Breaking Article 134 Ch. 10

My body seemed to know when the major was around before I did. My nipples got hard before I heard him. My stomach twitched before I smelled him. He didn't try to get me alone again, at least not like that. Perhaps he really did think I was dangerous. He never behaved the least bit inappropriately, except with his eyes. He touched me with them. They burned through my clothes and raked over my flesh with a naked heat that never failed to make the most female parts of me quiver. And gawd damn that man for doing it at the worst possible times. Like in formation. Or when I was trying to explain why I walked into a wall to the first sergeant. But he was just so damned cute when he did it. Well, if you could apply the word cute to a man like that.

He was making it hard to remember that I was supposed to be pissed off at him.

The first thing I did the Wednesday the Colonel officially let me off quarters was head straight for the PX, do not pass go, do not collect two-hundred dollars. I went to the small food court outside of the department store and settled in to eat a hot sandwich straight from the source. A month of mess hall food is nothing short of evil. I had my mouth wide open and the sandwich almost to my lips when I spotted the major. He was leaning against a wall, ostensibly looking at a piece of paper, but his eyes were glued to my mouth. There's nothing quite as embarrassing as having the hottest guy in fifty miles catch you with a dripping meatball sub a half an inch from your mouth. There's justnothing sexy about a sloppy meatball sandwich.

I took a bite of the sandwich and tried to pretend he wasn't there. I closed my eyes and savored the spicy sauce. At least I tried to. I opened my eyes wide enough to see that he was still staring at my mouth. Didn't that jackass have anything better to do?

I stared at the sign over the coffee shop kiosk and sucked a meatball out of the sub. I licked the sauce from the bread before it could drip onto the table and pretended that I really did have a great deal of interest in the price of a cup of bad pseudo-Starbucks coffee. My eyes weren't paying attention. They flicked over to the major instead of checking out the price on a double mocha latte.

That look was on his face again. The intense, burning expression that he'd had when I'd been on my knees in the supply room, my tongue reaching for the tip of his penis to catch a drip of his cum, and my hands full of his most private areas. I shifted in my seat, remembering just how good he'd tasted and how good he'd felt sliding into my mouth. I took a bite of the sandwich, trying to force myself to think of anything else, but spicy tomato sauce rolled over my tongue with the same heat and viscosity as his cum. He shifted his weight, jiggling a little, and dropped the paper in front of his crotch. He was hard. I knew it. Just like that, I wanted to throw myself at him, rip off his clothes, and take his erection into me.

I closed my eyes, bringing up a montage of images. The major diffidently shoving his pants down in the cabin, then standing over me like a pagan warrior. The major in the shower, his head thrown back in pleasure, water dripping down his body. The major in the dusky supply room, fully dressed but for his indecently opened fly and his---

"Wright? Hey, they turned you loose."

I blinked my eyes, trying to reconcile reality again. Bradford.

He dropped down into the chair in front of me, setting his headgear on the table next to mine. He flashed me a smile and leaned on the table. "I haven't seen you in a while. I missed you, baby."

I opened my mouth to say something, but couldn't think of a thing. Instead, I put the sandwich down and wiped my fingers. "It's been a while." Gawd, I was such a brilliant conversationalist. Stupid, Wright, very stupid.

He stiffened imperceptibly. "You didn't miss me."

"No, no, it's just that it's been a real shitty month for me."

He smiled, relaxing. "Yeah, I bet it has. What happened, anyway? Jones didn't know. No one seemed to know." He suddenly frowned, his voice dropping. "It wasn't that prick major who---"

---was suddenly walking in our direction---

"---caught us that night. I'd hate for you to get in trouble because of me."

"It wasn't anything like that. I yelled at an officer." I hated to admit anything like that, but Bradford looked like he was beating himself up over it.

"You yelled at an officer? Damn, Wright."

I blushed. "Yeah, well, I have a temper."

Bradford grinned. "I love your temper. I gotta get back to the company, but I'll call you later, okay? Maybe we can do something this weekend."

I forced a smile. "Yeah, maybe."

He squeezed my hand, running his fingers over the knuckles. It was pretty much against regs to have public displays of affection in uniform or he probably would have kissed me. "I'll call you, baby," he said, then left.

I tried to smile at Bradford as he went, but the major was stalking his way through the tables. I considered running for the door, but I didn't think I could outrun him.

"Private Wright," the major hissed, bringing himself to a halt. I was forcibly reminded of a bull on the neighbors ranch that habitually charged the fence only to come to a sudden stop, dust flying, hot breath searing the air in an enraged snort, and its lips curled in an I'm-gonna-get-you snarl. Just over fifteen hundred pounds of enraged male meat stopped by five strings of insignificant barbed wire had a way of putting the fear of pissed-off bull in a person.

"Good afternoon, sir," I said as if he wasn't clenching his fists and growling at me.

"I thought I told you to stay away from the specialist." Oh hell no, he wasn't going there.

"I'm off duty, sir." I kept my voice mild and pleasant, but it was difficult.

"When I give you an order, I expect it to be obeyed." He was going there. That fucking jerk.

"Sir, I'm off duty andin a public place." Get the fucking message, sir. "The specialist and I were just having a conversation."

The muscles in his jaw twitched. "Being in a public place didn't stop you last time you mounted him, private."

I opened my fist up one finger at a time and forced myself to relax. I drew in a deep breath and stared at the tabletop. Not here, Wright. "Yessir."

"Good. Now obey a direct fucking order, Wright, or I'll have your ass."

My ass wasn't the one that was going to be had. I ground my teeth and swallowed the fresh rush of anger. If he thought a couple of fucks mean he owned me, he had another thing coming. "Yessir."

"Everything all right here, major?"

Fucking great, the first sergeant. I kept my face down and concentrated on making myself as pleasant as possible. There was no way in hell I was gonna put my ass in a sling over this, thisbullshit.

"Everything is just fine, Top." The way the major snarled that sure didn't sound fine.

The first sergeant frowned. Atme. "Private Wright giving you more trouble?"

"Not at all."

I gathered my courage up. "Sir, my lunch hour is almost over. I have to get back to work, sir."

First sergeant's frown deepened. I dropped my eyes back to the half-eaten sandwich and wished that the world would just swallow me whole. "Major?"

The major flexed his fists again. "All right, private. Dismissed."

"Thank you, sir." It nearly choked me to say it. I pulled myself up onto my crutches, careful to avoid looking at either of them, and gathered up the tray. The major's hands made an abortive effort to reach for the tray and the first sergeant grunted. I hobbled away with two sets of eyes burning holes in my back.

What in the hell was his problem?

The first sergeant stepped into my office a couple of hours later. "What's going on, Wright?"

"I'm checking inventory, First S'arnt."

His version of the don't-be-stupid look came complete with a grunt. "With the major, Wright."

"I'm not certain, First S'arnt."

"Don't fuck with me, private."

I was getting heartily sick of hearing that particular phrase. "I don't know what's going on with the major, First S'arnt."

"Don't you sit there and fucking lie to me, private. I'm not fucking stupid."

"I don't know, First S'arnt!" I tried not whine. "I couldn't understand what he was saying." Oh my fucking gawd that was lame. I dropped my eyes to the desk and hunched over myself. "I don't know what I did wrong, First S'arnt. I'm trying to stay out of his way and do what I'm supposed to."

"Sit fucking upright, soldier, I don't want to see some gawd damned feel-sorry-for-me bullshit." He was glaring. A glaring first sergeant was a terrifying thing to see. "You didn't understand him?"

I straightened my spine and looked at the wall just past him, like a good little soldier. "He was, well, growling at me, First S'arnt, and it was loud in there."

The first sergeant continued to glare at me. I all but twitched from the urge to toss myself onto the floor and start knocking out pushups. Finally, he grunted again and stomped up the stairs. I waited until I heard his feet stomping through the lobby area before wilting in relief. I did have to wonder, though, why the first sergeant came to see me. Usually junior enlisted were summoned, not visited.

When I was finished for the day, the staff duty glanced up at me curiously, but didn't say anything. I hobbled outside, as if everything were just peachy keen and the major wasn't planning on sticking his cock inside of me in three days and the first sergeant wasn't sniffing around to figure out how. To make matters that much worse, Bradford was leaning against the wall next to the door to the barracks. He grinned at me when I got there, his face transforming from GI Joe to high school jock cute just like that. I smiled at him for lack of anything intelligent to do.

"Hey, beautiful," he said.

"Heya, Bradford. I thought you were gonna call?"

"I'll do that later. I wanted to see you." He opened the door for me so I could hobble inside. "I was thinking that I could drive you down to the carwash and we could wash your truck or something. You like doing that kind of thing."

And I could just picture the major popping up out of no where. Of course he'd be followed by the sergeant major and maybe the colonel for good measure. And my life would be officially over. I'd be and E1 at half pay for the rest of my unnatural life. "It's been a shitty day, Bradford. I'm gonna stay in and watch TV."

"We could go to the dayroom. I could maybe rent a movie or something."

The CQ, Charge of Quarters, looked up from his desk and frowned at us. "Hey, Wright, staff duty called. You forgot to secure the supply room."

I forgot to secure the supply room? If that wasn't a crock of crap. I didn't even get into the supply room today, the damned place was locked. Not to mention the little fact that staff duty had the freaking keys to the place anyway. Why didn't they lock it up?

"Hey, don't look at me like that, Wright." The CQ crossed his arms over his brawny chest and gave me his best wannabe-drill-sergeant glare. "Staff duty said that if you don't get the supply room locked up, the major'll have your ass."

"Themajor?" That rat bastard! Oh I was gonna kill him. I was gonna rip him a new---

"That means now, Wright."

"Thanks, Jackson. If they call, I'm on my way back."

"I'll give you a ride," Bradford said.

"I'm pissed off."

"And that means you can't sit on your ass? It's a long walk back to your company." Bradford opened the door and held it for me. "I'll give you a ride, okay?"

That was it. I'd had it. "I'm not fucking broken!" I wanted to stomp, but it's impossible to stomp on crutches. I settled for shoving myself through the door as fast as I can. "Why in the fuck does everyone think that I can't do anything by myself!"

"Goddamn, Wright, what the hell crawled up your ass?"

"If I hear another word out of you, I swear to fucking Christ I'll become a lesbian!" My screech echoed along the street and people turned to stare.

"Damn, Wright, I was just trying to help."

He was just trying. Everyone was always just fucking trying to help. "It's been a month and half, Bradford. Just where in the fuck have you been anyway?" He looked a little taken aback by my anger. I was a little shocked myself, but damn it felt good to just let it go. He wasn't the major, but he'd do.

"Well, you were on Quarters and stuff."

I glared at him and seriously thought about beating on him with a crutch. "And you couldn't call?"

He shifted his weight uncomfortably. Most everyone else had lost interest in us when I'd quit screaming, but Jackson was all fucking ears. Bradford shoved his hand through his cropped hair. "I didn't want you to get in more trouble."

"I get it. You're only good enough to call me when you're looking for a fuck."

"Shit, do you have to be so fucking crude all the time?"

I wanted to cuss him out, but all that came out was a snarl. I pivoted on a crutch and sent myself off toward the company. Wright the Fuck. That's all I was around here anyway.

"Wait up!"

"I don't have the---"

"Stop." He grabbed my upper arms and pulled me to a halt. "I just found out. We're on rotation. I'm going to Iraq."

I froze, the fresh tirade I was working on dissolving into nothing. Shit.

He stared into my eyes, as nervous and as earnest as I'd ever seen anyone. "We're friends, you know."

"Yeah."

"I always thought there'd be plenty of time, cause we don't, you know, PCS for a couple a years. I got 90 days."

My heart quit beating. Time? "Time for what?"

He let go of me and shoved his hands in his pockets. He stared at my combat boots and dug into the sidewalk with his running shoe. "To see if we could, you know, be more than friends."

I closed my eyes. Aww hell.

"C'mon, Wright, say something." He sounded nervous.

"I don't know what to say."

"Well, say you'll go out with me Saturday then."

I was supposed to be fucking the major on Saturday. How in the hell had my life gotten so far out of control? And how could I stand there and worry about something so trivial as an illegal affair when one of my friends was about to ship out to a war zone? What was I supposed to do? Tell the major to take a flying leap? Yeah right, like he'd do that without throwing a temper tantrum.

"I don't know, Bradford. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be doing some work this weekend or not. How about Monday night?"

"I got guard duty Monday. Tuesday night?"

"Okay, Tuesday night." I offered him a tentative smile. "We can rent movies or something."

He gave me a broad smile. "Okay."

I felt like such a fucking bitch. "Look, I gotta get back to the company and get an ass chewing. I'll catch up with you later."

"I'll call you Friday, see if you're gonna be free this weekend."

"Okay."

"You sure you don't want a ride?"

I shook my head. "Nah, the hobble is good for me. It's not really that far anyway."

"I could go with you."

"No 'fense, Bradford, but the last thing I want is an audience to a butt chewing."

He laughed and pecked me on the cheek. "Okay, I get the hint. I'll see you later, babe."

"Yeah."

He headed up the street, whistling. I shook my head again, wondering how in the hell I'd gotten into this situation in the first place. Oh yeah, I'd belted the major in the stomach. Looking back at it, I should have enjoyed the experience.

The staff duty NCO turned out to be Kowalski, the sergeant from Delta Company that I'd managed to land on the bad side of. He bitched me out for thirty minutes, going from one end of the regulations to the other and finally topping it off with a tirade about the enemy. I did my best to stand there at attention while he did his best Chesty Puller impression. I started paying attention when he started winding down. He ended his package with a snarled, "Hurry up and get your ass down there and help the major. He's doin' your fuckin' job for ya!"

The major. Well wasn't that just a surprise. I yelped out a "hoo-ah, Sarn't!" just to placate Kowalski and scuttled down to the Dungeon. Scuttling on crutches is actually easier than scuttling on two feet because you're already naturally hunched over. Kowalski grunted in satisfaction. You could almost hear the gears in his brain grinding: another well-executed ass-chewing.

The major was kicked back at my desk with my clipboard in his lap when I made it to the bottom. I hobbled over to the mesh door that the major had, no doubt, opened up himself on hisinspection of the supply room and secured it.

"What'd Top say?"

I narrowed my eyes and concentrated on putting my keys back in my pocket. No how are you. No are you okay. No sorry about this afternoon. "He wanted to know what your problem was, sir."

"What'd you tell him?"

"That I couldn't understand what you said. It was loud and you were growling. He seemed to accept that, sir."

He grunted, swinging his feet to the floor and sliding the clipboard onto the desk. "Good. Come here."

Fuck that. "What for, sir?"

He grinned, his face lighting up with an almost irresistible sort of mischief. Almost. "I'm going to make you feel good, private."

"Oh yeah, sir. Being your slut makes me feel real good."

His face turned a dark red and he crossed his arms over his chest, making all of his muscles bulge beneath the suddenly tight camouflage. "I didn't hear you correctly, soldier."

"Momma and Daddy are gonna beso proud of me."

"What in the fuck is your problem, private?"

I glared at him. "What do you want from me, sir?"

His face relaxed and the self-satisfied smirk returned. "I want you, private. I thought I made that clear."

"So I'm your personal fuck buddy, sir? And this goes on until when? You get tired of me and move on to the next private that catches your eye? Or will you go after a specialist next time?"

He huffed in irritation. "Didn't we just do this, private?"

I glared at him.

He studied my face for a moment, long enough for several things to flick through his eyes before he settled on softening up with a patronizing smile. "You always run this hot and cold, private?"

Ooooh. So now I was back to beingcute again. I flung my body at him, dropping a crutch and bringing up my fist. I might even have connected if I hadn't tripped over the stupid crutch. He reached out and snagged me out of the air, pulling me into his lap. I think I would rather have hit the floor. "I'm not a toy. I'm not something to play with. You don'town me, sir."

"God, Wright, what am I going to do with you?"

I opened my mouth to tell him to let me go, but nothing came out. I didn't want him to let me go. He was holding me and whatever was wrong just didn't seem so important anymore.

He pressed a kiss to my temple, like an older man would to a child. I wrinkled up my face, feeling the resentment rebuilding. "You belong to me."

I chose to ignore that. "How long do you plan on carrying on with me? Until we're caught? One of us PCSs? Or do you see marriage, a picket fence, and 2.5 kids?"

He froze as if he'd just caught a glimpse of the second circle of hell. Yeah, thought so.

I stared at my fingers and told myself that I was angry. "I don't want to be just someone to screw. Not for anyone."

He squeezed me against his chest. "Damn, Wright, it's not like that. It never has been."

I pushed my face into his throat and sucked in a deep breath. "That's not what it looks like from here."

He sighed, a long inrush of air that swelled his chest, then huffed out across my head. "What do you want from me, Wright? You want me to tell you---"

"Sir? Everything all right down there?" Saved by the Kowolski.

The major jumped to his feet, almost dumping me onto the floor. He eased me down to my good foot and went for my crutches. I beat him to them, but not by much. I tried to jerk one of them from his hands, but he was strong enough to force the issue.