Drake

It’s been a week since I took Tiana home and bathed her. A week since I’ve touched her, smelled her sweet scent, or even seen her. Being pulled out of town unexpectedly to the other side of the United States is probably the best and the worst thing that could have happened to us.

Distance is the only cure for the all-encompassing fever happening between Tiana and me. There is no way I could have broken things off after the night we spent together. She’s too tempting, too sweet, and too brazen and sassy to resist. I may have to stay here at Camp Pendleton permanently.

It’s beautiful here in California. The heat is dryer and the sky seems bluer and the bugs are smaller. Traffic is a bitch, but I have completely given up on driving so being stuck in traffic is an opportunity to get some work done. The one thing Cali doesn’t have is Tiana.

I miss her, and not just her body but also her laugh and her sassy personality. If there ever were a woman made for me, she is the one. If I weren’t going blind, I would go so far as to say that I’d make her mine permanently if she agreed to be. And she would, I’d make sure of that.

She has called me every morning since I left and texted me every night before she goes to bed. I haven’t responded once even though her messages make my chest ache and stir up memories of our night together.

Her texts are always one word. The first night was Gone? The second was, Still? Then Lonely, and the next night came, Pissed. That one was bittersweet. She needs to be pissed. It will help her move on, even though that’s not what I really want.

It’s been eight days and I’m lying in bed at 2200 hours waiting for her text like a love-struck teenager. It’s better this way, in the long run. She is young and deserves so much more than I will be able to provide for her. The proof that I am making the right decision came yesterday as I was walking outside with another officer. I had to stop and catch my balance when the change happened, and Officer Garcia who has been showing me around caught my arm and kept me from falling.

The spot in my vision became darker and slightly larger blocking more light and restricting my vision more than ever. Last night, it was evident that I will never be able to advance past my current rank of Major to Lieutenant Colonel. There is no way I can pass my upcoming physical exam with this much of my sight gone.

This morning it occurred to me that retiring on the West Coast might be the solution to my Tiana addiction. It’s not ideal for me, as I am familiar with my surroundings at home. Small-town living would be better for me too. Learning to live without my sight will be difficult at first, but having everything I need within walking distance is convenient.

The thought of Tiana living next-door and watching my decline, however, is gut-wrenching. I can’t stand knowing she will be watching me fumble around while I learn how to be handicapped. It makes me physically ill. I’m too proud to let her see me that way. I won’t let it happen.

My phone buzzes in my hand and I raise the screen so that I can see it out of the corner of my eye. It’s from her I can tell because her picture accompanies her name on the header of my screen but the message is blurry. I bring it closer and turn the phone until I can read the word of the night.

Scared.

I sit up and swing my legs around to the side of the bed to get up but I don’t know where I think I’m going. She’s thousands of miles away and I’m in no condition to help her, but she’s scared and I can’t ignore that.

I tap the audio text button and speak into the phone, “Scared of what?”

Seconds after I press send, my phone rings. “Tiana? What’s going on?”

She sniffs and I know she’s been crying. “I got another video the day you left, it was a flash of that night, just a few seconds, but it looked like…” She hesitates and her voice catches.

“It looked like what?”

“It looked like I was in bed, but not my bed.”

“Was there anyone with you?” My fucking blood is boiling, if I ever get my hands on whoever did this to her, I’ll choke the life out of him slowly and torture him. Fucking waterboarding, fingernail removing, electric shock, limb removing torture.

“It was too fast, I couldn’t tell.”

“Why didn’t you call and tell me right away?”

“I didn’t know where you were and when I did try to call you didn’t pick up. I thought, I… I don’t know what I thought.”

Of course she doesn’t because I left her high and dry with no explanation. I’m sure Jayden told her I had to leave town unexpectedly for some training in Cali, but other than that I just dropped off the grid.

“Okay, take a deep breath, baby, and tell me what’s got you upset right now. If that video came last week, what’s scaring you now?”

“I just got home from work and the door was unlocked. When I pushed it open, I heard a noise in the house. Jayden’s not home. He’s helping a friend fix his car tonight.”

“Did you leave the house? Please tell me you’re out of that house.”

“Yes, I didn’t know where to go so I’m sitting on your porch in the dark.”

“Do you see any movement at your house?”

“The light is on in my bedroom, I don’t remember if I left it on when I went to work today, though.”

“Listen to me carefully, Tiana, there is a key buried under the third rose bush in front of the house. It’s in a Ziploc bag and it’s buried deeply, and it may have shifted around because I’ve never had to use it, but I want you to dig it up and go inside. Fucking rip the rose out of the ground if you have to, but get that key now, understand?”

“Uh huh, don’t hang up. I’m going to lay the phone down while I do it.”

“I’m not going anywhere, Beautiful Girl, just get the key.”

I am going somewhere, though, home. I started throwing things into my carry-on as soon as she said she was in trouble. I sit down and yank open my laptop to find a red-eye flight.

“You doing okay? Did you call Jayden and tell him to come home?”

“He didn’t answer, but I sent him a text.”

Fucking great, Mr. Overprotective is MIA when she needs him the most.

“How about the neighbors, baby? Does anyone still have their lights on?” I’m using my calmest tone trying to keep her from panicking. She sniffles and I ache with the urge to help her but I can’t and it infuriates me.

“No, I think everyone’s gone to bed.”

“You find the key yet?”

“The ground is so hard, Drake, I don’t think I can get to it.” She’s getting frantic, I need to do something stop her escalating panic.

“On my porch, there is a bench with a cushion on it under the window, do you see it? Look up on the porch.”

“Um, yeah, I see it.”

“The top lifts off and inside are some gardening tools and gloves, go get the gloves and the little hand shovel and get that bush out of the ground. The hose is coiled up next to the steps, too, if you need to soften the dirt.”

“Okay.” I hear her rummage around getting what she needs. She’s not crying anymore, she has a mission to accomplish and her mind is on that.

“Drake,” she whispers and I can tell she’s holding still.

“What, baby?”

“I saw somebody walk past my window. Oh my God, there is somebody in there.”

“Concentrate on getting the key, keep digging, you need to get into my house.”

“Okay, but what if he sees me…”

“Don’t worry about that. Just get the damn key.”

I hear her lay the phone down and chisel at the hard soil. It’s been a dry summer and I haven’t been home to water anything for over a week.

My audio software on my computer voices that it’s found a flight that leaves in an hour and I tell it to book it and abandon my hotel room.

“I got it, Drake. I found the key. I’m going inside.”

I blow out a relieved breath and press the elevator button for the lobby.

“Good, go inside and lock the door. Don’t turn on the lights. Do you think you can check the locks on the doors and windows in the dark? Everything should be locked up, but I want you to check to be sure.”

She’s panting into the phone and I’m imagining her in my foyer looking around the sparsely decorated living room. She’s only been there once but it should be easy to move around in the dark, it’s designed for that after all.

“Yeah, I’m inside. The door’s locked and…” It sounds like she’s reaching or bending over, “The living room windows are locked. I’m going to check the back door.”

My elevator dings, I exit and stalk toward the front desk. The clerk’s eyes widen when she sees me approaching. Still dressed in my uniform, I pack my tone full of authority and tell her to call for a car to take me to the airport right away. “It’s an emergency,” I add and she fumbles with the phone when she picks it up.

“You’re coming home?”

“Yes, I’m coming home. Are you kidding me? You’re clearly not safe there with your idiot brother who leaves house keys out like invitations and isn’t reachable when you’re in trouble.”

“The back door is locked.”

“Alright. Listen carefully now, do you know how to use a gun?”

“A gun? Drake, you don’t think he will come over here, do you?”

“I don’t know what that fucker is going to do but if he comes near you I want you to shoot him, understand?”

“With what?”

“In the middle drawer in the kitchen, there is another key. It unlocks my gun box under my bed. Take the key upstairs and get my Glock out of the box.”

“Found it.”

“Good, good, go upstairs.”

I hear her soft quick footsteps hurrying across the hardwood floors and up the steps. She pauses suddenly and my heart skips a beat. I stop in the middle of the hotel lobby and wait for her to say something, but I only hear her shallow panting on the line. “Tiana? What’s wrong? Why did you stop?”

“To look out the window,” Tiana says.

“What window?”

“The one on the landing that faces my house. Oh God, I think he can see me,” she says, scared.

“You’re imagining things, he can’t see you in the dark unless he has night-vision. Get my gun, hurry.”

I close my eyes and listen hard to her pitter-patter up the rest of the stairs and into my bedroom where she closes the door behind her.

“I don’t see it. Drake, I can’t find a box.”

“It’s there. Keep looking,” I encourage her.

“No, no it’s not, there’s nothing here.” Her voice is frantic and she’s breathing harder. Where’s my fucking gun? She must be flustered. It’s got to be there, I never move that box.

“Use the flashlight on your phone to look under the bed, but keep it held down low. You don’t want him to see where you are.”

“Okay, flashlight. Keep it down. Look for the box.” She’s repeating my instructions, but her voice is shaky and she sounds like she’s losing it.

“It’s not here, Drake, there’s nothing here.”

Impossible, she must be mistaken.

“Baby, calm down and take a deep breath. Forget about the box I’ve got another gun in the closet in a safe.”

“I’m scared, he was looking right at me, I swear to God, Drake, I’m not imagining things.”

“I believe you. Let’s concentrate on the other gun now, okay?”

“You believe me?” She sounds like a five-year-old little girl lost in the grocery store. I’ve never felt so much anxiety and I’ve been on two tours in Afghanistan. My instinct to keep this woman safe no matter what is mighty overwhelming. I’m too far away. We need help.

“I do, sweetheart. Now go,” I instruct her.

I turn my phone to the side and tap open a new text box. I can hardly see what I’m doing, I usually use my automated texting these days, but I’m on the phone with Tiana and I can’t hang up so I’ll have to type.

When I’ve successfully typed in Jayden’s name, I send him a simple message.

Tiana’s in trouble and needs help NOW! I press send just as she asks for the safe’s combination. “Two to the right, six left, six right, eighteen left, twenty-one right.”

I listen as the drums of the combination lock roll back and forth.

“Damn, I messed it up, tell me again,” she tells me. I repeat the combination and listen to the safe click open. My fucking gun had better be there, nobody knows that combo.

“I have it, it’s here.”

“Good, now try to calm down a little I don’t want you to shoot yourself in the damn foot.”

I hear the phone being set down and the magazine being shoved into the gun and the slide being racked. I almost drop my phone.

“Tiana!” She shuffles around picking up the phone when she hears me yell. “What did you just do?”

“I got your gun, you told me to shoot him, I can’t shoot him without ammo.”

“You know how to handle a Glock?”

“Of course, I grew up with Marines.”

Yes, of course, how stupid of me. Jayden would have taught her to shoot and handle a gun properly. He was an expert marksman.

“I want you to put the phone down and concentrate on the gun in your hands. Put me on speaker. I won’t say anything. Just stay in the closet with the door closed until Jay gets there.”

“He’s coming?”

“I texted him. Hold on, let me see if he replied.”

“Major Valentine, sir?” a voice says from behind me.

“Yes,” I acknowledge.

“Your car is here.”

“Thank you.” I follow the bellhop to the cab and tell him to take me to the airport.

Speak of the devil my phone buzzes when Jayden responds.

I’m on my way. Where are you? he asks.

“He’s on his way, baby, just sit tight until he gets there,” I say.

“I’m putting you down now, you’re on speaker,” she says.

I text Jayden to tell him where to find Tiana and that there is someone in his house.

Why is she in your house?

A growl rumbles up from my throat. Why is he asking stupid fucking questions?

Why aren’t YOU in YOUR house protecting YOUR sister? I shoot back. She hears me growl and whispers my name, “Drake?”

“Shush, it’s nothing.”

“No, I want to tell you something.”

“Baby, you need to be quiet.”

“I miss you. I miss you so much it hurts and I’m scared,” Tiana says quietly.

Fuck, if my heart doesn’t break in two. If I could crawl through the phone, I’d march next door and shoot that fucking intruder, come home, lock Tiana up and keep her in my bed forever.

I’ve never loved anyone other than my parents. I never let anyone get close enough. No woman has ever made me feel the things that Tiana makes me feel. She is the only one who holds the key to my black stone-heart and right now I know that I love her.

Blindness be fucking damned. I love her. I would give my life for her, kill for her, lie, cheat, steal, I’d even give up the Corps for her.

“I miss you, too, baby. I’m coming home.”