Page 59 of Smooth Moves
“So what? He looks out for you because he’s your brother and he loves you.”
“I guess.” He glanced at his knees. “I don’t do well without focus. It’s no big secret that I have a tendency to find trouble. Not my fault, it just happens.”
“Like the burglars you stopped over a month ago and the fight in the parking lot tonight.”
He nodded. “I don’t go looking for it. But I deal with shit when it comes at me.”
“Right.”
“I did pretty good in the Marine Corps. Would have stayed in to retire too, but I didn’t like the way some stuff went down overseas. Some assholes in our company were stealing and selling U.S. gear. Weapons too, but no one believed me on that one ’cause they covered their tracks in time. I called them on it, but they had contacts higher up.” If he ever saw Jim Sanders again, he’d give the guy a beating he wouldn’t walk away from. “One of them had a dad who was a general. So it got hushed up, but I wasn’t having it. Somehow a fight started. I, ah, well, I punched a few officers. In self-defense, but who would take my word for it? I would have been court-martialed, except they knew I’d tell everyone the truth in court about what I saw. So it was either get out with an honorable discharge and keep my mouth shut or rot in the brig and serve out the rest of my time on shit duty. I got out.”
“That sucks.” She could totally see it all going down, his situation similar to the way hers had happened. “They suckered you into a fight, and you took the bait. Then they used it against you.”
“Yeah.” He took a sip of tea. “Reid wouldn’t have fallen for it. He’d have been smart and quiet and gotten word to someone higher up about what was happening. I saw something wrong and tried to fix it—my way. My way never seems to work for me.”
A big old pity party for Cash, but she felt for the guy. And after the beating he’d taken tonight, he’d earned some compassion. “So how does this relate to you and Reid not getting along?”
Cash sat glumly regarding his mug. He glanced back up at her, his frustration evident. “He and Naomi are a total couple. I saw it happening, but then it was just there. The two of them together all the time. I’m glad for him.” She saw that, but she saw something else as well. “But I miss my brother sometimes. He’salwayswith her. I feel like a loser for not being happier for him, but, shit, we never hang out anymore.”
“That’s gotta be hard.”
He nodded. “It is. I’m trying to be mature”—he glared at the half-cough/chuckle she couldn’t keep inside—“about it, but I can’t help feeling like she’s stealing him. Happy now?”
“Hey.” She put a hand on his knee, and his gaze shot to hers. “I get it. It’s totally understandable. You’re not a loser for feeling jealous.”
“I’m not jealous exactly. I’m… Hell. I’m jealous.”
“I’ve gone through what you’re feeling.”
He blinked. “You have?”
“With some friends when I was in the Army. You have a tight group, then someone hooks up, and suddenly you never see them again. But none of them were my sister.”
“Yeah, you have a sister too, don’t you? Are you guys close?” He put a hand over hers then lifted it from his knee and just held it.
“No. I used to wish we were, but we have a funny family dynamic.” She stopped herself from spilling her guts.
“We have a lot in common, don’t we?”
She nodded. “It’s weird. The way you left the Marines? That’s kind of what happened to me. A friend of mine was assaulted by her CO. She didn’t want to report it, because it always ends up falling back on the woman. As if she should be blamed for that asshole forcing himself on her.” Poor Sharon. That prick captain had been a jerk from the beginning of their deployment. The one and only time he’d tried to get closer to Jordan than he should have, Jordan had “accidentally” kneed him in the balls. He’d never come near her again. Sharon had been a lot cuter and nicer. Unfortunately, he’d also gone after her.
Cash squeezed her hand, and she looked up into his eyes, not surprised at his anger. He let loose a string of colorful swear words. “I hate scumbags who do that. We had our share of female Marines. Not in the infantry so much but the support staff. You could always tell the assholes by the way they treated the WMs.” WMs—Women Marines.
She nodded. “No one much liked Bowers, but he was in charge. Problem was we didn’t have any decent staff NCOs in our unit once Staff Sergeant Keen left. Sharon got raped—because, yeah, that’s what it was—by Captain Dickhead, who couldn’t keep it in his pants. She told me about it, in tears, and I reported it.”
He stroked her fingers in his large hand. “I bet that went over well,” he said with derision.
“Oh yeah. I got so much shit from everyone. It surprised me how few of my friends stuck by me. Even Sharon bitched me out because she hadn’t wanted me to tell. Then a few other females came forward to corroborate what had happened. My so-called friends gradually apologized, but it was too little too late for not believing in me. Almost everyone disliked the guy, but as soon as one woman said he was a no-good rapist, it was as if I’d targeted all of them. A big old man-hater hose attached to my mouth.” She huffed. “The worst thing is they shipped him home. Quietly. I heard he got assigned a crappy duty station, suffered a slap on the wrist. Fucker is still in the Army.”
“Man. Want me to go kick his ass? Or better yet, hold him down while you tag him?”
She grinned, her anger fading at Cash’s enthusiasm for violence. “I wish. I’m a firm believer in karma. You get what you give.” She looked down at their joined hands. “I was all set to have a career in the Army, you know. I was good at it. When I was a kid, I was like Rafi. I had no idea what I wanted to do or be. The Army saved me.” Her eyes burned, and she held tears back with sheer grit. She wouldnotcry in front of Cash. “Now I’m starting over. And I have no clue what I’m supposed to do with my life.” She forced a laugh and met his gaze. “But so far so good. Without me organizing Vets on the Go!, you all would be hopeless.”
“You got that right. But you think you have it bad—”
“What, is this a contest?”
“Yes, it is, so shut up.” He stood and pulled her into his arms. “I got out of the only thing I was good at. Couldn’t hold a civilian job for more than a few weeks at most. Kept arguing with my bosses, getting in fights. I was so mad all the time.”
