Page 12 of Behind the Cascades
Smiling back, I say, “Good. I’m glad.”
“And to answer your other question, you’re not interrupting anything. Finals are coming up, so I planned on shutting myself in and studying. However, spending the weekend in bed with you will be much more fun." She raises her eyebrows suggestively, but I’m still hung up on finals. In all the excitement, I'd forgotten she should be studying for her classes. She's been working so hard to get over a 4.0; I don't want to be the reason she doesn't get it.
I open my mouth to say something, but she cuts me off. "Don't you give me that worried look, Hayes. I've been studying for months. Anything now is just reaffirming what I already know. I have every dayafteryou leave to look through my notes."
I nodded and swallowed the guilt I was feeling. Charlie hasalways been a no-bullshitter, even when it comes to me. If she needed to study, she would tell me.
"Good, because I plan on occupying your entire weekend. You have UberEats or Doordash? Because I’m hoping this is the last time we leave the apartment until Sunday evening."
Her chin tips slightly to the left. "Sunday evening?"
"I told mom that we'd come to dinner."
She swats my chest. "Hayes! You have to see her more than just that! I can't hog you the whole time."
"Nope, I saw her this morning and we had breakfast. Odessa is in town for a little while too, so they already had plans.” My mom, of all people, knows how important it is for us to have our own time. She was on the other side of my dad’s deployments and Navy career for years.
We ate our food in record time, both feeling the need to get out of here without saying it. I paid and hustled her back out to my old truck.
It's still light out when we get back to her apartment, giving us an ample amount of time left in our evening. I haven’t decided when to propose yet, but it’ll be soon. She insisted that she doesn’t want a big, flashy proposal, but I want it to at least be romantic.
I rush around the truck to open her door and hold her hand as we walk up the steps to her apartment. It’s a decent place, a safe neighborhood, and it has a gate in the front that only residents have a code for. It’s one less thing for me to worry about while gone. I’d lose my damn mind if she was living anywhere unsafe. Columbia doesn’t have a lot of crime, but that doesn’t mean it’s without risk.
She puts the key in the lock and then pauses to look at me. "I'm so happy you’re here."
I give her a quick kiss and smack her on the ass. "Let's go, Sunshine. I need you naked in the next five seconds.”
Shegiggles and opens the door, and as it swings open, the scent of roses drift out into the hall.
She looks at me with wide eyes and a small smile. "Hayes, what is all this?!”
Shrugging my shoulders, I say, "It wasn't me."
Her mouth drops, and as she steps inside, white roses cover the entire apartment. Every inch is completely covered in roses—petals, buds, and full-bloom bouquets.
I step in front of her and walk into the apartment, trying to figure out who did this. Odessa knew I was in town, but she didn’t mention anything about it. Neither did my mom.
The rustling noise of a bed frame moving sounds from the bedroom and then I hear it. A male voice shouts her name, beckoning to her.What the fuck?
My heart stops as my head slowly turns to her. Her face is drained of all of its color; long gone is the carefree smile from earlier.
Two large steps into her room have me face-to-face with a man that I've never seen before. He's wearing a cheap suit and holding a rose in his hand. His back leans against her headboard like he's been in here a million times.
His head jerks back, and his forehead creases when he sees me. He sits up and moves to the edge of the bed. Throwing his hand out at me like I'm the intruder. "Who the fuck are you?"
"Me? Who the fuck areyou?" I don't give him a second to respond. I know who he is—the man fucking my girl.
I slam my fist into his nose and hear the deafening crunch of bone. It does nothing to relieve my temper, so I yank him up by the lapels of his jacket and throw him into the wall parallel to her bed. His head bobbles slightly as he slinks down it.
Blood gushes out of his nose, already landing on the stark white petals covering the floor.
Rage pulses through my veins as I stare at him slumped on the floor.I know that if I don't leave this room, I'll kill him. As much as I want nothing more than to let my wrath take over, I've been trained to know when to stop.
Turning on my heels to leave, I storm past Charlie.
She looks terrified of me, but I don't spare her more than a glance. She's the cause of all this. It's nothing new for military personnel to get cheated on—it happens all the time. They give us fucking briefings on how to handle it. I never expected Charlie to do that to me, though.
I take the stairs two at a time as I rush out of the building.
