by Denise Riley
“With what? I haven’t said anything. All I did was walk into the room.”
“I know what you’re thinking,” Tyson said.
“You’re a mind reader, now? You don’t know shit about what I’m thinking,” Marcus said as he moved into the room.
“See, there the fuck you go! Attitude. Just say it,” Tyson said.
“Fine. You’re an idiot!”
“You don’t know anything about it!” Tyson shouted back at Marcus.
“The hell! Tell me that wasn’t...”
“Hey! Are you two fighting?”
Jessica’s head appeared in the crack in the doorway. They both clamped their mouths shut. Jessica looked between the two of them, her body partially hidden behind the door.
“No.” Tyson and Marcus growled out at the same time.
She shrugged and walked into the room.
“Ok. Well, that’s good I guess. I don’t think you should eat on an angry stomach and I brought you food.”
“Yeah?” Tyson asked.
“Yes. Your favorite. Or at least it used to be.”
She’d brought him a bacon double cheeseburger with all the fixings plus jalapeno peppers. It was still his favorite.
“You remembered,” he said.
“At the rate you used to put them away, forgetting was unlikely,” she said deadpan. Tyson smiled and looked at her thoughtfully for a few seconds.
“Hey. I’ll leave you guys to it,” Marcus said. Tyson knew Marcus was annoyed with him. From behind Jessica and out of her line of sight, Marcus gave him a hard look.
“If you go, he’ll just eat yours too,” Jessica said as she dug into the bag for another hamburger.
“You brought me food?” Marcus asked in surprise. Jessica turned toward him.
“Yeah. I didn’t know what you liked, but I figured you’re a guy so the more meat the better.”
“Thanks,” Marcus said a little bashfully. He took the offered burger.
Tyson thought Jessica might be well on her way to endearing herself to Jones.
“You’re welcome,” she said. Jessica set drinks down on the table in his room. She missed the other look that passed between Tyson and Marcus, too. “You boys enjoy. I have to get back to work.”
“You’re not eating?” Tyson asked.
“No. I just wanted to bring you two some dinner.” She walked forward and kissed Tyson on the cheek. “Eat...and no more fighting,” she said with a look and a tone that bordered on motherly.
She left, and Tyson and Marcus ate in silence. Tyson waited, though. He knew Jones wouldn’t leave it alone.
“I like her,” Marcus said. “Do you know what you’re doing?”
“Leave it Marcus,” Tyson warned.
He was ignored.
“Don’t start something you can’t or won’t finish,” Marcus said. “I don’t know what happened between you two, but she doesn’t deserve that.”
“I’m not playing games, here, Marcus. I assure you.”
“I don’t think you know cat shit about what you’re doing, Ty. You think I don’t know who you were talking to? Think I don’t know you hung up on her because you thought Jessica might be at the door? Tell her, Tyson. You told her you moved on. Tell her the rest.”
Chapter 10
“I have to get out of here.”
Marcus Jones got up and paced around his room again. He’d said those same words at least three times in the past few hours. He was bored out of his damned mind. It had been five weeks since the attack and, idiot that he apparently was, he was ready to get back in the field. Why? To get is ass shot at some more, he supposed. It wouldn’t make sense to normal people, but he was ready to go back to war. Even that would be better than sitting around thinking about shit he couldn’t change.
He’d already wandered around post. He’d talked to everybody he knew, visited Collins and some of the other boys, and flirted with all the GI chicks he had run across...even the less that lovely ones. Hell, he had already done all of that twice today and it was barely late afternoon. So, he was back in his room and his mind kept drifting to his teammate, Lassiter.
He and Lassiter hadn’t always gotten along. The very first time they’d met the two of them had almost come to blows. Both arrogant and hotheaded, they’d rubbed each other the wrong way from the jump. Nobody seemed to understand it. Tyson ordered them to squash it, but they just didn’t mix at all. If it wasn’t his mouth setting Lassiter off, it was the other way around. It had gone on for almost two months and had come to a head in the weirdest way. They’d been sitting around talking shit at each other and Marcus had finally told Kellan Lassiter what he thought his problem truly was.
“Why don’t you quit fucking around and get the heart of your problem, Lassiter. You don’t like me because I’m Black. I’m Black, and I’m higher ranked than your lily-white ass and you can’t stand it. You can’t stand Black people.”
“What?” Lassiter had asked.
“You’re a fucking racist,” Marcus had said in Lassie’s face.
“Fuck you! I am not a racist. I can’t be a racist,” Lassiter had replied with a stupid grin that Marcus hadn’t understood. It had pissed Marcus off.
“What? You got Black friends.” Marcus had snorted after that comment. “If you say some shit like some of your best friends are Black, I’m gonna hit you in your goddamn mouth.”
“Yeah, try it ass hole. Lieutenant or not, I’ll kick your ass from here to the front of this post. My best friend is Black and she’s my wife!”
That had given Marcus pause.
“Say what?”
“That’s right, idiot. My wife is Black, and so is my kid. At least he’s Black to everybody that’s stuck on color. So, fuck you with the racist bullshit.” Lassiter gave Marcus a nasty look. “You wanna know why I dont’ like you? I don’t like you ‘cause your ass is arrogant and entitled. I know your old man is an L-T-C? I bet you got your commission and your rank handed to you on a silver-effing platter.”
“Yeah, well, you’d lose,” Marcus had grumbled under his breath.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Lassiter had asked.
“Lt. Colonel Jones has never done a damn thing for me. Ever. He barely even acknowledges my ass. I have his last name only because my mama gave it to me and he wasn’t there to stop her. So, fuck you with the entitled shit. I had to bust my ass to get here just like everybody else. I don’t even know that dude.” Marcus had backed off from Lassiter. Talking about his father was not something he had ever enjoyed, and it sure as hell wasn’t something he’d expected to talk to Lassiter about.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. He left my pregnant mother to fend for herself. Told her it wasn’t fair to stick around with being gone all the time, married to the military. Truth was, he already had a family.”
“Fucking shit, man,” Lassiter had said. “Hey, look, I didn’t know. So, my bad.”
“Whatever,” Marcus has replied.
“Look, Jones. I don’t want any trouble with you. I guess now I know better. You’re just an arrogant ass. Nothing to do with your old man’s rank,” Lassiter was smirking at him, and Marcus shook he head at the man.
“Yeah, and I guess you’re not racist. You’re just a jerk?”
“That’s right,” Lassie had replied.
They had laughed it off and been friends ever since. Lassiter had told Marcus some time later that he didn’t speak to his father either. Apparently while Lassiter wasn’t a racist his dad was. He hadn’t approved of Lassiter’s relationship and subsequent marriage to his wife, Terri. Lassie had said he had not spoken with the man in years. He’d met Terri his senior year in high school and had fallen for her instantly. As soon as he had graduated he’d enlisted and the next year he’d asked Terri to marry him. Lassie had said he and his father hadn’t spoken more than two words to each other since the old man had told him he would never accept his marriage to that girl. Luckily her family had fully supported them, th
ough Lassiter had joked that Terri’s dad didn’t readily take to him dragging his youngest daughter out of town for the military life.
Marcus shook his head. Kellan had loved Terri more than his own life; their son Jake, too. And why wouldn’t he. She was smart and pretty. Terri was the best woman Marcus had ever met outside of his own mother. No matter how much he, Lassiter, and the boys hung out, she always welcomed them into her home. She always welcomed him. Marcus wished he could talk to her and tell her how sorry he was. Sorry he couldn’t have saved her husband, his friend. He wanted her to know that he’d be there for her and Jacob for as long as they needed.
They’d all been good friends to him, good to him. Marcus’ mother had passed away just after he’d been commissioned. His father rarely even acknowledged he was on the planet. He knew he had siblings, but he didn’t know them. Everyone else was gone. No grandparents that he knew of. No aunts and uncles to claim him. Lassiter, Terri and Jake, Tyson – they had become his family. They looked out for him, checked up on him, cared whether he made it home. Now, Lassiter was dead and Marcus couldn’t even be with his family to grieve with them. It sucked.
It had been weeks and it was still hard from him to believe Kellan was gone. Dead, from a war that seemed like it might never end. A war that his dumb ass was itching to get back into. Stupid. But he didn’t know what else to do. He didn’t know how to do anything else. The only thing he’d ever been trained for was war and strategy. His degree was actually in history and military science. As pathetic as it sounded, war was his life. Even more pathetic was that excelling in the Army was his way of sticking it in his father’s face. He didn’t see the man often, had never been deployed with him, but when they managed to cross paths, Marcus made sure the asshole knew he had made it just fine without him.
Fuck. He had to get out of the damn room. Too much time to think was definitely not a good thing for him. Marcus turned on his heel and went to the corner to grab he liquor he’d scored. He was going to find Tyson and get good and solidly drunk. He knew Tyson was probably with Jessica. They spent damn near every free minute with each other. Marcus didn’t really know what kind of game plan Tyson had, but he suspected the guy had better come up with one soon. Marcus had already told him so, but Tyson seemed to be ignoring him. He suspected that Tyson wouldn’t be able to ignore the reality of what was going on with him and Jessica Watts much longer. At the moment, Marcus didn’t care what the plan was or whether Tyson and Jessica wanted some alone time or whether he burst in on them butt-ass naked. He needed some company and, lucky them, they were about to fill the role.
******
“Damn it, man. You gotta start knocking!”
Jessica quickly pulled her shirt down and removed herself from straddling Tyson’s lap.
“Whatever. Ya’ll need to start locking the door.”
She grinned as Marcus continued to enter the room, totally nonchalant. He grabbed a chair and set a bottle of vodka down on the desk in Tyson’s room. It was not a small bottle.
“Lt. Jones, it appears you’ve got plans. To get drunk maybe?” she asked with a smirk at him.
“Yep. That is the plan. Thank you, Sergeant Watts, for not making me point it out myself,” he said with a wink, but his expression was serious.
“You boys want me to leave you two alone? You look like you could use a talk with your captain.”
Tyson was frowning at his friend. His expression was a blend of frustration and concern. The frustration Jessica knew was from the aroused state he was in after the stuff she’d promised to do to him just moments before as he’d had his hand up the back of her shirt. The concern she figured was for the sad countenance of his fiend, the usually jovial Marcus Jones.
“Nope, Jess, darlin’. I expect you to sit here and drink with us. Hell, if you’ve got a pretty friend, go get her and she can drink, too. As you can see, I have enough share.”
“Yeah, with an army,” Tyson said drily.
“We are the army, so there. And Jessica, I’m not kidding about the pretty part. I’m in no mood for entertaining homely girls.”
“Have you already been drinking, Marcus?” Jessica asked.
“No, but all the more reason to get started right away. Put that thing away and let’s get to it,” he said gesturing to Tyson’s obvious erection.
Tyson quickly shifted in his seat and gave Marcus a sheepish look. Jessica laughed out loud. Marcus Jones simply shrugged and opened the enormous bottle of liquor.
Jessica left briefly to go get Kendall, some food, and some chasers. She had no desire to consume large quantities of straight vodka or to drink on an empty stomach. She had duty the next day. Kendall was all to eager to join them, especially when she knew it would involve drinking with a couple of hot guys. The visual appeal of Lt. Marcus Jones had not gone unnoticed by her, and, since the end of her ruined marriage, Kendall was open to casual possibilities on occasion.
They had returned to find the guys already relaxed and laughing. Jessica had sat on the bed with Tyson, but with some distance between them, but he’d soon dragged her next to his side. He kept his hands on her, rubbing her thigh or the back of her neck. She tried not to be so pleased by it, but she was. She was too pleased she knew, but all the time they’d been spending together in the last several days made her happy.
Kendall and Marcus sat facing them in the two chairs in the room. They both had their feet up on the edge of the bed. Kendall watched Marcus a lot. There was no small amount of interest in her gaze. Marcus didn’t pretend not to see it, from what Jessica could tell. But he seemed to keep his usual degree of flirting tamped down. He didn’t shut Kendall down, but didn’t seem to be up to making something happen in the current night.
They talked and laughed. They told stories about their time in training. They traded war stories, literally, and talked about what they’d rather be doing if they weren’t in Afghanistan. Marcus seemed to relax all the more and when Tyson asked him what was really up with him and the drinking, he confessed about his thoughts of their teammate, Lassiter, and his family. Every one of them understood and empathized. They had all lost friends. They all had fears of losing more.
They were listening to music on Tyson’s computer when an Internet call started to ring through. Tyson got up to look at the screen, but he didn’t answer. When the computer chirped a couple more times during the night, Jessica told Tyson he should just answer. But, he assured her it wasn’t important and could wait until the next day. She saw Marcus give him a raised brow and a look that she couldn’t interpret, but she was tipsy and didn’t dwell on it.
They drank a lot and had more fun than Jessica enjoyed among friends in a long time. It was almost normal, even if they could occasionally hear mortar rounds off in the distance.
“Hey, I better get going. I have a really early start. I’ll see you tomorrow?” Jessica directed to Tyson. Kendall had left about an hour earlier. She had early duty, as well.
“You better,” he said with a grin.
She got up from her position next to him and started to move toward the door, but Tyson grabbed her hand. He pulled her back to him and then down until she was bent over his seated position with her mouth hovering over his.
“Geez, you two are whipped.” Jessica heard Marcus’ teasing tone as Tyson closed the remaining distance between their lips.
Tyson kissed her slow before letting her go with a grin and a wink. Jessica rolled her eyes at him before turning toward the door.
“Night, Marcus,” she said.
“Hold up, Jess, I’ll walk you back. I’m headed to bed, too.” Marcus said to her.
The walked out after farewells to Tyson with Marcus shutting the door behind them. As they walked across post toward her barracks, Marcus was silent. It was unusual for him so Jessica wondered if he was back to thinking about his friend. She asked him as much and was surprised to learn what he was really contemplating.
“Do you know what you’re doing, Watts?”
“Ahh...Doing about what?”
“With Ty. Do you know what you are doing with Tyson? Jessica, this is Afghanistan. What do you expect to happen when you leave? Have you two even talked about when you leave?”
“I know where we are. And, well, I’m not sure what we’re doing, exactly.”
“Explain,” he demanded. Jessica might have taken offense if she hadn’t known he meant well, seemed genuinely concerned, and had in the last few weeks become a friend.
“Marcus, I don’t know where this is going. All I know is that I don’t want to stay away from him. I know that I want to be with him, even though I don’t know where any of it leads.”
“And, what has Tyson said about all of this.”
“Nothing. I don’t push it.”
“Why? Tyson’s my friend, the best I’ve got, but you deserve...to know where he expects things to go.”
“Maybe, maybe not.”
“What went down between you two?”
“I haven’t explained it all to Tyson, Marcus, so I can’t tell you. I know you’re concerned, but this is between Tyson and me. I need you to leave it alone.”
They stopped walking and Marcus looked at her in silence for a bit.
“Fine. I’ll stay out of it. I can appreciate your position, but you take care.”
“I don’t intend to hurt him any more than I already have, Marcus.”
“I believe that, Jessica, and that’s why I’m talking about you. You need to take care that you don’t get hurt.”
They walked on and finally made it to her door in her barracks. Jessica watched Lt. Marcus Jones walk away. He was worried about her. She wondered if she really could take care of herself, watch out for her own feelings. Why wonder, she thought. It didn’t matter. Whatever happened, she was already fully invested in what she felt for Tyson. There wasn’t any way to slow down or turn back, even if she wanted to try. Whatever happened, she loved him. All she could do now was hope that maybe, just maybe, he could somehow feel the same.
******
Tyson pulled his computer into his lap. He hesitated and delayed, but ultimately ended up dialing the number back on the Internet calls he’d ignored while Jessica and her friend were in his room. He waited for the call to connect and the face of the receiver to appear on the screen.