by C. C. Brown
“I have learned from them. Now go ahead and walk out that door because I don’t ever need you to come for me ever again.”
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Dalton stayed with me that night, begging the nursing staff to allow him to crash in the chairs. He said he couldn’t…that he wouldn’t leave me after having to deal with such a heinous monster, but my mother’s poison hadn’t come as a shock to me. She reserved a special amount of bitterness where I was concerned, but the way she was so open and free flowing with it had definitely surprised Dalton.
The next day was a lazy one. Although I was feeling much better, my wrists were still quite sore as was my face. Sleep was often interrupted by the nurses, but the images of what Allen had done to me haunted me at night, adding to my insomnia. The eerie sound of his voice as he viciously attacked me played over and over, leaving me gasping for breath.
I was lucky to have escaped that assault with only the injuries that I had. Had Allen succeeded with his warped plans, my soul would have been shattered, and I wouldn’t have been any good to myself or anyone else. The thought of his cock inside of me made my skin crawl, and I found myself desperately seeking anything else to make it go away.
Of course, as the true masochist that I found myself turning into, my mind traded one troublesome thought for another. When I was reliving the nightmare that Allen had inflicted on me, I was worried sick about Alex and how he was holding up. First Sergeant O’Hara seemed to be going for the jugular, and he didn’t show any signs of relenting. Our communication had been cut—Alex was placed on barracks restriction, and I was left in the hospital. As stir crazy as I was beginning to get, I could only imagine what he was going through.
Alex loved hard, and he had sacrificed himself, but I was afraid that no amount of preparing could have gotten him ready for the battle that he was about to fight. Our love had proven resilient in the throes of some testing times. I wasn’t concerned with if we’d make it. I knew that after everything we had been through we were destined to be together, but I needed to know at what cost.
The fear of Alex and me being split apart still loomed over my head. First Sergeant O’Hara said that I would be assigned at Twenynine so that I could participate in the investigation into the Allen, but that didn’t mean Alex was safe. O’Hara could pull a whole host of things, or he could leave him alone. After what I had witnessed, the latter seem highly unlikely.
So here I sat, in the hospital bed, yearning to get out, and get Alex back by my side. I wanted to snuggle up next to him and let him massage my head while I fell asleep. I wanted to smell that husky male scent that lingered on his caramel skin. I wanted to stare into his beautiful, honey hued eyes. Sadly, I couldn’t do any of that, and I wasn’t quite sure when I would ever have that option again.
Dalton had brought me some magazines from the seven-day store, leaving me with something to try and occupy my time. I had just gone through the third one when there was a forceful knock on the door. I looked up to find First Sergeant O’Hara striding into the room with a manila folder in his hand and a Staff Sergeant by his side. His dark, beady eyes locked with mine, draining the life from my body. His face…his demeanor had a way of killing me softly, and here he was doing just that.
“Good morning, Pfc. Bennett. How are you feeling today?” he asked, in a cold, dry tone.
“I’m feeling much better, First Sergeant.”
He looked around the room, then focused his laser sharp gaze on me. His appearance made me wholly uncomfortable, and chills shot down my spine as goosebumps sprouted all over my arms.
“I’m going to be brief because I have quite a few pressing matters to take care of. I asked you before if there were anything that you wanted to tell me, and you had nothing to say, but I’m positive you were protecting Sergeant Cruz. You may be new to the Corps, Pfc. Bennett, but you know and understand the rules. Fraternizing is a highly punishable offense and undermines the fabric of our schoolhouse. Cruz is strung high and will fall hard, but you don’t have to go with him.”
He looked to the Staff Sergeant who moved closer into the room and handed him a pen.
“I am giving you the opportunity to speak out. Instructors who find themselves in this mess often have power issues and seek to assert their authority over a Marine of lesser stature. You, Pfc. Bennett, are that Marine of lesser stature and Cruz is power hungry, looking to prop himself up. As a young Marine, you probably felt pressured, and I understand that. It isn’t easy to tell someone in a position of authority no, but if you sign this form, stating that Sergeant Cruz coerced you into this forbidden affair, and consent to testify against him at his court-martial, I will make sure that you remain free and clear to move on with your life.”
Tears sprang to my eyes and my previously chilled skin began to heat. My hands ached as the need to crack my knuckles filled me with unsettling pain. How dare he try and minimize what Alex and I had. I was sure he was well aware by this point that this was not just some random fucking that we had engaged in. He was a condescending, arrogant man, and in my moment of pure and unfiltered anger, I just couldn’t contain myself.
“First Sergeant O’Hara, you know as well as I do that Alex did not coerce me into anything. What you do not know about me is that I have a strong mind and use it quite often. I decided that I wanted to embark on this relationship because that’s what it is. So no, I will not be signing that form, and I will not be testifying against him. Alex is a good man and a great Marine. I’m not turning my back on him.”
He swallowed hard, and his face moved to a deep scowl.
“Well, have it your way, Pfc. Bennett,” he responded in a clipped tone. “You are a young Marine who had the chance to walk away unblemished, but since you want to be honorable and ride the wave with him, I’ll see to it that you both come crashing down. We’ll meet again, Pfc. Bennett.”
He turned and angrily stalked out of the room, and the Staff Sergeant followed closely behind him. My blood was boiling by this point as the tension in my body permeated throughout. I could tell he was going to try and bury Alex alive, and even though I was unclear just how far he would try and take it, I had to find a way to help him out of it as best as I could.
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Me: Please come on your lunch break. See if Sgt. Riley can come as well.
I texted Dalton because he could get to Sgt. Riley. I needed to get any sort of information that I could on Alex. Knowing him, he was cursing everyone out, probably punching a few things, and just making life miserable for any and everyone around him.
My heart ached with the thought of it all. Alex and I had never meant to hurt anyone. We had a strong attraction to one another that we simply couldn’t deny, and I didn’t regret what we had done because it led us to where we currently were—engaged. From the fallout with Jensen, to the attack, and now Alex’s restriction, I felt a sense of strength that I had never felt before. In my mind, if we could wade through all of that, and come out on top, surely we could make it through whatever lie waiting.
But I needed to get to Alex first.
I needed to hear his voice, to see his face, to feel his warmth.
Dalton: I’ll be there. I’ll see about Sgt. Riley.
The text broke through the excess of emotions swirling around in my head. If there were one person who’d been behind me from the very beginning, it was Dalton. He had been by my side from the very beginning, and I felt lucky to have him. The fact that Alex was at a point where he trusted no one, not even Dalton, kind of hurt. I was certain Dalton wouldn’t run his mouth, even if cornered and threatened. I trusted him implicitly, and had no reason to believe that he would go behind my back and turn on Alex and me. I did, however, believe that Angelica would smile in my face and speak behind my back. Castillo was also in her camp. The two of them had every reason to talk, and even with apologies, I just simply couldn’t attach an ounce of trust to either of them.
Would Jensen talk? My mind said yes because he was so vehemently against our relat
ionship, but something about him told me he wasn’t the culprit. I was sure Alex wouldn’t want to hear that since his feelings towards his friend had soured so greatly. Their friendship was nearly non-existent, and it was a sad state of affairs to know that they could barely stand to be in the same room with one another when they had once been as close as brothers.
My nurse came back in to take my vitals and give me more pain meds. I ate my breakfast, then slowly drifted off to sleep. I hadn’t been asleep long when there was a knock on my door and Dalton came strolling in.
“Hey, pretty girl.”
I blinked a few times, trying to focus on him as he smiled down on me.
“Hey, where’s Riley?”
“He said he would come in a bit. He has some things to take care of. Anyway, I’m here. What’s going on? Do you need anything?”
“No, I’m just worried about Alex. He’s so emotional, Dalton, you know that. I know he’s losing his damn mind right now, and I just hope he is able to keep himself out of more trouble. Have you heard anything?”
He shrugged his shoulders, then spread his lips into a half-hearted smile.
“I haven’t heard anything. It’s like the instructors are under a gag order or something and no one is really speaking about it. But I haven’t seen him at all today. He wasn’t with your class.”
“Shit! First Sergeant O’Hara is on a mission, and he’s not going to stop until he has destroyed Alex.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Well, if you said he wasn’t with the class, O’Hara had him moved somewhere. And he came here this morning and basically told me if I turned on Alex, then he would leave me alone. He wanted me to sign some stupid form saying that my instructor abused his power and coerced me to sleep with him.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes!” I shouted, feeling the anger from that infuriating encounter rising back to the surface. “He told me he would make sure I walked away free and clear if I turned on Alex.”
Dalton burst into a fit of laughter. I sat back and stared at him quizzically, annoyed that he found any of this funny
“What’s so funny?”
He worked to gather himself.
“I just see how pissed that made you, and I could only imagine what it would have been like to have been in here when he said that to you. Does he know that you guys are getting married?”
“I don’t know if he knows all of that. I didn’t see the need to make that information public for him, but he knows that Alex did not force me into a bed with him, and he also knows that the stupid form he brought in here with him can be shoved up his ass for all I care. He didn’t like it when I told him no, but oh well.”
“I just hope you and Alex actually get to be together.”
“What do you mean?”
“If O’Hara is hell bent on getting Alex, and he’s already pulled him from his class, he could try and get him orders somewhere when all of this is said and done.”
“Oh shit, I didn’t even think about that.”
“Yeah, that’s why I’d try and get married as soon as possible if I were you.”
“I can’t even speak to him. How the hell are we going to get married?”
“True, but if you get a chance you should do it. Because not only will it give you your best chance to stay together, but it also helps him with all of this.”
“How do you know all of this?”
“I asked my dad.”
“You told your dad that your best friend was sleeping with her instructor and got caught?”
He laughed. “Not in those words, but, yes, and my dad said that getting married will give you a fighting chance, though it won’t guarantee anything.”
I nodded my head. Alex had asked me to marry him on a whim, so getting married on whim didn’t seem all that bad, especially if it would help our cause. Now, my only issue was actually getting to see him in order to make any of this happen.
A gentle knock sounded on the door and in walked Sgt. Riley. He smiled. “Is this a good time?”
“Yes, Sergeant, come on in.”
“How are you holding up, Cassie?”
“I’m okay, but I’m worried about Alex, and I haven’t been able to get in contact with him, so I was wondering if you knew anything.”
He sat down in one of the empty chairs next to the bed and rested his cover on his knee.
“I don’t know everything and I’m working on finding out more, but Alex has been removed from the instructor roster and they have him doing busy work in Admin while he awaits court-martial. He’s also on barracks restriction. One of the Staff NCOs came by the house over the weekend to get his uniforms and other belongings.”
“Shit! I need to see him. I need to speak to him.”
“Well, they took his phone, and when I spoke to Gunny Chavez this morning, he said that O’Hara has him under lock and key by other Staff NCOs, and he has a no contact order with you. Gunny is feeding me this information, so I’ll keep digging, and if I can get Alex in touch with you at all, I will certainly do it.”
“Thanks, Riley,” I responded, feeling a flush of depression wash over me.
Alex was absolutely suffering, and I was partly to blame. The entire thing sucked to high heaven.
“When are they discharging you?”
“I think tomorrow. I guess I’ll be stuck in a barracks room too.”
“Yeah, more than likely, but hey, graduation is tomorrow, then I’ll get a couple of days off. I’ll see what I can do. Maybe I can get Nat to run middle man and see you or something?”
“That would be awesome.”
“Everything is going to be okay. I have faith that if any son of a bitch can pull a trick out of the bag, it’s Alex.”
For some reason, those words didn’t settle me, and instead, sent tears running down my face. Dalton swiftly moved to my side and comforted me, holding my head to his chest.
“What’s wrong?” Riley asked. “You’ve got plenty of people in your and Alex’s corner.”
Dalton spoke up for me, filling Riley in on my morning meeting with O’Hara. The more of the story he got out, the angrier I became and no longer needed the warm confines of his body. I got out of the bed and walked, releasing some of the pent-up aggression that was beginning to tear me apart from the inside out. My body was still sore with my chest and wrists still tender to the touch. Every movement took me back to that dreadful night, sending a few more tears gliding down my face.
“Hey, Cassie,” Riley spoke, making me turn around and face him and Dalton. “Gunny Chavez says that Alex is being represented by Captain Hedlund and that he has experience with cases of fraternization. I think he’s in good hands. Hold tight.”
“I’m trying to. I just know that the prospect of everything is killing me and, if it’s doing that to me, then Alex must be losing his mind. He’s a little crazy, you know?”
Riley laughed, and Dalton joined in. “Yeah, I know.”
The guys stayed with me for the rest of their lunch break before they left. Dalton promised to come back as soon as they were excused for the day. I was amazed and grateful for both him and Riley. Besides Alex, they were all I had. I hadn’t heard anything about Smith since all of this had gone down. I wasn’t sure if he’d had a change of heart since all of this had happened, but whatever the case, it was a little odd that I hadn’t even heard Riley speak about him. That made me nervous.
When Alex came back in a fit of fury about someone close to us running their mouth to First Sergeant O’Hara, he’d immediately pegged everyone around as a suspect, even lumping Dalton into it. I knew he wasn’t responsible for whatever got out, but now that I was thinking about everyone around me, I had reason to believe Smith could have spilled. He had walked in on me at Alex’s house and wasn’t immediately all right with what was going on between us. Then my thoughts slipped to Newsome, who must have been blindsided by it all because he wasn’t aware of what Alex and I had before he’d reported the sexual
harassment claims against Allen. He could have fed First Sergeant O’Hara red meat.
When Dalton returned that afternoon with a burger and fries since I had been beholden to shitty hospital food for so long, he shared a little more that he had learned.
“You better seriously PT when you get out of here. Sitting in that bed and eating that burger is going to make you unsat.”
“Shut up. I’ve been up and walking.”
“Sure.”
“Anyway, what else do you know?”
“Well, I know Sergeant Riley and Gunny Chavez went to see Captain Hedlund this afternoon. They said they were going to see about allowing Alex visitors. I don’t know how that will go, but they’re going to try.”
“Wait, he isn’t getting to see anyone?”
“I guess not.”
My heart sank. He was basically on solitary confinement when he got back into his barracks room. No phone, no visitors…just him, four walls, and ample space and time to think about nothing good, and slowly but surely lose his damn mind. I hated what had become of him, and how he was being used as the sacrificial lamb to prove a point for O’Hara. There was plenty that Alex and I probably deserved, but O’Hara was taking it to another level—almost like it was personal for him.
In my mind, and certainly in my heart, this was personal for me. I would do everything that I could to make sure that Alex wasn’t alone and wouldn’t bear the brunt of our actions.
“Dalton, you have to promise me that if they let him have visitors you’ll go and see him. I’m not so sure I’ll be allowed.”
“Won’t that be kind of weird?”
“No, you graduate tomorrow. You’ll be at Third L.A.R., and you’ll just be another Marine.”
He sat thinking for a minute.
“Dalton—”
“Okay, Cassie. Okay. I’ll play middle man for you.” A smile spread across his face. He couldn’t say no to me even if he tried.