Joe said nothing, only narrowed his eyes and glanced away. “Are you going to tell her that Hossein is looking for her?” he asked.
Eric stomped both feet to the ground and stood up so fast he almost knocked the coffee table over. “No!” he roared. “And don’t you dare say a word to her. My God, that is the one thing that she is so damn afraid of. She told me he won’t stop looking for her, and she’s right. That goddamn animal bought her and believes he owns her. He will hunt to the ends of the earth for her.” Eric started pacing, his mind racing a mile a minute. “Joe, does anyone else on this ship know about Hossein looking for her?”
Joe pushed himself up and stood with his hands on his slim hips. “Just Petey, but I’ll make sure he doesn’t say anything.”
“Be sure he doesn’t.” Eric paused briefly to run his hands over his dark facial hair. He knew he looked rough. Hell, his hair had to be sticking up, too. He really needed to clean up, shave. Sleep would have to wait. “Look, Joe, I’m tired. I need to clean up.”
“There’s another matter that’s just come up. And it’s quite serious.”
When Eric glanced over, he gestured in irritation. “What?” he snapped. It was the first time Eric had seen Joe have trouble putting two words together. He firmed his lips into a fine white line and gestured with his hand to sit, which Eric ignored.
“A charge has been laid against you for sexual harassment,” Joe said. He just stared at Eric, who was having trouble understanding what he had just said. Joe sighed and finally continued, “By Gail Carruthers.”
Eric could hear nothing but a buzz that seemed to vibrate up from the floor, shooting through him like a rocket. Time could have ticked by, for all he knew. Then his head started to clear, but he felt dizzy, as if he’d just been blindsided. “Huh” was all he managed to say, because he was stuck in a strange sensation, as though he were in a vacuum. He was waiting for someone to jump out and say it was all a big, sick joke.
“You heard me right. She filed a report of sexual harassment.”
Eric leaned back against his desk and crossed his arms. He wanted to hit something, slam a chair against the wall, grab Joe by the shirtfront and shake him and make him say it was a lie. But he did none of it. He crossed his arms and then glanced over at Joe, who appeared to have a ring of fire surrounding the sharp blue of his eyes. Finally, he said, “Are you fucking kidding me? This has to be a joke!”
Joe shook his head, his own eyes mirroring Eric’s fury. “Sorry. No joke. She filed the report directly with command. The admiral’s assistant sent me a copy. I guess Carruthers figured that if she filed with me, I’d try to bury it.”
Eric felt fire burn in his cheeks. His headache, which had just been a subtle pressure earlier, slowly building, now exploded inside his head to the point that he clamped his hands to his temples. “Why, that conniving, fucking, lying little bitch. I want her off my ship now!”
Joe kept his one hand braced on his hip and held his other out to try to calm and reason with Eric. “You can’t touch her right now. She’s not going anywhere pending an investigation, and just so you know, she’s already asked to have you removed as captain.”
Eric absolutely lost it. He couldn’t stop the string of curses from rolling off his tongue. As he finished, he winced as sobriety sank in at his own crude reference in comparing Gail to a donkey’s ass.
“Look, Eric, calm down. I’m just giving you the heads up right now.” Joe added, “They’re not going to replace you.”
Joe spoke calmly and evenly, but the more Eric thought about the ridiculous accusation, the more a burning hatred sizzled once again, pulsing through his veins until he thought the top of his head would blow off. “Just let them try and replace me!” He flung his hands in the air, then pounded his palms on the desk and winced from the sharp pain that shot up his arms.
“Look, you need to be smart about this. I know this charge is bullshit, and so will the higher ups, but you know how it is right now. There’s so much fucking media spotlight on assault on female personnel in the military that they simply can’t ignore it. We need to disprove this quickly and quietly and make it go away.”
Eric leaned forward, resting his palms on the desk, dropping his head in defeat. Then he pushed away and started pacing once again. “As soon as I do, I want that fucking bitch off my ship.” The words were intentionally sharp so there would be no misunderstanding.
Joe inclined his head. “I’ll see to it personally, with pleasure.”
“As captain of this ship, I want to see the formal complaint she filed.”
Joe pulled the complaint from the file on the desk and handed it to Eric.
“What I really want to know is this: When did this alleged incident happen, and what is it exactly that I supposedly did to her?” Eric scanned the pages of the report.
“She said it happened in sickbay—yesterday, as a matter of fact. Abby was asleep. You brushed up behind her and…” He paused to clear his throat. A telltale blush rose in his cheeks, which was so unlike him. “You cupped her butt, gave her a tight squeeze, and told her to go into the bathroom so she could, and I quote, ‘Let you fuck her.’ She said she refused and you threatened her with reassignment, along with putting her on report for some incident you would create if she didn’t cooperate.” Joe cleared his throat again and then rubbed his chin, looking damn awkward and a bit sheepish for having to relay the details.
Eric’s dark eyebrows raised—he felt the tightening in his forehead. He looked over Joe’s shoulder at the closed door, blinking as he tried to absorb such a tale. Jabbing a forceful finger at the papers he held, he said, “This whole thing is a bunch of crap. Who the fuck would want to fuck her? You’ve seen her. Shit, anybody in their right mind…shit. I can’t believe—” Unable to form a complete sentence, he began to laugh at the incredulity of the situation. The woman, he’d swear, was barely one step up from a homely mutt. He dropped the report on top of the file and walked away.
“You know,” he said, “I am so damn angry right now for having any woman on this ship. You know how I feel about women in the Navy, period: They don’t belong. Even when I fought so hard to keep them out, some of my superiors, you know, the ones who agree with me but won’t back me, they told me to stand down. I wouldn’t win that fight and needed to use caution when expressing my opinion. But to me that is just bullshit. I’m also aware of all the senior officers on this ship, how you’ve seen to it that they keep all the women billeted under their direct command well away from me.”
“Well, it didn’t stop you from shoving your foot in your mouth, though,” Joe said. “Remember that one petty officer—what did you say? ‘You have no business being in the Navy. You should be home looking after your husband and being a mother to your kids. Try being a good role model for them.’ Oh, yeah, and then my favorite: You said to that young lieutenant, ‘You have no business traipsing all over the world with a bunch of guys, trying to pretend you’ve grown a pair of man’s balls when what you are is just a woman.’” Joe leaned against the door and shook his head. “I’m afraid you may have pissed off the wrong one.”
He knew his reputation of being a chauvinistic bastard. The exact wording used by the women serving under him had most of them running the other way, but there had been one or two who had seen it as a challenge, a fun challenge. One in particular had done her best to find any way she could to get him into bed with her, and she had been the one to cross the rigid military regulations of fraternization. He had put her in her place, and not in a nice way. Hell Eric didn’t coddle anyone, especially women.
“Eric, you’ve always had issues with women. They’re not all like your mother or those that fostered you, you know. There are good, decent women out there. Don’t let this incident have you tarring and feathering all women again.” Joe cleared his throat as Eric tried to take in what he was saying. Right now, hearing any woman’s name left him with a bad taste in his mouth, except when he thought of Abby.
�
�So what really happened with Gail?” Joe asked.
“I dismissed that stupid twit as soon as I got there. I didn’t want her to wake up Abby.”
“Was Abby awake?” Joe asked.
Jamming his fingers in his hair again, he tugged and then closed his eyes. “No, I think she woke up shortly after.”
“So then it comes down to your word against hers.”
The reality hit Eric like a freight train plowing over him. Any situation without a witness became a he-said she-said, and for assault on a woman in the military, it could go either way. Looking over to meet Joe’s pensive gaze, Eric was very aware of his friend’s efforts to lighten the mood with a smile that seemed so pasted on it almost appeared painful. All the light had gone out of his eyes. Crap, this was really bad.
“Does the crew know?” Eric asked.
Joe shook his head and waved his hand toward the door. “Some of the officers do, but they know it’s bullshit. The crew doesn’t know yet, but I’m sure they will by day’s end. You know I can’t stop news like this. It’s impossible. You can be sure Gail is making sure everyone knows. You know, tell everyone, build allies, and do her damnedest to destroy you.”
“God fucking damn her. Why now, when morale is low enough with news of the extension in our deployment? You can bet the crew will be taking sides and cause problems, all right.”
“Eric, I want to talk to Abby to see if she remembers anything. Maybe she wasn’t asleep and she can clear up this whole thing before it goes any further.”
Shaking his head, not willing to budge, Eric gave a clear warning. “No, Joe, leave her out of this. She was asleep, and she is so upset that she’s barely holding it together. After last night’s close call, just leave her be. I don’t want her to know about this, anyway. My God, she’d probably hate me. I’m going to put a call in to the admiral and see what help I can get from him.”
Joe appeared to want to argue but then held both hands up in show of surrender, grabbed the file, and rapped it against his leg. “Eric, I know you’re angry. You have every right to be, but I need to warn you again: Be smart and avoid Gail. You are never to be alone with her anywhere on this ship. Don’t give her that kind of power. Okay?”
Eric was beyond furious and gave only a dismissive wave in response. Joe opened his mouth, and Eric knew he probably had a whole lecture and list of rules set out for Eric, but he was grateful when he spun on his heel and left, pulling the door closed behind him. He didn’t need to say one more word of where this was going. This was a serious charge that might not just mean the end of his career, which was his entire reason to live. He could be facing years in hell: Leavenworth.
Chapter Thirteen
Eric made half a dozen calls to the admiral and finally spoke with the young woman who served as the admiral’s assistant, stressing the urgency of speaking with the admiral right away. Eric had hesitated because he was well aware that the assistant had been the one to send over the report, but, to her credit, she wasn’t rude or abrupt. She was kind, and she even told him that she’d track the admiral down and see to it that he called back right away.
That had left a lump in his throat and clouded his black and white lines where women were concerned. He knew there wasn’t a chance in hell that he’d be able to get any sleep right now, short of keeling over from exhaustion. He also knew that when he was on such a short fuse, he’d most likely do and say something stupid. Eric couldn’t shake this feeling of helplessness, and he’d already worn a path in his carpet from pacing back and forth.
He grabbed the phone on his desk again. “Petey, I’m going down to the gym. Track me down if the admiral calls.”
Then Eric was out the door. By the time he was dressed in a pair of shorts and facing the eighty-pound black bag, he set a pattern of right, right, then left jab, pounding away at the bag. He allowed the force of the blows to rock the bag, chained and hooked to the pipe above. What was he going to do? If these charges stuck, it would mean the end of his career in the Navy. He had enough put away financially that he would be okay, but his life would be worth shit if couldn’t spend it at sea. What would he be able to do in the private sector? Who would hire him? What about Abby? How could he protect her now? He didn’t want to think about this or make plans, but he had to. This type of charge was a black mark that would haunt him for life, always there. People would always judge him. Even if he was cleared, everyone would always wonder if he had really done it.
Out of breath, he stopped and leaned heavily against the bag, sweat dripping from his forehead. His hair was soaked. For a moment, he felt as though his muscles, his bones, had aged far past his thirty-five years. He could not help the direction his thoughts were taking as they drifted back to Abby. God, what would she think of him if she ever found out about this? Would she feel hatred, maybe disgust? He couldn’t bear that thought. He cared for her more than he expected, and he realized it mattered what she thought of him. Concerned, he felt a desperate need to check on her for his own peace of mind, just to see how she was doing.
Pushing away from the bag, he used his teeth to rip the Velcro encircling his wrists on the well-aged faded gloves he donned. Dumping them in his bag, he grabbed a towel to wipe away the dampness on his face. He tilted back his head, sucking down the water from the bottle he had packed with his gear. Holding emptied it, then gasped for breath as he wiped his mouth with his forearm. Done and drained, Eric gathered his gear and dressed in just his shorts. He pulled on a t-shirt and yanked open the door.
Petey stood on the other side with a guilty flush staining his cheeks. Sighing, Eric anchored his hand over the top of the door to lean on it, his bag slung over his shoulder. “Are you watching me? Did Joe send you to stand guard?” he snapped.
Petey suddenly swallowed. The color drained from his face, and his eyes widened as if he’d just been caught with his hand stuck in the cookie jar.
Eric sighed. “I’m going to grab a shower, then head to sickbay, since I presume the admiral hasn’t called.”
As he turned away to pass Petey, the young man cleared his throat roughly and said, “I was real sorry to hear of what Gail Carruthers did, accusing you like that. Me and the boys know none of it’s true and would like to help if there’s anything we can do, sir.”
Eric stopped after a few steps and glanced back at Petey. “How well do you know her?”
“Well…not real well, but my friend Ernie Biggs in engineering says she hit on him a few times, only he didn’t like her, said she was trouble. He said she likes to recruit others to do her dirty work, makes things up about people. He said she’s got a dark cloud she carries over her.”
“What did your friend mean by ‘trouble’?”
“Ernie said she never does anything without a reason, like she thinks everyone has it in for her. He says she’s a real screwball.”
Eric wondered as he listened if maybe there was more to her background. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to dig. Quite often, women like this had skeletons stashed a mile back in their closets. Maybe she’d done this before and was now just getting good at it. That thought alone spiked the hairs on the back of his neck, bringing an icy wariness of how truly dangerous she could be. He knew he hadn’t done this, and everything about how she filed the report, her false accusation, it was as if she had planned it.… He stared at Petey hard and then glanced away, shuddering to think of what would happen to his career if he didn’t get this cleared up. Everything he treasured—his ship, his crew, his status in the Navy—everything about it had shaped him into who he was, and this bitch had taken him by the balls and would, if given the opportunity, shake him till they rattled. The more he thought about it, the stronger his heated feelings of resentment for Gail became.
“I want you to go talk to the XO and tell him what you told me,” Eric said. “Also, make sure you mention to him that I want him to speak to your friend Ernie, too.” He started down the passageway, his sneakers squeaking, and then stopped and turned completely around.
“Thanks, Petey, for all your support.”
The young man gleamed, puffed out his chest, and offered a proud salute. This time, Eric saw how deeply this man worshipped him, and that took some of the sting from the awful ache and loneliness that he’d been feeling.
Chapter Fourteen
Abby was sitting up in bed with her thick blonde hair neat and shiny, reading a book. When Eric shut the door, she was watching him with something deep and soft and loving, and it reached across the room, right into his heart, and squeezed until he thought he’d go mad if he couldn’t see her. It was beautiful, just like she was, and his throat thickened. He almost choked at how much it would hurt for her never to look at him that way again. That was exactly what would happen if she ever learned of Gail’s dirty, cruel accusation.
Something caught his eye over by the lockers. Larry was watching Eric with such awkwardness that Eric wanted to race over there and throttle the man. The way his eyes widened and looked away, well, he just hated that shit. Abby was watching him, and then she glanced over at the doctor and back to him. Her eyebrows rose, and he knew she picked up something. He just hoped she wouldn’t ask.
“Larry, don’t go anywhere, I need to have a word with you,” Eric said. Then he headed straight for Abby, feeling as if the floor would give out on him until he stood right beside her and she looked up at him with something that had him choking up: absolute trust. God, no woman had ever looked at him that way.
“Is everything all right?” she asked.
He couldn’t help but touch her. He slid his hand over her shoulder and his calloused thumb across her jaw, and she leaned into it. “Fine, Abby. I just wanted to check and see how you are this morning.” He tried to smile, but he also knew it didn’t reach his eyes. Not even close.
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