17 Roman
Roman
I was losing my mind.
When I’d walked into the sitting room and saw her there, I wanted to rip that wedding dress from Meg’s body and stomp it under my boots while I screamed in the council’s faces that they’d never be powerful enough to outmaneuver the gods.
Then I wanted to carry her off into the sunset, keeping her for myself.
I had to get away.
Seeing Meg in that dress had been the final straw. I needed to request a transfer, but I couldn’t stomach the idea of anyone else getting close to her, not when they wouldn’t have her best interest at heart.
I didn’t know how much time I had left anyway. I hadn’t been able to break into the security footage of the house yet, and it was only a matter of time before the councilwoman was alerted to the video of me kissing Meg outside her bedroom—if Helen didn’t know already.
The councilwoman was smart and knew how to play her cards. You wouldn’t last long in the council if you didn’t. It was a waiting game as I played my role, expecting the bomb to drop at any minute.
Or maybe that’s what the dress was, a way to torture me. Meg looked beautiful, as always. A foreign princess in this cruel story. The white gown a perfect color to be slaughtered in, and I couldn’t save her, just like I was powerless to save my father.
I needed something to take the edge off before I marched back into that house and destroyed everything I’d ever worked for—like I’d probably already done.
Neon lights reflected in the muddy puddle that the rain left on the dirty streets of the Fringes.
I hadn’t been to this part of town for quite some time.
Not since before I’d been promoted. I honestly didn’t know why I’d chosen to come here now, other than I knew it wasn’t somewhere that any officers would set foot in willingly.
Thankfully, it was a Monday night. So that meant no one else I knew should be here.
The bartender didn’t even recognize me as I took a stool at the almost empty counter. Then again, I didn’t know who she was either.
I ordered my beer and tried to find the bottom of the glass in silence while the speakers blared some depressing old man anthem. The dim lights helped me sit in the shadows, but I couldn’t hide from my own thoughts.
Dad would’ve told me to save her.
All those stories he used to tell. The heroes of men who fought against all odds, including the ancient gods, encouraged by the want of a pretty woman.
Yet he never broke his own station either. Even when Mom left, he didn’t chase her. Not when there was work to do. Not when he still had me, and half the building we lived in, to feed. Stories didn’t fill bellies. Long hours of working did.
And I was old enough to know that.
Plus, my duty was to my job. To my father. To the councilwoman. To Ethica.
Meg was not my problem. Kissing her was a mistake. It was the best mistake of my life.
“Lookie what we’ve got here,” a deep voice made me wince into the dregs of my beer.
“Don’t you have work tomorrow?” I finished the last of the glass and motioned for the bill.
“Me? What about you?” Staff Sgt. Marcus took the stool beside me. “Are you even allowed to be fraternizing with us riffraff after work anymore, Lieutenant?”
“Don’t call me that here,” I muttered to myself.
“Fine.” He pushed the electronic receipt back to the bartender. “Grab him another. He’s staying.”
“Is that….” A whistle sounded.
“No way.”
“He lives!”
“Is he drunk? Please tell me LT is drunk.”
“Is the whole platoon out tonight?” I couldn’t help but smile as Sgt. Lutten, Sgt. Stone, and Corporals Yemen and Jacques pulled out the stools around me.
“Of course.” Sgt. Lutten clapped my shoulder affectionately. The alcohol on his breath was already pungent. “It’s Staff Sergeant’s birthday.”
The smile fell from my face as I looked at Marcus. “Shit. I… forgot.”
There was no excuse for this slip-up. Before I commissioned as an officer, I never would’ve been so out of the loop.
But even as his chain of command, I should’ve remembered such an important detail.
These were still my men, even if our ranks had changed, and I was responsible for looking after them too.
Marcus shrugged. “Don’t worry about it, LT. You’ve been a little preoccupied with that assignment from the council. Not that I blame you. Meg is a riot, and Rabbit is an idiot.”
I ignored that bit about Meg, even if I agreed. “No excuse.” I put my card on the counter. “This round is on me.”
“Damn straight it is.” Marcus smiled. “You’re the one with the fancy paychecks now.”
Hoots and hollers came from the guys as they jostled each other near my back.
“Must be nice.”
“You saving up for a new ride or anything?” Lutten asked.
I shook my head.
“So how is it, sir? Being on the other side and all?” Corporal Yemen was the youngest in our platoon, and I hadn’t worked with him before I commissioned, so he was still nervous around me.
I wanted to brag it up a bit. To tell him that I didn’t have to smell lower-enlisted stank anymore in the barracks, and that the paycheck was worth it.
But I also didn’t want to fill his head with unattainable dreams. Most men who enlisted did so for a reason, and Ethica didn’t take well to those who tried to reach above their station.
“The paycheck is nice,” I told him. “But the politics are worse.”
The kid nodded like he thought that was the case and accepted the beer I’d bought.
Damn if that didn’t make me feel old.
Lutten burped. “Speaking of politics, did you all hear that new measure the council is passing about the mutants?”
Everyone looked at me.
I scoffed. “Still above my paygrade.”
They all laughed and nodded, saving me from the awkward conversation of explaining that I had no say or pull in any government policy. I’d been out of the loop working for Councilwoman Troy anyway, and wasn’t sure what was going on.
“It’s bogus if you ask me,” Sgt. Stone said. “We’re already overcrowding the holding cells for protestors. Things are going to get a whole lot worse when we add more criteria for terrorists.”
That I knew. Tensions had been rising of late, like they always did when elections were on the horizon. Not that anyone from the council ever got voted out, but the illusion of choice was a powerful control mechanism.
“How do you even separate the purists’ hate groups from the mutant lovers?” Lutten asked. “This is going to be a clusterfuck. It’s not like you can expect them to be honest on a questionnaire.”
Now that was news to me. I stared into my cup, waiting to hear what else the rumors said. This squad was a good group of guys and I knew they were just processing the changes. I didn’t know what the council had planned, though maybe I did know more than I thought.
It was Meg. Her being here with Justus would change things. If their marriage were to be accepted by the people, the council was bound to make new rules to ensure people did as they were told.
I just wasn’t sure how much longer they could keep pushing things until they broke.
“I’m sure they’ll make some sort of a test for it,” Yemen said, casting a worried glance my way, and then changed the subject. “Anyway, that girl Jacques is seeing…”
“Don’t you talk about Sophia,” Jacques growled.
“I heard she’s a barrack’s bunny,” Yemen whispered, earning himself an elbow to the gut.
The rest of them started jostling and teasing each other about Jacques’s latest love interest, until Marcus told them to go play darts and shut up.
“So what are you doing here tonight?” Marcus asked as he sipped his beer. “I know it’s not because it’s my birthday.”
Shame flooded me. “I’m sorry about that.”
“Don’t be.” Marcus sighed. “None of these jerks would’ve come out anyway, but I guilted them into it since I was driving Daisy out here.”
“How’s she doing?” I asked.
I knew Daisy from way back when. They’d just started dating after he graduated boot camp. Once, she’d cooked breakfast for me and Marcus after a long duty night, and she’d been on my list of good people ever since.
“She… uh…” Marcus scratched the five o’clock shadow on his jaw. “It’s her sister… Sarah… There’s someone they needed to visit out here.”
Despite the laughter and music surrounding us, my body grew cold. Marcus was afraid to tell me something. Even off duty. That meant he didn’t see me as one of them anymore.
The collar device I wore seemed heavier now, especially if it meant this separation.
“I dropped the girls off down the road. Daisy will DD us home when she’s done.” Marcus smiled a little lopsided.
“That’s good.” I nodded, suddenly feeling stupid for coming out tonight. This wasn’t my place anymore. I didn’t know what I was searching for, but I wouldn’t find it here. “I’ve got to get back, but you guys enjoy the rest of your evening.”
I stood abruptly.
“Lieutenant…” Marcus frowned.
“Didn’t I say not to call me that out here, Staff Sergeant?” I winked, heading down the bar before they could protest my escape.
“Charge me for the rest of their drinks,” I told the bartender, giving her my information.
It was the least I could do.
My men deserved to have a good night.