“I get it, but you need to cowgirl up!”
“I know, I know. It just really sucks. And I know it’s early, but I want to start planning and I need him to do that with me.”
“I’m always here. You know that, right?”
“I do,” Mandy said, her voice lightening up. “Thanks.”
“Anytime, prego. Hit me up later to let me know for sure.”
“I will. Have a good day,” she said, hanging up the call.
I grabbed my coat and bag and went outside to wait for Brady. I locked the door behind me and double-checked it. It was a sunny, mild day for late fall and I enjoyed letting the sun beat down on my face. Moments later, Brady came pulling up in his ugly truck. He got out slowly and hobbled to the passenger door to open it for me.
“You don’t have to do that,” I scolded. “Especially when you’re hurting.”
“I do have to,” he said, grinning.
I leaned in and kissed him before I jumped in.
“This is one of those little things your brother discussed with me and he thinks it’s something I should do, regardless how long we’re together.”
“Discussed or demanded?” I laughed.
“Demanded. Not that I wouldn’t do this for you anyway, but if I didn’t want to, I really wouldn’t have a choice.” His eyes got big. “Well, I’d have a choice, but I wouldn’t want the other.”
Shutting the door, he walked around the truck and climbed into the driver’s seat, fastening his seatbelt. “I’m not moving until you buckle up,” he threatened.
“I know the drill. I just wanted to be able to move, so I could help you feel better.”
Leaning over to the driver’s side, I placed my head on his lap and felt him twitch. I knew he was shocked. I ran my hand up his leg until it reached his package, just inches below my face. I began grabbing and rubbing it until I felt it growing beneath his jeans.
“Liz! No way,” he yelled. “I can’t drive with you doing that!”
“Sure you can.”
“No, really, I can’t. Besides, it’s early morning.”
“So?”
“I guess I have no point there. It’s just that we always do things at night.”
“You’re such a dork,” I laughed at him. “Then we need to embrace change.”
“I don’t know,” he said, shaken. “What if I crash? Or someone sees in? Or we get pulled over?”
“I’ll just say I dropped my contact lens.”
“You don’t wear contact lenses,” he argued.
“Like anyone would know that!” I shook my head. Man, was he dingy sometimes. “If you really don’t want me to, I won’t.”
“It’s not that I don’t want it.”
“Save it, Junior.” I leaned back up and grabbed my seatbelt. “It’s cool.”
“You’re mad, aren’t you?” he asked.
“Mad? No. It’s not like I wanted a mouthful of man meat first thing in the morning. I just wanted to make you happy.”
“You do make me happy, Liz. Everything you do makes me happy.”
“You do the same for me.”
“Okay, well, I guess I’ll take it,” he said, looking down at his crotch.
“That window passed, buddy. You can take it wherever you want, but it’s not going to be my mouth.”
“Dammit,” he said. “I guess I’ll learn never to say no again.”
“Lesson learned, bitch. Now take me to work.”
“Could you please stop calling me that?” he begged.
We walked into the mall together and separated with a kiss. The day was as expected. No surprises and nothing exciting happened. I met Brady for lunch as planned, which was the only highlight. I texted Mandy to harass her about later and she got back to me saying she was in. I was happy she was going to come out; she always made things more fun. The day dragged, until finally it was time to clock out. I left my store and waited for Brady in the food court. I watched as people passed by nonstop.
I felt like someone was staring at me for some time before I turned to look. I don’t mind if a guy wants to check me out, but it gets annoying when they think it’s okay to stare. I glanced over and saw Mike’s old friends. One from the party and another who worked with him. I glared, hoping they realized that I knew they were looking and would turn, or better, walk away, but they didn’t. They just stared me down and I could see them commenting to each other. I turned away and kept looking to see if Brady was leaving yet. I kept them in my peripheral vision, since now I didn’t trust anyone.
Finally, I saw Brady come walking towards me. His facial expression changed when he saw the concern on my face. He walked straight past me, without saying a word or giving a second look.
I watched intently, not knowing what he was doing. He walked past the two men and quickly turned, positioning himself behind them. He raised his muscular arms and aggressively slammed them down, one on a shoulder of each staring man. The two men jumped a bit out of their seats and looked up at Brady. I saw him push them back down to a sitting position and stick his head between theirs. I wished I could have heard what he said to them. They looked visibly shaken. Brady let their shoulders go and the men got up and quickly left the food court. Brady came back over to me with a big grin on his face.
“What are you grinning for? Something funny?” I asked.
“No, not at all. I’m grinning because I feel like I popped a stitch!”
“Oh, baby, are you okay?”
“Yeah, I didn’t really. I just feel like it. I saw Brandon and Tom staring at you and it pissed me off.”
“Yeah, I noticed.”
“I just wanted to make it perfectly clear that anyone else who fucks with you will end up just like Mike did.”
“That was kind of harsh, but I appreciate it.”
“I failed at protecting you last time,” he said angrily. “I won’t let it happen again.”
I hugged him, careful not to push too hard on his stiches. He’d been upset this whole time, feeling like he had failed me. I kept telling him that no one could have done anything differently. Even John admitted that Brady had done everything he could, and that he’d seen bigger guys drop from being stabbed.
“You are my knight, baby.”
“Thanks,” he said, and he kissed me hard. “You’re my queen. Now, let’s get out of here.”
“Sounds good.”
I smacked him on the ass to get him moving. He jumped, which made his stitches hurt.
“I’m so sorry. I wasn’t thinking!” I said.
Brady just shook his head and laughed. He grabbed my hand as we left the mall. I sent a text to Mandy to tell her we would pick her up at home in an hour.
Chapter Twenty-Six
No Worries
John
I hung up the Skype call and sat for a minute to collect my thoughts. I was mustering up the willpower to call my mom, Liz, and Mandy separately to tell them where my unit was going next week. I knew my mom wouldn’t take it well; she never did. I knew Liz wouldn’t be happy, but she would understand. I didn’t know how Mandy would handle it. Given the news she had just given me, I knew it wouldn’t go over well.
I had really been hoping to get home before Christmas, but it didn’t look like it would happen now. I’ll have to call them all tomorrow, I thought.
Throwing on my fatigues, I headed out to the other room to celebrate my news with my brothers. They were standing by the pool table, cheering, when I entered. Don tossed me a beer.
“I don’t know who the fuck would sleep with you,” he said, “but here’s to being a new dad!”
Six of my closest buddies stood before me and all raised a drink. I raised mine back to them.
“Here’s to being careless,” Joe yelled. “Now you’re a dad!”
Everyone laughed. I gave Joe the finger and chugged my beer. Having a beer was like finding treasure given where we were.
“Don, I’ve seen her picture,” Bill yelled out. “The little bit
ch has it hanging above his bunk at night.”
“What the fuck are you doing by my bunk at night?” I asked.
“Don’t worry about that. The point is, I’ve seen the picture and she’s fucking hot.”
"Easy, asshole," I said, giving him a look. “Boundaries, motherfucker. Respect the boundaries or I’ll be disrespecting your face.”
“Relax, big guy. I’m sticking up for you. I’m answering Don’s question, that’s all.”
“Cheers, brother,” Paul, our team’s sergeant, said, holding up his beer.
“Cheers, Sarge.”
We drank and played pool. The news was the best any of us had gotten all week. Many of the guys were nervous still about the upcoming deployment. Most of us had been there before, but we still didn’t look forward to going back.
I turned my attention to my brothers and our celebration. We had enough beer to keep the celebration going until the early hours. This would be the last time I’d have to drink with my buddies until we came back, hopefully as a whole unit. Unlike last time.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Third Wheel
Mandy
Grabbing my coat and purse as my shift ended, I was ready to get out. I didn’t want to spend any more time at work. Ever since I had found out I was pregnant, all I wanted to do was stay home to clean, organize, envision how I wanted to set up the baby’s room, and do it all over again. I guess I was nesting, already!
As I walked outside, I got a text from Liz saying she and Brady would be by in an hour to pick me up. I really didn’t feel like going out, but she was forcing me. After I closed her text, I noticed I had missed a text from John right before my shift ended. He said he was going to Skype me tomorrow with news. That’s it? He couldn’t say good or bad? He just leaves it at that? Now I have to fucking worry all night over this! I hit reply and asked if everything was okay, staring at the sent message for any notification. No delivery. Damn it!
Jumping in my car, I sped out of the parking lot. I wanted to get home in time to be able to freshen up and, if I wasn’t getting a reply, I just wanted to forget I had even gotten the text. Of course, I hit rush hour traffic.
This was normal and had never upset me before, but now I felt like I was sitting in it forever. My patience was thin lately anyway and John’s text was seriously eating away at me. Even though I had just talked to him, so it’s not like it would be bad news. Something just felt unsettling and my gut told me differently.
Finally, I made it to my exit ramp and swerved around the last few cars blocking my way. By the time I got home, I only had 25 minutes until Liz and Brady would arrive. I rushed inside and went straight upstairs. Just as I finished getting changed, my phone rang. It was Liz.
“Hey, bitch,” I answered.
“Hey, hooch. You ready?”
“Almost. You guys can just come in. I’ll be down in a few.”
“Sounds good; see you soon,” she said, hanging up the call.
Sitting down, I began reapplying my makeup when I heard the front door close.
“I’ll be right down,” I yelled.
“You already said that on the phone!” Liz yelled back.
It took me a few minutes longer than I’d thought, but I was finally done and ready. I headed downstairs and into the living room. My attention went to the couch, where I saw Brady’s backside covered by a blanket and two of Liz’s naked legs sticking out.
“Oh, what the fuck, you guys?” I screamed. “That’s disgusting. I have to get that cleaned now.”
“Don’t bother,” Brady said. “Our stank can’t be cleaned out.”
“Disgusting!”
“Oh, come on,” Liz laughed, as she pushed Brady off of her. “We’re just teasing.”
Brady got up and was fully clothed, minus his shirt. Liz got up and was wearing her skirt. She pulled it down as she stood up, laughing her ass off.
“Oh, that’s so not funny.” I shook my head. “I just pictured myself sitting down to watch TV and my pajamas getting wet or something.”
“Well, at least you wouldn’t have to worry about getting pregnant if you sat on the wet spot,” Brady joked.
“All this talk about wet spots is getting me hungry,” Liz said. “Can we go eat?”
“Oh my God!” I said, running into the kitchen to find the garbage can. I actually threw up. A few weeks ago, I would’ve been joking along with them, but now I couldn’t handle it. I finished and went back out, where they were still laughing at me.
“Great, well, you can blame yourselves for having to wait longer,” I said, as I walked back up the stairs. I went and brushed my teeth and gargled mouthwash. When I was done, I headed back down. Brady and Liz were both standing by the door, waiting. Brady handed me my coat.
“Sorry, we kind of forgot you’re going through weird changes,” he said.
I looked over and raised an eyebrow. “Changes?” I asked.
“What doofus meant to say is, things are affecting you differently,” Liz answered for him.
“It’s all right. It was pretty funny. I’m sorry I got upset. Normally, I’d be joking with you, but I can’t help myself. It’s like this little thing in me is controlling everything.”
“It’s all good,” Liz said, giving me a hug. “Come on, I bet you’re hungry now.”
We all laughed and headed out to the car. We grabbed fast food and rushed to the movie theatre. Sherlock Holmes was out and Brady really wanted to go see it. Liz didn’t care much, but she was going for him. I wasn’t really interested, especially since I was sure there would be a bunch of murders and dead bodies, and I had just seen a real dead body in Liz’s house.
We got to the theatre and bought our tickets just as the movie was starting. I begged Brady to stand in line at the concession stand, Liz and I went in to find seats. Rounding the corner, I was surprised to find the theater almost empty. Surprisingly, there were only maybe 15 people in there and the movie was about to start. Liz and I grabbed seats in a middle row, away from most of the other viewers. The lights dimmed and the movie started. A few stragglers came in over the next few minutes and took their seats.
Liz and I had our feet up on the seats in front of us when a couple walked down the lane and sat right in front of us. Motherfucker! I swear, every damn time! There’s a bunch of empty seats all around us, and they HAVE to sit in the two seats right in front of us! What the fuck is wrong with people? We dropped our feet and just looked at each other with evil rage in our eyes. Liz shook her head. Moments later, Brady came waltzing in and took a seat next to Liz.
“What did I miss?” he asked, handing Liz a bucket of popcorn.
She popped a couple kernels into her mouth. “Clearly, you missed the butter.”
“Oh, sorry, babe,” he said. “I’ll go back and get butter on it.”
He handed me a bucket of popcorn and a water and then grabbed Liz’s popcorn and put the rest of his snacks on the seat. He hustled down the stairs and back out.
“Seriously?” I asked.
“What? He knows I like a ton of butter on it.”
I rolled my eyes and turned back to the screen. We were still getting through the previews. Brady came running back in, up the stairs, and into our aisle. “Here you go,” he said, handing Liz her buttered popcorn.
“Thanks, but where are my chocolate covered raisins?”
“Shit. I forgot. I’ll go grab them.”
“No, it’s fine,” she said, pulling him back down into his seat. “I’m just kidding.”
“Oh. Okay, so what did I miss?”
“Just the previews. It’s just starting now.”
“If you ask me, you maybe missed your dignity, or possibly your manhood,” I said. Liz just laughed; Brady looked a little embarrassed. “It’s okay, peashooter.” I reached over Liz and put my hand on Brady’s thigh. “When you’re ready to become a man, give me a call.”
Liz smacked my hand off his leg and rolled her eyes. “You never cease to amaze me, bitch.�
�
Giving her a smirk, I turned back to the screen. We were about 45 minutes into the movie and I realized that I was actually getting into it. All of the sudden, I was happy that they dragged me out. I glanced over to give Liz a thank you smile when I saw some weird movement. She had placed her popcorn bucket on her lap so I couldn’t see what was going on. I leaned forward inch by inch until I could finally see around the bucket. Sure enough, she was tugging on Brady’s dick. I couldn’t believe that she was giving him a hand job, in the theatre, with me sitting right next to them.
Wow, Brady’s got quite a big package. Stop, stop, that’s gross.
Leaning back into my seat, I turned my attention back to the screen. I guess Brady might have noticed that I had looked over because, out of the corner of my eye, I saw him take his jacket off the chair next to him and toss it over his lap. Liz let out a quiet chuckle. Yup, they knew. I was a little embarrassed, but just ignored them and kept watching the movie. At the end, we were all silent and just walked out of the theatre and to the car. After we left, we decided to grab some tacos on the fly.
“Umm. That was a good movie, huh?” Brady asked, nervously.
“Yeah, some scenes halfway through were very ‘gripping,’” Liz said, laughing afterwards.
“Oh, cut the shit!” I said. “We all know you were beating his little guy, and I happened to look over.”
They erupted in nervous laughter. Brady turned red and made sure he didn’t make eye contact with me. Liz just laughed it off.
“And I hope that was just popcorn butter you were licking off your fingers,” I added, driving Brady’s head down like an ostrich burying its head in the ground.
“Oh, look, there’s the taco joint now. Saved!” Liz yelled.
“As long as Brady kept away from the ‘taco’ back there,” I said. “That would be too close for comfort.”
We pulled into the drive thru and placed our orders. I pulled out a twenty-dollar bill and handed it up to Brady.
To Love a Soldier Page 17