“I hope so,” Carmina said. “Because we’re spending Christmas together.”
Chapter 23
Carmina had her Call of Duty character jump from one building to another to avoid Tom, but he still killed her. “Arrrr!” she yelled in frustration. “How are you so good? Not fair.” She tossed the controller down on the couch beside her.
It was Christmas Eve and they were at his apartment. He had something delicious cooking in the oven. Carmina knew she should miss her parents and her family, but she didn’t. This was the first Christmas she’d spent away from them, not counting when she was stationed overseas or in the hospital. They’d already called her five times that day. And Sam had called three times. In self-defense, she put her phone on Do Not Disturb.
“I play it a lot,” Tom said with a shrug. “This is how I decompress after games or practice. If you think I’m good, you should see Danny play. The man is a secret weapon in Call of Duty. I think he’s, like, on the worldwide leaderboard or something.”
“Is he coming back?” Carmina asked. According to Tom, Danny had left to go work out before she got there. She got the feeling he was avoiding her. She hadn’t seen him since the day they’d supposedly settled things, after they’d done it in the shower. She’d been so nervous about seeing him she’d felt sick to her stomach before she got here. Now she felt uncomfortable and guilty for driving Danny out of his own apartment.
“Yeah,” Tom said. He looked at the clock. “Actually, he should be home any minute now. He said he’d be back at five, and it’s a quarter to.” He stood up and stretched. “Want something to drink?”
“Just some water, thanks.” She grabbed a pretzel from the bowl on the table while Tom went to the kitchen. Just as she popped it into her mouth, the front door opened and Danny came in. She jumped up off the couch and immediately she began to choke on the dry pretzel.
“Whoa,” Danny said. He tossed his duffel bag on the floor and walked over to her in three long strides. Then he pounded her on the back, nearly toppling her over. “Arms up,” he said, grabbing her arms and yanking them over her head.
“Are you trying to kill her?” Tom asked as he rushed over. “You’re going to crack her ribs if you hit her that hard.” He set down two glasses of water on the table and pulled her arms out of Danny’s grip. She stared desperately at the water, coughing as her eyes streamed, but Tom still held her arms.
“I was just trying to dislodge whatever’s in her throat,” Danny said defensively. “I didn’t break a rib. Let her go.” Danny tugged on her arm. “She needs some water.” They played tug-of-war with her arm for a few seconds before she got fed up.
“Enough,” she said loudly, which prompted another coughing fit. They stopped and she yanked her arm free. “Water.” She reached down for the glass and drank it all as they stared at her. “I’m fine,” she said in a gravelly voice. “Really.” She coughed again.
“I’m getting you more water,” Tom said, grabbing the glass and heading for the kitchen.
“You okay?” Danny asked, concern on his face. “He means well, but everyone knows that when you’re choking, you lift your arms up.” He was nodding sagely.
“Thanks,” she croaked out, feeling like a complete idiot as Danny continued to stare at her. “Breathing now,” she said with an awkward smile. “See?” She took a deep breath and coughed some more.
“Mmm-hmm,” Danny said skeptically. “Well, if you’re not going to pass out on the floor, I’m going to take a shower.”
“No passing out,” she assured him, wrapping her arms around her middle. “Promise.” She cleared her throat and choked back another cough.
“Good.” Danny walked over and grabbed his bag. He turned to face her as he walked backward a couple of steps. “No more choking,” he said, pointing a finger at her. “Tom has been working on this meal all day.”
“Why did you have to tell her that?” Tom yelled from the kitchen. “Now I sound lame.”
Danny laughed as he turned and headed for his bathroom. Carmina couldn’t stop herself from checking him out. He was wearing a gray hoodie with a tight pair of joggers in a jagged black-and-white design that made him look really tall and muscular, which he was. He had the greatest ass ever, tight but not small. It would be a handful. Danny turned in to his bathroom and Carmina looked away, blushing as she remembered what they’d done in there. She hadn’t gotten the chance to grab his ass. That was a regret. When she looked over at the kitchen she saw Tom standing in the doorway with her water, watching her.
“I know,” he said. “He’s got a great ass.” Carmina gaped for a second and then she laughed. She just nodded. What else could she do? She’d been caught in the act.
Tom handed her the water. “Sorry about that,” he said. “I worried that it was awkward with Danny and I didn’t want you upset, so I jumped in and made it worse. I guess I’m a little nervous about us all being together tonight, too. I want it to go well.”
“It actually wasn’t awkward,” she said. “Except for the choking. I guess he’s over it. What happened.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Tom said. He snagged her around the waist and she sloshed water over her hand and onto his T-shirt. She groaned and pressed her forehead into his shoulder in frustration that she couldn’t seem to do anything right, but Tom just laughed. “Trust me, you’re not that easy to get over.” She peeked up at him with a doubtful look. “I bet he keeps picturing you naked,” Tom whispered in her ear. “I know I do.”
“Tom,” she protested, shoving him away with a laugh. She set her glass on the table and wiped her hand on her jeans. Danny was probably not thinking about her naked. There was nothing sexy about her. She was dressed casually, as usual, in a cream-colored Henley with jeans and a pair of Chucks. Luckily, Tom didn’t seem to mind that she wasn’t a fashion model. He was usually in jeans and T-shirts, too. She wondered if someday he’d realize he could do better than Carmina. It probably wouldn’t be long. He was becoming famous outside of Birmingham now. His game on the field and his antics off of it had caught the attention of the Internet. He already had women sending him photos and videos and stalking him on social media. Eventually he’d look at some of them and wonder why he was with someone like her. But for now he was interested in her, and she planned to enjoy it for as long as she could. He’d made her come! And he’d taught her some pretty important stuff about herself in the process.
Tom came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, snuggling her in against his body as he kissed the side of her neck. She loved when he did that. She loved how much he liked to kiss her, period. “I’m serious, sexy Carmina,” he teased. “You look better in a pair of jeans than most people look naked.” He tucked his fingers into the front pockets of her jeans and pulled her back into his hips. She could feel that he was getting hard. “I like having you here,” he said into her hair. “This is the first time I’ve been so far away from my family at Christmas.”
Carmina turned in his arms and went up on her toes to wrap her arms around his neck. “Me, too,” she said. “Except when I was overseas.”
“That must have sucked,” Tom said, making a face. “And here I am complaining about being in Alabama. Go ahead, call me a crybaby.”
“Never,” Carmina said. She kissed his jaw and he turned his head and caught her mouth with his. This kiss was different. Most of their kisses had either been leading to sex, or right after. This kiss was just because. Because they were both a little homesick, because it was Christmas Eve, because they wanted to. Like everything else with Tom, there was no pressure with this kiss. Just something sweet and wonderful and all for her.
“I’ll call you a crybaby,” Danny said behind them. “Quit making out in the living room. I have to live here.”
Carmina pulled away from the kiss with a jerk, and wiped the corner of her mouth self-consciously. Tom groaned. “Where’s the love?” Tom grumbled to Danny. “Friends aren’t supposed to interrupt when you’re making time with your gir
l.”
“Time isn’t what you were making,” Danny told him, laughing. “Unless that’s some new code name.”
“It is now,” Tom said. Carmina stepped out of Tom’s arms and he let her go. Danny started to sit in Tom’s chair. “Don’t sit there,” Tom said, panicked. Danny glanced over at the TV.
“Call of Duty?” he asked.
“We’re in the middle of a game,” Tom said. “Wait your turn. And get away from my lucky chair.”
“Lucky for me when I beat him,” Danny murmured to Carmina as he glided past her to the other end of the couch. “Go ahead,” he told Tom. “I’ll just watch.”
Even though he hadn’t meant it in a sexual way, Danny’s comment had Carmina blushing. She was seriously going to have to get a hold of herself tonight if she was going to make it through dinner. Why couldn’t her lust for Danny fade once she’d had him? Or at least once she had Tom the way she’d had him last night? Or he’d had her. The point was, she needed to get over Danny. She had Tom and that was enough. It should be enough. He was more than any lucky girl deserved. Wanting Danny too was just plain greedy. With a deep, determined breath Carmina sat down on the couch with Danny and picked up her game controller.
“Let’s do this,” she said.
Chapter 24
Danny watched Tom kill Carmina again. She wasn’t terrible, but she was definitely not at their level. If Danny was playing her he’d be taking it easy on her. But she’d know and probably get pissed. She didn’t seem to mind that Tom was dominating her in the game. But it was driving Danny crazy every time Tom knifed her game character or shot her from a sniper’s perch. Danny had to wonder how she could play the game. After all, she’d lived it, hadn’t she? And she had the scars to prove it.
When he saw her getting ready to wander into an ambush, he couldn’t take it anymore. “Oh, hell, no,” he said. He got up and jumped over the back of the couch, coming up behind her. He reached over her shoulders and covered her hands on the controller. “Like this,” he said. He manipulated her fingers on the controller, dodging Tom’s character and shooting several others.
“Not fair!” Tom cried out, leaning forward in his lucky chair. “You guys are ganging up on me.”
Carmina laughed and leaned back against Danny’s shoulder. He crouched behind her, his arms wrapped around her as he played out the match, while she laughed as he moved her hands for her. He tried to concentrate on running and jumping and shooting in the game and not on the way she smelled—like a sweet, citrusy shampoo—or how soft her hair was against his cheek and how her laugh made him want to smile. Because those were stupid things that were going to lead to a messy situation, and Danny didn’t like messy situations. But he smiled anyway, because he did like her laughter, hers and Tom’s. He felt…relaxed. When was the last time he could say that?
“We won!” Carmina exclaimed when the match ended, turning her head to look up at him.
“Well, we beat Tom anyway,” Danny said, smiling down at her.
“That’s winning,” she said with a happy gleam in her eye.
“I think there’s a conspiracy going on here,” Tom complained. “Who decided it was gang-up-on-Tom day?” He pouted, but he winked at Carmina.
“You had an unfair advantage,” Danny said. Reluctantly, he stood up, letting go of Carmina. He saw the gleam in her eye fade a little as she looked away self-consciously. “You were a total nerd in college and didn’t have anything better to do than play videogames. I bet she had a life.”
“I didn’t go to college,” she said, setting the controller down on the table in front of her. “I went into the Army.”
“That’s a lot harder than college,” Tom told her. “So you were defending our country and risking your life for freedom while I was skipping Literature 101 to play Call of Duty. Is that what you’re saying?”
“Yep,” she said.
“Why’d you go into the Army?” Danny asked, walking around the couch to sit down again.
“I couldn’t afford college,” she said with a shrug. “It was a paycheck and job training. I could go to college after on the GI Bill. It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“Would you do things differently if you could go back?” Danny asked. He belatedly realized this probably wasn’t a good topic to bring up on Christmas Eve. “You know what? Forget I asked. Let’s play.” He reached for the controller, but Carmina stopped him with a hand on his arm.
“No, it’s okay,” she said. “I don’t mind talking about it.” She shrugged again, grabbed her water, and took a sip. “It happened. I try not to what if. All my therapists said that will make you crazy. It’s better to say ‘This was my choice and this happened and now I’m going to do this.’ ” She glanced over at him with a wry smile. “Easier said than done, but it’s a work in progress.”
“I hear that,” Danny said in heartfelt agreement. “The last part, I mean. Easier said than done.” He looked away, thinking about his own issues with the past that he was having so damn much trouble getting past. “How do you play this game?” he said, gesturing at the TV. “Doesn’t it bring back memories, or flashbacks?” To his surprise, she laughed.
“Trust me, when I was active duty I was not doing that. Running and jumping from rooftops, shooting snipers, backstreet hand-to-hand combat. I know there were guys who were, but I wasn’t one of them.”
“Okay,” Danny said. “The game isn’t realistic, but still. Doesn’t it bother you? Especially after you were wounded in combat.”
“There was no combat,” she said flatly. “There was a bomb in the road. We ran over it with our truck. Or so I’m told.” She tucked her hair behind her ear and reached for her water again. “I don’t remember anything.”
“Nothing?” Tom asked in surprise.
“Nope,” she said. “My last memory is two days before the ambush. And it’s pretty sketchy. I lost about six weeks to the head injury. And I don’t remember one thing from two days before the accident to when I woke up in the hospital almost ten days later.”
“So you don’t remember what happened,” Tom said. There was a look on his face that told Danny Tom knew something he didn’t, something that made her missing memory very significant.
“No.” She shook her head, not looking at either one of them. “From what Sam says, I should be glad I don’t.” She got up and wandered over to a shelf that held some of Danny’s old football trophies and memorabilia, from school and his professional career. She turned suddenly and faced Tom. “If you’re asking do I remember what happened to Richie…No. I don’t remember anything. The last time I saw him, or talked to him, or what we said.”
“Carmina,” Tom said, but then he just stopped as if he didn’t know what else to say.
Whoa. Danny didn’t know who this Richie was, but he was guessing he was somebody she had been involved with. “Did Richie die in the ambush?” he asked. If she wanted to talk, then he’d get her to talk.
“Yes.” She took a couple of steps over to a straight-backed chair near the window and sat down, sort of slumping there. “And I don’t remember it.” She wiped her cheek with the palm of one hand and he realized she was crying. His stomach muscles clenched. He hadn’t meant to do that to her.
“I’m sorry,” he said, standing up. “I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
“That’s okay.” She sniffed and gave him a little smile. “Because of the injury, I’m always close. I don’t handle emotions well. I can’t hide them, or”—she paused and made a face, as if searching for a word—“control them? Maybe.” She shook her head. “Ugh. Sorry. Too much emotion makes me stupid.”
“Too much emotion makes anybody stupid,” Danny said. “I ought to know. I’m the king of mandatory anger-management classes.” Carmina gave a watery laugh as Danny walked over and grabbed a box of tissues for her. She pulled one out and blew her nose.
“Thanks.” She took a deep breath. “I sometimes wake up and forget that he’s dead,” she admitted. “Then I
remember and it’s like finding out all over again.” She shook her head. “If I could remember it…I didn’t get to say goodbye.”
“Nobody does,” Tom told her gently. “Not really.” Just then, the timer went off in the kitchen. “I’ve got to go get that,” he said, frowning as he looked between Danny and Carmina.
“I got this,” Danny said. “Go on. You burn my dinner, I’m going to lose it, man.”
Carmina laughed out loud. “Me, too. Smells too good to waste.” She waved him away. “I’m okay. Just had a lot this week.” She blew some hair out of her face and then tucked it behind her ear again. Danny loved her thick, wavy, brown hair. It was a little out of control, but not too much. Like Carmina.
“I guess we haven’t helped much with that,” Danny said. “Sorry.” He really meant the apology.
“Oh, no,” Carmina said. “You’ve both been great. The best part of the week.” She winced. “That didn’t come out right.” Tom laughed as he got up and headed to the kitchen.
“Oh, I think it came out just right,” Tom said.
—
Tom watched Danny and Carmina as they ate the dinner he’d made. He liked to cook. His mom had taught him young that if he wanted to eat so much, he needed to learn to make his own meals. They were having a nice pork roast, with roasted potatoes and green beans in a honey-pecan sauce.
“Tom, this is so good,” Carmina said again. She hummed in satisfaction as she took another bite of the pork, and it made Tom happy. Maybe it was stupid, but he liked to take care of the people he cared for, and cooking was part of that.
“I have to work out so hard because of his cooking,” Danny said. “Man cooks better than my mama.” He pointed his fork at Carmina. “Don’t ever tell her I said that.”
“When am I going to meet your mom?” Carmina asked with a laugh. “Your secret is safe with me.” She took another bite and hummed again, and Tom could see Danny smiling as he put a forkful of potatoes in his mouth.
Misconduct Page 17
