Military Romance Collection

by E Cleveland

  “Really?” She smiles down at me and I’m pretty sure my heart skipped a beat.

  “Really,” I reassure her. “Don’t go. Let’s move together. I know a place we can go. A place where we’ll be safe, I promise. Come with me,” I feel like I’m proposing. I guess I am. I might not be down on one knee, and I might not have a ring, but I’m asking this amazing woman to spend the rest of her days with me.

  “I will.” She answers and I laugh as pure joy overtakes me.

  I pull her into me, drawing her into my mouth and kiss her deep. When Abbie stands up, she looks as awestruck as I feel.

  “Just one thing, though,” I interrupt the moment.

  “What’s that?” She looks down at me dreamily.

  “I still need you to sew up the front of this wound,” I jerk my head toward my bad shoulder and laugh again as Abbie’s eyes grow two sizes bigger.

  “Oh! I’m sorry!” She scurries over to the other side of me and grabs the needle dangling down my back, tying off that wound.

  “Don’t be. You’ve made me the happiest man alive, Abbie. You never have a single thing to be sorry for.”

  As she smiles down at me, I feel a weight I didn’t realize I was dragging around lift from my soul. I know that things won’t always be perfect, but this is about as close as it gets with the perfect woman by my side, life is pretty sweet.

  36

  Abbie

  “Let’s get you out of these dirty pants,” I tug on Cole’s hand and he reluctantly stands up. Although, I’ve gotta say, he seems to perk up a bit as I unbutton them and tug the zipper down for him. He kicks off his boots and gives a shake, letting his pants pool around his ankles and steps out of them.

  I shamelessly let my eyes travel over his frame, but am left frowning at all the tiny scrapes and cuts covering him from the fight.

  “What’s wrong?” Cole peers down at me, but I don’t answer. I purse my lips together and lead him over to the bed.

  “Come lie down,” I’m the one giving him orders now, and I’m surprised when he listens. “I’m going to wipe you down and get you cleaned up.”

  He must be able to tell that I’m not about to take no for an answer, or maybe he wants me to take care of him for once, because he doesn’t protest.

  I pick up the dirty pot of water and toss it outside the door, I rinse it out and fill it back up with fresh, clean water before putting it on the stove just until I can see tiny bubbles form at the bottom of the pot. I’m not using this for sterilizing anything, so I don’t need to wait for it to come to a full boil this time. I pull the water from the stove with a clean cloth thrown on top and place it down carefully on the small table Cole carved from a tree stump beside the bed.

  “You don’t have to do this,” Cole murmurs.

  “I want to,” I quiet him, submerging the cloth in the warm water I wring it out and begin wiping down his scrapes carefully.

  The backs of his arms are covered in what my mother used to call ’road rash’ when I came home with tears streaked down my dusty face and this pattern on my knees after wiping out on my rollerblades.

  If it’s hurting Cole for me to clean him up, he’s hiding it well. Then again, I’d expect nothing less from him. I’ve never met a tougher man in my life.

  The rest of his torso is fine, but he managed to get a cut along his hip during his scuffle on the ground. I tenderly clean it out with the cloth, being careful not to tear any of the skin. When I finally finish, I look at Cole and he’s watching me so closely.

  “What?” I can’t help but smile. The way he’s looking at me would make any woman blush.

  “Nothing, I’m just, I’m so lucky to have you,” he doesn’t blink as he looks into my eyes earnestly.

  “I feel the same way,” I admit.

  Then I see it. His heart isn’t the only thing full of gratitude for me. His cock is growing taller and fuller by the second. I can’t help but stare as it transforms like an inflatable Christmas tree, pumping up and becoming straight and thick. The only difference is, no one usually gets this excited for the tree.

  “You know, I’m feeling awfully exposed here with you staring at my cock like that. How about you put that pot away and join me?” Cole’s voice is deep and rumbling with desire.

  I nod, licking my lips. I quickly dispose of my sponge bath and don’t hesitate to strip off my clothes and hop into the bed with him.

  “Get the fuck over here,” Cole pulls me on top of him, sitting up in the bed until I’m straddling him. “You see what you fucking do to me?” He grabs the base of his cock and pokes the tip against my clit. I can’t help the moan that escapes my lips any more than I can help the way my hips jaggedly grind toward him. It’s instinct. Pure and simple.

  Cole pulls me toward him and I’m conscious not to put any weight or pressure on his wound as I comply, letting my tits fall in his face. His mouth hungrily surrounds my nipple, and I sit up on my knees more to keep pressing my clit against his cock as he swirls his tongue over it.

  I jolt upright as a pain bolts through my sensitive nipple. “Oww!” I cry out as Cole looks up at me. “That hurt.” I pretend to pout at the little nip he just gave me.

  “I guess I’ll have to kiss it better, huh?” His eyes twinkle mischievously and he twirls his cockhead on my clit making me forget what it was I was pretending to sulk over.

  His mouth travels between my pert breasts as he drags his tongue down one side the mountain of my flesh and up the other side until he teases my other nipple the same way.

  Rocking my hips so I can feel his cock rub against me, I close my eyes and moan loudly, finally not afraid of my own pleasure, or the sounds that come with it.

  Cole scoots underneath me, lying back in the bed and my cheeks flush as I wonder if letting myself go like that is what did it.

  I’m flustered and unsure of myself, waiting for Cole to tell me why he suddenly decided to lie down.

  “Turn around and straddle my face, if you’re gonna get loud, it’s gonna be because you’re cumming in my mouth,” he tells me huskily.

  I feel a little self-conscious as I twist myself around and open my legs over his mouth. Is he looking in my ass? Am I doing any of this right? Before I can get too squirmy, Cole’s mouth is on my pussy, his tongue is thrusting inside my lips and with his good arm, he’s guiding me down, down, down to his cock.

  I flatten my body against his, my pussy flush with his mouth and my lips hovering over his twitching cock. I can’t believe how much I enjoy sucking on it. It makes me wonder if every girl feels this way about blowjobs, or if it takes the right guy to bring out your inner cock hungry slut.

  I embrace mine, desperate to let Cole feel half the pleasure he’s making me experience with his tongue twisting and furling around my clit. I open my mouth wide and slide his dick deep inside until I can feel the head cresting the back of my throat. I want to gag, but I force myself to breathe in deep and keep bobbing my head up and down his shaft, occasionally trying new things like flickering my tongue over the tip of him as I feel my body get closer and closer to my orgasm.

  Cole uses both hands to grip my hips and pulls me down onto his mouth, relentlessly battering my clit with his tongue as I writhe against him in pleasure. The bliss overwhelms me, my mouth opens wide as I scream out with ecstasy and Cole’s cock drops out, covered in my saliva.

  I shudder against his face, twisting and convulsing like a possessed woman. Finally, the pleasure stops coursing through me and Cole rolls me off of him, “Get back up here,” it isn’t a request. I’m only too happy to comply as I start to straddle his legs again. “No, turn around, I want to watch that sweet ass bounce on me as I fuck you,” he orders and I turn away from him.

  Cole lowers me down onto his shaft and I grind down on his cock until he’s inside me. After all the fucking we’ve been doing, the pain of that first time, brief though it was, is long gone. Now it’s nothing but bliss as he thrusts inside me.

  “Ride me,” he slaps my
ass and I slide up and down his shaft, bouncing my ass on him hard as I bottom out on his dick with each thrust. He feels so thick inside me, like I’m completely filled up by him, but what I really want to be filled up by is his cum.

  My body is hungry for it as I bounce my ass off his body over and over, each time bringing myself up almost to the tip and then sliding back down like a stripper down a pole.

  Cole opens my ass cheeks, watching what is his and only his fuck him. My first and my last. That’s what I always knew he would be, but it feels so much more real now. Suddenly I can feel Cole’s thumb pressed against my asshole. Not like he’s trying to press it inside me, but just like he’s applying enough pressure to overwhelm me. It works, my pussy starts contracting around him, milking him as my orgasm crashes over me like a tsunami. The ecstasy spills over my senses until I can’t make normal noises. It hijacks my throat taking away all but guttural sounds and yips.

  Cole thrusts his hips, piercing me deep as he empties his seed inside me. I can feel it crash up against my walls, filling me. His hand slides down my back and he eases out of me, rolling onto the mattress. “Get over here,” he pulls me onto him. He doesn’t even flinch when I curl up against him, lying on his good shoulder. My hand travels over his chest. “I love you, Cole,” I whisper, even though I would gladly shout it to the world.

  “I love you too, Abbie. For now, and forever. And tomorrow, we’re going to head out to Alaska. I know a guy there, not just a guy — he’s the closest thing to a brother I ever had.”

  “Are you sure?” I frown at the ground, I don’t want him to see the uncertainty jolting through my veins like wildfire. “I’m not doubting your friend or anything,” I try to explain myself without insulting a guy I never met, but if Cole calls him a brother, I know he’s someone I can trust. “It’s just, won’t it be hard to hide at his place? I know he won’t turn you in, obviously, but what about his neighbors? Or the guy working at the local gas station or…”

  “We don’t have to worry about any of that,” he tilts my chin up to meet his gaze, “Sawyer lives in Alaska,” he says it like he just solved all our problems. I know Alaska is remote, but so is this place. And we found him here.

  “And?” I wait for the part where he magically explains how that means some random person isn’t going to report us and destroy our entire lives.

  Cole sighs and stands a little taller. “Look, Sawyer is salt-of-the-earth. He’s a solid guy. He’s the only person in this world, besides you, that I can trust.”

  “I understand that,” I nod, “I’m not saying he’s not. But we can’t just hide in his attic for the rest of our lives.”

  “We won’t have to.” He clenches his jaw and frowns, “Listen, Sawyer was on my first tour, we were fire team partners, okay? Joined at the hip every fucking day for over six months straight,” he explains.

  “I know he’s a good guy, Cole. That’s not my concern, it’s the fact that we can’t just go plop down in some suburb in Alaska,” I try to make my point but he puts up his finger.

  “Please, let me finish,” he waits and I nod. “He had a girlfriend, okay? And when the tour was over he was getting out of the military. He decided he was going to surprise her by coming home before she expected and proposing to her on their morning news station.”

  As he tells the story, I can’t help but feel like I know where it’s going. Like I’ve heard this before a long time ago, but I’m not sure why.

  “Anyway, he got there and she was pregnant with another guy’s baby. He was living with her and the whole thing was being put out on live television,” he sighs and his face pinches in disgust. “Of course, it went viral. He became a joke, for a while he was even a meme.”

  “I remember,” it comes back to me. It’s difficult to remember the exact details of the flash-in-the-pan fame that comes with becoming an internet clown. There’s just too many videos and pictures we all laugh at or share everyday to really put much thought into them. These tiny moments that we only care about for maybe a week or two, they ruin people forever.

  “He knew a place in Alaska, it’s off grid, he doesn’t have neighbors, Abbie. We’re not going to get found or tracked down there. We’ll be safe. The only thing getting tracked down out there will be the deer I hunt to keep our bellies full through winter.” His eyes glitter and I’ve got to admit, it’s sounding amazing. “I’ll build us a house. Our house. I’ll make sure it has rooms for us and our babies,” he smiles.

  “Babies?” I grin, “Is that so?”

  “Yep, you’ll be a perfect mom. Just like you’re a perfect woman to spend the rest of my life with.”

  “Thank you,” a lump forms in my throat for a second when I realize how bad I want all this. And how sad it makes me that my mother will never know my children. I sniff, pushing the thought free from my mind. She can still see me, I remind myself, I know she’s proud. “I’ll go with you. I want that life, Cole. I want all of it. With you.

  I nuzzle into his good shoulder and close my eyes, letting myself get lost in the promise of our future. I finally took a different path and when I got muddy and was tested by life, I found everything I could ever dream of. I found my courage. My conviction. I found Cole and as I drift off in his arms, safe from Cecil and safe from danger, I realize I found myself too.

  37

  Cole

  “If you’d tell me where you were headed, I’d know how to kit you out,” big Dave points at his extensive collection of hunting gear.

  “I can’t tell you. You know how it is,” he gives me a nod and I can see in his eyes that he knows exactly what I mean. “Besides, truth is, I don’t even know where I’m going to end up. I mean, I have an idea. I looked at a map. But I’m just tracking some random plot of land off it’s gps coordinates.”

  “Oh yeah?” He frowns at me, crossing his thick arms over his barrel chest. “You gotta GPS unit?”

  “No, but I can figure it out with a map,” I sniff. Dave doesn’t know my entire life story, but he knows I did time in the military.

  “Don’t get fucking defensive,” he answers, picking up on my tone change immediately, “you know from experience that a unit will make the job quicker. I have one, let me give it to ya,” he lumbers into the back of his room and rummage through some boxes.

  “You don’t have to do that,” I shake my head but he pulls it out and waves it in the air.

  “Got it. And don’t give me no shit about how you can’t or it’s expensive or what-the-fuck-ever,” he holds up his hand and makes his way across the room at me. “All my hunting days are behind me now. My knees and back aren’t what they used to be. I haven’t used it in years, so you’re taking it,” he slams it into my hand.

  “Well… thanks,” I clear my throat.

  “No problem. Now let me see what else I can find,” he walks away from me.

  I glance over the GPS and turn it on, punching in Sawyer’s coordinates. I hold my breath while it calculates and deflate when I see it’s going to take over two-hundred hours to hike there.

  Shit.

  My calculations tell me the quickest we could get that done is, what? Six or seven weeks? I’ve done long hikes. Rucksack marches and missions where I carried a hundred pounds on my back and beat my feet on scorching sand. Even in the worst conditions, I never had to try to carry enough supplies for almost two months.

  What do I even bring for that?

  “Hey, Dave?”

  “Yeah?” He pops his head out from another box.

  “You wouldn’t happen to have any freeze dried food, would ya?”

  “You know, I might,” he looks around and points to another box in the corner, “let me just see here,” he pulls one off the stack and peeks inside.

  I look down at my shoulder and remember that my first aid kit also needs stocking up. Luckily my shoulder isn’t bad. I’ve been keeping it clean, so no signs of infection. Time heals all the layers eventually right? Just like any trauma, the wound fuses, marking our skin
with the memories.

  “Breaking news. CNB has exclusive footage of a famous veteran soldier, Captain Mack Forrester, also known as “Captain America”. He seems to have suffered some kind of melt down, or perhaps a psychotic break. Steve? Can you explain to our viewers what we’re seeing here?” The news lady chirps behind me.

  Captain Mack Forrester? My Captain? How the fuck did he become a famous vet? And what melt down? I haven’t exactly been keeping up with the news ever since… well, since Blythe died. I turn and look at the screen as the guy who’s sweater seems too red for television tries to explain the shakey cell phone video playing.

  “As our viewers can see, Captain Forrester leaps out the back of the van and charges up to the vehicle stuck in this gridlock traffic,” Steve explains. My eyes are unblinkng, my jaw is tight, it’s hard to believe what I’m watching. What the hell happened to him? His eyes look wild as he beats on the window and then drags a man out onto the street and jumps in, like he’s a character in Grand Theft Auto or something.

  That’s not the guy that led us in Afghanistan. It’s clear our old Captain isn’t the one calling the shots in this video. He looks frantic. And exhausted.

  The footage closes in on his face and then zooms back out in time to watch the cops tackle him down and arrest him. “Holy fuck.”

  “Yeah, they keep showing that over and over. You can turn that shit off if you want,” Dave doesn’t even glance up at it, but he does look at me. “What’s going on? You okay? You’re sweating.”