Fraternizing (9 page)

"You all
need to keep it down. This is still a place of business," I growled,
standing over the four of them. Bennett's eyes loomed large as she looked up to
me. My presence must have caught her off guard as shock filled her face, almost
as if she had no idea that I was in the building.

"I'm sorry,
Sergeant," Dalton offered up, further pissing me off by his cordial
demeanor when I was anything but. "We'll try and keep it down."

"It's
fine," I backtracked, realizing that I was losing my shit in front of her.
"Just bring it down a notch. You don't want to get too rowdy in
here," I lied. They all nodded and answered. I looked back down to
Bennett, her bottom lip tucked into her mouth, held down by the top row of her
teeth. The look sent blood streaming down to my cock, exciting me in a way that
I couldn't deal with, not in public anyway. I closed my eyes and exhaled,
quickly turning and walking back over to where my own group sat.

"I'll catch
you guys later. I'll take this loss and pay for your shit, I just have to get
out of here," I said, quickly gathering my things before walking out of
the bowling alley. Before I walked out, I turned back to catch a glimpse of
Bennett who still had her gaze hooked on me. She sucked on that bottom lip of
hers again, this time making me do the same.

I wanted her so
bad. I wanted to show her just how much she affected me, but I couldn't. I
couldn't do a God damned thing about the lust, the friction, or the crazy
erections that she often times gave me. No, all I could do was walk back out
into the searing sun and stew on my thoughts that were never going to become a
reality because the Marine Corps made sure that I couldn't act on them without
losing everything that I had worked so hard for.

If someone had
asked me a year ago if I could disobey a Marine Corps order, I would have
laughed in their face and offered them a punch to the gut for such an idiotic
fucking question. The Corps was everything I have ever wanted to be, and it's
made me everything that I am. The rules and regulations were set in place to maintain
proper conduct and order, two necessary components for running the world's most
elite branch of war fighters.

Now, after
meeting Bennett and going half way with her—and desperately wanting to
taste that second half— I'm not so sure those rules and regulations
weren't set in place to test me and make my life a living hell. Could I turn my
back on the Corps and what it stands for? For Cassie Bennett, I wasn't sure,
but this was more than just saying no as I would for almost every other female.
This was a dire straits game of tug-o-war, a self-depraving inner struggle, a
test of wills. On the outside, I was winning, but deep inside...deep inside I
knew I was losing badly.

My mind was
swirling and jumbling with the thought of betraying one of the main rules that
had been put in place to protect all parties involved. For the first time in my
career, I wasn't ready to staunchly defend an order that had been given. I was
ready to toss that bitch aside and forget that it even existed if that meant I
could finally taste Bennett and every ounce of her vanilla and fruit scented
body.

I hated what she
was doing
to me in terms of who I was as a Marine and my
standing within the Corps
. I didn't make it to where I was because I cut
corners to get there. I worked hard, never taking shortcuts or doing shit in
secret. But now, not only was my mind grappling with the idea of doing those
things, I was fucking salivating at the opportunity to break that one, cock
blocking rule. Because by not breaking that rule, it was destroying my mind
while also slowly, tortuously breaking down my will power.

Chapter 6

Cassie

The
bowling alley was completely and utterly frustrating. What started out as a fun
idea to quickly pass along the lunch hour, turned into a panty wetting, lip biting,
image-producing fiasco within my own mind. I pictured Sgt. Cruz's lips
on mine, biting and tugging as I bit down on my own
. His
response was not lost on me, and I could only hope that it wasn't that obvious
to everyone else in attendance. If Sgt. Cruz was serious about forgetting what
had happened that night at Coyotes, he wasn't making it easy on me. He could
have very well stayed away from us because honestly, we weren't that loud. And
even if we were, it was a bowling alley for crying out loud; people get loud
and rowdy in there.

Unlike the other
three people I was with, I knew the real reason he had made his way over to us.
He wanted to make his presence known. I had no clue he was there until he
walked over, using his burly voice that reminded me of pure and unadulterated
sex, to bark out orders that he knew he had no business giving. The sight of
him did things to my body that felt foreign to me. How I couldn't contain my
excitement whenever he came near was baffling. I was never
that
girl-- the one who lost
her bearings at the mere sight of a
good looking
guy. But
Sgt. Cruz was so much more than just good-looking. He oozed sex appeal and
confidence, and his disposition was weakening me with every encounter.

I was usually
much more in control than what I'd been showing, but somehow, whenever he got
near me, everything I ever knew washed away, leaving me stupefied.

Even with his
abrupt exit his presence lingered, making me wholly uncomfortable and unable to
concentrate. The frequent questions from Dalton, and the incessant stares from
Jensen and Castillo, had me on pins and needles. Dalton had no clue what was
going on, and I was hoping to keep it that way. Jensen and Castillo knew and
were in a position to make things very difficult for me if I tried to act on
it.
 
It was a delicate balancing act
that I was faltering with.

As much as I
wanted to believe that we could be mature adults about what had happened, there
was much more to this that was clouding that prospect. For starters, the
feelings involved, whether simple attraction or lust, were consuming me. It was
on my mind from the moment that I woke in the morning until I went to bed at
night, and having to see and interact with him throughout the day was driving
me crazy.

So many times as
I sat in my seat trying hard to focus on the lesson for the day, my mind would
wander off and thoughts of those large hands grabbing and groping my body,
lifting me and tossing me down on the bed while raking over every inch of me,
would crash into my mind, diverting my attention and sending my clit into a
violent, throbbing mess. It always seemed that just after coming back from my
daydream I'd find Sgt. Cruz's eyes glued to me, almost as if he knew or felt
exactly what it was that I was seeing and feeling. A few times I caught him
wiping his brow, indicating that some lustrous thought had been rummaging
through his mind as well.

My frequent
bathroom breaks had nothing to do with actually needing to use the bathroom,
but more so to catch my breath, wipe my sweat away, and soothe the ache
building within me, yearning for a release that never truly came because I
still hadn't had the remedy to dispose of it. No matter how difficult I thought
it would be to turn my thoughts and my libido away from Sgt. Cruz, I was finding
the actual act of trying to forget about him ten times more difficult. It was
slow torture, like someone taking you to the brink of an earth shattering
orgasm and then abruptly pulling away, leaving you to try and obtain a feat
that you knew would never come. The frustration within me was beginning to
build, and I was running out of ways to quell it.

Thursday evening
came and with it came our first official Field Day, or the detailed cleaning of
our barracks rooms with an instructor inspection to follow.
 
Angelica and I did a meticulous job of
cleaning and making sure that nothing was out of place.

We stood at the
entrance of our room, still in uniform, nervous as shit that something was
going to be out of place and that we would fail, probably furthering the strife
already festering between us.

Sgts. Newsome
and Jensen walked up, looking like two angry pit bulls ready to attack on
command. They stopped at the door, greeting both Angelica and me, before
removing their covers and walking into the room, scouring every inch of it. My
breath caught as nerves settled within me.
 
I thought Sgt. Cruz's absence would quell
the nervous flutters inside of me, but it did quite the opposite-- it
intensified them. I knew he was around, I just didn't know where or when he
would pop up, and that uncertainty escalated my anxiety.

After waiting in
the hallway for what felt like a lifetime, Sgts. Newsome and Jensen were
finally making their way back to the entrance of the room, effectively
signaling that we had passed our inspection. Just as I exhaled the daunting
breath that I had been holding, I saw Sgt. Newsome turn his head and begin
yelling.

"Why the
fuck is this wall locker not secured?"

His thunderous
voice shook me, sending ice through my
veins
as I knew
he was referring to my locker. I was certain that I had locked it up.

"Pfc.
Bennett," he called out, jolting me back into the room.

"Yes, Sgt.
Newsome?"

"Is this
your wall locker?"

"Yes,
Sgt."

"Then why
in the fuck is it not secured?" The veins in his forehead were beginning
to bulge as his entire face went beet red.

"I thought
it was, Sgt."

His eyebrows
twitched as flash of anger went off in his face.

"You
thought?" he yelled out, moving closer to the locker before placing his
hand and on the unsecured lock. "When you
think
without follow-up, people die, Bennett. Do you understand
that?"

"Yes,
Sergeant," I quickly replied.

Without another
word, he opened the locker, looking around at the contents before grabbing and
violently flinging it down onto the ground, expelling all of my personal
belongings from inside. There were clothes, body sprays, lotions, hair
essentials, make-up, jewelry, detergent, books, and many other things that lay
strewn on the ground. I wasn't sure if I should move to pick them up or wait until
I was given the order to do so. Instead, I stood there, eyes locked on Sgt.
Newsome as he went into a long tirade on how sloppy I was and how my
absentmindedness could someday cost the lives of my fellow Marines.

When he
finished, he ordered that I clean up the mess and secure my
fucking wall locker
before stalking out
of the room. Jensen followed, never saying a word to me while Angelica stood to
the side, probably unsure of where she fit into all of this, but glad to see me
being ripped in half.

"Well, I'm
cleared, so I'm going to run down to the vending machine. Thank God he didn't
trash my shit too, or I would have been pissed at you."

I turned to look
at her, her shit stain smirk properly staining her face.

"Shut the
fuck up, Angelica," I said, standing to place my wall locker back to its
upright position. "My wall locker was secured. You probably unlocked it in
hopes of this happening. Well, it happened. You happy? Congratulations."

"I didn't
do shit," she quickly defended.

"Right.
Casper came in here and did it."

She turned and
walked out of the room without another word. I was pissed and damn near certain
that she'd had something to do with that. I knew I had secured my wall locker,
so for it to just magically be unlocked wasn't adding up for me.

"Private
First Class Bennett," a voice growled, making me freeze in my tracks. It
wasn't the voice of intimidation; it was the sex oozing voice that had done
nothing but distract me since I had first heard it, and now was no exception. "My
instructor tells me that you had an unsecured wall locker."

"Yes, Sgt.
Cruz. I did," I replied, taking hold of my shaky voice. "It won't
happen again."

He moved further
into the room, determination shelling every inch of him. My heart began beating
erratically as tiny droplets of perspiration coated my hands, neck, and face. He
was only inches away from me, that strong, husky scent of his infiltrating my
nostrils, sending my overworked and unsatisfied libido into a tortuous
overdrive.
 

"It won't
happen again. I already know that." He moved even closer, his rock hard
chest skimming my shoulder as he stepped around and to the back of me. "Do
you know why I know that?"

"No,
Sergeant, I don't," I replied in an embarrassingly breathy tone, taking
quick swallows and trying desperately to rid myself of the nerves that had
flushed in like a catastrophic wave.

His lips were at
the nape of my neck, making the hair stand up. All blood in my body seemed to
be rushing to my clit, making it nearly impossible to continue standing there
holding on to what little self-control I had left.

He placed his
lips on my neck, the moist plumpness thrilling every inch of me with the
boldness of the move. He gently skimmed, sending prickles all over my skin. My
breathing picked up, and I shut my eyes, hoping I could reign myself back in,
but that wasn't happening. I was falling deeper and deeper into the trap that
this man seemed to have set for me, and I wanted him to just take me. I wanted
him to forget about all of the boundaries and just make good on the desire that
we were both withholding from one another.

"You won't
do it again because I said you won't, and I can already tell the effect I have
over your mind and body whenever I say anything to you," he huskily
whispered, further weakening my already fragile hold on self-control.

His answer was
certainly not what I had in mind.