Over the Line (3 page)

“Oh talk it up, Garcia. We’ll see who’s king of the climb.” He pointed at himself.

“Dream on, dude.”

There was a lull in conversation as she seemed to be content watching the scenery go by. He felt very comfortable driving in silence with her; they’d done it many times in Afghanistan. But he really wanted to know more about her.

“So what happened to you after you left the hospital at Bagram?” he asked as they hit the I-95 northbound.

“A couple of days after it happened, they took me to Germany, and then back stateside to Walter Reed. Then from there back home.”

“You look in such good shape now, I mean at the gym yesterday. It’s like you were never shot. How come you didn’t quit? You could have lived very nicely on a medical retirement.”

“Yeah, but I wouldn’t know what to do with myself. I want to get back in the field. It’s what I trained for, you know. I worked effing hard to make the special forces cut. And besides, what are the odds of me being shot twice? Fairly remote, right? At least that’s how I’m looking at it.” She turned in her seat to sit more or less facing him.

If she only really knew the odds of being shot again.
Wait until she saw his scars.

“How was the rest of your tour?” she asked.

He laughed, at first sarcastically, and then properly.

“What? What happened?” Beth leaned forward and poked his arm. “Tell me or I’ll break your arm.”

“You could try.”

“I guess I’d only get into trouble now that you outrank me, right? Tell me anyway.”

“Okay. Stop poking me!”

“Come on then! I love hearing other people’s war stories.”

“I was assigned to another unit after
our
fun night out. I only had a month or so to go, so I was looking for a slightly less exciting time. We had an interpreter with us to translate the radio chatter, who turned up to work in varying states of coherence.”

“He was drunk?”

“Or something. The Taliban had been victimizing the local interpreters’ families, so we basically had to take what we could get.”

“Fair enough. What happened?”

“We were in a regular patrol—you know, a hearts and minds, blankets and cookies run at a village—and we came under fire. I kept trying to get us out of range but they kept shooting at us. I asked the interpreter what the chatter on the radio was, and he said nothing, that they weren’t saying anything about us, or anything like that.”

“Yeah? What happened?” She leaned forward even more.

He smiled to himself. War stories were the best. Everyone had them; they were always fun to reminisce about. Mostly.

“It had been about two hours of us driving into fire and rocket-propelled grenades. Let’s just say, the last time I went out on patrol with you, was
not
the last time a vehicle I was in blew up.”

“It was you,” she said. “You were the jinx on us!”

“Very funny.”

“What happened?”

“After two hours of being pummeled by the TB, I woke up the interpreter…”

“He was
asleep
?”

“Yeah. Air support was an hour away and we’d already taken some minor injuries, so I figured enough was enough. I kicked him awake and made him tell me exactly, word for word, what they were saying on the radio. He said “It’s nothing, just numbers, like math… add a hundred, a hundred more, left a hundred…”

“Oh my God!” Beth shrieked with laughter. “All that time they were zeroing in on your location and he didn’t realize?”

“I swear, I have never come so close to killing someone in cold blood. Never. Seriously. To this day I don’t know if he realized or not.” Walker’s hands tightened around the steering wheel as he spoke. He was laughing, but he could still feel the tension just remembering.

Beth sat back in her seat and said, “Phew. That’s just crazy. No one was seriously hurt?”

“Not as bad as you were, anyway.”

Silence fell in the car, and James noticed the display on his dash was asking if he wanted to synch up an iPod. He pressed yes, knowing he didn’t have his with him, and that the car must be picking up the signal from Beth’s. A couple of seconds later South American jazz came over the speakers.

Beth sat up. “I feel like you just stole my music!”

“I guess I did. I have to say, this is a surprise. I had you down as a thrash rock kind of a person.”

“Why is that, exactly?” she asked.

He paused to think. “Actually, I have no idea. It’s just the vibe you give off.”

She visibly tensed, as if she was waiting for something, but he had no idea what he’d said to cause the reaction, or what he could do to quell it.

“It’s nice. Great driving music at least,” he offered, almost in question, casting a look to see her reaction.

She seemed to slowly relax, and she started tapping her foot in time to the music. As she relaxed, so did he. His hands unclenched but there was still tightness in his stomach where his sister and her crazy wedding was. Guilt was a terrible thing. He didn’t want it to ruin his weekend with Beth.

When he’d made the comment about thrash rock and roll, the music her guys usually played while deployed, she was suddenly scared that he was segueing to a conversation about her being strong and in charge. For some reason, guys saw how strong and in control she was in uniform, and figured she was like that at home, or in bed. Amateurs.

Her last date had been particularly disturbing. When a guy from a neighboring unit kept telling her, over sushi, that he’d been a bad boy and needed to be punished, she had faked food poisoning and grabbed a taxi home. A hundred-dollar cab ride. Just no. That was not her scene.

She wanted a man who liked her strength, but wasn’t intimidated by it. Not that she wanted a man right now. And even if she did, which she didn’t, there was no way she was ever going to deploy leaving a boyfriend at home. Nope. No way.

Jeez. Who was she trying to convince anyway?

Now her favorite song washed over her and soothed those worries away. This was just a climbing weekend. Nothing more. Although, God knew, if Walker put the moves on her, she would struggle to say no. Crap, she hadn’t been touched by a man in so long. Sometimes she just fantasized about it. Sometimes that was enough. As she listened to the music, she closed her eyes and pictured James’s face between her legs as they were being shot at in Afghanistan. Then she stripped out the war scene and put them in bed.

He was strong himself. God, he had to have been to carry her, as well as his backpack and both their body armor, out of that hellhole of a valley. He was taller than her and had much, much more muscle. She opened her eyes and cast a glance sideways. He wore a t-shirt, and the mere suggestion of a tattoo peeked out from under the sleeve. Maybe she should suggest he show her his, and she show him hers.

Down girl.

“What are you smiling about?” he asked, glancing over at her as he overtook a semi.

“Just the music,” she said, sitting forward again. “So what are we doing this weekend?” She figured she could do a search of the place they would be climbing and read some reviews on her phone from climbers that had been there before.

“I thought we could hit Whitetop Mountain if you’re up for it. It’s in Virginia. I climbed it once when I was young. My sister and I used to escape there,” he said.

She laughed. “Escape from what?”

At that second, his phone bleeped again. He grabbed for the phone but fumbled it. It somersaulted over the console and dropped to the floor. “Eyes on the road, Senior. I didn’t do a year of PT for you to kill me in a car crash.” Beth reached down between his legs to grab the phone. Her finger swiped the screen as she picked it up.

“Uh… sorry, I didn’t mean to.” She showed him the screen, but in that second it went black.

“What did it say?” he asked.

“It just said, ‘are you coming home?’ Something like that.” A trickle of coldness ran through her. “You’re not married, are you?” The text had sounded worryingly like the kind of thing a wife might send.

“No. No. I’m not married, and I don’t have a girlfriend. It’s nothing like that.”

Phew.

“What’s going on, then? Whose home are you avoiding?”

“The family home. Can you see who sent that? It had remarkably little swearing in it to be Sadie.” He glanced at Beth. “Sadie is my older sister. Can you see who it was from?”

Beth swiped the touch screen and went to the message. “Maisie?”

James was silent for a moment. “Really?” he asked eventually.

“Really.”
Who the hell was Maisie?

“My younger sister, before your brain starts kicking into gear,” he said.

“My brain was in gear before I got in the car, trust me. So what’s going on with your family today?”

“Sadie’s getting married this weekend. There’ll be hundreds of—”

“
What?
And you’re going climbing with someone you barely even know? What’s wrong with you?” She was sure there must be a good reason for him not to want to be there, but still.

“My family is super-complicated. The less time I spend with them, the more I can love them. From afar. From very afar.”

Beth couldn’t even get her head around that. Family was the most precious thing to her. She’d never known her father, but she, her mother, and Tammer had been an inseparable unit. And then when their mother died, it was just Tammer. Beth couldn’t fathom him not wanting to see his sister get married.

“I probably would have gone if I had a significant other. But turning up without one as a buffer, I would have spent the whole weekend fending off my father’s ‘daughter-in-law’ choices for me.” He leveled a look at her. “He once tried to push his own ex-mistress on me. Thought she was a suitable addition to the family. Came with the right pedigree.”

“He
what
? Do you live in a telenovela story? That’s… awesome! I mean, I’m sorry, I know it’s your life and all, but what a great story.” She laughed, then pressed her hand over her mouth. “I’m sorry. I just can’t imagine…”

“It’s okay. I see how absurd it is.” He laughed with her. It started out as a snort, then turned into a proper belly laugh. It was as if he’d only just seen the absurdity in it.

“Oh my God, I’d love to meet your family. They sound crazy. Tell me more stories.” Beth settled back into her seat with an expression of anticipation.

The rest really wasn’t as much fun. “My father runs this… business that he wants me to join, like my older sister did. I decided to join the air force, and he thinks I never see any front-line action.”

“Um. You have one of the most dangerous jobs in the air force.”

“I also lie to my father about almost everything to keep him from interfering in my life.”

“Okaaay…”

“My parents also want me to marry my ex-girlfriend. They’re really quite single-minded about it, so…” He stopped.

“So?” she said, feeling like she knew what was coming next.

“This is why I’m not going to the wedding. Every person my father introduces me to, and there will be a bunch, I have to wonder if they want to marry into the family, or if they want to offer me a better job than the one I have. It’s just too much pressure. Sadie understands. She’s lived through it and always did what she could to protect Maisie and me from it.” He shifted his attention from the road to his phone. “Or at least I thought she did. I’m going to call Maisie, see what’s going on. They’ve both known for months that I wasn’t coming; I can’t imagine why this is suddenly an issue.” He took his phone from her and placed it on the console. “Call Maisie.”

* * *

He was wondering if he’d misjudged his sisters’ texts. After a couple of rings, Maisie picked up.

“James?”

“Hey, munchkin. What’s going on? You know I already had plans for this weekend.” He glanced in Beth’s direction to gauge her reaction to the out-and-out lie. She pulled a face at him.

“I know.” She sounded miserable, and when she sniffed, his heart squeezed tight.

“What’s wrong?”

“I keep getting weird e-mails. Sadie does too, but she told me not to tell.”

James’s blood ran cold. “Did you tell Dad?”

“Sadie told me not to.”

He looked at Beth, who frowned at him. “What do they say, sweetie?”

He could hear her voice shaking through the phone. “The last one said that I looked nice in my bridesmaid dress. But no one’s seen it except mom and Sadie. I think someone must have been watching us at the store.” He could feel his heartbeat pumping faster than it had been moments earlier.

“Are you sure?” James checked his mirror and moved over to take the next exit.

“He described the dress,” she said baldly.

“Maisie. You have to go tell Dad.” He stopped at the top of the exit ramp and put on his hazard lights.

“Sadie won’t let me.” She was out and out sobbing now.

“All right, sweetie. Let me speak to Sadie. I’ll call you back in a little while.” He hung up and clenched his fists around the steering wheel. Hell in a hand basket. What the fuck was Sadie thinking?

“You should go. I should go. I mean. You should go to the wedding and make sure your sisters are okay, and I should just go home. You can drop me off and I’ll rent a car; it’s no problem. We can rain check this weekend,” Beth said.

No. Way. As on edge as he was after Maisie’s call, not being with Beth this weekend added a whole other layer to his tension. There was only one way to resolve this.

“We should both go to the wedding. That is, if you don’t mind. I know it won’t be as fun as climbing…” Suddenly, in his mind they were at the wedding, slow dancing, sharing a room…

Dragging his thoughts back, he changed his mind. His desire to be with her shouldn’t override the reason to go to the wedding. She started to say something but he cut her off. “I’ve changed my mind. I don’t think this is a good idea. I wanted to take you away for a weekend we could enjoy. Doing something we love doing.” He hoped she couldn’t read his mind. “Climbing, I mean.” He definitely meant the other thing.

But Beth seemed to also have made up her mind. “Oh come on. It’ll be fun. I will try my hardest not to embarrass you… unless, you know, you want me to throw down with the phantom e-mailer. Then I’d be totally happy to.”

“Aww, aren’t you sweet. Offering to beat up people for me.” He rolled his eyes at her.

“Hey, you never know. Or I could totally have to tear some scheming woman of your father’s off you. Or stop a jewel thief, or…”

“I have a nasty suspicion you think going to the wedding is going to be more of an adventure than it will be. It’s likely to be boring, embarrassing in one way or another, and filled with mildly to moderately annoying people. At best we’ll just need to beat some sense into Sadie, and watch after Maisie.” He turned to her, flicked off the hazard lights, and shifted into gear. But before he released the clutch, he asked, “Do you really want to do this?”

She stared through the windshield, but he could see the wheels turning in her head. “My only problem is that I don’t have anything to wear,” she said finally.

“Neither do I. We’ll hit the mall before we get to my parents’ house. It’s on me. You can buy whatever you’ll need.”

She grinned. “All right then. Wedding it is.” She rubbed her hands together as if she was a super-villain. “I can’t wait. A weekend in a telenovela. It’s like a dream. Tammer won’t believe it! Oh. I can pretend to be your girlfriend. Will that keep away the predators?”

He laughed. “Hell, yeah. Dream come true.”

A startled expression appeared on her face, so he covered. “I mean, having a girlfriend as a buffer zone.” He shook his head at himself. He needed to rein himself in.

“I don’t have a credit limit. So you can go telenovela-clothes mad.” He smiled. He was psyched to see her so excited and up for anything. Swallowing, he put the car back on the road and shot back down to the interstate.

“So I’m your girlfriend for the weekend,” she said in a breathy voice. “I kind of like that. It’s fast, and unexpected, exciting… and blissfully short.” She laughed out loud as she came to the end of her sentence.

He groaned. “You might not want short. You might end up wanting long. Like, really long.”

“Keep dreaming, stud. I like everything short, even my drinks. And don’t you forget it.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“But if I’m going to be your girlfriend,
for the weekend
,” she said meaningfully, “I need to know more about you.”

He gave her the highlight reel of his previous girlfriends, the nightmare with his own father’s ex, and what the family absolutely didn’t need to know. At the end, he gave a sigh and relaxed back into his seat. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“I won’t let you down, Senior. I’m going to be the best girlfriend you never had.”

He didn’t doubt it for a second.

“Just so you know, Henrietta will be there. The ex who my parents adore? She’s Sadie’s maid of honor.”

“Henrietta? Lovely name.”

“Lovely girl. Just not for me,” he said with a rueful smile.

“So what kind of girlfriend will pass muster, do you think? Who do I have to be? It doesn’t sound like an army sergeant is going to be a suitable fiancée for your parents. I mean girlfriend. Sorry, I have no idea where that came from.”

“You know what? This morning I wasn’t even going; just the fact that we will be there is enough. You can be you, or anyone you want to be. I actually can’t believe you’re being so cool about this.”

“Short of having me kill someone for you, I guess I kind of owe you, you know.” Her fingers plucked at the tights over what he knew to be her inner thigh scar. “And I can’t have you not see your sister get married.”

“Don’t say that. You don’t owe me anything. I didn’t do anything for you that I wouldn’t have done for someone else. That I haven’t done for someone before. You think you were my first near-death experience?” She hadn’t been, but nearly losing her had done a number on him from which he still hadn’t totally recovered.

She didn’t say anything, and more, her eyes seemed to be welling up. So he tried to break the tension. “Although I will say that yours were positively the first lacy underwear I’d been that close to on deployment. I mean you were totally my first.”

She laughed out loud. “I better have been.” She stopped laughing and went back to tapping out the rhythm of the music on her leg again.

He could feel his blood pressure rising the nearer they got to D.C. He wanted to throttle Sadie for not letting their dad sort out the threat. If indeed it was a threat. Thank goodness Beth didn’t mind riding in silence when there was nothing to say. A couple of hours later, he pulled off the I-495 to hit the mall. “We’ll stop at Tysons Corner and I’ll leave you to buy whatever you need. Three days and two nights. One day just hanging out, then the rehearsal dinner, the wedding, black tie evening reception, then on Sunday we’ll head back to base. Does that sound doable?”

Even as the words came out of his mouth, he knew it sounded overwhelming. It had seemed that way to him. He’d played with the invitation for nearly two months, so he knew the wedding details better than he knew his rank and serial number.