Regina
Trying not to do the middle school girl thing and squeal when Janecia walked up to the outdoor table where Regina was sitting, she still jumped up and hugged her tight. “Oh my God, it’s so good to see you,” she said as she continued to squeeze her friend.
Finally pulling away, Janecia laughed. “It’s good to see you too, G. It’s been just too long.”
“I know!” Regina said, taking a seat and pointing across the table for Janecia to take hers. “It’s been like over a year.”
The sudden reminder of why it’d been that long had Regina picking up her drink and sipping it. Luckily, before Janecia could comment, the waiter brought Janecia’s drink.
“I took the liberty of ordering for you,” Regina smiled, glad for the change in subject.
“White Russian.” Janecia smiled, pleased as she picked it up. “Still my favorite.”
Wanting to avoid any talk of anything depressing, Regina went right into her plan of action for the night. “So I figured instead of full meals we can have a drink and split an appetizer then move on to the next restaurant and do the same.” She glanced around the brightly lit and bustling street lined with restaurants and bars. “I think it’s the only way we’ll start making a dent in this place if we plan on trying all these restaurants eventually.”
“Hey, we said we’d do this, and we’re doing it." Janecia held up her drink. "To doing Gaslamp, girl.”
Regina picked up her drink and clinked Janecia’s glass. “Let’s do this.”
To Regina’s relief, they caught up on the lighter stuff, and Janecia began telling her about the new guy she’d started dating. “Be warned he’s a little different from some of the guys I’ve dated in the past.”
Intrigued, Regina stirred her drink and leaned in. “Different, how?”
“Well, for starters, he rides a Harley.”
Regina jerked back, feeling her heart sink. Janecia reached her hand out, quickly placing it on top of Regina’s. “I said he does. I’ve already told him I’d never step foot on it.”
Exhaling, Regina glanced around, feeling a little silly about her knee-jerk reaction. She still couldn’t help asking, “You promise?”
Janecia smiled. “Yes, I promise. I just wanted to get that out there before you found out some other way.” She took a sip of her drink and continued. “He’s also not white collar or a college graduate like the guys I normally date. He’s a longshoreman—hard labor man. He’s a little rough around the edges and a bit of a hothead, but he can also be so sweet.” She giggled. “And, girl, so sexy.”
Regina smiled, trying to shake the thought of Janecia’s new, sweet, sexy boyfriend coaxing her onto his Harley. Janecia went on, filling her in on how she met Clay as they finished up and paid their bill. They moved on to the next few restaurants, catching up on family gossip and laughing about old times. Regina was so glad she’d decided to do this. It was a good thing Gaslamp was so long and there were so many restaurants. It would take many returns here before they got through the whole thing. Having this to do with her best friend definitely gave her something to look forward to.
Beginning to feel a little tipsy as they left their fourth or fifth restaurant—she’d lost count—Regina decided at their next stop she’d be having water. They walked down the street, trying to decide which restaurant to hit next, and then she saw him. Sergeant Billings was at the bar of the very next restaurant in their route. This was the first time she’d seen him out of uniform. He wore a simple black long-sleeved shirt and a pair of black jeans. He stood by the bar with a couple of other guys and two girls. One of the girls was very obviously flirting with him, and then it happened.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” she said, staring at him as her heart did the weirdest flutter. She actually felt a tingly sensation. “The man does smile.”
And by God, did it have to be such a beautiful smile? Even his eyes lit up sweetly, and at this distance, she could still admire how bright white and perfect his teeth were. Her heart fluttered in that weird way again, and the tingling spread through her insides.
Janecia turned to look in the direction Regina’s eyes were glued to now. “Who?”
“Sergeant Billings,” she said with no other explanation as they continued walking toward the restaurant. Just as they reached the entrance to the outside patio of the restaurant, Sergeant Billings looked up past the blonde he’d been smiling at, and his eyes met Regina’s. Not only did his smile immediately dissolve but his expression went hard and rigid, turning into the very expression she was now beginning to think was reserved just for her.
“Well, damn,” Janecia said, clearly noticing the icy change in his disposition as well. “Do you know him?”
“Sort of.” Regina was finally able to look away and at the hostess asking them if they’d like a seat inside or out. “Outside.” She smiled and followed the hostess to their table.
Taking the seat that would face the bar, Regina sat down. She wasn’t sure why she hadn’t just kept walking on to the next restaurant or one even further where she wouldn’t have to deal with his lethal glare. What the hell was his problem? His “lack of desire to get to know her” was one thing, but the way he looked at her now said something entirely different. Obviously, he couldn’t stand her, and Regina was at a total loss as to what she could’ve possibly done to warrant such severe detestation from a total stranger.
Janecia sat across from her, glancing back at the sergeant as she made herself comfortable. Billings had gone back to talking to the girl, but that annoyingly beautiful and playful smile she’d been privy to for too short of an instant was gone. “So what’s his deal? He doesn’t like you?”
“Apparently not,” Regina said, looking down at the menu the hostess had handed them before walking away.
“Why?”
“I have no idea.”
Regina filled in her friend about first seeing him at the airport and the first few run-ins she’d had with him, including last night when he’d made her go fetch her photo ID, knowing full well she was authorized.
“What a jerk!” Janecia frowned, glancing back at him again. “Maybe he’s one of those guys who get a hard-on from playing the power card. Aren’t most of those drill instructors like that? I mean isn’t that why they go into that field in the first place?”
“My dad was a drill instructor back in the day, Janecia,” Regina reminded her. “He’s never been that kind of person, and he always said it was one of the most rewarding duties he ever had. I don’t think it’s that at all.”
She glanced up at the sergeant but quickly looked away when she saw his head turn slightly in her direction. “I just don’t know what to make of it. From the moment I first saw him at the airport, there was this disdainful way he looked at me. It’s like there was just something about me that had immediately turned him off.” She shrugged. “I asked him about it this morning.”
Janecia’s eyes opened in curiosity as the waitress arrived to take their order. They both ordered water, and Janecia agreed to the first appetizer Regina suggested. She was obviously more interested in hearing about that morning’s happenings.
“What did you ask him?” Janecia asked as soon as the waitress walked away.
Frustrated and not even sure why she cared so much, Regina exhaled. “I started thinking maybe I did know him from somewhere. Maybe I’d blown him off in the past and didn’t even remember, or maybe he’d mistaken me for someone else, so I asked him if it was either of those things.” Feeling as little as he’d made her feel when he’d told her about his lack of desire to get to know her, she repeated his awful words to Janecia.
Her friend’s mouth fell open. “You’re kidding me!”
“Nope,” she said, shaking her head. “For whatever reason, the man’s decided he hates my guts.”
Thanking the waitress for their waters, Regina sipped hers. Regina decided she’d keep to herself the fact that he’d stepped in front of her, forcing her to finish what she’d begun say. She also wouldn’t say what being that close to those acutely blue eyes had done to her. She knew her best friend too well. Janecia would want to overanalyze it, and the truth was she was done thinking about the uptight sergeant. She’d already spent the better part of her day, trying to figure it out. Even when he was looking at her with what she assumed was unexplained indignation, he did so with such intensity that it was confusing as hell. But even more confusing was what she’d thought she’d seen in his eyes when he asked her to finish what she’d begun to say that morning. The guy shouldn’t feel anything for her either way. Good or bad. He still didn’t know much about her at all. Yet even tonight there was no hiding the ill will he had toward her.
“But it doesn’t make sense. He doesn’t even know you. And you’re so damn cute.” Janecia leaned across the table and whispered. “You think maybe he’s gay?”
Laughing, Regina nearly spit up her water. Sergeant Billings gay? That still wouldn't explain why he would dislike her so much. One glance up and Janecia’s theory flew out the window along with Regina’s laughing mood. The sergeant was now whispering something in the ear of the same blonde he’d been smiling at so cheerfully earlier. “He might be married,” she said, unable to move her eyes away from him and the giggling blonde.
Once again, following her eyes, Janecia turned to observe him and the girl. “Stop looking,” Regina whispered.
Janecia did, even though Regina couldn’t. Suddenly flustered with herself, she wondered why it hadn’t occurred to her that he might be married or even in a relationship. Even more frustrating was why the hell did it even matter? The guy was obviously a jerk who didn’t like her. It was annoying enough that he’d decided to hate her on little to nothing to go by, but even worse was the fact that, on just as little, she’d been taken enough by him to have given him and his unreasonable abhorrence to her so much thought.
“Sweetie?”
Regina swallowed hard, glancing away when she realized how intensely she’d been staring at the pretentious sergeant and his girl. “Hmm?”She took a very casual sip of her water but still didn’t look Janecia in the eyes.
“Are you sure you’re not leaving out anything about you and this guy?”
Now she looked at Janecia curiously. “No, why?”
Janecia lifted a very telling brow as she leaned over and put the straw between her lips. She took a drink of her water then raised a shoulder. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because ever since you spotted him and his little female friend your mood seems to have taken a dive.”
Regina scoffed, a little too loud and the waving of her hand in front of her might’ve been overkill because she nearly knocked her water over in the process. Janecia stared at her, clearly unimpressed, but Regina wasn’t about to tone her response down because it wasn’t an act. She didn’t care. The guy was practically a monster to her. Why on earth would she even be looking at him in terms of anything other than someone she should hate? Or because she wouldn’t lower herself to his level and hate someone she didn’t even know, at the very least she should be irked with him for being rude. He could take his lack of desire to know more about her and shove it up his ass.
About to further protest Janecia’s ridiculous insinuation, she was caught in his eyes as he began to walk off with the blonde hand in hand. As much as she knew she should look away, his eyes were like a magnet. It seemed the longer she stared at him the darker his stare went until he leaned over and kissed the girl deeply. That instantly snapped the pull he’d had on her, and she closed her eyes.
“You okay?” Janecia asked gently.
Regina opened her eyes, turning back to Janecia, feeling completely embarrassed. “Yeah. Yeah.” She cleared her throat and smiled weakly at her very concerned-looking friend.
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, G. But clearly there’s more going on.”
After successfully convincing Janecia that she was fine and there was nothing else to tell about the stuck-up sergeant—or maybe not so successfully—her friend let it go anyway.
On her drive home, Regina came to the conclusion that nothing good could come from trying to figure out why this man, who might even be married, didn’t like her. From that moment on, she decided her best bet was to avoid him at all costs, and when it wasn’t possible to, she’d just ignore him completely. It was what he seemed to want anyway, so that was that. She was done giving any more thought to Sergeant Jerk Face!
~*~
Brandon
After a long day of supervising one of his newest DIs as he did his first evaluations of the newest recruits, Brandon made his way back to his office. He rode with Sergeant Miller in the golf cart they’d used to drive out to the field where the evals had taken place. Miller was in the middle of some long-winded story about his days as a DI when Brandon noticed Rodriguez and Ms. Brady just outside his office building, chatting. Slowing as he drove by them, they both turned to him. The big smile Rodriguez had worn up until that moment flattened, his face going even paler than it already was. Ms. Brady’s smile wasn’t as big as Rodriguez’s, but it did seem to fade gradually at the sight of him.
Rodriguez nodded at both him and Miller then turned back to Ms. Brady and said something. In a flash, he disappeared back into the building. Brandon didn’t even realize he was still glaring when he glanced back at Ms. Brady, who was still looking at him. Bringing his attention to his driving, he was alarmed at how unbelievably irritated the sight of Rodriguez yapping it up with her made him feel.
Instantly speeding up, he drove to the back of the building where he parked and he and Miller parted ways. It’d been such a long day. He’d planned on heading straight to his car and going home. Instead, he stalked into the building. With no patience to wait for the elevator and because he felt as if he needed to work off some steam, he hurried up the stairs.
Rodriguez had ignored a direct order. That was the only reason why Brandon felt so fucking annoyed. There was no other reason. Never mind the fact that the only other time Brandon had seen Ms. Brady all week she’d evoked the very same annoyance he felt now. That was two days ago, and she’d been laughing at something one of her engineer co-workers was saying to her.
Swallowing hard as he reached the top of the stairs, he turned the corner into the hallway just in time to catch Rodriguez waiting for the elevator. The second Rodriguez saw him he turned to him, taking a few steps away from the closed elevator doors.
“Sir, I can explain.”
“Yes, you can and you will,” Brandon said, his tone hard and full of authority just as he’d been trained by the very best. “Only not here, not like this.” He got right in Rodriguez’s face. “I want a full report on my desk tomorrow morning, explaining why you ignored a direct order from your superior. I wanna know exactly what you were talking to her about when you’ve been instructed to stay away from her entirely. And also want you tell me why the hell I shouldn’t write you up.”
The elevator door opened, and Ms. Brady stepped out, staring at them almost in question. Brandon looked away, refusing to make eye contact, and Rodriguez did the right thing, not even acknowledging her. They waited silently until she was out of sight. “I don’t normally give second chances, so consider yourself lucky.”
“Sir, yes, sir.”
Brandon took two long steps into the still-open elevator and turned around to face Rodriguez, who wisely didn’t dare step in with him. “First thing in the morning, Rodriguez,” Brandon repeated the order through his teeth.
“Sir, yes, sir,” Rodriguez said just as Brandon hit the close button, and the elevator doors closed, leaving a very staggered-looking Rodriguez outside.
This was completely unacceptable. Brandon needed to get a grasp on what she was beginning to do to him. The fact that Rodriguez had ignored a direct order was reason enough to piss Brandon off, but he shouldn’t be getting this worked up over it.
The elevator doors opened, and he stepped out still feeling incredibly agitated as he walked out toward the front door of the building. Would he really write Rodriguez up if his report wasn’t satisfactory or worse if he stupidly admitted to having been flirting with her? The thought of Rodriguez’s remarks about what he’d do to her in the bathroom slammed into him.
Pushing the front doors open with a little more force than necessary, he concluded two things. Not only would Brandon write his ass up but he’d get the perverted asshole transferred to another fucking base.
Second conclusion? As much as he was trying to deny it, what this girl was doing to him was getting way out of control.
~~~
The next morning, Rodriguez’s report was on Brandon’s desk when he arrived, though Rodriguez himself was not there. Brandon knew Rodriguez would be out doing evaluations of his own all week. He was glad for that. He’d spent too much time thinking about what might be in the report, what he might learn about Ms. Brady, the woman he wanted nothing to do with. Brandon knew he’d be scrutinizing the report a little closer than normal, and it was better if Rodriguez wasn’t there to witness it.
Along with the report was a letter of apology to Brandon for having disrespected him, though Rodriguez made it clear it was not his intention. The report stated that Ms. Brady had made the first contact as they stepped outside together. He went on to outline the conversation about the change in the weather and how Rodriguez felt it rude to just ignore her so he carried on with the harmless conversation.
Brandon rolled his eyes. He’d seen the playful smile Rodriguez wore as he’d driven close enough to see the exchange between him and Ms. Brady. From what little he already knew about Rodriguez, Ms. Brady had likely made a comment as simple as “It’s chilly tonight,” and he’d run with it.
Skimming through the rest of the report, Brandon stopped only at the parts that caught his eye such as Ms. Brady saying she’d take this weather any day over the weather back east where she’d just moved from.
He’d wondered about that. According to her phone conversation with her daddy, it appeared she had family out here, so he’d assumed she was on her way home. But Sergeant Carter had also mentioned not having seen her here before, so there was the possibility she was only here temporarily. Now this confirmed she’d be here for good.
Brandon frowned immediately at the next part. With his very fair skin and light eyes, if it weren’t for Rodriguez’s last name, you’d never know he was Hispanic. He’d even made mention that the kids in the mostly Hispanic community he grew up in teased him about being the whitest Mexican they knew. Brandon remembered him saying that he liked blowing people away or using it to his advantage when trying to pick up women by speaking to them in his perfect Spanish out of the blue.
Apparently, the idiot didn’t count on Brandon remembering that insignificant comment he’d made weeks ago, because in his report he included the part about answering one of her questions in Spanish. However, he wasn’t stupid enough to mention whether or not she’d been blown away.
Last night after calming down, Brandon had no doubt he’d overreacted. He was even mad at himself for doing so. This really was getting ridiculous. If he wanted nothing to do with Ms. Brady, then why the hell did he care about seeing her with someone else? After finishing the meticulously written report, Brandon was now glad he had reacted the way he had. If Rodriguez hadn’t blown Ms. Brady away yesterday, Brandon doubted that after his nearly explosive reaction Rodriguez would be looking for another chance to impress her again.
Cursing himself, Brandon set the report down, remembering how he’d actually looked up the name Brady to make sure it in no way had any Hispanic ties. She’d made it clear that she was a Ms., not a Mrs. That meant one thing. Either she was part Hispanic and her father had Irish roots, which seemed unlikely given her looks, or she’d previously been married to a Brady. If it was the latter, then unlike with Sofie and Eric, Rodriguez or any other Hispanic guy shouldn’t have a cultural advantage over Brandon about getting a girl like Ms. Brady, especially guys like Rodriguez using his Spanish to try and impress her. If she’d married out of her culture before, obviously it didn’t matter to her.
Brandon shot out of his chair, more annoyed with himself than he had been last night. The fact that he was even thinking in these terms was absolutely unacceptable. He dropped the report in the trash and slipped his hat over his head. He had no business putting so much damn thought and even research into this. Damn it. He’d even told the woman he had no desire to get to know her better.
Shaking his head in frustration as he walked out of his office, he forced himself to think of what he should be thinking about: the day ahead of him. It would be a long one for sure. He had several meetings with a few of his stuffy superiors to discuss the evaluations he’d been overseeing all week. He’d concentrate on that instead.