Chapter Twenty-One
Stone ~ Early July
The last three months had been all systems go. The second Spence and I made Lance Corporal, we were whisked off to Scout Sniper Training School. Our program lasted for ten weeks and was split into three phases. If we’d have failed any of them, we’d have gotten kicked out immediately.
The weeks had passed in the blink of an eye. Now, we were on the final strait, hence the reason I was currently sitting with my legs hanging out of a Seahawk, popping shots at small boats bobbing sixty feet below in the Pacific Ocean.
You’d think the sergeant screaming orders and the deafening whooping of the propellors would somewhat distract me.
Well, you’d be wrong.
Over the weeks, I’d been trained in maneuvers I’d never imagined before. I was a certified marksman and stalker, and Spence and I could pinpoint a thousand-yard line to the millimeter. With one signal, we could become ghosts, specters, and a man’s worst nightmare.
My M40 had become my new best friend, along with my M4 and my Barrett M82. My handgun of choice was my Beretta—which I could field strip within five seconds. Additionally, my precision blade throws became famous in my sniper class, so I always had my trusty Ka-Bar sheathed at my back.
“This is it, boys.” Sergeant Cox hooted loudly from behind us. “Whoop it the fuck up.”
Closing my eyes, I breathed slow, quiet, and steady, listening to the air whipping hard around my ears that whispered directions. My racing heart began to thud steadily, the adrenaline in my veins making the world around me shrink inward to a small point of tunnel visionthat only existed through the sight of my rifle.
The sounds quietened until a voice in my head whispered one word.
Go.
Without thought, I took my shot.
An almighty blast boomed from below, and I watched, fascinated, as a fireball rose up through the air.
“Direct hit. Direct hit,” sounded through my comms just as a loud cackle of laughter filled the helicopter behind me.
My heart jerked because, for a second, the bark sounded just like Dad, except it wasn’t, though Sergeant Cox was probably just as crazy. In his own fucked-up way.
I cracked my neck from side to side, pulling my legs back inside the helo and sitting back against the metal wall.
Looking up, my lips twitched at the sight of Cox as his loud, excited laughter roared over the sound of the engine and blades as the helo swung right to return to base.
“Congratulations, boys,” he yelled, leaning over and giving me a hard clap on the shoulder. “Looks like the U.S. Marine Corps just got itself a new sniper team. Welcome aboard.” He grinned, showing me a flash of even, white teeth. “Rest assured; it all goes the fuck downhill from here.”
It took us until the next day to get back to Camp Pendleton. On my first night, I debriefed, grabbed something to eat, and got reacquainted with my environment. As soon as I settled, I grabbed my mail and began to sort through the envelopes.
I stilled as I came across Leesy’s first letter. Even seeing her pretty, cursive handwriting brought a lump to my throat. Lying back on my bed, a broad smile automatically stretched across my face. I hadn’t spoken to her for weeks. Training had made me a ghost, and I knew she’d be confused by my silence.
Bracing, I tore open the envelope, my heart fluttering as her jasmine scent washed over me. I began to read her words, almost drinking them in and smiling at how upbeat she seemed. However, over the next ten minutes, as I read through her letters, the flutter turned into an ache.
Elise was beside herself with hurt and upset, and I knew immediately how badly I’d fucked up. I should’ve taken time to call her house, but I trusted Dad to smooth things over for me. She was stressing out with worry and pressure, and I couldn’t believe Pop had let it happen.
Throwing my legs over the side of the bed, I shot out of there, sprinting down the stairs and running toward the recreation area. My heart thudded uncomfortably in my chest at the mere thought of the state Elise was in.
I needed to call my girl, pronto.
“John?” Elise breathed.
I closed my eyes, cursing the heavens at how tiny her voice sounded. “Baby,” I murmured. “I’m here.”
A tiny sniff sounded, followed by a quiet choking noise, and then, to my horror, she began to sob quietly.
My fucking world tilted on its axis.
Elise was nothing but sweet and kind, but she wasn’t a crier. Throughout everything I’d put her through, she’d hardly shed a tear—not to my face anyway—so to hear her so utterly distraught made my throat burn.
“I’m sorry,” I croaked. “I was sent away for intense training, and I couldn’t contact you. I told Dad to let you know I was okay. Didn’t he say anything? It’s been weeks, Leesy, he should’ve told you.” My words were just a babble, but I couldn’t think straight. Hearing her sob that way brought home what a shitty thing I’d done to her. What the fuck was I thinking by not taking one damned minute to call her before I left for training? Even just to let her know I’d be out of commission for a while.
I scrubbed a frustrated hand down my face. “Duchess, I’m sorry.”
“I—I thought s—something had happened, John. Your dad said you were doing some training, but he didn’t make it seem like a big deal. You’re always doing some kind of training exercise. I didn’t think it would affect your ability to write.” She sniffed quietly. “I thought you didn’t want me anymore.”
Pulling my collar away from my neck, I rubbed my sweaty palm down my combat pants.
Fuck!
I raised a hand to rub my forehead, pitching my voice low and true. “There will never be a day in this life, or the next, when I don’t want you, Elise Bell. Whatever happens, and wherever I go, you’re mine, and I’m yours. If you don’t hear from me for a damned year, you’ll still be mine, and I’ll still be yours. Time, distance, hell, not even death itself can’t part me from you. Do you get me?”
She sniffed again.
“Do you get me, Elise?” I reiterated.
I heard her take a deep breath. “Yeah. I get you.”
My shoulders slumped, and my head fell back forward in pure relief. “I apologize for the fuck-up, baby. I’ll speak to Dad and find out what happened. In the meantime, put pen to paper and write me, I’ll do the same tonight and explain everything. Now listen, I’ve got a weekend off base at the end of the month. If I buy your plane ticket and book us into a hotel, can you come? I’ll talk to Abe and ask him and Iris if they’ll take you and pick you up from the airport. If he’s on a run, take Bessie, and I’ll pay the parking charges, too.”
She drew a sharp intake of breath. “Oh my God. Yes. I’ll come.”
I looked up at the heavens, mouthing, thank you. “Good. Nothing’s changed. It’ll never change. I had to go dark with the type of training I had to do, Leesy, but I never meant to keep you in the dark, too.”
“Okay,” she breathed. “I understand, John, I just didn’t know what to expect. I haven’t heard from you, and it’s not like you to not write for so long. It worried me, and I guess I began to overthink.”
“Where was Mom?” I asked. “Didn’t you talk to her?”
“She’s visiting your aunt Mary in Nebraska,” Leesy murmured. “She’s not due back until next week.”
My gut clenched.
Fuck!
“I don’t know what happened, Leesy,” I bit out. “But I’ll sort it. Write me tonight, and I’ll do the same. Then tomorrow, I want you to look for flights and send me the information in a letter. I’ll pay for everything. All you need to do is get yourself to me.”
“Okay,” she whispered. “I can do that.”
My throat thickened. “I love you, Elise.”
“I love you, John. Always,” she croaked, before the line went dead.
The feeling of sweet relief that washed over me was palpable.
Elise had gotten herself so damned worked up she was at the end of her rope. I couldn’t blame her, though. If the boot was on the other foot, I’d have burned the world down looking for her.
No, the blame wasn’t for my girl to take on; it belonged to somebody else’s shoulders.
A burning sensation licked through my chest. I dug inside my pocket for more change and dialed out another number.
The line rang twice before a deep voice barked, “Yo!”
My chest jerked. “Dad? Is that you?”
“Who the fuck else would it be, ya little bastard,” he cackled. “I take it they finally let you out of sniper school. How did it go, boy? Did you kick some sniper ass like I told ya—”
“Why didn’t you tell Elise?” I demanded, cutting him off. “She’s been worried sick. What the fuck did you do?”
Dad paused for a minute before muttering, “Here we go.”
“I trusted you,” I told him accusingly. “Why couldn’t you have put her mind at ease? Why you gotta be so goddamned pig-headed when it comes to Elise?”
He signed loudly as if I was a mere irritation. “It’s not my job to mollycoddle your townie girl. You’ll be asking me to sit down and braid her hair next. She’s your ol’ lady, your problem. Don’t gotta foist her hoity-toity ass onto me when the goin’ gets tough.”
My jaw clenched tightly. “I’m sick of this, Pop. If it carries on, I won’t come back. I’ll see out my enlistment, send for Elise, and we’ll make a life somewhere else. I don’t give two fucks if you hate her, she’s mine, and I protect what’s mine, even if it’s gotta be from you.”
“Are you threatening me, boy,” he rasped quietly.
“No,” I retorted. “I’m laying it out for ya. Any more shit slinging at my girl and you won’t have to see her again, but you won’t see me again, either.”
Silence reigned for a minute as Dad took in my words, except for the sound of his breath sawing in and out, a sure sign that he was close to blowing up.
The thing was, I didn’t care. He hadn’t tried with my girl since the day I brought her around. I knew it had everything to do with her snooty dad and the way he looked down his nose at us, but Elise wasn’t Jerome Bell, the same as I wasn’t Bandit. All his bullshit had to stop, and it had to stop now.
“Have you ever known me to lie, boy?” Pop asked, his tone calmer now.
I almost laughed out loud. “You lie daily to Mom. If she knew half of what you do with the club, she’d have a fuckin’ conniption.”
“The day I opened the Demons, I made your mother a promise not to ever involve her in the club’s dealings. We’re not Boy Scouts, and she knows it, but that’s all she wants to fuckin’ know. If your mother was privy to my secrets, she’d be in danger of bein’ questioned by the law, even the Feds. I lie to protect her, and she’s okay with that. Now, boy, apart from your mother and our mutual agreement to not involve her in the club’s illegal activities, when have you ever known me to lie.”
My eyebrows drew together in thought. “Never,” I muttered begrudgingly.
“Right,” he continued. “So why on God’s green Earth do you think for one minute I’ll lie for your lily-white ass?”
My stare hit my boots.
“If you wanna make your ol’ lady believe you’re as pure as the goddamned driven snow, you do that. What the fuck ever. But don’t expect me to look in that little girl’s face and tell her a load’a bullshit. It’s not me; it’s not who I am, and honestly, John, it’s not who you are either. It was your choice to enlist and your choice to take an ol’ lady before you fucked off to boot camp. If you’re big enough to take a wife, you should also be big enough to deal with the goddamned consequences. If she can’t handle your lifestyle, then either tell her you gotta withhold shit for her own good or start to look inward at the woman you picked and why. ‘Cause if she’s too fuckin’ delicate to know you’re a Marine Scout Sniper, then she won’t handle a week of this club.”
My stomach churned as Dad’s words sunk into my brain.
“You could’ve put her mind at rest,” I protested weakly.
“No, Son,” Dad snapped. “That’s your fuckin’ job. I’m sick of takin’ the fall ‘cause you can’t be honest with the woman you chose. It ain’t my job to care for her peace of mind; it’s yours.”
All the fight left me, and my body slumped. “You’re right.”
“I know.” Dad suddenly cackled. “I’m always fuckin’ right.”
My lips twitched. “I’m sorry.”
“Apology accepted,” he barked. “Now fuck off before I grow a vagina. All this ‘he said, she said’ shit’s just like a scene from that ridiculous Dallas show your mother insists on watchin’. Last time I looked, our family name wasn’t damned Ewing, and the boys don’t call me J—fuckin’—R. Now, get your ass back to work, I got shit to do.” With a last curse and a mutter, the line went dead.
Shaking my head, I placed the receiver back on the payphone, staring at it thoughtfully.
There was no doubt my dad had treated Elise badly, but he also made some good points.
Maybe I was being over-protective about my job and what I was about to do, but it was just because I didn’t want her to worry unnecessarily. The danger factor for me had ramped up considerably. I wasn’t worried; I was a U.S. Marine, and I had an exceptional team around me, but I knew Elise would fret.
Still, by trying to keep my girl in the dark, I was doing more harm than good. Something had to change, and that something was me. I had to be more honest with Elise and trust in what we had. I’d already established my woman had an inner strength. Maybe it was time to put it to the test.
Turning, I nodded to the Private who was waiting to use the phone, murmuring an apology for taking so long. Then, with newfound determination, I headed back up the stairs to my room.
This Marine had some explaining to do.