Fraternizing (16 page)

The ache between
my legs brought on by Alex's swift exit didn't leave, even after I’d tried
releasing the pent up aggression myself. My fingers were no substitute for his
tongue, his large, thick, skillful fingers, or even the tip of his thunderous
cock that was locked and loaded, ready to unleash tremendous amounts of fury on
me.

He had me wrapped
around his finger, his cock,
his
tongue...

And I knew...

I just knew that
it would be a long fall if I ever thought about getting off.

Just as I was
pulling a shirt over my head, a loud couple of knocks sounded on the door. I
pulled it open, looking at a
fresh faced
Dalton at
0545.

"Ready to go
kill this run?" he asked, much too cheerful for a Saturday morning.

I wiped my tired
eyes, which were near bloodshot since I hadn't gotten more than a few hours of
intermittent sleep all night. I was in no mood to go on some heart pounding,
chest heaving, throat drying run with Dalton, and as I thought about how much I
didn't want to go, Alex's orders to not spend time with him today came roaring
back, fueling my rebellious side while encouraging me to do the exact opposite.
If he was going to have anything with me, he needed to know that I wasn't a
female who would cower at the whims of a man. I wanted to show him that he
couldn't order me around-- except, of course, at work-- and I did
need
to run and improve my time if I
wanted to boost my PFT score.

"As ready as
I can be early on a Saturday morning," I dryly replied, yawning as I said
it because I was in desperate need of some sleep.

"As soon as
we get going, you'll be good as new," Dalton said, snapping a reflective
belt around my waist. He pulled me out of the room and waited as I turned and
locked the door, making sure that I wouldn't find myself in any sort of trouble
with any of the instructors possibly roaming around the barracks.

"Where's
Ruiz?" he softly asked.

I shrugged my
shoulders. "Beats the hell out of me. If any of the instructors find out
she stayed out all night long, she'll be in some serious trouble."

"Guess she
doesn't care too much. Oh well, let's go."

We walked down the
steps and past the duty room. It couldn't be avoided thanks to its location,
purposely set aside to see every single person coming and going from the
building. I glanced in, catching Alex's eye as I walked by. I didn't want to
cause another scene, so I kept walking, not giving him the chance to say
anything, or look at Dalton in any sort of way that could be threatening or
intimidating since he had already made it clear that he didn't particularly
care for my friend.

We took off
towards the far back end of base, heading out to a trail that led to a rock
filled mountain just behind the training area. As early as it was in the
morning, the heat was already searing us as we ran. Moisture coated my chest as
well as my back, reminding me of the sweat filled night that I’d had with Alex,
his strong, dexterous hands all over me. When we made it up to the tallest peak
of the mountain, Dalton stopped and allowed me to catch my breath. I tried hard
not to lean over, the flame of the roasting morning sun penetrating my body,
scalding my lungs and leaving me gasping for air.

"You
okay?" Dalton asked
,
looking concerned as he made
his way over to me.

"I'm
fine," I replied. "I just hate long distance running, that’s
all."

He smiled his
heart-warming smile. "I know. That's why I plan on making you do more of
it. You need to incorporate more strenuous activity into your workout plan. It'll
help you build up endurance for your run."

If only he knew
just what type of strenuous activity I had engaged in only a few hours prior. It
seemed like Alex had all sorts of plans to get my endurance up, and if I were
being honest with myself, I wanted that so much more than running up mountains
and hills.

"What do you
say we head back down, grab a shower, and get some breakfast?" I asked, wanting
to end the torture and get out of the sweltering heat.

"Sounds like
a plan to me."

We took off down
the
mountain which
was much easier than the trek we
made going up. On the way down, I had time to ponder exactly what it was that
Alex and I found
ourselves
engaging in. Was this just
a one-time thing? Would he be done with me as soon as he got the opportunity to
fuck me? I didn't need to be used and abused again; I was done with that shit.
But even with those thoughts, my body was telling me something totally
different. My body wanted to have Alex any and every way that it could. He was
the drug to satisfy my craving, my need,
my
intense
want.

But what about my career?

I stepped out on
a limb, throwing myself into one of the most challenging arenas I could think
of to see what I was made of. I was proud of what I had accomplished thus far,
but I knew that all of my hard work and dreams could be gone in the blink of an
eye.

So why was I
unable to drop him and move on? With all of the consequences for our actions
dangling over our heads every step of the way, neither of us was willing to
back off and save our careers; neither of us was willing to wait. The need to
feel each other was too strong, and it became all too consuming with each
passing second of every day that we had to deny ourselves of one another.

"Come on,
Bennett, you've got this," Dalton called out from the bottom of the rocky
mountain.

I pushed aside
the consuming thoughts of Alex and pushed through, finally making it to the
bottom to Dalton who had cheered me on every step of the way. I stood with my
arms over my head, working feverishly to catch my breath as I paced the area
and tried to keep from taking any direct sunlight from the blazing sun.

"You did
well. You took that mountain in forty-eight minutes, not bad."

"Thanks, but
I feel horrendous."

"Well, it's
a step in the right direction," he said, smiling at me after patting me on
the shoulder. "Now let's go and get cleaned up. You smell like a
man."

My breath
caught
as I grew nervous with what he was possibly alluding
to. Alex's scent lingered on me after our romp in the wee hours of the morning.
Stupid of me to not shower and wash it away, but I was left in a flaccid state,
lying in my bed and finger fucking myself to a heightened level of frustration,
trying in vain to reach even the lowest of that euphoric level Alex had worked
me into. I didn't get remotely close. Once I finally did fall asleep, it was
time to get up and Dalton was at my door. I had no time to wash him away from
me, and I honestly, wholeheartedly, didn't want to.

"What do you
mean I smell like a man?" I asked, coming across overly defensive.

Dalton stopped
walking and turned around to face me.

"It was a
joke, tiger. Geez." Inquisition shelled his face as he stood there,
obviously taken by surprise at the fierceness of my tone. "We're both
sweating buckets out here. I didn't think we smelled like women, all delicate
and frilly."

I relaxed at his
response. I would need to get a grip on myself if I didn't want to unwillingly
give myself away. Alex, his eyes, his words, his body...

He was pushing me
over a cliff that I was all too willing to jump off of, and that scared me more
than being caught or found out by anyone at the moment.

"I'm sorry. It's
just--"

""No
worries. Let's get back and get this day started, shall we?"

We took off,
headed back to the barracks.

Passing the duty
room, I glanced in again, only this time, there was another sergeant currently
sitting in the duty chair-- Alex was gone. Relief washed over me as we passed. His
penetrating eyes were thankfully nowhere to be found as Dalton and I made our
way up the stairs. When we reached the top, Dalton made sure to walk me to my
room before turning and heading for his.

"Catch you
in about a half hour?" he asked, running his fingers over his dirty blonde
hair.

"Yeah. Do
you want to meet at the chow hall?"

"I can meet
you right here if that's okay?"

"Fine with
me."

He smiled and
walked off. I turned to go into my room when I caught sight of Alex on the
bottom floor, leaning on what I presumed to be his truck.
 
The big, black Ram fit his personality to
a tee-- rough and rugged. A slight smile caressed my lips, but quickly faded
away as I watched Castillo, or Leti as he had called her the night before, step
out of a black Jeep with more food in her hands. They exchanged words before he
took it, placed it in his truck, then turned around and spoke to her again. I
wanted to run down there and let her know that she was stepping on dangerous
territory, only I couldn't, not without severe consequences that could destroy
me for the rest of my life. No, I had to stand around and continue to take her
shit as she flaunted it in my face. And what the hell was his deal? I couldn't
understand how he could be so possessive when it came to Dalton, yet he was so
friendly with Castillo. The double standards weren't going to work with me.

I wanted to pull
my eyes away from them, but I couldn't. It was like I was drawn to them, a true
masochist in every since of the word as I stood up there, seething inside at
the sight of them down below exchanging who knows what with one another.

Just when I was
pulling away, I watched her hug him, lingering on him a bit too long for my
liking. She ran her hand down his arm that was now free thanks to the muscle
shirt he wore, and smiled at him as she made her way back and around to her
Jeep. I laughed a little to myself, seeing Castillo for the desperate bitch
that she was. There was no secret that she knew something was up between Alex
and me, and I had a feeling that since she hadn't said anything up to this
point, she wouldn't be saying anything at all. She wanted to play hardball, and
somehow I found myself wanting to play right along with her. I watched Alex as
he looked up and saw me standing there, then turned and jumped into his truck,
the thunderous roar of the engine raging to life as he pulled out of the
parking lot.

The shower was a
refreshing escape from the morning, Alex, and Castillo. Both of them were
beginning to get on my nerves. As much as I wanted Alex, I wasn't going to put
up with any bullshit games of his. Either he was going to define what this was
before us, or we just weren't going to have anything anymore. The fact that I
couldn't do anything about Castillo was killing me softly, and I knew she was
enjoying the agony as it festered inside of me.

I threw on a
t-shirt and a pair of boy shorts underwear before strolling into the bathroom
and
blow drying
my hair. I stared at myself in the
mirror, not looking nearly as tired, but wondering how I'd gotten myself caught
up in such a mess that I couldn't seem to work my way out of. If Castillo got
fed up with Alex and his unwillingness to go any further with her, she could
ruin me. I was setting myself up to have my life destroyed right in front of my
eyes because I seemed to be in complete and utter lust with my instructor, who
I would be leaving five weeks from now. I needed to talk myself into leaving
him alone, but with every sight of him, every smell of his husky manliness, and
every sound of his words, I found myself falling deeper and deeper into that
hole with no way out and no ounce of panic at that realization within me.

A quick knock on
the door had me scrambling for my shorts. Dalton was always punctual, leaving
me in a frenzied mess to try and make myself presentable before opening the
door and letting him in. I swung the door open, smiling my biggest, most
charismatic smile. To my surprise, Dalton wasn't standing at my doorway.

It was Castillo,
looking much too snide for such an early Saturday morning.

"May I come
in, Pfc. Bennett?" She stepped into the room before I even had a chance to
answer.

I turned to face
her, closing the door slightly behind me.

"I'll make
this quick because I see you're on your way out. I know there's something going
on with you and Sgt. Cruz, or that you want something to go on. But let me
remind you, the Corps has a strict order against fraternizing, and I like to
see that all orders are followed. You catch my drift?"

My stomach ached
at the sound of her words and the look of her soul-searing gaze. Her lips
curved into an evil smile that sent chills down my spine with the tightening of
my muscles.

"I don't
think you know what you're talking about."

"Oh, I know.
I'm watching you. I've already told you that. And if Alex's reaction to finding
out you were acting like a walking mattress earlier in the week is any
indication, I'd say something is definitely going on." The hairs on my
arms were standing at attention, stiff enough to be cut clean off with one
swipe of my finger.