by Melinda Minx
“Curly, I—”
“Don’t!” he says, pointing down at me. “I’m going to charge you my regular fee now, I want a chunk of that Netflix money. I wasn’t going to charge you since we go way back, but since you are actively fucking this up and ruining my Christmas, I’m going to charge you for every penny of my time.”
“I was gonna’ pay you either way, man,” I say. It sounds weak next to Curly’s anger, but it’s true at least.
“Just keep your mouth shut to the cops, okay?”
I nod, and Curly storms out.
19
Andrea
“I can’t believe it!” Dad shouts. “They’re making him sleep in a damn holding cell? He’s a hero!”
I guess I don’t have to worry about my Dad liking Coal anymore.
“He’s got bail, Dad,” I say. “He’ll be let out first thing in the morning.”
“You should be outraged, Andrea!”
I’m too mad at Coal for messing everything up to be outraged that he has to spend one night locked up.
“I really need to get some rest, Dad.”
It’s only three o’clock in the afternoon, but the day has just drained me. I need a few hours to sleep so that I can reboot myself.
Dad keeps mumbling and pacing, and I just go upstairs and pass out.
When I wake up and step out of my room, I hear an unfamiliar woman’s voice downstairs.
I creep down the stairs, and when I get to the living room I see a woman with a microphone talking to my parents.
Rita is standing with her arms crossed off to the side, looking worried.
“What the hell?” I hiss to Rita.
“They wanted to interview us,” Rita says. “I refused, but Mom and Dad wanted to get the media on this.”
“...A hero,” I hear my Dad say. “My son-in-law is a hero! He served his country overseas, and now he protects my daughters.”
“Shit,” I whisper.
“I really don’t want to be all over the news as a victim,” Rita says. “It’s…”
“Is this live?” I ask.
“I think so.”
Damn it. How long until the media figures out about the time Coal protected me?
A guy with a headset gives some kind of hand signal to the reporter, and she says, “We’ll join the Engels family again shortly...after the break.”
The guy whispers into the reporter’s ears, and her eyes widen. Then she looks up at me, and an evil grin overtakes her.
“You’re the wife?” she asks. “Andrea. Can you tell me about what happened at Evergreen Cove? The attack?”
“What attack?” Dad asks.
“You all need to leave,” I say to the reporter.
“We’re not finished interviewing your paren—”
“Get out!” I shout. “Now! My family no longer wants to be interviewed. Go!”
I have to really act pissed to get them out fast. It takes a few minutes for them to unplug and gather all their equipment, but I manage to scare them off while my parents look around dumbfounded.
When the reporters are finally gone, Mom says to me in a frenzied tone, “Andrea, tell me right now what is happening? What attack?”
“I lied to you,” I say. “I had to. At least I thought I did. Everyone sit down, and I’ll tell you the truth about why Coal and I got married.”
Damien and Rita sit down with my parents, and I tell them the full story, starting from the snow storm. I don’t hold anything back this time—well, I don’t tell my parents about how good the sex was.
When I finish, I expect them to be outraged.
Dad shakes his head, then says, “So he saved you, too? He’s a hero.”
“He killed the guy, Dad.”
“The junkie who was strangling you? Good! I’d have killed him, too.”
“Roger!” Mom says, squeezing his arm. “Please.”
Damien shakes his head. “I realize Coal went off the rails...but I really can’t find a way to be mad at him for this. I agree with Dad.”
Rita’s eyes tear up, and she says, “I can’t imagine how scared you were, Andrea...You’re so lucky Coal was there for you.”
Mom nods, but doesn’t say anything.
My throat feels dry. This isn’t how I expected my family to react.
“We’ll give more interviews,” Dad says. “We’ll defend him. Let this go viral, you think the public is going to side with junkies and pieces of garbage like Aiden?”
“Roger,” Cynthia says, eyeing Rita.
“What?” Dad says. “He’s garbage! Scum!”
Rita starts to cry and runs out of the room.
“Nice work, Dad,” Damien says.
“I’ll go talk to her,” I say. “I’m really grateful to all of you for being supportive of Coal. He’ll be glad to know you’ve got his back.”
“Your family always will have your back,” Dad says. “That’s what family is for.”
“Hold onto him,” Mom says. “This marriage might have started out under strange pretenses, but you’ve got something solid here, Andrea.”
“Thanks,” I say, standing up.
I realize I should apologize to Rita before I get into anything else with her. I was a total bitch to her ever since she arrived with Aiden, and Aiden was not worth getting jealous about and jeopardizing my lifelong relationship with my own sister.
20
Coal
“Bail is paid,” Sanchez says, opening my cell. “You’re free to go.”
I stretch and yawn. The cell was a lot more comfortable than most of the holes I slept in in Afghanistan. A good night’s rest.
“Sanchez,” I ask. “You see anyone here to get me?”
“You kidding? There’s a fucking circus of people outside,” Sanchez says.
“Huh?”
“Yeah,” Sanchez says. “A media shit storm. You’re a hero now.”
I raise an eyebrow at him. “I guess I was asking if Andrea is here. My wife. She seemed pretty pissed off at me when you guys locked me in here.”
“Yeah,” Sanchez says. “She’s here with her family. They’re all here to get you.”
A media shit storm. Curly is going to be so pissed at me. Well, he’s already pissed at me, I doubt he could get much angrier than he already was.
I walk out into the lobby, and I see Andrea’s smiling face. Damn, she looks good, and—
She charges me, burying her head into my chest and wrapping her arms around me. I hug her back, and before I can say a word to her, her lips are pressed against mine.
I don’t object. Our tongues press together, and my hands start to wander.
I hear someone cough, and I break the kiss. Andrea’s family is all standing in the lobby, looking up at me as if I was Santa Claus himself.
Andrea whispers into my ear, “I told them everything. Everything.”
Oh.
Roger especially is looking at me like I’m some kind of savior. It’s making me feel awkward.
“So, uh, who wants go home and play some flag football?”
Everyone groans. Nothing like a bad joke to kill the tension.
Rita steps up to me, “Let me show you something.” She hands her phone to me.
I look at the screen and see the headline: Flex.ee Founder Beats Girlfriend, Hero Navy SEAL Flexes Muscles
I sigh.
“It’s great!” Damien says. “Aiden’s getting so much bad press, this will probably tank his company.”
“His idea sucked,” I say. “His company would have tanked itself, but now he’s going to have it out for Rita...for Andrea—”
“For you,” Andrea says.
I can defend myself from Aiden; it’s not me I’m worried about.
“Rita,” I say, handing the phone back to her. “You really want to look into that restraining order. I’ve got a lawyer I can recommend.”
“There’s a lot of reporters outside,” Roger says. “We want to sway public opinion in your favor.”
&n
bsp; “My lawyer’s good,” I say. “I don’t think that’s necessary—”
Curly’s voice cuts across the lobby. “I’m not that good.”
He introduces himself to Andrea’s family, shaking their hands, then says, “Coal, you have to go with this.”
I sigh.
Curly points outside, “Montero wanted to make an example out of you, this is the best way to combat that. The more that ‘Coal Winters’ and ‘Hero SEAL’ become interconnected, the weaker an example you are for Montero. She wants to make an example out of someone, not outrage the public by throwing the book at a hero.”
“I punched two guys,” I say. “Well, I punched the first one a lot, but all I really did was punch some assholes. I did a lot more than that in Afghanistan.”
“Good,” Curly says. “That sounds modest enough while still giving off a certain maverick image—”
“Jesus, Curly, I wasn’t trying to do anything, just telling it like it is—”
“Good! Perfect,” Curly says. “Go outside and do that.”
“Isn’t the whole reason Andrea and I got married so fast so that no one could testify to what happened? Now you want me to go outside and tell it like it is to the fucking media?”
Curly nods. “Yes, the details are already out there. Probably one of the cops who was there leaked it, you need to own that story now.”
Andrea’s parents smile at me apologetically. They can tell I’m not thrilled about this, but if Curly is right, they made a smart call by doing this.
“If they ask you about Aiden,” Curly says, “you don’t need to drag him through the mud too much. His public opinion is tanking as it is. Let him bury himself.”
“Get me in front of the cameras,” Damien says, “and I’ll drag that fucker through the mud.”
Curly laughs and pats Damien on the shoulder. “No need for that...let’s let Coal handle this. You guys have all done great already.”
Shit, if Damien and Roger want to handle the media bullshit, they’re free to do so. But no, the “Hero SEAL” will have to make an appearance, I realize.
I wish I could just go back to my cabin with Andrea. It would be peaceful and quiet, and then we’d fuck, and it wouldn’t be so quiet anymore. There’d be no reporters, no asshole Flex.ee founders, none of this bullshit.
I push the doors open and step out into the garish limelight.
“Coal Winters! Coal!” Reporters shout at me from every angle.
I hold up my hands and step into the mass of cameras. I give them my most charming smile. I’m smiling right at Justice Montero. If I want to have a peaceful New Year’s with my wife, I’ve gotta’ get all this bullshit behind me.
“Tell us about how you saved your wife!” someone shouts.
“She wasn’t my wife at the time,” I say. “Not yet at least. But seeing that man’s hands on her neck, knowing she may have had just seconds to live, all I knew was that I had to stop him. I’m not proud of how far I went, but I’ll never apologize for saving my wife. I knew I’d almost lost her, and I knew life was too damn short to go even another hour without wifeing the hell out of her.”
“So you had your lawyer marry you, in the police station?”
“Sure did,” I say. “I haven’t regretted it for a moment.”
The questions keep coming at me rapid-fire, and I do my best to come off as charming and personable, but I really just want to get back and spend some time alone with Andrea. So much shit has happened, and it feels like ages since I could just lay down with her and feel her body pressed up against me.
Shit, I feel myself getting hard, and I’m still on camera.
“That’s it for now,” I say, cutting off one of the reporters. “I gotta’ go eat some real food.”
21
Andrea
“I took your truck,” I say. “I thought we could get away for a bit.”
“Ah,” Coal says. “You managed to drive the truck all on your own. I’m impressed.”
“I only almost tipped it over three times.”
“Where we going to go?” Coal asks.
“I was...I was thinking we could go to my place.”
I can see how all the people around Coal—the reporters, my family—is getting to him. He probably could use some time alone to recharge.
I laugh. “You don’t wanna’ fuck in your parents’ house? With only a thin wall separating us from Rita?”
“Who said I want to fuck?” I say. “And do you really have to call it that?”
“What? Fucking?”
“Yes. We’re married.”
“This marriage,” Coal says, “it just keeps getting more and more real, doesn’t it? I think I’m getting close to being able to make love to you.”
“Did you just stealth use the L -word on me?”
He flashes me an infuriating smirk, then says, “Let me drive.”
He pushes past me and gets into the driver’s seat. I buckle in and he starts to drive.
“Do you remember how to get to my place?” I ask.
“Yeah,” Coal says. “Men not only can drive trucks without tipping over, but we have a built-in and flawless sense of direction.”
I scoff and cross my arms. “Alright. I won’t give you so much as a hint if you get lost, even if you beg.”
“I won’t get lost.”
As we drive into Oakland, Coal suddenly cuts across three lanes.
“What are you doing?”
“You see that Denny’s?”
“Denny’s?”
“Yeah, the food they gave me in there was garbage. I wasn’t lying to those reporters. I’m starving.”
“Does Denny’s really meet your high standard for food?”
“Not really,” Coal says, “but I can order a shitload of food, and I don’t even have to cook. You good to eat?”
“Yeah,” I say. “I can eat something.”
We get a table and order coffee. Coal orders enough food for four people before the waitress can even go get our drinks.
I look at the menu. “I still need some time to decide.”
I notice some people whispering and continually looking over at us. Then I see the TVs are running the interview with Coal. With the hero SEAL.
“I think people are recognizing you,” I whisper to Coal.
He looks over, and an old woman who is staring at him smiles wide. Coal waves.
He looks at me with tired eyes. “I can’t wait to get back to my cabin.”
I bite my lip and take him by the wrist. “Coal, I don’t think I can live in a cabin forever. I know now isn’t the best time to tell you this...but I think we’ll need to compromise.”
“Compromise,” he says. The word sounds foreign on his tongue.
“Like...half and half? We live in the cabin in the winter, Oakland in the summer?
“I don’t think my job will let me work half of the year.”
“So by ‘compromise’ you mean for me to give up my cabin?”
“No,” I say, grinding my teeth. “But compromise can’t mean that I just quit my job either.”
Coal grunts. “I guess this fake marriage is getting real.”
“Yeah.”
The waitress—waitresses—bring in what is basically a table-full of breakfast food. Stacks of pancakes, a full plate of bacon, a jug of orange juice, sausages, hash browns—more food than I’ve ever seen one man eat.
“Well,” Coal says. “I gotta’ eat all this food, then I’ll think it over.”
He chows the food down systematically. Rather than taking a bite out of everything, he finishes one plate, then moves onto the next.
I feel incredibly stressed out as I watch him eat, and I lose my own appetite. The worst case is that Coal goes to jail, but even if he beats the charges against him, I have no idea what our life together would look like. I don’t want him to be unhappy living in Oakland, but the isolation of living in the Evergreen Cove cabin would kill me.
He finishes the food and looks ov
er at me. “You sure you don’t want anything?”
“I’ll eat later.”
Everyone starts laughing and pointing at the screen, then at Coal.
I look up at the TV and see a picture of Coal eating his food, with the caption: “Heroic SEAL eats heroic portion.” They cut in the clip of Coal ending his interview with, ““That’s it for now, I gotta’ go eat some real food.”
Coal looks up at the TV, then over toward the people staring at us.
One man looks down guiltily.
“Alright,” Coal says, standing up. “Who took the picture?”
Everyone laughs.
“No one gonna’ fess up? I was hungry, all right?”
He slaps some money down onto the table and takes me by the hand. “I’d tell you all what I’m going to go do now, but I don’t want that ending up on TV.”
He gives me a dirty look, and I laugh.
We get into the truck, and Coal drives. I’m so ready for him to fuck me that when he forgets one of the turns, I tell him the way without even giving him a hard time about it.
We get into my apartment and fight to tear each other’s’ clothes off. He pushes me up against the kitchen counter and rips my shirt off while I tear off his belt.
I don’t think we’re going to make it to the bedroom.
He pulls his shirt off and I rip off my bra.
My nipples are hard, and they press against his rippling muscles as he goes in to kiss me. I run my hands across his strong back as we kiss for ages. No one is here to rush us now; there’s just Coal and me.
I dig my nails into his back, and his kiss falls down my neck and down to my breasts. I’m tipping back against the counter while Coal pins me down. His lips lock around my nipple and suck, and his tongue flicks across me, sending shocks of pleasure all through my body. He tugs my pants down as he sucks my nipples, and I squirm to help him, kicking my shoes off without letting him break contact with my breasts.
As soon as my pants hit the floor, Coal slides down between my legs. My back is flat on the counter, and I just spread my legs so he can do whatever he wants to me.