Trouble Triangle (Tyler's Trouble Trilogy) (36 page)

"Okay, sailor boy. Tonight. Meet me behind this cabin at twenty-hundred, and we go for a walk." She must have felt my cock hardening. She smiled. "I knew you'd be up for it. Twenty-hundred. Don't be late."

"Umm, Jody—"

"
Shh
…" She put her finger
up to my lips. "Trust me - what
ever her name is, she'll be the last person on your mind." She leaned in standing on her toes so our lips brushed together. "I'll give you the best blowjob you ever had. Promise." She stepped back and looked at my bulging pants. I think it was more of a case of her admiring her handy-work knowing she was the
one who got me into that state.

Why couldn't she have been some ugly chick?

After a day in the field painting rocks, I went to the shower shack when I returned and thought about my upcoming date with Jody. She was right. No one would ever know. And I did
shun Jill's advances, so I knew I could say no if I had to. Just one more fling, then I'd be fa
ithful to Holly for ever after.

Before I hopped in the shower, I stood taking a leak while an
EOD
guy, Bradley, stood a few urinals away.

"Oh, fuck it. Goddamn it," Bradley yelled. "That fucking slut. I'm
gonna
kill her."

"You okay, man?" I asked.

"No I'm fucking not," he said. "That fucking whore in sickbay gave me the clap. Same kind of burning piss I had in Korea. That's a feeling you never forget."

"You nailed Jody?"

"Yeah, second night."

After the shower, I went to my cabin and stayed there the rest of the day and night. I didn't bother to cancel the date with Jody, I just didn't show up.

The next morning Jody and Bradley were
helicoptered
off to get treatment and a new Corpsman was flown in as Jody's replacement. Boy was I glad to see a male Corpsman.

#

At the end of my short tour of duty, I loaded up my gear onto the helicopter, hopped in and gave one last glance toward the camp, then buckled myself in. The flight back to Pearl Harbor took forever. A thirty minute flight felt like thirty days. I couldn't wait to see Holly and tried to imagine how much pent up passion she would need to release once we saw each other. I'd probably need to bring her back to Kahoolawe where she could scream as loud as she wanted without being heard.

Once on base, I raced to my room, dropped my gear off, got changed and stopped by the Navy Exchange store to get some "missed you" gifts before jumping on the bus to her apartment. Excitement ran through me as I drew nearer. Standing at the door with the box of chocolates and a bottle of wine, I waited for that beautiful face to appear.

The door swung open. Holly stepped out, threw her arms around me and cried.

"It's okay, babe. I'm back now. No need to cry." Secretly, I was moved by her crying. It showed me how much she cared and missed me.

She led me to the couch. "You sit. I'll get you a drink."

Ah, that's my girl. She was marvelous. I smiled broadly at having such a wonderful girlfriend. Thank God I passed Jody by. Throwing herself at me the way she did. What a shameless slut.

Holly sat down and put a whiskey in front of me. I took a drink and noticed her glass.

"What? You switch to screwdrivers or something?" I asked.

"Kind of, but there's no vodka in it."

"What, straight orange juice at six o'clock?"

She nodded and started crying again.

"We got a celebration to get on with. What's up?"

She stared at the table. "I'm pregnant."

"Pregnant!
Whatta
ya
mean pregnant?" I took a drink and set the glass down then decided I needed another drink, so I picked it back up and downed it in one.

"You know, pregnant. Like, with child, in a family way, knocked up, up the duff. I mean fucking pregnant."

"How'd that happen?"

Her head snapped toward me. "Well, Tyler," she said in her kindergarten teacher voice, "you put your penis in my
va
—"

"I know how it happens," I interrupted, waving my hands. "I mean, how'd it happen? I thought you were on the pill."

"Yes, the pill with a ninety-seven percent success rate. You must have found the t
hree percent that didn't work."

She dropped her head in her hands.
"Oh, this is like a nightmare."

"You mean I'm
gonna
be a dad?"

She looked at me, her lips tightly closed. "Shit, Daddy's going to disown me, after he kills me."

I put my arms around her. "It's okay, babe. We'll figure something out." Shit. She's not even thirty yet. We were supposed to have years of fun before Mr. Stork started making deliveries.

"What's there to figure out? It's not like there's a return policy." She threw both hands out in front of her, palms toward the ceiling. "This isn't what I wanted, can I exchange it for a blue sweater?" she mocked.

I held her tight. "I guess we'll have to get an abortion."

She pushed me away. "Typical! You guys are all for planting the seed, but when it comes time to harvest the crop, you don't
wanna
know." She poked me in the chest. "And that's exactly what Debbie said you'd say. I'm very pro-life, I'm not
havin
' a fucking abortion."

My mouth fell open. "Debbie knows?"

Her hand shook as she sipped her orange juice. "I had to talk to someone, and she was there for me. Daddy's probably going to give all his money to charity now. His slut daughter has disgraced him. God, he is so
gonna
hate me. I'll be cut out of the will."

I slid away a little to give her some space. She wasn't very happy with me at the moment, but I wanted to be supportive. I didn't like seeing her upset. "So, you're going to give up your dad and let him hate you?"

She tilted her head and looked at me like I was an idiot. "You really don't have a clue, do you? I don't have any other choice." She turned away and looked straight ahead, rocking back and forth.

I reached over and str
oked the back of her shoulder.

She sipped her drink. "Look, Tyler, you don't want to be saddled with a baby. You've just made that perfectly clear. I don't either, for that matter. My enlistment's up in three months, and I haven't even decided what I'm going to do yet. I'd never be able to afford the medical to have a baby if I get out, and who wants to be a single mother in the Navy? Not to mention the fact that Daddy's going to kill me. This is the shittiest thing that's ever happened to me in my life." She buried her face in her hands.

I got up and poured myself another whiskey and rejoined her. She quietly let out small sobs. We sat in silence. This certainly wasn't the homecoming I had expected or hoped for. She was right, this was a nightmare, but I couldn't stand to see her suffer. Maybe we could make this
work. If we played it right, Daddy would look after us. I placed my drink on the table and knelt before her. I took her hands in mine and gazed into her eyes.

"Holly, I love you. Will you marry me?"

Her eyes and mouth opened wide. She looked at me, stunned. After several moments her face returned to normal. She patted the seat next to her. I wanted to stay on my knee until she answered but eventually gave up and took my seat. She faced me, still holding hands.

"That's really sweet of you to offer to do the right thing. I appreciate it. But we both know you would never have proposed if I wasn't pregnant. You're not ready to play happy families."

"No, Holly, I mean it. I haven't told you this before, but when your dad was out here, I asked him for your hand in marriage. He gave me his blessing. Ask him yourself if you don't believe me. It was always on the cards that I would ask you sooner or later." I patted her hand. "Okay, this may be a little sooner than I expected, but now that's it's happened, I'm happy." I smiled. "Marry me, Holly."

She twirled her hair with her finger. "What about the abortion, Tyler the baby butcher?" She scowled at me.

Ouch. That hurt.

I put my arm around her and pulled her close to my side, leaning us both back in the couch. "Look, I said the wrong thing when I mentioned abortion. What I meant was if that's what you wanted, I'd support you. Come on, you don't
wanna
fall out with your dad, and this would make him very happy. You
want to please him, don't
ya
?"

She nodded and wiped away a tear. "Think about if you and I were married. I'll either get out of the Navy in three months, or get shipped off somewhere else. You're due to be transferred in six months and you got time to serve on sea duty next. So I'll have a husband at sea, and I don't know where I'll be. Besides, I don't think this is what you really want. I'm not even sure it's what I want. It's a big step just to stay in Daddy's good books."

I grabbed our glasses and went to the kitchen to pour us another drink, swallowing an extra drink of whiskey while she wasn't looking. A numb feeling washed over me. The magnitude of the whole situation slowly sank in. I walked to the living room and put our drinks on the coffee table and sat next to her. We sat in silence for a few moments as my mind churned away. Then it hit me.

I clicked my fingers. "Sleepwalking," I said. "I'll fake sleepwalking and get discharged."

She looked at me. "I know they medically discharge sleepwalkers, but that's the oldest trick in the book. Anyone who doesn't want to go to sea starts sleepwalking."

"Yeah, but I'm a pretty good actor." I stroked her arm. "Your dad also told me that he'd take care of us - financially. You get out, I'll get myself discharged, and we'll move to Idaho and start our family."

"Idaho?" she snapped.

"Oh, right. Bad idea. Montana then. Oh, I don't care. Anywhere. I just want to be with you and our baby."

"Did Daddy really say he'd help?"

"Would I dare lie about what a preacher said? That ha
s to be a sure ticket to hell."

She smiled. "And you'd really marry me to raise a family? You already know about the overbearing father-in-law." She tugged her bottom lip. "I never dreamt you'd ask me to marry you."

I ran the back of my hand down her cheek. "I really want this, babe. My dad was a shit dad and I want to prove I'm better than him. Holly Chambers. It's got a nice ring to it, doesn't it?"

She placed her hand on the side of my face and rubbed her thumb against my cheek. "We'd have to do it soon. I don't want Daddy figuring out the math. I so didn't want it to be like this."

"You happy?" I asked.

"No, I'm not. But I don't have much choice. I'd rather be married and rich than the alternative." She moved in and kissed me softly. "Thanks, Tyler. Okay, enough of that. How was your assignment?"

"Sucked. I missed you so much. I'll tell you about it later. How did you get on without me?"

"Well, Debbie came around every night. We studied, ate dinner together, we even went to a movie one night."

"Oh." Surely she wouldn't be telling me all this if something happened between them. "Did, umm…anything happen? You know, down…"  I raised my eyebrows and flicked my head toward her crotch.

She put on her angry face. "I’m not even going to signify that with an answer." She folded her arms across her chest.

"I think you mean dignify. I just meant, did she try anything?"

"Like, whatever, and no she didn't try anything. We mostly talked about her shithead boyfriend. That guy really screwed her up. She's been like a really good friend to me. She said you'd run a mile when you heard about the baby."

"Richardson, right?" She nodded, and I felt a rush of temporary relief. "I don't like you hanging around her, babe." I gulped a mouthful of whiskey. "She's trouble. She told me at her last command about a guy who wouldn't go out with her. She made up lies about him and told his girlfriend a bunch of stuff that wasn't true so his girlfriend would break up with him. She's warped."

"Don't forget, I know a bit about Debbie and that doesn't sound like her." She leaned back with widened eyes. "And since when did she start confiding stuff to you?"

"Well, you know drunk Debbie. Get a few drinks in her and she'll tell anyone her life story." I could feel beads of sweat forming over my eyebrows. I wiped them with the back of my hand
, and sipped some more whiskey.

"Debbie never said you and her were buddy-buddy."

Thank God for small mercies. "We're not. I must of overheard her in Dolphin's telling someone else. Can we change the subject? I don't want to talk about Debbie anymore. We should be tal
king about us and our wedding."

We both took drinks and sat there a little while in silence. It provided a welcome break to the conversation and I hoped she wouldn't bring it up again.

"Will you still want me when I'm all fat and flabby, looking like I swallowed a beach ball?" She rubbed a hand over her stomach.