Page 12 of Undone
“I think only about ten of the guys here are Marines,” I told him.
He gave me a funny look. “What?”
“Jarheads are . . . never mind. Do you want me to talk to Top? He can assign someone to stay with you while you’re working. Or you can give me a list of names. You don’t have to put up with that.”
“No.” He adamantly shook his head. “Everyone is too busy, and I can handle myself. I just needed to vent to a girlfriend, you know?”
“I know. Guys can be such pigs.” I took his hand and we swung our arms between us until a small smile graced his smooth face.
“Ry-Ry was super sweet when I cut his hair today, though. That’s one guy I wouldn’t turn down.” He winked, and I snorted.
I sure as hell wouldn’t turn him down either, but we’d barely shared a kiss since we got here.
“What is it?” he asked. “No nookie time for you two?”
I blushed, I couldn’t help it, and it made J.D. giggle.
“Just wait your turn for the closet,” he said.
“What closet?”
His eyes bugged. “Hel-lo! The closet is where people go to get it on. Across the hall from the bathrooms? That’s where all the men keep asking me to meet them.”
“Where they keep the brooms and mops?” I asked, and he nodded. “That room’s barely big enough for one person to stand!” Gah, all I could think about were the amount of STD germs that were ironically living with the cleaning supplies.
“I’m never going back in the closet, if you know what I mean, but there’s nothing wrong with tight quarters,” he teased. “I’m sure Ry can make it work.”
Now I blushed even harder. God, J.D.’s bantering made me miss Remy. Just the thought of her crushed my chest.
“All right,” J.D. said with a sigh. “I better get back.”
“Here,” I told him, holding out a vitamin. “And I think you should tell Sean about the other guys propositioning.”
J.D. took the vitamin and crossed his arms. “Look, that man is stubborn, and he does not get jealous. He’s a freak of nature. Although, he did cuddle me a little in his sleep last night, and he boldfaced denied it when I told him. He makes me sleep against the wall, you know. Always Mr. So-Called Protector.” J.D. said it like he was annoyed, rolling his eyes, and I had to smile.
J.D. had been angry at Sean ever since Sean forced him to leave his boyfriend’s cabin in the wilderness where he’d been living on ramen. J.D insisted that his boyfriend went into town and would be coming back, but Sean was not about to leave him. I’m pretty sure J.D. knew by then that there’s no way his boyfriend was really coming back, but the faux-anger game they played worked for them.
“Go cut some hair,” I said. “I’m getting a line.”
He blew a kiss at me and headed off, leaving me to deal with more lethargic soldiers. I was happy to see Tall Mark and Short Matt in line. I hugged them both when they got to the front. They’d been my jokesters and source of much laughter the past four months, but both of them were sobered lately. Their loss of mirth was direct proof of how much we’d changed.
“I miss you guys,” I said as I gave them both vitamins. “I miss watch duty and playing cards.” We’d been waiting for a turn with the cards last night, but the other guys were all so serious that it ended in a fist fight. I wasn’t sure how long we could live like this.
“There’s a lot I miss,” Matt said, and I wondered if he was thinking of Remy. I couldn’t look at his kind, rounded face without remembering how he gave her the M&M.
“But things are going to happen pretty fast,” Mark promised me. I looked up at gaunt cheeks, interested in what he meant. He went on. “If things go as planned, we’ll only be here another two months.”
I closed my eyes and let out a massive sigh. Two months? We could do that. I wanted to ask how he knew and what the latest intel was, but my line was not getting any shorter.
After I said good-bye to the former goofballs, I cleaned and sealed a hand cut, gave out a dose of ibuprofen and three more vitamins before noticing Rylen, Tex, Josh, Devon, and Shavontae in line. I held back a squeal, but couldn’t stop the smile.
I kissed Rylen smack on the lips when it was his turn, and his grin heated me from the ground up. “Your haircut looks good,” I said.
“Your everything looks good,” he said low enough for only me to hear. The gravel in his voice made images of a dirty closet come to mind, heating my cheeks all over again.
“Where’s my sugar?” Tex asked, pushing in beside Rylen with all his broad height.
I eyed his fuzzy face and frowned when I saw his arm. “Excuse me, cowboy, but where is your sling?” It felt like a lifetime ago that he’d been shot on a goods run and lost a dangerous amount of blood, but in actuality it was only about a week.
