Amber
We were put to work right away. Rylen was whisked off into the secret places. At this point I couldn’t understand why there was any secretiveness, but whatever. There were so many sick soldiers that I didn’t have time to wonder too much.
Most of the guys were suffering from malnutrition and vitamin deficiencies, which began to lower their immune systems. First Sergeant had a box of multivitamins in his surplus of goods, so I gave each soldier one pill. They had to be rationed, so they could only have one every two days, and they had to get them from me. I had a list of names. After a couple of days, though, I started to wonder if some of the guys were coming for the vitamins, or to stare at my tits. It’s not like I had them on display. I was wearing a loose T-shirt. But these guys were seriously deprived. Even their flirtations were weak and desperate. I decided that as long as everyone kept their hands to themselves, I wouldn’t tell Rylen.
To be honest, everyone seemed on edge. A constant state of tension loomed over the ranks. Not enough food. Not enough space. Not enough sleep. According to Texas Harry there was “a lot of monkey business” going on in the men’s room, and even the sleeping quarters. And by that, New York Josh helpfully clarified that he meant “a lot of monkey spanking business.”
Gross.
I’d always gotten along well with guys, so as much as I didn’t want to flirt or lead anyone on, it was hard not to be friendly to them when they were nice to me.
“A Señorita, am I right?” asked a dark-haired guy when it was his turn in line. He appeared Hispanic, like me. Well, half of me.
“Yep,” I said. “What’s your name, soldier?”
“Corporal Luis Rodriguez, at your service.” His grin was cute, and his cockiness reminded me of my brother, which made my heart twinge.
I found his name and checked it off, handing him a vitamin. He grabbed hold of my hand, and I gently pulled away.
He tilted his head, not giving up. “Una muchacha hermosa com ousted necesita un amante latino.” A beautiful girl like you needs a Latin lover.
I smirked and rested my palms on the table between us. “Lo siento, Cassanova, but I have a man.”
“That gringo pilot I seen you with? What’s he got that I don’t?” He stood back and motioned down his body, making the guys behind him laugh.
“My heart,” I said, giving him a wink. “Now, move along.”
He grabbed his chest and the other guys pushed him out of the way. At least Luis Rodriguez took his rejection with grace. Not all of them did.
I was happy to see J.D. show up to my designated medical table on the third day. I went around and hugged him, but his shoulders were stooped and he was frowning hard. I glanced around but didn’t see Sean.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
He gave a shrug. “You know they’ve made me the barber, right?”
“Yeah. That’s good, right?”
“I mean, that’s fine and great. I don’t mind. I want to be useful. But . . .” He looked away.
My heart rate shot up. “Is someone giving you a hard time?” None of our group would put up with it if someone was pushing homophobic hate on him.
“No,” he said. “It’s not that. It’s just weird.” He swallowed and I could see his hands shaking. “A lot them are . . . hitting on me.”
My eyebrows hiked up. “Oh! That’s flattering, right? Have you told Sean?”
“Hell, no. I don’t answer to him.” He put a hand on his hip, and I held back a smile. “And it’s not exactly flattering because they’re not gay.”
“Wait, I’m confused.”
“Men are vile creatures, Amber, surely you know that.”
“Yeah, but I need some details here.” I crossed my arms.
“They’re not gay, they’re just extremely horny. And they think since I’m queer, any dick will do.”
“Oh.” I shriveled my nose. “What are you telling them?”
“To fuck off. I’m not scared of these jarheads.”
“I think only about ten of the guys here are Marines,” I told him.
He gave me a funny look. “What?”
“Jarheads are . . . never mind. Do you want me to talk to Top? He can assign someone to stay with you while you’re working. Or you can give me a list of names. You don’t have to put up with that.”
“No.” He adamantly shook his head. “Everyone is too busy, and I can handle myself. I just needed to vent to a girlfriend, you know?”
“I know. Guys can be such pigs.” I took his hand and we swung our arms between us until a small smile graced his smooth face.
“Ry-Ry was super sweet when I cut his hair today, though. That’s one guy I wouldn’t turn down.” He winked, and I snorted.
I sure as hell wouldn’t turn him down either, but we’d barely shared a kiss since we got here.
“What is it?” he asked. “No nookie time for you two?”
I blushed, I couldn’t help it, and it made J.D. giggle.
“Just wait your turn for the closet,” he said.
“What closet?”
His eyes bugged. “Hel-lo! The closet is where people go to get it on. Across the hall from the bathrooms? That’s where all the men keep asking me to meet them.”
“Where they keep the brooms and mops?” I asked, and he nodded. “That room’s barely big enough for one person to stand!” Gah, all I could think about were the amount of STD germs that were ironically living with the cleaning supplies.
“I’m never going back in the closet, if you know what I mean, but there’s nothing wrong with tight quarters,” he teased. “I’m sure Ry can make it work.”
Now I blushed even harder. God, J.D.’s bantering made me miss Remy. Just the thought of her crushed my chest.
“All right,” J.D. said with a sigh. “I better get back.”
“Here,” I told him, holding out a vitamin. “And I think you should tell Sean about the other guys propositioning.”
J.D. took the vitamin and crossed his arms. “Look, that man is stubborn, and he does not get jealous. He’s a freak of nature. Although, he did cuddle me a little in his sleep last night, and he boldfaced denied it when I told him. He makes me sleep against the wall, you know. Always Mr. So-Called Protector.” J.D. said it like he was annoyed, rolling his eyes, and I had to smile.
J.D. had been angry at Sean ever since Sean forced him to leave his boyfriend’s cabin in the wilderness where he’d been living on ramen. J.D insisted that his boyfriend went into town and would be coming back, but Sean was not about to leave him. I’m pretty sure J.D. knew by then that there’s no way his boyfriend was really coming back, but the faux-anger game they played worked for them.
“Go cut some hair,” I said. “I’m getting a line.”
He blew a kiss at me and headed off, leaving me to deal with more lethargic soldiers. I was happy to see Tall Mark and Short Matt in line. I hugged them both when they got to the front. They’d been my jokesters and source of much laughter the past four months, but both of them were sobered lately. Their loss of mirth was direct proof of how much we’d changed.
“I miss you guys,” I said as I gave them both vitamins. “I miss watch duty and playing cards.” We’d been waiting for a turn with the cards last night, but the other guys were all so serious that it ended in a fist fight. I wasn’t sure how long we could live like this.
“There’s a lot I miss,” Matt said, and I wondered if he was thinking of Remy. I couldn’t look at his kind, rounded face without remembering how he gave her the M&M.
“But things are going to happen pretty fast,” Mark promised me. I looked up at gaunt cheeks, interested in what he meant. He went on. “If things go as planned, we’ll only be here another two months.”
I closed my eyes and let out a massive sigh. Two months? We could do that. I wanted to ask how he knew and what the latest intel was, but my line was not getting any shorter.
After I said good-bye to the former goofballs, I cleaned and sealed a hand cut, gave out a dose of ibuprofen and three more vitamins before noticing Rylen, Tex, Josh, Devon, and Shavontae in line. I held back a squeal, but couldn’t stop the smile.
I kissed Rylen smack on the lips when it was his turn, and his grin heated me from the ground up. “Your haircut looks good,” I said.
“Your everything looks good,” he said low enough for only me to hear. The gravel in his voice made images of a dirty closet come to mind, heating my cheeks all over again.
“Where’s my sugar?” Tex asked, pushing in beside Rylen with all his broad height.
I eyed his fuzzy face and frowned when I saw his arm. “Excuse me, cowboy, but where is your sling?” It felt like a lifetime ago that he’d been shot on a goods run and lost a dangerous amount of blood, but in actuality it was only about a week.
“Uh, yeah . . . well, it’s feeling a little better.” He had the decency to look guilty, and the others laughed as I crossed my arms.
“Don’t you dare overdo it. And let me change the bandages tonight.”
He gave me a salute, and I thrust a vitamin at him. “I’m serious. It’ll be much more fun killing aliens if you have two strong arms, won’t it?”
His face sort of morphed into understanding, like I had finally struck a chord. “Hooah, Doc.”
“She’s got you there,” Rylen said. He stayed by my side as Tex left to get back to work and I hugged the other three and gave them their vitamin doses. They all appeared equally fatigued. I wished we could go outside for some fresh air and sunshine, but we couldn’t risk giving away our location. Also, this place didn’t have a gym, so everyone had to make do with cramped workouts in the dining hall. Half of the group did it in the morning before breakfast, the other half at night after dinner. We pushed all of the tables aside, and did a series of stretching followed by squats, pushups, sit-ups, and jumping jacks. It was a half-assed workout compared to what we’d all gotten used to, but there wasn’t enough food to warrant more.
As I finished, and Devon was talking to Rylen, I sidled next to Shavontae and asked, “Have you heard of the closet?”
She craned back her neck to lift an eyebrow at me. “Heard of it? Did you not hear me sneak out the room at three AM?”
My eyes widened, and I whispered, “I thought you were going to the bathroom!”
“Nope. Three o’clock is rendezvous time. It ain’t the Ritz, and it smells like bleach, but you won’t hear me complaining.” She turned to graze Devon’s wide shoulders with her eyes, and he caught her, returning her stare with a look that made me need to fan myself. Even Rylen caught the exchange and had to chuckle as the two of them walked away, hip to hip. And finally, now that it was nearing lunch, my line was gone.
“What were you two talking about?” he asked.
I’d known this boy since I was six. In fact, there was nobody on Earth now who knew us better than we knew each other, so it was stupid that I was too embarrassed to tell him about the closet. I’d craved him constantly since our one and only time together. It hadn’t been nearly enough. I wanted so much more, especially after thinking I’d lost him during the evacuation.
Oh, my God, I needed to stop thinking about it.
But it was kind of hard when he was looming next to me, giving off heat waves that sang to my libido. Every time he looked at me I felt like he was silently saying, “Hey, wanna go to the closet?”
Yeah, I needed to cool off. I cleared my throat and grabbed the box of vitamins, turning and bending down to lock it in the bottom drawer of a filing cabinet. But when I bent, my ass totally rubbed against Rylen’s outer thigh, making him hiss low under his breath. I felt the heat of his hand like fire land on my hip to keep me from backing into him any further.
“Careful where you’re swinging that thing, Pepper.” His voice shot straight to my core like lightening.
I slammed the door and locked it, shoving the key in my pocket and facing him. Neither of us was smiling, and the sudden tension was delicious.
“Or what?” I asked.
His eyes flashed with sexy, animalistic warning, making me tremble.
“Keep it up and you’ll find out.” He leaned forward and kissed me, sucking in my bottom lip and letting it go with a graze of his teeth. The look he gave me before walking away was enough to make me come right there if I weren’t technically in public . . . and if First Sergeant wasn’t coming our way right that second.
Damn.
I clenched my thighs, feeling all kinds of wrong as Rylen nodded at First Sergeant in passing, and I forced a smile.
“Hey, Top,” I said.
“How’s it going, Tate?”
“Okay,” I told him. “Pretty basic so far. Everyone’s a little stir crazy, and that can wreak havoc. You know, the mental and physical are all sort of connected. These guys are lonely and bored and really need to see the sun and stretch their legs.” And get laid.
He nodded, frowning. “We’re working on it. Let me know if you have any issues, though.”
“Yes, sir.” He looked ready to turn and leave me again, but he stopped and put a hand on he table. “How are you? I know it can’t be easy, leaving behind your brother and friend.”
I dropped my eyes, feeling guilty every time my mind waned from that feeling of mourning, but I had to be honest.
“I don’t think they’re dead, Top.”
He eyed me, then nodded slowly. “Those two and Linette are our only people missing. Something tells me they’re together, and if they are, those three would make a fine team.”
I wasn’t so sure of that. Tater was hotheaded. Linette and Remy were total opposites. But stranger things had happened.
“I hope so,” I said.
Top patted my shoulder, and I accepted the fatherly moment, soaking it in as we walked together to a lunch of packaged MREs. Meals Ready to Eat—military rations. Yum.