Fraternizing (5 page)

Before long, it
was time for lunch. The morning had seemingly flown by, and I was somehow able
to contain my sporadic erections whenever I looked over at Bennett, but the
frustration that had my body locked up like a stiff board was making me
uncomfortable.

"Attention!"
I called out, prompting the students to stand. "You are to return to the
classroom for a thirteen hundred formation. You are dismissed."

Everyone filed
out of the room, and while it seemed Bennett lingered a bit, I tried hard not
to look at her, instead focusing on the guys who were discussing lunch plans.

"I'm headed
off to Subway. You guys want anything?" Newsome asked.

"No, I'm
good. I'm going to the gym," I replied, feeling the need to burn the
tension away. It was now noon, and given that I had allotted an hour for lunch,
I felt I could do some damage with that amount of time.

"I'll go
with you, man. You sure don't want anything Alex?" Jensen asked, eyeing me
suspiciously.

"Bring me
back an Italian BLT with loads of onions and peppers. I really need to hit the
gym." I gave Jensen a pointed look, and he caught on, understanding why I
was anxious about getting away from everyone and everything associated with
this schoolhouse. He nodded his head, and the two of them made their way out of
the building.

I jogged out to
my truck— a black, lifted Dodge Ram—and hopped in, making my way
over to the gym and quickly changing before throwing myself down on the flat
bench and bench pressing my frustrations away.

I needed a strict
game plan on how to handle Bennett, and I needed it quickly. Trying to come up
with a way to handle her and keep my focus on my job was becoming more of a
task than I wanted it to be. I couldn't form any coherent thoughts; all I saw
were her toned legs, and her beautiful ass that rubbed against me, making me
harder than a fucking rock. Her long, flowing blonde hair, and that sultry
vanilla and fruit flavored smell came back to me in waves, and I yelled out as
I finished a rep and placed the bar back on the stand.

"Need a
spotter?" a familiar voice asked. I turned to find Castillo standing
there. She had a smile on her face that I couldn't reciprocate. I was too wound
up, too frustrated, and it showed through my short pants and sweat filled face.

"Not really,
but you can spot me if you want."

"You look
like you need a drink," she joked, instantly making me freeze.

I looked at her,
breathing hard, but not saying a word. Instead, I added another twenty-five
pounds to each side of the bar, bringing my grand total to two-hundred and
fifty pounds, and laid down, taking the bar from her and trying to lift my
frustrations away for the second time.

I lifted
furiously, breathing short, hard breaths with every lift. Castillo tried a few
times to take the bar after ten reps, but I couldn't stop. The extra weight
seemed to be doing the trick, so I kept going, focusing only the bar and
staring up at the gym lights that shone down on me.

"Done!"
I breathed, holding up the bar for Castillo to take. She took it, placing it
back in the holder and handing me a towel.

"What's got
you so riled up?"

"Nothing,"
I said, glancing up to her and finding her unconvinced. "It’s Monday, and
I drank too much this weekend. I need to burn it off." I wiped my sweat
off with the towel, turning and throwing it into the bin before standing and
walking over to the punching bags in the far left corner.

"Friday was
crazy. Is Newsome
alright
? I saw what happened."

I began punching
the bag relentlessly, picturing my own face and drilling it harder and harder
with each punch, figuratively punishing myself for getting caught up and not
being around to protect my brother.

"He's
fine," I said through a short breath, landing more and more punches on the
bag. "What happened anyway?"

"I don't
know how it started, but I saw some guy push him in the back, and he turned and
punched him in the face. The guy punched him back,
then
fists were being thrown everywhere. Smith grabbed Newsome, and Jensen ordered
them out of the bar while he went to look for you." She paused for a
second. "Where were you anyway?"

I stopped
punching and looked at her, breathing hard as sweat beads rolled down my face. "I
was nursing a beer and trying not to puke all over that bar," I lied, but
it seemed to placate her as she laughed and took her stare off of me.

"Alex
Cruz--drunk off his ass--having to nurse a beer. Never thought I would see the
day."

"Yeah, well,
those days are over. Never again," I said, throwing short, quick, but
powerful punches into the bag, releasing the pent up aggression that had
manifested itself in me since the morning. "Nothing good comes from that
shit, and as it is, Newsome could have gotten into some serious trouble."

"Well, Smith
was there with him, so I'm sure you're forgiven."

"I know, but
I don't like leaving my brothers like that. I had my celebratory night, so I'm
good."

"Suit
yourself. I'm off to the treadmill. Care to join me?"

"Naw. I need
to shower and get back, lunch is waiting on me."

"Sounds
good. See you later."

"See
ya."

I hustled off to
the showers and threw myself under the cold water. The workout on the punching
bag had definitely alleviated stress, but it hadn't taken it all away. While
beating my face to a pulp felt good, the impending thought of seeing Cassie
Bennett was back and looming large, causing all of that tension to seep back
into my body. I stood under the water, pleading with myself to figure out a way
to see her as just another student. It didn't work because as soon as I was
dressed and back in my truck, my thoughts shifted to her long blonde hair in my
hands while I worked my way inside of her. I wanted to peel out of the parking
lot and floor it back to the schoolhouse, but there were strict speed limits
and military police scattered all over the fucking place, so I drove back going
twenty miles per hour while thoughts of the girl who I wanted to erase from my
memory were moving a mile a minute.

Back at the
schoolhouse, I marched out to the formation without so much as looking in her
direction. I hated that she had such a powerful effect on me with only the
sight of her. We made our way in and Newsome started with the introductory
chapter on radio communications in the Marine Corps. I sat in the back,
plugging things into the computer while he and Jensen took over the class. I
wasn’t in the mood to stand before students today, so being the head
instructor,
I shifted the lectures over to the guys, freeing
myself up.

Before long, it
was 1530, and time to release the class for the day. I had never been so
thankful—thankful to get her out of my presence and thankful to find my
bearings and get a hold of myself.

Hopefully.

"Tomorrow,
at zero five thirty, you are to meet in front of the schoolhouse, in your PT
gear. That means your green, unmarked t-shirt and green shorts. You will run
your preliminary physical fitness test consisting of pull-ups, crunches, and a
three mile
run. You fail, and you will find yourself with
extra workouts until we feel you are ready to run it again. Do you understand
that?"

"Yes,
Sergeant," the class yelled.

"Dismissed."

The class filed
out, all too excited to leave for the day. I noticed Bennett and Ruiz straggling
behind, so I motioned for Jensen to come and handle the one who wasn't driving
me bat shit crazy.

"Follow me
to my office please, Pfc. Bennett," I called out as I walked out of the
classroom. She lagged a bit, but shortly after I heard her boots pounding the
pavement as she strode behind me.

"Hey,
Bennett," another voice called, making me slow my steps. I tried not to be
obvious by turning around to see
who
it was, but I
couldn't help myself. It was another male, and that annoyed the living shit out
of me.

"I'll catch
ya in a minute," she responded, never breaking her stride.

From my glance
back, I noticed that it was some shithead student by the name of Pfc. Dalton. I
recognized him from Smith's Data class. He was tall and slender, and looked
harmless, but the fact the he was waiting for her just didn't sit well with me.

I made my way
into my office, making sure to leave the door cracked open so as not to leave
myself in another compromising situation.

"Take a
seat," I ordered, motioning for her to sit in the chair directly beside my
desk. "Let's not pretend that we don't know who each other is," I
started, coming across much more harshly than I intended to. "We had a
night at the bar that will never happen again."

She sat still,
looking directly at me but never saying a word. Her big, doe-like eyes were
making me lose my self-restraint, and I swallowed hard before continuing.

 
"I should have found out who you
were before I ever made a move on you, and I apologize for that. But we have a
job to do, and professionalism is paramount here, so as long as we know where
we stand, and that those boundaries will never be crossed again, we should be
good. Do you understand that?"

"Yes,
Sergeant Cruz," she responded in that fair and delicate voice that made my
cock twitch again.

"Good,"
I said, trying to keep my erection from bursting through my pants. I could
preach to her about how that night was a mistake, but the reaction I had to her
was telling me otherwise. "And please remember the Marine Corps order on
fraternizing. We both stand to get in a world of fuckin' trouble if this ever
gets out. Do you understand that?"

"Yes,
Sergeant, I do." Her response and her expression weren't matching. She
said she understood, but that lustful gaze she had trained on me told me that
if she could, she'd lay down right here and let me fuck her until my name was
all she could remember.

I needed to get
her out of my office before I did something I’d regret.

"Good. Have
a good evening. See you bright and early."

"See you in
the morning."

She stood and
walked out of the office. I followed behind, stopping at the door. I didn't
want to tell her how much of a mistake Friday night was. I didn't want to spout
out the Marine Corps rules and regulations to her. No, I wanted to pin her ass
up against the wall and explore every inch of her enticing body.

Only I couldn't.

I couldn’t do
anything that had been filtering through my head since Friday. As I stopped at
the door, I heard Dalton greet her, further pissing me the fuck off.

"Is everything
alright?" he asked her.

"Yeah. I
just needed to fix some paperwork, that's all," she casually responded,
putting me at ease.

"Cool. Well
hey, pizza and Mortal Kombat in my room tonight. Classic style."

"Sweet. I'll
be there. Did you tell Angelica?"

"Yeah. She
already knows."

They were walking
away from the building as the conversation continued and that was the last that
I heard. I couldn't be more pissed. Dalton seemed to be worming his way into
her, and their brief interaction, the smile he gave her when he saw her walking
his way, was enough to put my irritation on overdrive. I walked back into the
office, slammed the door,
then
threw myself into the
preference sheets to send up to Admin in the morning.

Chapter 4

Cassie

"Ugh!"
Angelica yelled, viciously shutting the door to our barracks room. She walked
further in, ripping her cover from her head and tossing it onto her bed. I
stood, watching her overly dramatic display. She got out of her cammies,
leaving her green t-shirt on while throwing on a pair of gym shorts. I started
to walk back to the bathroom when she stopped me.

"Yeah,
thanks a ton, Cassie. Thanks to you, we'll practically have no life while we're
stuck in this shit hole town for the next six weeks."

I was already
frustrated enough with the way things had panned out, and her shit wasn't
making things any easier.

"Excuse
me?' I asked, deeply annoyed while moving closer to her. She had her arms
folded across her chest, glaring at me. "If I remember correctly, that
could have very easily been you in my shoes since you had no problem throwing
yourself all over Sgt. Cruz that night to begin with."

"Yeah, well
it wasn't me. And now, thanks to you, we get to be treated like kids while we
sit around and do nothing here in this hot ass desert. Why'd you have to kiss
him anyway?"

"I didn't
kiss him. He kissed me. And besides, that's really none of your fucking
business."

"It is now.
Now that my life is being directly affected because of it." She pulled her
ponytail holder out of her hair and undid her bun, roughly running her fingers
through her lustrously long brown hair. "No one in that class knows why
all of our club and bar privileges have been suddenly revoked except for me--
oh, and Sgt. Jensen-- since he practically threatened me and all." She
rolled her eyes as she brushed past me into the bathroom to retrieve her
hair brush
.