Chapter 10
LAYLA
“Hanna,” I whispered urgently as I shook her shoulder. “Hanna, wake up. We’ve got to go.”
“Huh?” she grunted, moaning as she rolled over and buried her face in her pillow. “Is it four already?”
“No, it’s three thirty, but I want to get there early. Be quiet, or you’re going to wake Mel.”
Hanna frowned before she rolled onto her back and finally blinked eyes open. “Why the hell are you waking me up before Cortez has even started barking yet?”
“I want to get to the PT course first this morning,” I whispered as I straightened up now that she was properly awake. “Come on. Let’s get dressed.”
She let out a quiet groan but nodded before sitting up and rubbing her eyes. “What time did you even get in last night?”
“Late, but it doesn’t matter. I’m up now and I’m all ready to go.”
Hanna frowned at me again, but then she shrugged, yawned, and stood up. After she hurriedly got dressed, we took off and arrived at the PT course first. I beamed at her, taking in big breaths of the early morning air.
“How are you feeling today? I think it’s going to be a good one. I don’t know why. I’m just feeling really refreshed.”
She yawned, but finally, she gave me a smile once she relaxed again. “I’m feeling better too. Call me crazy, but I’m in a better mood after Cortez did what he did for us yesterday. At least it means he’s not completely against us.”
I nodded, not telling her that I was pretty sure he’d done it for me and not for us. “Yeah, maybe he’s not such a bad guy after all, or maybe he just really hated Bruce.”
Hanna chuckled, finally looking more awake now that we’d been out here for a few minutes. “That’s not impossible, but at least he’s gone. I hope the rest of Jonathan’s crew gets the boot next. They’re all insufferable pricks.”
“They are, but they’re good, too. I wouldn’t count on the rest of them going the way Bruce did.
They’re too smart to make the same mistake he did, and unfortunately, I think his departure is going to keep them in line.
They’ve seen now that being good doesn’t make you invincible or indispensable around here. ”
She groaned but nodded her agreement. “True, but they’re still assholes. Do you think this means Cortez is on our side, though?”
I shook my head fast, leaning in just in case he was already here and lurking in the shadows somewhere. He’d already let me get away with calling him a prick once. After that display of his authority yesterday, I wasn’t about to get caught out again.
“If anything, I think he’s going to be more of a dick today than ever.
Let’s just hope it’s not to us, but I’m still going to watch my back today and I suggest you do the same.
He’ll be trying to prove to the guys that he’s not going to take it easy on us.
I don’t think he’s not on our side, but I also don’t think he’s not on theirs. ”
She heaved out a breath but nodded again. “You might be right. I’ll watch my back, too. It was nice of him to deal so swiftly and decisively with Bruce, but he’s got to know the guys are going to be watching him closely. He won’t want them to think he’s more on our side than theirs.”
Before I could respond, I heard his voice calling from the dorms and Hanna and I immediately stepped into formation. If he’d woken up the others, he would be coming in our direction any moment now.
Less than a minute later, he marched around the edge of the building, then paused when he saw us already waiting. I swore I saw him smile, but when I blinked, it was gone and his expression was back to being as stoic as ever as he walked up to us with his hands folded behind his back.
“Good morning, cadets. This is a surprise. I didn’t think I’d ever see the day that you two got out here first.” His eyes lingered on mine for just a second longer than he’d looked at Hanna, and I knew it was because he was thinking about me having been out here so late last night.
Our brief encounter before he’d left me to it had been mind-boggling.
I didn’t know if it had been because of the hour or because we were alone, but he’d been nice to me.
Like, genuinely nice. Santiago the Dick must already have gone to sleep because the man I’d spoken to hadn’t sounded like he’d ever even met that guy.
It’d been disconcerting to say the least, and for just a minute after I’d woken up, I’d wondered if it’d been a dream.
As I’d shaken off the last remnants of sleep, I knew that it hadn’t been, but it still felt that way.
Hell, I had even seen a smile from him. Who knew his mouth was even capable of moving that way?
As I stared at him now, I wondered if he was thinking about the same thing I was, but then I realized he was still looking at us quizzically. Oh, right. We’re early.
“We’re turning over a new leaf,” Hanna said brightly at my side. “From now on?—”
“You’re in formation, cadet,” he said, cutting her off. “There’s no talking when you’re in formation.”
She sighed but nodded and mimed zipping her lips, but as soon as his gaze swung in the direction of the dorms when the first voices started filtering over to us from there, she rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at the back of his head.
I stifled a giggle, looking down and straightening up when the slight sound that escaped me drew his attention my way again.
Hanna was eyeballing the ground suddenly too, but as I glanced up to see if he was still looking at us, my gaze landed squarely on his.
It was still pretty dark and I couldn’t tell for sure, but I was almost certain I saw humor dancing in the depth of those blue eyes before he gave his head a little shake and turned away again.
Soon enough, the rest of the cadets had joined us, and Santiago—who my head was now flat out refusing to think about as Master Chief Cortez—lifted that infernal whistle to his lips. Before he blew it, he looked at all of us.
“Right, you know the drill by now. Groups of four. On my whistle. Let’s get started.” And then he blew it.
Jonathan and his boys—minus Bruce—took off with Jameson now in Bruce’s spot with them. We’d fallen into a sort of routine about who went when, and everyone just shuffled into their groups and fell in behind the people they usually went after.
As the girls and I hit the course with some other guy now in Jameson’s spot with us, I dove onto the sand and made quick work of the first bit. A lot of the course was becoming easier to navigate now that we’d done it so many times.
Some of it was even becoming second nature to me. The crawling, for instance, flew by at this point and even the tires seemed to be becoming lighter. After the tires were the wooden poles that acted as balance beams. They were angled upward, and we had to jump off the end.
That first day, it’d taken me a few tries to stop slipping off the beam and I’d hesitated before I’d leaped off the end, but now, I knew exactly how to hold my feet so I didn’t slip and I was no longer cautious of the drop at the end.
It felt so damn good to know I was getting better, but then the wall rose up ahead of me and defeat flowed into my veins. No matter what I did, that thing was my nemesis and none of the hours I’d put in so far were paying off.
As I got to it, Santiago pointed around the edge. “Come on, Perkins. Just go around it.”
“Fuck that,” I spat, moving back before I made a run for it. I pushed off the ground at the exact spot I’d seen so many others do it, and this time, I managed to grasp the top. A sense of victory shot through me, but then my fingertips started slipping.
I just wasn’t strong enough to get myself up and over, and as I dropped back to the ground, a roar tore out of me. “Fuck!”
Landing in a heap on the ground, I looked up when a hand appeared in front of my face. “This is not the place to wallow in your misery, Perkins. Get up.”
I did what Santiago told me to do, but I swatted his hand out the way. As I walked around the wall, he piped up behind me. “Look at that. I didn’t think you were such a quitter.”
A heavy breath fell out of me. There really is no winning with this guy.
As more and more cadets finished, either by going over the wall or around it, I watched closely what the successful people were doing. The trouble was that they were all guys. Mel and Hanna didn’t even try, but I’d seen Mel out here practicing with some of her friends when we had some free time.
She was getting close, but she hadn’t managed it yet. The last guy to make it over wasn’t much taller than me, but he did it with the ease and grace of a ballerina who had mastered this move in her childhood years.
I hadn’t spoken to the guy before, but I was pretty sure his name was Matt Evans. After Santiago dismissed us and told us to go get some breakfast, I hurried forward to fall into step beside him. “Matt?”
He jerked his head toward me, then all but froze as his gaze darted back like he was trying to make sure Santiago wasn’t in ear shot. “What do you want, Perkins?”
“I need your help,” I said, then gestured back at the course when he frowned at me. “With the wall. I couldn’t help notice how easy you make it look, but I have no idea how you’re doing it. If you could just?—”
His head was shaking before I’d even finished talking. Then he looked around again before flashing me an apologetic smile. “Sorry, Perkins, but I’m not facing the same fate as Bruce did. You’re on your own. Good luck.”
With that, he started walking faster in a clear attempt at getting away from me, and I wanted to rip my hair out of my damn head. He hadn’t been hitting on me or saying derogatory things. It wasn’t like he was going to go the same way Bruce had just for talking to me.
He’d made himself pretty clear, though. He was staying far, far away from me, which meant I really was on my own.
I wasn’t blind. I’d been seeing the wary looks that had been thrown my way all morning.
The guys were afraid of being seen with me now, and regardless of how idiotic it was, I doubted any of them were going to change their minds.
Meanwhile, the only two other girls couldn’t get over themselves yet, so I couldn’t exactly ask them for help. As the realization sank in, panic tightened my chest.
I needed help, but there was no one to get it from. How the hell am I going to do this?
Santiago’s words from the night before replayed in my head, but it didn’t matter that I still had time to master it. It’d been days, and I was no closer than I had been that very first morning. At this rate, I could have years and I still wouldn’t be able to do it.
As I swallowed past the sudden lump that had appeared in my throat, I closed my eyes and tried to push back the desperation rising from deep within me. I had to figure out how to scale that wall or I was out of here.
Something had to give, and if it didn’t, I was as good as gone. Right now, I felt like I might as well hand the pen to Santiago myself for him to sign my papers. Because I wasn’t getting over that wall by myself and there wasn’t a single person here who could help me.