by S. J. Sylvis
I heard Luke land with a small thump, and I peered down below the balcony, welcoming the fall air on my now-sweaty forehead.
“Luke!” I yelled down. “You want me to jump?”
“I’ll catch you; it’s fine. Hurry up! I’m not bailing you out of jail if you get caught in there!”
My mouth gaped open as I stared down at the guy who had gotten me into this position in the first place. What was I thinking? Breaking into Grant’s apartment? Luke had turned me into an unrecognizable Cammie. Jesus Christ.
“I can’t!” I yelled down again, feeling my heart thumping out of my chest as each second passed by. My feet and hands were beginning to tingle, and a shiver set forth in my body.
“Don’t you trust me?” he yelled back.
“No!” I sharply yelled down. But the truth was, I did. I truly trusted him, even if he did get me into this situation.
“Cammie?” My teeth clanked together at the sound of Grant’s sleepy voice from behind me. SHIT!
“I’m coming!” I said before I threw my leg up and over the iron balcony ledge. Once both of my legs were over it, in less than a second, I jumped.
It was quick. I didn’t even have time to second-guess, or shit myself, from the free-fall (read as: skydiving) experience.
I landed in Luke’s open arms softly, and he didn’t even so much as let out a grunt. I looked up at his shining face, and his huge smile took my breath away. The way his muscled forearm felt on my exposed back left me speechless. I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t even muster up a squeak.
I felt exhilarated, turned-on, and totally overwhelmed.
“That was a fucking brilliant trust exercise, am I right?” he asked, and I busted out laughing. I felt his chest rumble against my body, and then we snapped back into panic mode when Grant yelled from up above, “What the fuck!”
Luke sat me on the ground, swiped up the chocolate chip bag (we’d left our other ammo in the apartment; I guess Grant could think of it as a parting gift), and we took off down the road, running with increased speed.
The second we rounded the corner to our street, we stopped and couldn’t contain our laugher. Luke bent over, placing his hands on his knees, and I was left clutching my stomach and trying to catch my breath.
Once we both calmed down and could stand up straight again, I looked over at Luke.
“I don’t think I’ve laughed that hard in at least a year.”
He grinned at me, one cheek lifted. “I don’t think I have, either. I needed that, Cammie.” He chuckled again and looked away, but not before I saw an indecipherable expression on his face.
The question I wanted to ask was on the tip of my tongue. I wanted to know why. I wanted to know more about him, why he said those things to me earlier. I shouldn’t want to know, but I definitely did.
I went to open my mouth to ask him, but my phone started to vibrate in my back pocket. I answered and Becky’s voice boomed over the line, asking me to come into work because one of the new nurses had gotten sick in the middle of doing an IV.
“Well, I hope she got the IV in,” I laughed, and Becky cursed. “I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
I put my phone back in my pocket and placed my eyes back on Luke. He was standing a few feet away, his body angled slightly towards me. His arms were crossed over his chest, and his mouth was turned down into a tiny frown. I etched the sharp edges of his jaw bone in my mind, all the way up to his skull, like I was making a picture of him in my head. The man had perfect bone structure. He could have been a poster boy for the Marine Corps. No doubt.
“Get called into work?” he asked, without looking over at me. His head was still tilted towards the starry, midnight sky.
“Yeah,” I answered, rocking back on my heels. “One of the nurses puked on a patient…so Becky sent her home.”
Luke chuckled, “Jesus.”
We stayed mostly quiet while walking down the sidewalk towards our homes. The street was completely bare. Every house had darkened windows except for the both of ours. We got to my house first, and I stood awkwardly, unable to move my feet in the right direction to throw my scrubs on. Usually when I’d get called into work, it was welcome. I was never completely thrilled with the idea of getting up off my couch to drive to the hospital, but I was never really bummed about it. So, this reluctance to go in right now…is odd.
I was genuinely disappointed. I didn’t want to leave Luke. I didn’t want to go inside and throw on those damn navy scrubs and trek to the hospital to finish a shift. I wanted to stay right here, in this moment, because it was the first time I had felt alive in a long time.
I don’t think I’d ever felt like this.
“Well, Doc,” Luke said, eyes twinkling. “Thanks for blowing off some steam with me.”
I suppressed a grin. “That was blowing off steam? Surely all those women you parade home is blowing off steam…right?”
His eyes narrowed with a little tilt of his head, and I was praying to the gods, or anyone who would listen, that he wouldn’t realize just how jealous I was. Because that was exactly why I’d said that. I recognized this far-off feeling. I was jealous. I was insanely jealous of all the women he slept with. Lord, have mercy on my soul.
“Nah, this was much more fun. Plus, I kinda got to cop a feel…”
My face burned with heat. He winked at me and started to walk back to his house.
When he reached his top step and looked over at me from several feet away, he very slyly said, “I’m never going to forget the fact that you dated a man who cuddles with a blow-up doll.”
Yep, and now I’m back to wanting to smack him.
Twelve
The long, red, satin dress hung loosely from my closet door. It was just staring at me. Taunting me. Preparing me for a long night of being surrounded by Marines and their loud, free-spirited ways. The dress was preparing me for the dreadful speech that was going to be made in my brother’s honor. I took a deep breath, placed my hands on my hips, and let it out very slowly.
It was fine.
It was going to be fine.
It would be better if the Marine Corps ball weren’t falling on the night before my brother’s death anniversary. Like, couldn’t they have picked a better night? And why couldn’t my father have made the trip to the East Coast to attend instead of sending me?
Why did I agree to this again?
Because Alex deserves it. Ah, that’s right. He did deserve it.
“Why are you staring at your dress like it’s the ugliest thing you’ve ever seen?” JoJo plopped down on my bed, while wearing her light pink, silky robe. Her curlers bounced right along with her.
“I don’t want to do this, JoJo,” I said, turning around again to stare at the dress.
“I’ll be there with you, and so will Ryan. And all your other friends. We can support you, Cammie.”
I’m thankful that my friends will be there to help me through this. It’s just…I didn’t want to sit there at that table during the Marine Corps ceremony, listening to an older, weathered Marine spew about his time in the military, and then go on about Alex and how he’d lost his life and what an honor it was to receive a purple heart award…even if you weren’t alive to see it. I didn’t want to listen, because it was going to make me feel even sicker to my stomach than I already felt.
I was going to be spending it alone. My mom was off in Mexico, according to the last postcard she’d sent…in which she also said she just couldn’t handle being home at a time like this. Then there was my father, who was off in California with his new family…not that I would want to spend the day with him, anyway.
I would grieve alone. I would remember Alex the way I wanted to, while crying over a tub of ice cream and blaring my favorite movie on the TV.
It was going to be fine.
“You know you can’t back out, right?” JoJo said, breaking me of out my pity party.
“I know. Trust me. My father has called me twelve times in the last two days and t
hen resorted to texting me to get the point across that I, and I quote, ‘made a commitment.’”
My father didn’t even have the courtesy to say something like, “I wish I could be there with you.” But, what did I expect? I’d been a raging bitch to him. Not that he didn’t deserve it, but I couldn’t blame him for trying to steer clear of me.
“Well, what if I snagged you a date?”
I retorted, “I don’t date—“
“For the love of God, Cammie. I’m your best friend. I know you don’t date Marines. You two can go as friends, plus… he leaves in a week, so it’s not like even if he did fall madly in love with you tonight, there would be much he could do about it. Chill.”
A light bulb went off in my head as I paced the room. A date. That would surely get my mind off Luke and my raging attraction to him. I had already prepared myself for the fact that he was going to be absolutely breathtaking tonight in his dress uniform. Those uniforms could make the ugliest man on earth look attractive, and Luke…he was already dripping with sex appeal. He didn’t need any extra help in that department.
Plus, what would happen when I saw him with a date? I would drown in jealousy. He would probably bring one of the lucky ladies he’d picked up who knows where. Actually, thinking back to the last couple weeks… I hadn’t seen many women at his house. Like, none. Maybe he was taking a small break. Or maybe I just hadn’t been paying attention…
“Yes.”
JoJo sat up a little straighter. “Yes?”
“I need a date.”
I watched as she narrowed her amber eyes at me. “That was too easy; what’s going on?”
I said, “Nothing,” a little too quickly.
“Try again.”
I let out a gasp. “What? Nothing’s going on.”
A devious smile was plastered on her face. “I know what’s going on…”
I propped my hands on my hips and acted completely confused. “Nothing’s going on, JoJo.”
“You really like him.”
I laughed as JoJo waggled her eyebrows up and down.
“Who?”
“Oh my God, Cammie. Are you for real still trying to hide it from me?” JoJo placed her hands on her chest. “Me? Your best friend for, like, a million years? I know you too well, my dear. You like Luke. I can tell.”
I blinked once. “I don’t like him. But…” Her eyes lit up with amusement and I narrowed mine in retaliation. “…But, I think he is extremely attractive, and I would love to have a distraction.”
JoJo leaned back on my bed, propping herself against my white headboard, which pushed the rollers to the front of her head. I could tell her wheels were turning. Turning rapidly, by the way she was grinning.
“Okay… I’ll tell Ryan to bring Jett to escort you.”
I smiled and nodded, having no idea who Jett was. I turned my head to look at my dress again, and suddenly, it didn’t seem like it was torturing me anymore. Maybe if I was lucky, Jett and I could get a little friendlier than my last date… okay, my last few dates. It’s been a while.
The dress was tight against my body, hugging every single one of my curves. The rose-red color shimmered underneath the civic center’s bright lights and I pushed my curled, blonde hair over my shoulder, allowing my diamond earrings to twinkle. My gown was cut low in the front but was still modest in most respects. It fell gracefully to the floor, and if I wasn’t so worked up about the speech being given in my brother’s honor, I would feel glamourous and ready for a wonderful evening.
I was surprised when Jett stepped out from behind Ryan an hour ago. He was extremely attractive, in a boyish sort of way, with his chestnut-colored hair and friendly smile. I was still wondering why he didn’t have a date. JoJo had given me a short biography of Jett while she was helping me with my makeup, and there wasn’t really much to him. He was in the Marine Corps, he was the same age as me, he had never been married, and in fact had never even been in a serious relationship except for in high school. He was moving to Okinawa, Japan, in a week and apparently, according to him, that was why he was single.
Which was fine by me. As long as he was single and not looking to get into a relationship with me, I was totally ready to have a good time.
My stomach swirled with nerves as the four of us walked through the doors to the ceremony room. I already had a glass of wine in hand to hopefully help with my nervous energy. When we arrived at our table, Jett pulled out my chair and smiled a genuine smile at me. I could tell he was a gentleman, and that just made him even more attractive.
JoJo took the seat to my left, just as Jett took the seat on my right. The room was filled with at least a hundred round tables, all draped in dark red tablecloths. The centerpieces were large glass vases with lit candles floating inside. Crystal plates and sparkling glass cups were placed in front of us, and although I hadn’t eaten a single thing all day, I couldn’t even fathom eating the delicious meal the servers would place in front of us after the actual ceremony because my stomach was currently filled with nerves.
I’d been to a Marine Corps ball before. They were all the same. First, you mingled and sipped drinks, then the ceremony would start promptly at 7 p.m., led by the Marine Corps band, and then would come the speech given by a retired Marine. The ceremonies always bored me to death when I was a child, and I would barely listen to what the guest speaker had to say. But now that I was a little older and definitely more in-tune with the ins and outs of war, of what it did to a person, and their family, I was certain I’d be paying attention during this one.
The main thing on my mind while sitting in this cushioned chair, barely able to cross my legs in my tight silk dress, was how I was going to keep myself together when the guest speaker, General Siekman, started to ramble about Alex and the sacrifice he had made. Everyone in attendance knew I’d be here, and a lot of them would probably hunt me down afterwards to give me their condolences. Which was another reason I was stressed beyond belief that my parents weren’t here. Especially my father.
Then the whole Luke thing was lingering in my thoughts, too. He was right there in the back of my brain, pushed up against words like longing, want, need… Part of me wanted to allow myself to take off on a tangent and think about him fully so I could distract myself from the oncoming doom of this ceremony. But the other part knew that I would be playing with fire. He was a walking ball of fire.
Literally.
My eyes found him within seconds. I snapped my slouched shoulders up straight and gripped the stem of my wine glass even harder than before.
Holy smokes.
There were no words.
There were no words to describe the walking masterpiece only a few yards away. His dress blue pants were pin straight, leading down to those shiny black shoes. He was holding his white hat in one hand, and the other was shaking an older Marine’s hand. His dress jacket fit him tautly around the biceps, and the collar only made his jaw look that much straighter. His dark blond hair was parted to the side, and not a hair was out of line. I fleetingly wondered what it would feel like to run my hands through it, just to mess it up.
It would probably be extra silky between my fingers.
So, so silky.
Jett yelled, “Woah, Cammie!”
I jumped in my seat, craning my head over to him.
He was quickly wiping off his royal blue pants and my mouth dropped open.
“Oh my God! I’m so sorry!”
I wanted to hide underneath the table. I literally wanted to crawl under this table and hide for the rest of night. I wanted to hide from the guest speaker and all the stares. I wanted to hide from Luke, because of how I wanted to rip his uniform off, and I wanted to hide from Jett, because I’d just dumped my wine all over his lap.
If only my dress weren’t so tight, then I’d truly be able to crawl under this table.
And not think twice about it.
“I am so sorry, Jett. I will pay for you to get your pants dry-cleaned.” I placed my glas
s back on the table and started to wipe off his pants, when he chuckled.
“It’s really okay, Cammie. See, no harm done.” Jett gestured to his pants. Thankfully, I’d been drinking white wine instead of red. Otherwise I would have just died.
“Oh, good. I’m so sorry. I’m just… off tonight.” I gave him a weak smile. I heard JoJo snicker beside me, so I took my nude left heel and kicked her under the table.
She “umphed’” quietly and then whispered, “Here comes trouble…”
I glanced up and just like that, I felt trapped. Amused green eyes stared at me from a few yards away and I had to hide my smile. When his eyes slid over to Jett, then made their way back to my face, he lifted one eyebrow up and grimaced. His mouth was drawn into a straight line. He didn’t fool me, though; his eyes still sparkled with a mischievous glare.
“Hey, Luke!” JoJo yelled over at him and I almost smacked her.
“What are you doing?” I hissed.
She wiggled her perfect eyebrows at me, and I felt my heart catch in my throat when Luke sauntered over to our table, smiling the entire time.
“Hello, JoJo,” he said, then nodded at Ryan.
“Hey, Doc.”
He looked over at me and winked. And now the color of my face matched the color of my dress. Get yourself together, Cammie. Think bad thoughts; he’s ugly…Okay, that’s not gonna work…let’s think true thoughts… He…has a despicable mouth on him that could do all sorts of naughty things to you. Mmhm.
“Doc?” Jett looked over at me. “You’re a doctor?”
“You don’t even know what her profession is, Broker?” Luke gave Jett a deathly stare and my head bounced back and forth between the two of them.
“Well…”
“We only just met tonight, Luke. Back off.”
“Ah, so that’s why he doesn’t really know about us.”
My mouth dropped open. Oh my God. Not this again.
“We are not a thing! Stop saying that,” I shrieked.