me was halfway down her throat.

She quickly switched to sloppy sucks, the sounds of her tongue lapping up my shaft barreling into my ears, annoying the fuck out of me.

"Suck," I commanded, needing her to take all of my frustrations away.

She obeyed, returning to the sucks that had left me speechless. I shoved my cock farther into her mouth, but the sound of her gag stopped me from going as far as I wanted to go. In that moment, Cassie came back to mind, and her impressive ability to deep throat without so much as the slightest gag.

My conscience finally whacked me upside the head. I realized that as much as I wanted to rid myself of Cassie, it wasn't going to happen tonight, and it damn sure wasn't going to happen like this.

I yanked on her hair, pulling her mouth off of me.

"What?" she asked breathlessly.

"I'm done."

"No, we aren't."

"Yes, I am," I growled, further pushing her head away.

I put my shit back into my pants, opened the door and stepped out. I looked back at her and mumbled, "I'm sorry. I can't do this."

She looked back at me, confusion and anger piercing through her eyes and filling her face.

As I was standing and zipping up my pants, I caught Riley in the distance looking out to me. I didn't say another word to Castillo as I walked away, back in the direction of the bar.

"What the fuck, man?" Riley asked. He looked like he was ready to beat my ass, and in my inebriated state, I was sure he could do it.

"Don’t fucking start with me, Riley."

He stepped in front of me and pushed me up against the wall. Anger hit me as I fought him off, but with my intoxication he was much too strong for me.