Fraternizing (36 page)

The music
continued to play as we traveled along, Cassie’s face full of excitement as we
finally left the desert and entered more scenic parts of the highway. From what
I’d learned about her in the truck, she had never left Arizona until bootcamp. That
was a bit of a shock to me. She was a rock music lover, belting out hits from
Metallica, Alice in Chains, and even going back, taking it old school with
Poison. Her voice, while soft and soothing, didn’t match the rough and raspy
tone of the singers, but her infectious performances had me singing and head
banging right along with her. About halfway into the drive she grew tired,
making me promise to wake her as soon as we reached our destination. I agreed,
but truthfully, I would have done it anyway because I was also overly anxious about
introducing her to something new.

I woke Cassie,
gently shaking her leg as we pulled up to a stoplight with a rock walled
waterfall to the right that read,
Welcome
to Huntington Beach.
 
She woke,
instantly pulling out her cell phone and snapping a few pictures.

“We’re at a
beach?” she asked. The shock that spread across her face was almost sad.

“We are at a
beach. My favorite beach as a matter of fact,” I answered, turning into the
parking lot and stopping to pay the attendant before finding a space. “I knew
this would be different for you, and after our talk on the way down here, I
figured you’d enjoy it. So we’re here, at a California beach.”

She was so giddy
with excitement that she opened her door and jumped out, snapping more pictures
of any and everything. I got out and walked around to her side, picking her up
and cradling her in my arms as I walked her to the sand.

“You ready for a
dip?”

“No,” she
replied, looking down at her clothes. “You should have told me we were coming
to a beach. I would have brought a swim suit.”

“Wait here,” I
said, kissing her nose before turning and jogging back to the truck. I let down
the tailgate and pulled out a duffle bag that held clothes she wasn’t even
aware I had. I rummaged through them and pulled out a pair of board shorts and
a hot pink
two piece
for her. Running it back over to
her, I found her sitting in the sand, her toes curling while she allowed it to
run through her fingers.

“Here you go,” I
said, handing her the swimsuit.

Shock crossed her
face. “Where did you get this?”

“Natasha helped
me out. Go change. I want to get you in the water.”

She took the suit
and ran off to the restrooms. I didn’t really give a shit, so I stripped out of
my shorts and into my board shorts behind a pillar that held a shade area. When
she walked out, my jaw went slack, dropping to the floor as I drank her in. Her
perfectly proportioned, toned and tanned body looked radiant in the swimsuit
;
more than I could have imagined. I knew that I’d be the
envy of all the guys at this beach, and it made me happy. Seeing Cassie that
way, sexy without even trying, made me realize just how lucky I truly was.

We walked over to
a rental hut and grabbed two boogie boards before heading down to the water. The
whole way down, I walked with my hand glued to her ass. The bottoms were
stringy and Brazilian cut, showing off her beautiful ass cheeks. I knew other
pricks were looking at her as we walked by, but keeping my hand plastered there
gave more than enough warning without me even having to say a word.

“Okay. You have
to show me to how to do this. I don’t have a clue.”

I took her hand
and strapped the wrist cuff around her wrist before doing my own.

“You’ll want to
go out in the water and wade around… wait for a wave. When you see the wave forming,
lay on your board and paddle, then just let the wave take you in.”

Fear shone on her
face as she watched a massive wave come through and completely thrash some guy.
“He took it wrong. You’ll be okay. I promise.”

I ran out into
the water first, diving in when it felt deep enough, then swimming out even
further to catch the wave at its inception. She stood on the shore, watching me
as I went through all of the steps I had just given her and caught the perfect
wave, riding it all the way back in.

“You ready to
try?” I asked, anxious to have her in with me.

“Go one more
time. Let me get some guts by watching you.”

I shook my head
and laughed, then turned and swam back out into the ocean. I went even further
this time, hoping to catch an even bigger wave. As I lay on my board, I looked
back at the shore, noticing two guys come and stand directly next to Cassie. They
were much too close for my liking, so I caught the next wave, even though it
wasn’t much, and swam the rest of the way in. I got up and stalked over to
where they were standing, my dismay entrenched in my face.

“Hey, Alex. This
is Todd and Jeff. They were asking me if I boarded and if I wanted lessons.”

I firmly shook
their hands, my intimidating expression never changing. “We won’t be needing
your assistance, gentlemen. But have a nice day.”

They walked away,
looking back at me as I burned my eyes into their backs. My hand had
possessively latched onto Cassie’s ass without me even noticing. I didn’t care.
It made them get the fucking clue and leave.

“Time to get you
in the water. I think the sharks in there are less predatory than these
assholes on the shore,” I said, turning and staring into her eyes. The sunlight
was hitting her, putting an extra gleam into them.

“Huh? “ She
looked confused. “I’m not so sure I’m ready,” she said, a bit hesitant to walk
down with me. I gave her a reassuring look and gently tugged on her hand,
finally getting her to move her feet and make her way down into the water with
me.

“Holy shit, it’s
cold.”

“You’ll get used
to it. Come on.”

She finally
obliged and allowed me to take her farther out into the water. The first wave
that came crashed down on her, making her tumble under the water. She came up,
her eyes wide as she gasped for air. After a few seconds she smiled, placating
my erratically beating heart. The next few waves she waited too long and
missed, but on her next try, she caught it perfectly, coasting all the
way back
onto the shore. We spent the next couple of hours
boarding and swimming.

My stomach was
beginning to grumble, so I led her out and back up the sand.

“Wait here. I’m
going to get our dinner.”

 
I kissed her then ran off, leaving her
sitting
there
looking dumbfounded. The sun was
beginning to set, and the people were filing out, leaving us in our own little
secluded spot. I pulled out a sea bag and lugged it back to where Cassie sat,
pulling out a towel to wrap her up in before tackling anything else.

There was a hole
dug in the sand from what looked to be a previous bonfire, so I chucked some wood
from my bag into it, lighting it on fire and waiting for the flames to grow
before pulling the hotdogs out and sticking them on skewers.

“Gourmet meal
right here,” I said, placing my dog into the fire, burning it and forming a
crispy, black layer on the outside. “It doesn’t get any better than this.”

“It beats chow
hall food,” she said, doing almost the same, but pulling hers out a bit sooner.
She ate away, asking for a second and burning it before devouring it. Her
hearty appetite impressed me. For such a small girl, she could definitely throw
down some food.

“So is this your
first time at a beach?”

“Yep.
First time at a beach.
First time eating
food on a stick.
Well, besides a corndog. I never camped or anything
like that.”

Low laughter
rolled out of me as I fixed another hot dog. “Is that why you joined the Corps?
You wanted to get out and see the world?”

She stiffened a
bit, and I could tell that I had hit a sore subject. Whatever her reasons were
for joining, they didn’t come easy, and the last thing I wanted to do was sour
the trip by making her uncomfortable.

“You don’t have
to answer that.”

“No, it’s okay. But
may I have something to drink first?”

I reached into
one of the iced bags and pulled out a bottle of water, handing it to her. She
unscrewed the top and took a few long sips.

“I joined the
Corps for a couple of reasons. First, I needed to get away from my mother. And
two, I wanted to see if I had what it took to be one of the best. I wanted to
supremely challenge myself.”

I dropped my
skewer and moved over to where she sat, sitting down next to her and pulling
her close to me.

“What happened
with your mother?”

She blew out a
loud breath. “What hasn’t happened with my mother? Let’s see… my mom was once a
nurse and got injured at work lifting a patient, so she had to have back
surgery. She had the surgery, and for months I had to take care of her while my
dad was out on the road making a living for us.”

“What did your
dad do?” I asked, wanting to know everything about her.

“My dad was a
truck driver, so he was gone quite a bit. Anyway, my mom was on all sorts of
pills and got addicted to them. She’d be screaming and ravaging the house for
anything she could find. Her pill popping turned into alcohol abuse, and my dad
tried hard to get her to go to rehab, but she refused, instead cursing and
threatening him every which way, including physically attacking him. He went on
a trip one day and never came back. I’ve resented him ever since for not taking
me with him.”

I pulled her even
closer. Her story hit me, leaving me distraught and helpless for her. “So did
things ever get any better?”

“A bit. She
laid
off the alcohol for a while, but the pill popping
didn’t stop. I never got to have the fun that normal kids had like movies
sleepovers. I had to parent my intoxicated mom, and there was no way in hell I
was going to have anyone over to my house, so I just kept to myself, hoping no
one would ever pry and make me spill my deep, dark secret.”

I kissed her head
a few times, hoping to reassure her that she was safe with me, in loving,
affectionate arms.

“So how did the
Corps factor into all of this?”

She tensed again,
slowly exhaling a deep breath before turning her head and looking directly into
my eyes.

“You won’t think
of me any differently, will you?”

“No. Tell me.”

She blew out
another breath before speaking again. “Well, I earned a full academic
scholarship to BYU. It was like a dream come true. My way of moving on to
bigger and better things, while also getting the hell away from my mom. Unfortunately,
things don’t always go as planned.”

She looked up at me again
,
worry staining
her face
. I kissed her forehead, prompting her to continue.

“The last six
months of high school, I had this boyfriend, Colton. I was a virgin, he was my
very first boyfriend, and I thought I was totally in love. He told me every
smooth thing under the sun, promising me forever while pushing me to further
cement our love by sleeping with him. I didn’t give in at first, but after a
few times I finally did, thinking it was going to be like unicorns floating on
big puffy white clouds. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Colton did what he had
to do to make himself feel good, not caring about me. When it was over, I was
hurt...so ashamed and feeling like a piece of trash. He promised that it was
just because it was my first time, so I continued on in hopes that it would get
better. It never did.”

I played with her
hair as she continued speaking, fury festering inside of me at this dickwad who
I didn’t even know, who shouldn’t have even mattered. He sounded like a weasel,
and a slick one at that. The fire burned brighter as the
sun
set
, and the winds picked up, making me wrap my arms around her even
tighter.

“So in my last
few months of high school, I started to feel very sluggish and had a hard time
getting to school in the morning. That wasn’t like me, so one of the only two
friends I had, Jenny, tells me to take a pregnancy test. I thought the idea was
absurd, so I brushed it off, but after a few more days of the same thing, I
finally did it. It came back positive, and I could have died. I saw was my life
evaporating before my eyes. My mom was so high on pills that I would go home
and cry in my room for hours. I’d cry at school in the bathroom. I just didn’t
know what I would do.”

“What did you
do?”

“I finally told
my mom and shit hit the fan.
In the midst of her screaming
came pushing, then punching.
She told me that she’d have me at the
clinic first thing the next morning to take care of my problem.”

I heard sniffles
as she gently wiped away a couple of tears.