What To Read After FSOG: The Gemstone Collection Part Two (184 page)

“Because I knew you were in college and I didn’t want you worrying about me. I knew how important school was to you and I wanted you to be successful.”

I looked at him with a puzzled look.

“Leila, I always knew what you were doing. Just because I was away didn’t mean that I didn’t talk to people around here.”

The words
I always knew what you were doing
ran through my head. Does that mean he knows about the all the men and booze? I began to feel uneasy about him knowing about my behavior. I always just assumed he left and never looked back. He must have noticed the look on my face.

“Babe? You ok?” He asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Keep going.” I shrugged off my insecurities.

With a huge exhale of breath he continued, “Where was I? Oh, yeah, my mother. Needless to say she was pretty pissed at me. She thought you had the right to know.”

“Well, I have to agree with her,” I said.

He shook his head at me. “My platoon was only supposed to be in Hawaii for a few months but our deployment got pushed back, and I ended up there for about nine months. Hawaii was beautiful,” he said with a smile. “The beaches and blue water were amazing. There were nights I wanted to call you so bad and tell you about it. Sometimes I would dream that you were with me and we were making love on the beach.”

I closed my eyes at his words and the butterflies were fluttering in my stomach.

He pulled himself up to a sitting position running his hands through his hair again. “When my platoon finally got deployed, we were stationed at Camp Leatherneck in Afghanistan. Afghanistan was nothing like Hawaii. It was either hotter than hell or freezing. No beautiful ocean breeze or ocean, nothing but sand and mountains.”

He paused momentarily. “The night of the bombing my platoon was called to a QRF in the middle of the night.”

I gave him a strange look.

“Oh sorry, a QRF means a Quick Response Force. My convoy was sent out to help a Captain who rolled his truck. We were sent to flip the truck back over and fix it. I honestly don’t remember anything after that.”

I gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. “Did anyone else get hurt?”

“Everything else was told to me after I woke from my coma.”

“Coma! You didn’t say you had been in a coma.”

I could feel my anger building inside even though I was no longer his girlfriend I thought I deserved a phone call.

“Will you let me finish my story,” he said with a smirk.

“Oh, I’m all ears. Please continue,” I said in an annoyed tone.

“I sustained the worst of the injuries. James who was on top of the truck was thrown off by the explosion and both of his feet were broken.”

He paused again taking a deep breath. “So when Dennis, he was the Navy Corpsman in my unit, was trying to save me, he was hit in the arm by shrapnel.”

He must have again seen the confused look on my face.

He smiled. “Sorry I keep forgetting you don’t know what I am talking about. Let me slow it down and explain. Our truck had ammo on it and after the bomb went off the ammo heated up and began firing off.”

My hands covered my mouth as I gasped.

“That’s when Dennis was hit by the shrapnel. Once the medivac helicopter arrived, I was airlifted back to base and immediately taken into surgery. The injuries to my lower leg were so bad they had no choice but to amputate.”

“You don’t remember any of this?” I asked rubbing the top of his hand.

“No, I have to rely on what the doctors tell me,” pausing for a moment, he sighed, and continued with his story.

Running his hand over his jaw he said, “My mandible was fractured in four different places and plates had to be put in. The trauma to my head caused me to be in a coma for over forty days, and I suffer from diplopia, which causes me to have double vision.”

“Double vision?”

“Yeah, I will have it for the rest of my life,” he said sadly.

“How long were you in Afghanistan after the accident?” I asked.

“I was in the hospital in Afghanistan until I was stable enough to fly, which was about a week. I was then flown to a hospital in Germany where I spent another eight days.” He paused for a moment. “Next I was flown back to the states and taken to a VA hospital in Maryland where I spent two weeks. During that time my parents were flown in and preparations were made for me to be transferred to Palo Alto, California. The day I was leaving for Palo Alto I woke from my coma,” he paused again and collected his thoughts.

“Even though I was awake, I don’t remember the transfer from Maryland to Palo Alto. I actually don’t even remember the first few weeks I was in Palo Alto. I had no memory and had to relearn everything.”

“What do you mean you had to relearn everything?”

“I had lost my memory and had to be taught how to form memories again as well as talk, read, and write.”

I was again trying to blink back my tears. It was tearing me up inside that while he was lying in a hospital bed, I was whoring myself out to any guy that would have me…

He continued, “My fine motor skills were non-existent, and I was in every type of therapy known to man. Not only did I need to learn how to walk again I had to learn how to walk with a prosthetic.”

My eyes scanned his face trying to figure out how he was feeling at his very moment. I couldn’t wrap my head around how he had been through so much yet still able to carry on. Yet I had troubling dealing with our break-up.

“Once I was well enough for physical therapy, I began busting my ass. I was anxious to get back to combat. I didn’t give a shit that I was almost killed I wanted to be back with my platoon.”

I felt my eyes widen at his words.

“Unfortunately, I found out later that I couldn’t go back to combat. I was pretty fucking pissed at first, and I wanted to quit.” I felt his body tense up as he spoke. “The only thing I really loved about the Marines was combat, and I couldn’t be there. My parents were the ones to convince me to stick with it. Now I’m training infantry to other Marines.”

He paused again searching for the right words. “Leila, I am only here for another six months or so. I’m here training for a new position. Within the next four months I should be getting my orders and find out where I will be stationed next.”

“Oh. . .” I said sadly dropping my head. “I thought you were home for good. I didn’t realize this was just a temporary stop.”

“Hey,” he said lifting my chin gently with his fingers. “I’m not going anywhere right now. It’s just me and you tonight,” he whispered as his lips caressed my lips pulling me back down onto the bed.

I
woke the next morning to find myself alone. My heart sank, was last night just a dream? I jumped out of bed racing through my apartment looking for him. There was no sign of him, he was gone. My heart was in my throat, my eyes filling with tears.

I began to replay last night in my head, and a wave of sadness fell through my body and then the reality set in that he was gone. I had lost him again. I began to gag. I ran into the bathroom and dry heaved into the toilet. I was so fucking stupid to think he was going to walk back into my life and everything was going to be as it was. I had fucked everything up four years ago, and I have fucked it up again.

I walked into my kitchen and saw the bottle of vodka and two shot glasses that had been there since last night.

“Fuck it,” I said.

I filled each of the shot glasses with the vodka and slung each shot down. I filled the glasses again and downed the next two. By the time I hit my sixth shot, I was seeing double and my anger was brewing. I stumbled into my closet to get my box of memories. I had shoved it so far back in my closet that I began throwing all the shoes that were in my way across my room. Once I recovered the box I laid on my bed curling myself up into a ball. I opened the box and began pulling the pictures out one by one.

Once the tears started I couldn’t stop them. I was crying uncontrollably to the point where I couldn’t catch my breath. I sat up in my bed and felt the room begin to spin. I closed my eyes hoping this would help, but it didn’t. I lay back down and felt my stomach begin to churn. I knew this feeling and shot out of my bed running into the bathroom. I barely made it to the toilet when I started to puke my brains out. My throat was raw from puking, and my eyes were burning from crying so hard. I sat up against my tub waiting for the feeling of nausea to go away. Once my stomach began to settle I reached over into the tub and turned the water on. Still sitting on the floor, I let the room fill up with steam.

Slowly, I stood up using the toilet as support. I leaned over the sink reaching for my toothbrush, globbing on the toothpaste in hopes of getting the taste of vomit out of my mouth. Once I was done scrubbing my teeth, I took my t-shirt off and cautiously stepped into the shower.

I stood under the water letting it rain down over me. Thoughts of Garrett and I came rushing back to me, his touch, his smell, the way he kissed me. I was fighting back the tears when the nausea came back. I sat myself down in the tub pulling my knees toward my chest rocking myself back and forth while the water pounded down on me.

The next thing I remember is hearing my name being shouted.

“Leila! Leila! Jesus Christ!”

I opened my eyes trying to focus on who was talking to me. As my vision came clearer, I realized it was Garrett.

“Garrett?”

“Yeah, Babe.”

I felt myself being lifted up. I was shivering from my shower that at some point had turned ice cold.

“Jesus, you’re fucking freezing. How long have you been in there?” He said wrapping a towel around me.

“You came back,” I said softly.

“Came back? Babe, I never left. I went to get us coffee and donuts. I ran into my uncle who talked my ear off for almost an hour. What the hell were you doing?”

“I thought you left me. I woke up and you were gone,” I said sadly.

“Are you drunk?”

“No, I’m pretty sure I puked it all out.”

“Oh Babe, what did I do to you?” He said pushing my wet hair out of my face.

“I could say the same thing to you,” I replied looking down at the floor.

“Leila, look at me,” he lifted my chin with his fingers. “I’m here. I’m not leaving.”

I felt my heart skip a beat at his words.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“Sorry? For what?”

“For everything. . .”

He cut me off before I could say anything else. Taking both of his hands he lifted my face and kissed me. His tongue gently caressed my tongue. My heart began to pound, and I felt my breaths become more rapid. Even though I was still chilled to the bone, I let go of my towel and let it fall to the floor. His kiss became more intense as he pulled me against his body. I began to feel that warm tingling feeling again.

I reached for the bottom of his shirt and pulled it over his head. His tattoos were stunning. I hadn’t really noticed them last night. Now seeing them in the light they truly were a work of art. I gently touched his chest and began tracing them with my fingers.

“I woke up and you were gone,” I said. “I thought I dreamt you last night.”

He put his hands on my hips and pulled me close to him again. “I’m not a dream, Babe. I’m here in the flesh.”

“Why, yes you are,” I said in a seductive tone. I was rubbing my hands all over his chest and stomach taking in each and every one of his tattoos.

“They are all so beautiful,” I said in awe. As I moved my hand to his rib cage my hand stopped and I took a ragged breath. “Oh. . . .”

He looked at me and then closed his eyes. He took a deep breath. “That was my first. . . It’s my favorite.”

I took my index and middle finger and began tracing it. It was the identical heart he made from barbed wire for me on our first Valentine’s Day. Inside the heart said
Leila
. He took my hand and put it on his chest, over his heart.

“I may have been gone, but you were always in my heart.”

He leaned over and kissed my cheek. His face felt rough from the stubble on his face. His lips moved to my mouth and then down to my breasts. He softly and tenderly sucked and nibbled on my nipples. My head fell backward with pleasure. He slowly moved me back until I reached the sink. He gripped my thighs and lifted my body up, so I was sitting on the sink. I reached down and unbuttoned his pants and pulled them down briskly, needing to feel him inside of me. I was getting wet just thinking about it. I wrapped my legs around him as he guided himself into me. Moaning, I draped my arms around his neck and started moving my hips. He leaned his head towards me and rested his chin on my shoulder.

“I love you,” he whispered in my ear.

“I love you too.”

He continued thrusting his hips pushing himself deep inside me. He began to grip my thighs tighter. I could tell he was getting close and I felt myself building. I dug my nails into his back as we exploded. His warm burst of come filled me inside. I could have made love to him all day long. He filled the emptiness that was in my heart.

“Do you mind if I take a quick shower? I didn’t take one before I went for coffee.”