Chapter Fourteen
Kael
When we woke up in the morning, I had four missed calls from Phillips. Assuming he hadn’t been arrested, I wondered what the fuck had happened to him, and where he’d slept. No matter how hard I tried to recall, I couldn’t remember leaving Mendoza’s last night. I remembered glimpses of the fight, of the gun, of my memories taking me back to deployment, the way Karina had looked at me like I terrified her, but I blanked on the end of the party. Next thing I knew, I was in Karina’s bathroom with her and now in her bedroom, her body wrapped around me, hugging me from the side.
“Hmmph,” she murmured in her sleep, a noise that usually meant she’d wake up soon.
Without moving her an inch, I carefully reached for my phone on the nightstand and texted Fischer, making sure he and Elodie had gotten home safely.
After a few minutes, he responded.
We’re in the living room. Elodie is still asleep. How’s my sister?
She was really shaken up, but she’s okay.
I sent it, then typed, I think.
Elodie, too, she was really fucked up after what happened.
Did Phillips get picked up by the MPs?
No. They never came.
I didn’t know if I was relieved or pissed. The MPs were usually slap happy to come enforce the little bit of power they held over the rest of us, but I guessed it was Phillips’s lucky night.
I put my phone down as Karina stirred awake. Her eyelids were swollen as she blinked them open, her bloodshot eyes full of lingering anxiety as I watched her come to.
“Where’s my brother?” she asked, voice strained. “I had a dream that he—” She didn’t finish the sentence, but she didn’t need to.
My phone buzzed next to me. I gently picked it up with the hand that wasn’t brushing Karina’s cheek. I lifted it behind her head and read the message.
The MPs are here, banging on the door.
What?
What do you mean the MPs are there? At my house?
The texting bubbles popped up and I held my breath. They disappeared before a message came through. Fuck .
“Everything okay?” Karina tilted her chin to looked into my eyes.
I considered lying, but what good would that do? She could read me like a damn book, and by now I’d learned my lesson when it came to keeping the truth from such an aware woman as Karina.
“Not sure. Fischer said the MPs are at my place.”
She sat up and reached for my phone.
Her eyes scanned the screen, reading the texts between her brother and me. She wasted no time calling him. Her eyes closed when his voicemail came on.
“We should go.” She climbed off the bed, flung open her dresser drawers, and began tossing clothes onto the floor.
The level of panic she felt was contagious. I tried Fischer again while picking up the clothes she was flinging around and putting them on her bed. After pulling a sweatshirt over her head, she hobbled on one leg, then the other, and slid socks onto each of her feet. I got dressed as fast as I could, and Karina called for Elodie.
“Babe, she’s at my place.”
Her key chain shook in her hand. “Oh god. Yeah, I forgot.”
“I’m driving.” I gently cupped her hands and removed the keys. No way in hell was I going to let her drive.
It seemed to take a fucking lifetime to get to my place even though it was only a few miles. When we pulled up, the place looked vacated. Elodie’s car was gone and the front door was closed but not locked. We searched the duplex, calling Fischer’s and Elodie’s names, but no one replied. The kitchen and bathroom lights were on and there was a fresh glass of ice water on the coffee table. It seemed as if they had left unexpectedly, and given the MPs coming, it made sense. Fischer needed to stay off their radar or his enlistment would be totally fucked. As it was, he’d already gotten in trouble too many times.
Karina called Elodie over and over, but she didn’t pick up on her cell either.
“I shouldn’t have gotten so drunk last night,” Karina groaned as we got back into my truck.
“There’s nothing you could have done, and we don’t know why they came. Maybe they were looking for Phillips?” I tried to comfort her but my gut told me something was wrong, beyond the obvious of the shitshow that last night had been.
“Hopefully. But I need to see my brother.” Her lips quivered as she spoke.
I put the truck in Drive and headed to the closest MP station. My busted knuckles gripped the steering wheel until they turned white.
After two stops, we finally found Elodie’s car parked outside the third station. Karina got out of the truck before I turned the ignition off. When we got inside, soldiers in ACUs were sitting behind their desks and two of them were standing, arms crossed in front of a hysterical Elodie.
“You’re not listening!” she cried, covering her face with her hands.
Karina moved next to her and flung her arms around her as I approached the soldiers.
“What’s going on, Private?” I asked the one with a clipboard in his hands.
He eyed me up and down before responding.
“What’s your name, soldier?” the young private asked me. The other one tapped his shoulder and said something in his ear. Having been in combat had given me the ability to easily read lips. As he whispered my name, they both looked at me.
“Sergeant Martin, right?” the private with the clipboard asked me.
I nodded, my skin prickling.
“You need to come with us.”
Karina immediately began to panic. “What are you talking about? Why would he—”
I held my hand up between her and the soldiers. I didn’t want her temper to get her in trouble when these boys were so fucking obviously eager for escalation. I could tell by the way the shorter one had a fucking smug smirk drawn across his ratlike face. I could sense an instigator from a damn mile away. The patches on their ACUs let me know they had never been in combat, so of course they were thirsty for action . . . and for blood.
“You two should go home,” I calmly told Elodie and Karina. I knew damned well that my girl wasn’t going to listen, but I hoped her friend would convince her.
“No fucking way am I leaving! What do you need to talk to him about? And where is my brother?” Karina’s voice traveled through the quiet station.
“They arrested him,” Elodie sobbed.
“Arrested him for what?” Karina shouted.
One of the MPs stepped toward her, and every bit of my self-control flew out of the tiny station. I blocked him from getting so much as an inch closer.
“Give me some info. What grounds did you arrest him on? What are the charges, if any, that have been filed? Why hasn’t he been able to call his next of kin yet?”
The two of them squirmed where they stood, looking at one another for guidance, then to the clock. “We brought him in for complaints of assault. We need to drug test him before we even start the discussion of release.”
“Drug test him? He’s not a soldier yet. You have zero authority to piss test him. Who’s your commander?”
“He’s almost here. You need to wait. Sergeant or not, you’re not our boss.”
I held my breath, taming the growing fire inside of me. Karina and Elodie’s stress felt like it was blasting off them and through me. It was so hard to not react to the smug assholes, who from their point of view were just doing their jobs. But arresting Fischer didn’t make any sense. He hadn’t done a damn thing. The tiny bit of rational thought I had kept me quiet.
“Dad! What’s going on?” Karina rushed toward her father as he strode into the room where we all waited. He was wearing his ACUs and boots. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen that man in his uniform outside the Middle East.
“They said Austin’s been detained but wouldn’t tell us why.” Her voice was frantic, but her father’s face stayed as still as stone.
“Calm down, Karina,” he said. Elodie’s shoulders shook with a sob. She was wearing the same clothes as last night. “You two—” Her dad pointed at the two soldiers and wagged his finger for them to follow him. “With me.”
“Dad!” Karina shrieked, but was ignored.
I went to her, whispering for her to try to calm down a little. I hated that her feelings were valid, but if she continued to show emotion, whatever the hell was going on was only going to get worse.
The two soldiers and Lieutenant Fischer huddled for a minute or two before Karina’s father approached us.
“Your brother will be fine. We got a report that he was high, so once we drug test him he will be free to go. That is”—he eyed Elodie, then me, then his daughter. There was a tiny flicker of menace in his gaze, more so than the usual asshole he was—“if he passes.”
“But he’s not in the Army, how can they arrest him on post? And why are you here? He didn’t do anything! If anyone should be arrested, it’s Phillips, he had a gun, Dad—”
Lt. Fischer held his hand up to stop Karina from continuing. “Enough. You keep getting yourself involved in situations that you shouldn’t. We also got a report of an assault.”
His beady eyes homed in on my busted hands. I tucked them into the pockets of my sweats and kept my expression flat.
“But fortunately, the victim doesn’t want to press charges.” He kept his eyes on me. “So I suggest you take my daughter home and keep her there. I will deal with my son how I see fit.”
“Sir.” Elodie finally spoke. Instinctually, I tried to shield her from getting close to Karina’s dad. “He—”
Karina had told me her father was fond of Elodie, but the way he was looking at her told me otherwise.
“Austin doesn’t do drugs and he barely drinks anymore. He is trying really hard to do right in his service,” Elodie explained to him, her hands at her chest like a prayer.
“Martin.” He didn’t acknowledge her and spoke directly to me. “Take them home.”
In my head, I told him to fuck off, to for once in his pathetic life give his daughter the attention and love she needed, to stop being such a fuckhead to his son, who was trying to do his best. In reality, I did exactly as I was told.
“It’s best if we go.” I put my arm around Karina and watched as her father’s eyes burned a hole in me. “I know you don’t want to, and I’m sorry for pushing this, but—” I lowered my voice. “You know your dad better than anyone, and the best thing we can do is go home.”
“I can’t.” Elodie shook her head. “This is because of me. I know it.”
“Unless you want to trade places with him,” Lt. Fischer threatened me as I tried to coerce the girls to leave with me.
“Are you threatening him right now? Seriously?” Karina snapped at her father. I gently gripped her tighter and watched the resolve slowly wash over her.
The look on his face told me that he had a lot to say, but he kept his thin lips in a harsh line.
“I fucking hate him,” she told me as she held Elodie’s hand, leading her out of the building. “God, I fucking hate him.”
Since she was in no position to drive, Elodie left her car parked in the lot of the MP station and I drove the two of them back to Karina’s house. When we pulled up, Elodie and Karina were speaking so rapidly that I zoned out while we walked up the grass, onto the porch, and I unlocked the door, leading them inside. They sat down on the couch, instantly embracing each other, and Karina called off of work for the day. Elodie was already scheduled to be off, but Karina explained to Mali that she was dealing with a family emergency. I didn’t want to urge Karina to work while all of this was going on, but I did worry about her cutting her hours because of how tight she’d mentioned money had been lately.
I knew better than to offer to help her, but, damn, I wanted to. There was no way in hell she would take my money, or even borrow it, and I wanted to keep my body parts intact, so I kept my mouth shut whenever she groaned at her electric or water bill. The struggle between respecting her independence and wanting to make her life easier wasn’t an easy one. In fact, I fucking hated it. Maybe I could accidently drop a couple hundred bucks in her purse and play dumb when she found it? Or leave it in an old purse of hers in the closet and hope she came across it? If she wasn’t so in tune with me and the expressions I make when trying to lie, I would.
To give Karina and Elodie a little bit of privacy, I moved to the kitchen and pulled out my phone. I texted Mendoza to see if he knew what the hell had happened. My finger hovered over Phillips’s name, contemplating whether it would make shit worse if I called him. The scabs on my knuckles were raw and dry, and as my mind traveled back to last night, I could taste the faint metal of Phillips’s blood as it splattered across my face and mouth. I licked my lips and dropped my phone onto the counter. While I waited for Mendoza to reply, I opened Karina’s fridge to see what I could throw together to feed them. She had to be hungover as hell and in need of some damn food. And Elodie was pregnant—she needed to keep her strength up.
Karina didn’t have much, some green bell peppers, half an onion, some ground beef. I opened her small pantry and got out a box of instant rice and thanked god she had some seasonings outside of salt and pepper. As the beef browned and sizzled with the onions in the pan, I poured in a carton of chicken stock and checked my phone again. Two missed calls from Mendoza. I tried him back and he picked up on the first ring.
“What the fuck is going on, man?” he asked.
I glanced into the living room, turned the element down on the stovetop, and stepped toward the back door to shield at least some of my voice from the girls.
“I don’t fucking know. Fischer is being held at the MP station on Wold Avenue. They picked him up from my place this morning but no one will tell me a fucking thing. And Lt. Fischer showed up there. Fischer’s not even at basic yet—something’s up and Phillips is at the center of it, that much is clear.
“Did he stay with you?” I asked.
“Nah. I don’t know when he left or with who. Shit went crazy and everyone left before the police got there. I don’t know where his ass slithered off to. You haven’t heard from him?”
“Not a fucking word.”
Mendoza let out a sigh. “Maybe he’s dead and we can all go back to our regularly scheduled programming.”
I laughed, kind of wishing it was true.
“But for real, what are going to do about Fischer? We can’t just leave him there. Did his shitbag sperm donor say he was going to at least get him out?”
“If he passes a drug test.” My response came out more unsure than I meant it to.
“He will. I mean it, bro. He’s been clean as a goddamn whistle lately. No way in hell he’s failing a drug test right now.”
“You’re sure?” I hated to doubt Fischer, but I wasn’t a fucking idiot and I had seen him higher than a cloud on many occasions.
“Yep. Positive. The last time he smoked was weeks ago. Since he’s become all domestic with Elodie, he’s gotten his shit together. I wouldn’t be surprised if his old man tries to rig it, though.”
“The test?” I asked, knowing exactly what Mendoza meant but not wanting to acknowledge that as a possibility.
“Fuck. Let me call my old platoon leader and see if he can get me an update. But we know what their father is capable of.” His deep voice shook on the other line, and I swallowed.
We both knew that better than anyone, and Mendoza not using his name wasn’t lost on me.
I put my phone into my pocket and made sure the ringer was on while I finished making something that resembled dirty rice. I filled two bowls all the way to the top and shoved a spoon into each. My appetite was nowhere to be found, but it smelled good as fuck. I knew Karina’s tastebuds enough by now to know she would love it, and the look on her face when I handed her the bowl proved me right.
“Any update?” Karina asked me as soon as I stepped into the living room.
I shook my head.
“I don’t want to hear that you’re not hungry. Both of you eat, now,” I insisted. “Please,” I added with a fake smile to make my command more of a suggestion, but if they didn’t, I would spoon-feed the two of them myself.
“Thank you.” Elodie’s voice was quiet but she pushed a spoonful into her mouth and closed her eyes as she chewed. “I was so hungry but didn’t notice.”
Karina’s eyes were tired, but the way she looked at me made me forget, just for a moment, the massive shitshow we were all in the middle of.
Thank you , she mouthed soundlessly and began to eat.
My phone rang in my pocket. “I need to take this.”
I left the room before either of them could question me and stepped out the front door and walked down the porch. It was hard to believe it was barely fucking noon. The sun was just about over the clouds and the air had a bite to it. Karina’s nosy-ass neighbor was by his truck, dragging a mattress by a rope into the bed of it.
“What did you find out?”
“Word is he failed. But I’m telling you, he fucking didn’t.”
“What the hell?” My mind raced with potential solutions, potential reasons this was happening. Was Karina’s father trying to keep his son from leaving for basic training?
“What are we gonna do, Martin?” Mendoza asked me.
“I—” I paused, thinking about Karina and how she would be absolutely thrown deeper into hell if she knew what was happening right now, and that her father was not only not helping, but was potentially the cause of all this mess. My phone went off, the noise when someone was calling, and I had to blink to make sure I was reading the name correctly. It was Karina’s father.
“Let me call you right back,” I said as Mendoza called my name.
“Sergeant Martin.” I answered in the flattest tone I could manage. My heart was racing and that pissed me off beyond words. This measly little man should have zero power over me, but instead he could play puppeteer with two of the people I cared the most about in the world.
“Come to the station, Sergeant,” he instructed, calling me by my rank for the first time that I could remember.
“Why?” I dropped all formality.
“Because my son needs a ride home if they let him go, and you and I need to talk.”
“A ride home? So he passed the test?”
Mendoza told me less than thirty seconds ago that he hadn’t, so what the actual fuck was going on?
“Come to the station, Sergeant,” he repeated.
Fuck it. If he wanted to play games with me, then let’s fucking play.