Daddy, Sir (Dirty Daddies 2024 Anthology #6)

Chapter 1

Chapter One

The scraping of the heavy metal door warned them they were about to have company, and all three students quickly shifted to shield their cigarettes from view. Smoking wasn’t allowed on campus, obviously, but this sheltered nook behind the ROTC building was usually safe enough to sneak a quick cigarette, once the last bell had rung.

Jamie, Kelly, and Brandon weren’t especially friendly, but they all took the city bus that stopped at the base of the back parking lot. They found themselves together there most days, having a quick smoke to relax, before hiking down to catch the bus.

“What are you three doing back here?” There was a bark to the question. A demand. Which made sense… since it came from the highest-ranking ROTC student officer, Major Oliver Scott. He was used to giving orders and all three smokers were ROTC cadets.

Which meant they were in trouble.

The other girl muttered, “Fuck,” under her breath, but Jamie just rolled her eyes. She tossed a sassy look over her shoulder. “Ollie, it’s the end of the day. Everyone is gone. You can relax.”

Kelly gasped and Brandon backed away. No ROTC cadet talked to the student officers that way. ROTC was about learning discipline, and for some, it was about preparing for a future in the military. Most of them took the ranks very seriously.

Besides, you didn’t want to aggravate a fellow student who had the power to make your life miserable during homeroom, classes, and monthly training. Jamie agreed with all of that, except when it came to Oliver.

“Uh, we better go, or we’ll miss the bus,” Brandon said quickly.

Oliver didn’t even glance at the other two. His eyes were narrowed and fixed on Jamie with a cold stare. “You do that, and don’t let me catch you smoking out here again, or you’ll spend next formation doing PT for the whole two hours.”

“Yes, Sir,” they said in unison. Calling officers ‘Sir’ outside of ROTC time wasn’t required but given the situation… they’d obviously decided it couldn’t hurt. Oliver didn’t seem to care either way, so they picked up their backpacks and hurried off without another word.

Jamie sighed, stood up, and went to follow them, but Oliver stopped her. “Not you. You and I are going to have a conversation.”

She blinked, surprised. “Ollie… c’mon. It was just a cigarette.”

“This isn’t about the smoking, Jamie, although you should know better.” There was a low growl to his tone that sent a shiver through her. “It’s about your mouth and your attitude.”

Usually he ignored it when she got bratty, so this was new. She let one eyebrow rise. “I’ll miss the bus…”

“I’ll drive you home… after . Inside.” He jerked his chin toward the door.

She rolled her eyes and made a show of stomping up the two steps to go inside. The landing branched off with one set of stairs leading up to the ROTC classrooms and lockers. The other went down to the sublevel. She waited for him to show the way.

He brushed past her and went down the stairs. His steps were crisp and full of purpose, while hers dragged and scraped along, mostly just to annoy him.

“Hurry up, cadet. We don’t have all day,” he snapped, without looking back.

Jamie knew she was pissing him off, but she didn’t care. Lately she’d started to enjoy annoying Oliver. It hadn’t always been like that.

They’d grown up in each other’s houses, with moms who were best friends. Back then the years between them hadn’t mattered, and they’d been close. Things had changed when he reached high school.

Distance sprang up between them. He was suddenly too old to hang out. He’d started treating her like an annoying little sister, instead of a friend, when they ran into each other.

She wasn’t sure why, but she’d expected things to get better when she finally joined him in high school. After all, she wasn’t a kid anymore. The student population was small, classes were mixed between the grades, and there would be lots of opportunities to run into each other.

She’d even joined ROTC, because she knew Oliver was really into it, but it hadn’t helped. It wasn’t the real Army. It was just high school ROTC. There were no rules about officers fraternizing. He just… treated her like a sister, ignoring her, except when giving her orders.

The fact that he was three years older than she was shouldn’t mean he got to boss her around, but he always tried. Okay, technically… it did mean that, at least while they were in the ROTC building. Like all seniors, Oliver had authority, and Jamie was just a lowly freshman, even with her brand-new corporal stripe.

He paused in the open doorway of the Colonel’s office and rapped once on the frame to announce his presence. When their commanding officer looked up, Oliver saluted. “Sir, I’ve got a discipline problem. Okay to use the range?”

Like all ROTC instructors, the Colonel was retired military. He understood about discipline and didn’t even question it. “Fine. You’ve got an hour before I lock up.”

“Thank you, Sir.” Oliver turned smartly on his heel. “With me, Corporal.”

She held back the sigh, knowing the Colonel was watching her reaction. The last thing she wanted was for him to get involved. “Yes, Sir.”

Beyond the offices and storerooms was a cavernous open area, that Jamie was all too familiar with. They called it the range, but it actually served multiple uses, including physical training and battalion formations during bad weather.

After he’d turned the lights on, he pointed at her. “I hope you’re ready for a workout, Corporal Allard.”

She’d expected him to tell her off, but not this. “Ollie?—”

“That’s Major Scott to you. You’re only making this worse.”

She blew out an exasperated breath. “Major Scott then, fine . But it was after school, and I wasn’t inside the ROTC building. You don’t have any authority over me.”

That was technically true, although there was a gray area, since she’d been sitting on the steps of the building.

He folded his arms over his chest. Even in jeans and a t-shirt he still managed the authority figure vibe, and if she was honest… it was hot. Recently she’d begun to realize that her feelings for him had shifted in a new direction. It had been a surprise.

Not that she’d ever tell him. He was seventeen and she wasn’t even fifteen yet. Even if she was sure about what she was feeling, there was no way he’d ever consider dating her.

“Maybe. You can refuse, if you want.”

Her mouth started to tilt up at one side.

“I’ll just refer it back to the Colonel, and see what he thinks.”

The smirk dropped away. Smoking was a mandatory suspension. As a teacher, the Colonel would have to refer her to the office, and that was on top of whatever punishments he’d throw at her when she came back from her ‘vacation’. Cadets were expected to lead by example, not break school rules.

“No thanks,” she said quickly.

“Then you get to deal with me. Drop.”

Drop meant only one thing in ROTC—push-ups. Ugh . She set her backpack down and shrugged out of her jacket. “How many?” she asked, as she got down on the floor and prepared to start.

“I’ll let you know when you’re done.”

Greaaaaat. She stared at the gray-painted concrete floor and scowled. Suddenly teasing Ollie had become a lot less fun. He was supposed to tell her off, give her the whooshing excited feelings of being in trouble, and then let her off with a warning. So much for that.

Normally she did the standard push-ups, but she decided to use the allowed modification. It meant pushing up from her knees instead of her toes and was a lot easier. It would bug Ollie, but he couldn’t actually do anything about it, since it was built into the regulations.

Jamie thought it was bullshit that the modification was just for girls. There was a lot of outdated crap like that in ROTC. She might not have lots of arm strength, but plenty of freshmen boys didn’t either, so she was usually stubborn about doing it the harder way.

But not this time. She pressed down and popped back up. “One!”

Oliver snorted. “Your poor girl arms suddenly can’t handle a real push-up, cadet?”

“I’m allowed,” she retorted as she came up from the second one. “Two!”

“Of course, the Army makes allowances for weaker cadets. You are within your rights to use those allowances.” The words were all true, but there was a tone of smug derision to them.

The fact that she knew he was goading her on purpose didn’t keep it from working. She gritted her teeth and pushed up off her knees into the standard position. This time she rose slower, and the number didn’t snap out so cleanly.

She managed four and five without showing any strain in her voice. The movements were smooth, but as she came up from number six, good ol’ Major Scott had a nifty suggestion.

“Let’s drop the counting and instead you can go through the phonetic alphabet. You’re supposed to have it memorized by now. Start with the sixth letter.”

She froze and it took all her effort to keep from snapping at him. She knew the twenty-six letters of the phonetic alphabet, but she hadn’t yet gotten to the point of being able to recite them without thought. She held the plank position as she mentally ran through until she got to “Foxtrot!”

“Golf!”

“Hotel!”

“India!”

“Juliet!”

It wasn’t fair. Having to think about the next letter while her body strained to manage the push-ups made everything harder. And every time she was slow to snap off the next letter, Ollie would say it didn’t count and tell her to do it again.

Fuck. Double Fuck. All the fucks.

She still had no idea how many he was going to make her do, but she doubted he’d stop before she reached Zulu. Her arms were already shaking, and despite the fact that the range was cool, bordering on cold, all year round, her face was flushed and sweaty.

“You know, Corporal Allard, I’m not sure where this attitude is coming from, but I don’t like it. In fact, I’m starting to take it personally.”

She paused with her face an inch from the ground. “I?—”

“I didn’t tell you to stop. Keep going, or we start over.”

She swallowed hard and resumed the push-ups.

“I’ve noticed I’m the only one who gets this bratty bullshit, and I want to know why.” It was obviously a question.

But trying to answer in the midst of everything else was ridiculous, so she ignored it. “Sierra!”

“Did you think you’d get special treatment from me? Is that it? You thought since your old friend was the Major, you could act up, and I’d let it go?”

That stung. She’d never expected that. Her vision blurred as tears sprang to her eyes. She bit her bottom lip and pushed up without a word.

“Well? Are you going to answer, or are we going to go through the whole alphabet again?”

“I can’t think and count and do push-ups at the same time, Sir .” And then a second later she added, “Victor,” because she’d forgotten.

“Take a break and answer then, but watch your tone. I can do this all day.”

She couldn’t. Her arms felt like they were going to fall off and when she lowered herself to the cold floor she stayed there. She didn’t speak immediately, but it was no longer out of stubbornness. Jamie just wasn’t sure what to say.

There were so many conflicting emotions and some of them she certainly wouldn’t be sharing with him. She went with the most obvious, the easiest explanation. “We were supposed to be friends, but I never see you anymore, except in school. Even here you usually ignore me.”

Oliver sighed. “Jamie…”

“I know what you’re going to say. You’re three years older than me.”

“Well, it’s true.”

“It never mattered before!” Her chest hurt.

He moved closer and squatted down next to her, so she had a good view of his shoes. “It didn’t matter when we were ten and seven building castles with Legos, but it matters now. Jamie, we’ll always be friends, but things are different. And pretty soon I’m going to graduate, and you know what I’ll be doing after that.”

The army. He’d always wanted to join the army. ROTC was just the first step. “I know.”

“I’m getting ready to face the adult world, and you’re not even old enough to drive yet. If you were a few years older…” He trailed off and sighed. “Well, maybe things would be different, but you’re not.”

“That doesn’t mean you have to be a jerk.”

“How am I being a jerk? Do you really think I wouldn’t discipline any other cadet who gave me attitude? Not that any of them would act up as much as you have been.”

When she said nothing, he added, “I’ve been going easy on you, and you know it. Well, that stops today.”

Maybe she’d gotten used to him letting it slide when she sassed him. And maybe… maybe she didn’t want him to let things slide anymore. “Sorry.”

He was silent for a few seconds and then he straightened. “Sorry is a good start. You’ve had enough of a break, get back to work.”

She finished the alphabet, and when he didn’t tell her to stop, she went through it all over again. When she hit Zulu for the second time, he told her to get up. There was a brief moment of relief, but he wasn’t finished with her.

For ten minutes he had her running sprints to the end of the range and back. Burpees followed, and she absolutely hated those, but every time she complained, he’d threaten to add more. Eventually she shut up and did what she was told, with sweat streaming down her face and every muscle aching from the punishing workout.

They used the full hour, and Oliver didn’t call a halt until the Colonel came in to remind them. His cold gray eyes swept over her without expression and then settled on Oliver. “I’m locking up in five minutes, so you need to wrap things up.” If he felt any pity for Jamie, it didn’t show in his voice.

“Yes, Sir. We’re just finishing up now. Corporal, you can stop.”

Jamie collapsed in a heap, panting. She was probably supposed to go to attention, or salute, or something, but she didn’t think she could move. No one called her on it.

Oliver let her lie there for exactly two minutes, and she knew that because he said so. “Okay, you’ve had two minutes to rest. Get up and grab your stuff, so I can drive you home.”

Jamie groaned and pushed up onto her knees. Standing was agony; everything hurt, but as much as she wanted to mutter things under her breath about it, she was not willing to risk any more trouble.

Oliver seemed to sense that, and his lips were curved into a slight smirk as he followed her outside and down to the senior parking lot. His battered green hatchback was parked all the way at the end, and the walk seemed to take an eternity on her shaky legs.

She’d never been so grateful to sit down, even though the muscles in her ass and thighs hurt from the burpees. “Uh, we just going to sit here all night?” she asked, when he showed no sign of pulling out.

“Seatbelt.” He flicked a glance at her and waited.

Oh, right. She’d forgotten what a stickler he was about safety. She sighed and clicked the shoulder strap into place.

Neither of them had much to say as he pulled out and pointed them toward home. But the silence could only stretch out for so long. “I can’t believe you were so mean.”

“I can’t believe you were such a brat that it was necessary.” His tone was mild, maybe even amused.

“I’m not a brat.”

“Really? Couldn’t prove it by me. Here I am with a whole battalion of people listening to me and doing what they’re told. And then there’s you… showing me zero respect and making a show with your eyerolling and huffing every time I give you an order. How do you think that looks to the other cadets? How do you think that makes me feel?”

Jamie hadn’t really thought about any of that. She shifted in her seat as the guilt washed over her.

“And I’ve noticed you don’t do it to the other officers,” he added, as he pulled the car onto their street. “Why is that?”

“The other officers wouldn’t let…” She trailed off, wincing as she suddenly got the point.

“They wouldn’t put up with it. Exactly. Well, you’ve used up all your free passes. From now on there won’t be any easy road for you. Every time you act up, you’ll be dealing with me.”

A whooshing sensation rolled through her. Something about the way he’d made the threat, no, the promise, made her feel weird. “I guess that’s fair.”

He pulled the car over in front of her house and put it in park. “Does that mean you’re going to behave?”

She snuck a look at him. “Maybe. I don’t know.” She unbuckled her seatbelt and started to get out, but then stopped and slumped back in the seat. “I know I’ve been pushing you. I can’t really explain why.”

He thought about it for a minute. “Showing off because you think you’ll get away with it?”

“No, I don’t think so.” If anything it was the opposite.

“Well, judging by how you’ve been with me… I’d say maybe you’re just not cut out for ROTC, but when I watch you with your unit and the other officers, you actually do pretty well. You even seem to enjoy it.”

“I do. I only joined because of you.” Might as well admit that, since it wasn’t much of a secret. “And getting out of gym was nice too, but there are parts of it I really enjoy. I like the structure and the rules. It’s way better than I thought it was going to be.”

He drew in a deep breath, tapping his fingers on the wheel. “So, it’s just me then? Is it too hard taking orders from a friend?”

She shook her head firmly. “No.”

“Well, help me out here, Jamie. If we’re going to fix this, I need to know what the issue is.”

She really just wanted to drop it and go inside, but two things stopped her. First, it was the longest they’d spent together, just the two of them, in ages, and she wasn’t willing to end it. Second, she did want to fix things.

“I guess… I guess I wanted you to stop ignoring me.” That wasn’t quite right, but it was close.

A laugh burst from him, and there was a bitter edge to it. “That doesn’t make any sense. I’ve never ignored you.”

She half-turned in her seat, to meet his eyes. “You’ve been different with me since you got into high school. I thought it would change when I got to ninth grade, but it didn’t. I thought it would change when we had ROTC together, but it didn’t. When I act up you pretend like you don’t see it. Or you tell one of the Sergeants to deal with me.”

“Yeah, because it felt weird disciplining you and I thought you were mad at me, so I was trying to give you some space to work on it.”

“I have been mad, hurt, mad again, sad… honestly my emotions have been all over the place.” She blew out a loud exasperated breath. “But you ignoring it and treating me like I wasn’t there made it worse. I felt like I was invisible.”

“Do you still feel invisible?”

She snorted. “No.” She had enough aches in her body to remind her of that.

“That’s a start then.” He was quiet for a minute. “I meant it when I said I wasn’t letting you off anymore.”

“Good. Don’t.”

He jerked and gave her a startled look. “Seriously? You want to sweat your ass off doing burpees and sprints?”

“No, of course not. Only an idiot likes doing PT, but I—” She cut herself off, and quickly rephrased what she’d been about to say. “But it’s only fair that I get treated the same as everyone else.”

He examined her, trying to decide if she was serious, and then shrugged. “Fine. No more special treatment. When you act like a brat, I’m going to come down on you like a ton of bricks. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Deal. But, Ollie?”

He narrowed his eyes. “Yeah?”

“Don’t forget that we are friends. You can boss me around as much as you like in ROTC, throw as many punishments my way as I deserve, but stop pretending like our friendship died just because you’re three years older. Neither of us magically changed when you entered high school.”

His mouth curved up on one side and he shook his head. “Okay, I hear you and I get it.”

“Good, because bad attention is better than no attention. And if I have to act up for you to notice me… I will.”

“You’ll regret it,” he warned her.

“Probably, but that doesn’t change anything.” She opened the door and swung her legs out, wincing as the muscle pulled. ‘See you tomorrow.”

Before she got two steps, Oliver called her back. “All of this aside… don’t let me catch you smoking again, Jamie. I’m serious. You know better.” He had a worried, serious look on his face.

“Fine, just for you I’ll quit. Happy?”

He grinned. “Yes. See, you can be a good girl when you try.”

She rolled her eyes, but oddly being called a good girl didn’t come off as condescending as it should have. She actually… liked it.

Of course, quitting was easy enough. She hated smoking, but there was no way she was going to confess the truth. She’d taken to lighting up, just outside the ROTC building, in hopes of him catching her on the way to the senior lot.

It had taken two weeks, and two packs of cigarettes, but it had been worth it. Though she might have reconsidered, if she’d known he was going to destroy her with a whole hour of nonstop PT. That part had sucked.

It took her some time to realize it, but that day had taught her two things. First, that was when she knew for sure she’d caught feelings for Oliver, or at least when she was positive those feelings went beyond friendship. Second… she kind of liked it when he was pissed off.

If there had been more time, maybe she could have explored those feelings, but the year ended before she knew it. Oliver graduated and was gone soon after, leaving her with years of unresolved feelings.