CHAPTER THREE
“Stay in pairs,” yelled CJ from the walkways above the specially designed scenario. “That’s it. Keep your hand on his shoulder.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” said one of the men. “Why am I doing that? He’s a lot taller than me, and I feel like I’m trying to look around him.”
“It doesn’t matter if he’s taller than you or not,” said CJ. “If you have the time to think about that and line yourselves up appropriately, great. But it doesn’t always work out that way.
“He’s your eyes, and you are his ears. He’ll lead, you follow. If you trust your partner, that’s what happens. Keep your hand on the shoulder, and if you see something, jerk him left out of the direction of whatever you’re seeing. Stay slightly to his right so that you can see around him. The whole exercise is designed so that the two of you operate like a well-oiled machine. Do it again!”
Over and over, they walked through the scenario, making it as real as possible and covering every imaginable outcome.
“Chow!” yelled CJ.
They made their way to the amazing cafeteria at Quantico, sitting together to enjoy lunch. The men with the FBI and the Marines liked CJ, and more than that, they respected him. His reputation on the Teams and his impressive size and physique didn’t hurt.
“Making any headway with that hot neighbor of yours, Abbott?” smirked one of the FBI instructors.
“I told you, she’s engaged, although the guy seems to be a real dick. He always seems to be picking a fight with her. He’s a Ranger. I figured out who he is from his uniform. It’s strange he hasn’t figured out who I am. Or maybe he has, and he doesn’t give a fuck.”
“Don’t you Special Forces guys stick together,” smirked another man.
“Normally. Which is what makes this guy weird.”
“What’s his name?” asked one of the Marines.
“Tim. Tim Weathers.”
“Weathers?” frowned the Marine.
“You know him?”
“Yeah. I know him. He’s a total fucking asshole. His teammate was killed, and within a week, he was banging the widow.”
“Wait. What? No, he’s engaged to my neighbor.”
“If he is, he doesn’t understand the meaning of engaged,” said the Marine. “I’ve seen them a million times at a local bar. I don’t know what your neighbor looks like, but this woman has the look of someone who knows her way around a scalpel and needle if you know what I mean.”
“I know what you mean,” whispered CJ.
“What are you gonna do?” asked Perkins, the FBI instructor.
“I don’t know. I mean, I don’t feel like I should stick my nose in their business, but fuck, that sucks. I don’t want to see her hurt.”
“She’s gonna get hurt, brother. Maybe you can find a way to let her know what’s happening.”
“Maybe,” frowned CJ.
For the rest of the afternoon, he couldn’t focus on his work. CJ never allowed anything to take away his focus, but realizing that this woman was going to be hurt made him sick. Nothing was making sense to him, and his heart was cracking in two for Jill.
Finishing their day of training, he decided he would speak to her. When he knocked on the door of the condo, no one answered. About twenty minutes later, he saw her pull up. He reached for the doorknob and then sat back down.
“No. No, I can’t hurt that woman,” he said, shaking his head. A few minutes later, he saw Tim’s truck pull up, and there was a woman seated beside him.
“Fuuuuck,” he muttered.
“Hi. You’re home early,” she said, looking up to see Tim walk in the door. “I didn’t expect you until Friday morning. Do you feel like going out for dinner?”
“Don’t you have work?” he snapped. She held her tongue, looking up at him. It wouldn’t matter what she said. He would find a way to turn this around on her working.
“No. I’m finished with my case, and I have a more manageable schedule now.”
“Right,” he scoffed. She watched as he went into the bedroom and came out with a duffel bag. “The big JAG always has time for work but not anything else. Always time for the poor unfortunates needing legal help because they fucked up on base or, more likely, off base. Am I right, Jill?”
“That’s not fair, Tim. My work is important to me and to others. I defend the very men that you work side-by-side with. I’ve never asked you to quit being a Ranger.”
“I wouldn’t do it anyway,” he said, not even looking at her.
“Tim, you can’t ask me to walk away from my career when you’re so wrapped up in your own you don’t even know what I do anymore,” said Jill.
“I know that you spend more hours at the Pentagon than anyone else. You leave as early as I do, and you’re still not home when I get here. Always available, always on call. Let me ask you, Jill, who are you fucking?”
She slapped him so hard he stumbled backwards. It was a mistake. She shouldn’t have done it. He was a trained Army Ranger, and despite her height, he was bigger and could easily harm her.
“Nice,” he frowned.
“I-I’m sorry, Tim. I didn’t mean to lose my temper, but you disrespected me. I’m not fooling around with anyone.”
“Well, not to outdo you and your disrespect,” he smirked, “but you should be fucking around. I am.”
She took three steps backward, plopping onto her soft floral sofa. Looking up at him, she was in complete shock. Yes, she’d slapped him, but he said the worst possible thing to her in order to get a rise. This was intentionally said to hurt her. Tim swallowed as he stared at her.
“I didn’t mean to tell you that way. You just pissed me off.”
“You didn’t mean to tell me?” she asked quietly.
“I didn’t mean to tell you like that,” he repeated. “I’ve been trying to tell you for weeks now.”
“W-weeks.”
“Look, Jill, it’s no secret we’ve had issues since the day I moved in here. It’s why I kept my apartment and traveled back and forth. We both knew it was wrong, and we would never get married.”
“I didn’t know that,” she said, staring at him with tears in her eyes. “I had no clue. I thought we were moving toward engagement and marriage.”
He shook his head, tossing the stack of t-shirts into his bag. Jill couldn’t move. It was as if she were nailed to the sofa. Nothing was making sense. The life she thought they were building was all in her head.
“I’m sorry, Jill. You’re not the woman for me, and the truth is, you never were. Look, I don’t want you to hear this from someone else. Alana and I are getting married next weekend. We’re starting a family right away.”
“You got her pregnant? Alana? She’s Adam’s widow! He’s only been dead a few months, Tim. Do you know what this looks like?”
“I know that! We were seeing each other before he died,” he said, looking down. “We didn’t plan for this to happen.”
He was seeing the widow of a dead teammate. He’d been seeing her before his death! It was the ultimate sin on the Teams.
“Get out. I don’t ever want to see you again.”
“Not a problem, Jill. I hope I never see you again, either.”
She stood to make sure the door was locked when he was finally gone, watching as he left her condo with his bags slung over his shoulders. Sitting in his pickup truck was Alana. She stared straight at her, not even the decency to look away.
With tears in her eyes, she watched the truck pull away, then heard someone clear their throat behind her.
“Hey. Are you alright?”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m not sure I am.” CJ took a step toward her, then another.
“Hug?”
“I’m so humiliated,” she cried, falling into his chest.
“It can’t be that bad. I’m sure you’ve done nothing wrong,” he said, gently rubbing her back.
She continued to cry into his chest, and he backed her into her living room, closing the door behind them. He sat her down on the sofa and went into the kitchen, searching for a cup and tea bags. Starting the kettle, he placed the tea bag into a cup and, a few moments later, set it down in front of her.
“Oh, my gosh, that’s the sweetest thing ever,” she said, crying harder. CJ laughed, shaking his head.
“You’re killing me here, Jill. I don’t handle crying women very well, but I’ll do whatever I can for you. What can I do to help?” She sniffed, pulling back from him. He handed her the tea, and she took a sip.
“You’re doing it,” she smiled through red eyes. “The stupid thing is, I’m not really shocked by this, and in a weird way, I’m not mad that it happened. I knew something was wrong, and I had a weird feeling he might be seeing someone else. What hurts is that he was seeing her on the side. She’s pregnant! A teammate’s widow!”
“Yeah, I overheard that,” he lied. He didn’t want to tell her that he knew. It might hurt her even more, telling her that others knew as well. “I have to say that rubs me all kinds of wrong. I hate that he hurt you. Fucking seriously hate it.”
She stared at him, tilting her head. He looked pissed, and she was trying to figure out why without hoping for too much.
“Why? I mean, why are you mad? You didn’t do anything. He didn’t do anything to you, and we’ve only just met a few weeks ago.”
“Look, Jill, this won’t make any sense to you, and it’s probably going to freak you out big time, but in my family, we tend to know pretty quickly when someone is right for us. When I saw you with him, I thought my family genes had skipped over me,” he smirked. “But I kept seeing you and your beautiful face and that damn smile. Every time we spoke, I knew in my gut that there was a colossal mistake in the universe. You and I were meant to be together. Please don’t run.”
CJ stood, pushing his hands through his hair. Jill just stared at him, shocked at his admission of feelings for her but also at her own excitement hearing him say it.
“I know this is shitty timing. I damn sure never planned for it to happen this way. I’m sorry,” he said, shaking his head.
“No. I mean, yes. God, what I mean is yes, it feels like shitty timing, but the truth is, CJ, I watch you every day walking out to your car and walking back, and every day, I try to time my departure or arrival accordingly. Maybe I’m as guilty as Tim.”
“No,” he said, sitting beside her once again. He took her hand in his and loved the feeling of her soft skin. Her nails were painted a light blush pink. Neatly trimmed. “No, it doesn’t make you guilty of anything other than being human. Maybe you knew that you and Tim weren’t right for one another.”
She leaned back on the sofa, her head resting on the back. Looking up, she slowly closed her eyes and let out a long breath.
“I think I just believed if we dated this long, lived together, the next logical step was marriage. I should have known something was wrong after he decided not to move in fully, keeping his apartment in Norfolk.”
“Why is a Ranger in Norfolk?” he asked.
“I-I don’t know,” she said, sitting up again. “I mean. I don’t know.”
“It doesn’t matter. Is everything of his gone?”
“I think so. It looks like he took everything before I even got home. He must have been making trips in and out all week, and I didn’t notice. Again, not saying a lot for my observational skills.”
“Listen, why don’t I order us some Chinese food, and we can just sit and talk,” smiled CJ.
“Can I take a rain check? I just need to get things sorted out here first, CJ. I want to, please believe me. But can we do it later this week?”
“Definitely,” he smiled. He stood, and she walked him to the door. When he turned, he placed a soft kiss on her cheek, giving her one more hug. “I know it doesn’t feel like it now, but everything is going to work out. I promise.”
“I wish I had your confidence,” she whispered.
“You know where to find me if you need me,” he smiled.
She watched as he went into his own condo, then closed and locked her door. Turning, she stared at the empty space and shook her head. She realized two things.
She wasn’t as angry as she thought she’d be, and all she could think about was the man behind the door next to her.