by Susan Stoker
Wendy rolled her eyes. “I’m fine, Jackson.”
“I know you are. I just think with him around, people would be less likely to take advantage of you like that bitch in the bar.”
Wendy refused to take the bait. Jackson had been complaining about how she’d let the other woman almost steal Aspen right from under her nose. She didn’t like to think about it.
“You’ve been talking to him every night, right?” Jackson asked.
Wendy nodded. “Just about.”
“I want the best for you, Wen. You weren’t able to have a real relationship when I was younger; it wasn’t safe for either of us. But I’m almost eighteen now. It’s time. I don’t want you to be alone when I go off to college.”
The pesky tears threatened again. “I’m not going to hook up with the first guy who asks just so I don’t have to be alone,” she told her brother. “I’m okay with being by myself. I’ve never been on my own, you know.” She said it in an upbeat, happy tone, when in actuality she was dreading the day Jackson would leave. She didn’t want to be alone, but she wasn’t going to go out and marry the first guy she saw just so she didn’t have to be. She’d just have to get used to it.
“I didn’t mean that you should. I just…I worry about you. You’ve never had a lot of friends because you were worried about someone finding out about me.”
“That’s not the only reason why,” Wendy protested.
“Yeah, that, and you were working two jobs to try to make sure we had enough money to eat and a roof over our heads,” Jackson said. “Look, I’m more thankful than I can say for everything you’ve done for me, but after Aspen left the other night, I started thinking.”
“Jackson—” Wendy started, but he didn’t let her continue.
“No, don’t ‘Jackson’ me. Let me say this.”
Wendy pressed her lips together and nodded.
“He’s exactly the kind of man I would love to see you end up with. He’s in the military, so he has a steady paycheck and health insurance. He’s not a deadbeat and he looks strong enough to deal with any shit anyone tries to throw your way. You told me he’s got a tight circle of friends who are also in the Army. They all have girlfriends or wives, so you could have an immediate group of friends. He’s close to his sister, which you know is a plus because of the kind of relationship we have. If you were with him, you could probably quit that stupid telemarketing job that you hate. You could even go back and get your GED and possibly even start on your degree, so you could do more at the old folks’ home. You’re still young…almost twenty-seven. You’ve got your whole life ahead of you, and I want you to get out there and live it.”
“And you think Aspen could help me do that?”
“Yeah.”
Wendy tried to come up with something to say that would discourage her brother from matchmaking, but she couldn’t. Every single word out of his mouth was something she’d already thought about herself. He hadn’t mentioned regular sex and having someone to share her worries about the law catching up to her, but she wasn’t going to bring those up.
Wendy pulled up to the curb at the high school and turned to her brother. “He might not end up liking me back. Besides, we just started dating.”
“He likes you,” Jackson said, meeting her stare straight on.
“I know, but that doesn’t mean we’re gonna get married or anything.”
“I’m not an idiot, Wen, but it’s been a long time since I’ve seen you so happy with someone. I saw how he couldn’t take his hands off you the other night. Every chance he got, he was touching you. Your hand, your arm. Even when you weren’t looking at him, he had his eyes on you. Not to mention the way I interrupted you guys…twice. Once on the couch when I got home and once in the kitchen.”
“I admit that we have good chemistry. But, Jackson, you’ll learn this as you get older, sometimes it’s just about sex.”
“Don’t do that,” Jackson said, the disappointment easy to hear in his voice. “Don’t blow this off as if you just want to have sex with him. I know the difference between lusting after someone and really liking them. Wanting to get to know them better, liking them for who they are. You like him back, sis. I know you do.”
She wanted to question him about who he liked and how he knew the difference, but right now wasn’t the time. Wendy’d had the sex talk with Jackson about four years ago. She’d told him all about condoms and even demonstrated how they worked. They’d both been embarrassed, but it had to be done. The last thing she wanted was for him to get a girl pregnant. She’d help him however he needed help, but a baby would definitely change his life, their lives, in a huge way.
“I do like him,” Wendy admitted. “A lot.”
Jackson grinned and reached for the handle of the car. “Then don’t hold back. Go after what you want for once, Wen. And get him to introduce you to his friends, get in tight with them. It’ll be harder for him to dump you.”
Wendy rolled her eyes at her brother’s teasing. She looked for something to throw at him, but he was already out of the car before she could find anything handy. He leaned in through the open door. “All kidding aside, Wen, he seems like a good man. I’m perfectly okay with you spending time with him. I’m almost eighteen, you can leave me home alone without fear that I’m going to drown in the bathtub or something.”
“Shhhh, you’re only sixteen, remember?” Wendy said, old habits hard to break as she glanced around furtively.
“I know.” He went to shut the door, then thought better of it. He leaned back inside and said quickly, “I invited Jenny over for dinner tomorrow night. Hope that’s all right.”
“Jenny? The freshman from the theater club?”
“The one and the same,” Jackson said with a smirk, then slammed the door and waved before jogging toward the front doors of the high school
Wendy chuckled to herself. “You go, Jackson,” she murmured, before pulling away from the curb and heading for work.
Chapter Eight
“Are you sure you’re okay with coming over to my place tonight?” Blade asked Wendy four days later.
“Yes,” she told him, then reached over and put her hand on his shoulder as he drove. “I’m looking forward to meeting your sister and her boyfriend.”
“I wish they’d get married already,” Blade grumped.
“You anxious to have him make an honest woman out of her?” Wendy teased.
“Nope. I want her to make an honest man out of him,” Blade returned immediately. He reached up and took her hand in his, kissed her palm, then laid it on his thigh as he drove. “Casey doesn’t need a man to make her life complete. She’s got an amazing career, and she makes friends wherever she goes. But together, those two just work. Even though Beatle hates bugs and Case loves them, it doesn’t matter. Their differences somehow make them closer. I know he worries about her when we go on missions. He’d feel so much better if he was married to her already, then he’d know she’d be protected and taken care of if something happened to him.”
“Is that how you feel?”
Blade looked over at Wendy and didn’t even worry when he felt his heart rate increase. Her hair was down tonight and she was wearing a T-shirt and a pair of jeans. He’d told her to be casual, and he loved that she’d taken him at his word. Even though she’d be meeting his sister and Beatle for the first time, she was herself, didn’t try to put on airs at all. She was wearing a bit more makeup than usual, and he liked the fact that, while dressed down, she’d still put in the effort to look nice for his friend and sister.
“I can’t lie, I do. There are some things I haven’t told you about what I do for the Army. What me and my buddies do is dangerous. There’s always a possibility that we’ll get hurt or killed when we’re gone. Money doesn’t solve the world’s problems, but it certainly does help. Having health insurance, the life insurance payout, and more importantly, someone from the Army to assist the ones left behind through the weeks after the passing of a loved one is comforting. To me
, Beatle, and to the rest of my friends.”
“That’s kind of morbid,” Wendy observed.
“No. It’s a fact of life. It sucks, no doubt about it, but if Beatle dies without marrying my sister, she’ll still mourn the same amount, but won’t have any benefits.”
“I guess I can see your point.”
Blade squeezed her hand. “I realize that too many GIs marry for the wrong reasons, but since Casey and Beatle love each other, and have no intention of ever being with anyone else, why not go ahead and get married?”
“When you put it that way, I don’t know.”
“Don’t even get me started on Rayne and Ghost,” Blade murmured.
“What about them?”
“They aren’t married either. Ghost wants his ring on her finger worse than anyone I’ve met…maybe except for Truck with Mary.”
“Rayne doesn’t want to get married?”
“Oh, she wants to, but she’s waiting for Mary. She’s her best friend, and I guess a long time ago they agreed to have a double wedding ceremony. So now Rayne refuses to get married without her.”
Blade looked over and saw Wendy’s forehead crinkled in confusion. “But I thought Truck and Mary were together.”
“They are and they aren’t. Truck loves Mary, and it’s pretty obvious that Mary cares about him right back, but she’s stubborn. For some reason, she’s resisting truly being with him.”
“Wow, that’s crazy. I mean, what if Mary wasn’t with Truck? Would Rayne wait forever to get married? That’s not really fair to her or Ghost.”
“I agree. It seems silly to me too. But I don’t actually think Rayne would wait if Truck wasn’t in the picture. I think she’s hoping that reminding Mary about their pact will help spur her into giving Truck a chance.”
“Hmmm. Still seems crazy to me,” Wendy said.
“You don’t know the half of it,” Blade agreed. Then, changing the subject, asked, “How’s Jackson? Anything else going on with those assholes who were bothering him?”
Wendy sighed. “Same old crap. They’re still hanging around. They’ve moved to parking across the street in the huge lot for that shopping center after the principal called the cops on them one day for loitering on school property. They’re still scaring the girls, but Jackson has tried to arrange for every girl who leaves the building after school hours to have at least one boy with her.”
“Good for him.”
“Yeah, except now those guys have it out for him.”
“What?” Blade asked, his voice hard.
“I guess they’ve made him their main target now.”
“That’s not good.”
“No, but he says he’s handling it. He claims that he doesn’t give a shit what they say to or about him. He just ignores them,” Wendy said, squeezing his hand harder than normal.
“He could always put a complaint in with the cops. That might help.”
“No!” Wendy protested immediately. “No cops.”
Her swift reaction assured Blade there was more to her reticence than a simple dislike of police officers, but he knew by now if he pushed, she’d deflect and not answer his question anyway.
The more time he spent around her, and the more Wendy refused to open up, the more discouraged he was starting to become. He wanted to take her in his arms and comfort her, tell her that she didn’t need to be afraid to tell him anything, but he couldn’t exactly do that while he was driving.
“Oh, but I have other news about him,” Wendy said.
“What’s that?” Blade was clenching his teeth together at the thought of Jackson being targeted by bullies. He hated that the kid was going through that, but was also impressed with his maturity in dealing with them. He’d said brief hellos to her brother over the phone in the last few days, but hadn’t seen him again.
“Jenny came over for dinner the other night.”
Blade’s head swung her way and he stared at her in surprise. “Really? You didn’t tell me that last night when we talked.”
She smiled at him. “Nope. Figured I’d spring it on you when I saw you today.”
“Wow. This is the Jenny from theater class, right?” Blade asked.
“Good memory,” Wendy praised. “Yes. That Jenny. She’s a lot younger than him, but he seems really taken with her.”
“She’s a freshman, right? So, he’s only, what…a year or so older than her? That’s not so much.”
He glanced over as Wendy bit her lip then looked out the side window before answering him. “Yeah, but he seems a lot older than her.”
Blade’s eyes narrowed. He could spot deception a mile away—the night at the bar with the whore notwithstanding—and he wasn’t happy that Wendy was still lying to him about something. Her brother’s age? But that made no sense. His frustration level rose a notch and he ran a hand through his hair in agitation.
“You like her?” he asked, keeping a close eye on Wendy’s reactions.
Her shoulders relaxed, and she looked back at him. “Oh, yeah. She’s polite and down-to-earth, and she really seems to like Jackson. All good things in my book. I wasn’t sure she should come over to our apartment, since it’s not in the best part of town and her parents are loaded, but Jackson was amazing. He said that she’d be safe with him. I swear, I almost melted.” She smiled. “When I left tonight, he was talking to her on the phone, helping with her algebra homework. He’s so good at math. I certainly didn’t get any math genes from our parents. But it’s a good thing he enjoys it, and is good at it, because he uses math all the time in the robotics club. Their current project is so complicated, the second he started telling me about it, my eyes crossed.”
“Are they still working on the robotic arm?”
“Yeah.”
Setting aside what she might be lying about for a second, Blade said, “Our friend, Fish, is missing part of his arm.”
“Really?”
“Yup. He lost it overseas. He’ll be in town in a month or so to see the doctors about getting a new one.”
“I’m sorry that happened to him.”
“You think Jackson would want to meet him? Maybe Fish could go to a club meeting and talk to the guys.”
“Oh my God, seriously? You think he’d do that?” Wendy asked, bouncing up and down on her seat in her excitement.
Blade chuckled. “I don’t know. But I’d be happy to ask him.”
“That would be amazing. Oh, but Jackson and his friends would ask him a million questions. He might not be comfortable with that.”
Blade’s smile grew, and he laughed until he snorted.
“What’s so funny?” she asked.
“Wait until you meet his wife, Bryn. She asks more questions and is the least politically correct person I’ve ever met. I guarantee there’s nothing your brother and his friends could ask that would embarrass him or make him uncomfortable. His wife has gotten him so used to all sorts of off-the-wall questions, he won’t even blink at whatever a bunch of high schoolers could ask.”
“Well, I’m not going to even tell Jackson about it until you get your friend’s approval.”
“That sounds good.” Blade pulled into the parking lot of his condo and parked. He saw Wendy taking in his place with big eyes.
“It looks fancier than it is,” he told her.
“It’s really nice.”
Blade thought he heard a note of envy in her words. He hated that she and her brother were living in the shithole they were, but at the moment, he wasn’t in a position to do anything about it. He would’ve loved to have volunteered Fletch’s garage apartment for them to live in, but since Fletch and his family were currently living in it, it wasn’t possible anyway. Blade didn’t think she’d agree even if it was available.
“It looks nice and homey on the outside, but as my sister keeps telling me, it’s completely boring and devoid of any comforting touches on the inside. Although I refuse to let her mess with it. She’d put flowers and shit all over the place. Come on,” he sa
id after he’d cut the engine. “Case and Beatle are already here.”
They climbed out of the Jeep and Blade met her at the front of the vehicle. He immediately took her hand in his, loving how it fit so perfectly in his own and how smooth her palm was. Whenever he touched her, he seemed to forget all about her evasiveness…and how uneasy it made him.
They walked hand in hand to the door of his condo and he opened it for her.
* * *
“I’m back!” Aspen yelled as soon as they were inside, and Wendy flinched at the loudness of his voice.
A woman about her height, with dirty-blonde hair, appeared around a corner and smiled at them. Wendy could immediately see the family resemblance between her and Aspen.
“Hi!” she said with a bright, warm smile on her face. “I’m Casey, this reprobate’s sister. It’s so good to meet you. Aspen has done nothing but talk about you every time we’ve gotten together.” She held out her hand and Wendy shook it.
They smiled at each other for a moment before a man stepped up beside Casey and put his hand on her opposite hip. He also held out a hand. “I’m Beatle. It’s nice to meet you, Wendy. Blade’s been keeping you to himself a bit too much.”
“Oh, but we only met a short time ago,” Wendy said after she’d shaken his hand.
“Like I said, keeping you to himself.”
Wendy smiled at him and felt goosebumps race up her arms when Aspen put his arm around her waist much as his friend had done to Casey.
“Shut it, Beatle. Don’t embarrass her.”
Wendy teasingly shoved against Aspen. “He’s not embarrassing me. I have a teenage brother, remember? Not much makes me uncomfortable.”
“See, Blade? I’m not embarrassing her. Now, wait until I tell her the story about the time in Djibouti when you had to piss so badly you almost wet your pants and—”
His words were cut short when Aspen moved faster than Wendy had ever seen him move before. He had his friend in a headlock and was dragging him backward toward what Wendy assumed was the kitchen. “Excuse us, sweetheart. Beatle and I are gonna go check out the steaks on the grill. I’m sure he screwed them up while I was gone…”