KEN
It’s good to be home.
Truth be told, I wasn’t sure she’d be here by the time I got back. Tom’s place is about as safe and suburban as you can get, and I know this girl has almost zero tolerance for either of those things.
He’s done an incredible job with her though. His particular brand of discipline can be hit and miss depending on who the recipient is. I had an inkling she might take to it, but she was also so damn mad when she left Afghanistan I didn’t know if she’d even give him a chance. I’m so grateful to Tom for keeping her here, keeping her alive, keeping her more or less on one piece. It’s not easy to do that where this one is concerned.
I’ve missed her every day. But I was glad she wasn’t over there. We were exchanging fire every damn day. In the end it took reinforcements and a sustained campaign to retake the area. I’ve seen a lot of death lately. I desperately needed to see life. Needed to be here, in this sanctuary Tom’s made. Needed to be with her.
I have a month of leave. It’s not going to be enough time, but we’re going to have to make it enough time. We’re going to have to somehow try to fit as much of each other into the next few weeks as possible. Judging by the fact she refuses to leave my side for even a second, I think she wants the same thing.
So far, she’s had three weeks with Tom. That’s three times what she had with me, and they’ve obviously been bonding. I can’t help but have a spark of jealousy, because I’m here for a month and then I’ll be gone again.
That’s not enough for her. It’s literally not sufficient company, love, or care. She needs Tom, and I think he needs her too. But he can’t give her what I can.
Right now she’s curled up so tightly with me, her arm wrapped around me like she’s afraid I’m going to disappear out from under her.
Beneath the sheets, my cum is leaking from between her thighs. She’s covered in a light sheen of sweat, mine and hers. I couldn’t resist having her almost as soon as I got back. She was just as desperate for me as I was for her. We fucked like rabbits, probably chased Tom out of his house with the noises we were making.
When she wakes up, I’ll make love to her again. And again. We don’t have much time together, but I’m going to make the most of it.
For now, I lie here next to her, just watching her sleep. I have never loved any woman like I love Mary. There’s something that connects us. Something that distance and war and time can’t break. I want to be with this woman forever.
Every time I left the military in the past, I got pulled back in. That’s not going to happen again. For the first time in my life, I can’t wait to be a civilian. It’s going to be my turn to be a lover and a husband. We’ll get our own house together. We’ll get a dog. Maybe we’ll adopt a kid or something down the track. We have our whole lives ahead of us, and I can’t wait to live mine with her.
I’ve just got to get through this last stage of deployment. And she’s got to survive without me. Though she has help in that department. Tom has been feeding her well, I can tell. She has a healthier glow about her, her skin and her hair look better than they did, though not being in the vicious Afghanistan climate would help with that too.
The need to pee and a growling in my stomach finally makes me get up and leave her curled up and sleeping in bed.
Tom is cooking us all dinner. He’s such a fucking good guy. Always has been. Was a huge loss when he retired, but as a medic he’d seen enough carnage to last him a lifetime, and not just the enemy, but our boys, and civilians of all ages. He’s retreated here to live a comfortable life, and I hope I haven’t fucked that up for him too much.
“Hey man.”
“Hey. Sleep good?”
“Yeah.”
He hands me a beer and we sit in the silence men sit in when they’re comfortable with each other.
“She’s looking good.”
“Good,” he says.
There’s a long silence. He used to cook steak when I came home, until I pointed out that the searing can smell like other things. Now he puts on a sea food spread. There’s lobster already cooked and waiting, making my mouth water.
“That hospital she talks about being in…” Tom says. “Tell me it’s not still…”
“Gone,” I reply. “Very, very gone.”
“And the doctors?”
“Also very gone.”
“Good.”
“Has she been okay?” I change the subject to escape the lie. I couldn’t do a fucking thing about that hospital. It was running at the allowance of several governments, a dark place where they could do their dark shit. But Tom needs to hear that it’s gone, or it will eat him alive. He’s too good a man for that, so I keep the darkness of the details to myself. In my line of work, I’ve found a thousand pockets of hell here on earth. Sometimes we can take them out. Sometimes we have to let them be. It destroys good men.
“She’s done her best,” he says, a diplomatic answer. “She’s told me some of the things that happened to her, and frankly, given those, I think she’s doing incredible.”
“Yeah,” I agree.
“She never lays down and lets the world just roll over her,” he says, that tone of admiration in his voice. “Hardest thing about dealing with her is getting her to let you look after her.”
“Oh yeah,” I agree again. “That’s the whole reason I had to ship her out. Girl was going to try to win the war with nothing but her two fists.”
We both snort with amusement.
“You going to re-enlist when this tour’s over?”
“No.”
He nods.
“Finally found something better, huh?”
I want to be with Mary. I want to be there for her. She’s been hanging in there, and Tom has been doing his best, but it’s me she really needs.
“Another six months,” I say with a stretch. “And then I’ll be out and back here, making your lives hell.”
“Good,” he smirks. “Now go be greedy with your girl while you can. Dinner will be ready soon.”
I don’t need to be told twice.