Diamond Soldiers

by Pinki Parks

  At that Keisha had to snicker and hook a finger into the bag’s strap and peeked in, “Thai, that’s…really coincidental.”

  “No, it isn’t,” Hunter said while shrugging off his jacket and baring the black leather shoulder strap with his gun inside. “I saw some of your flyers with a single order circled; I figured that was your go-to order.”

  Keisha pretended to be outraged and narrowed her eyes, “You went through my drawers?”

  A mischievous smile was aimed at her while he unpacked the food, “In my defense, I was searching for surveillance devices.”

  “Searching for surveillance devices, my ass,” Keisha replied with a roll of her eyes, “I call bull.”

  Hunter backed her up against the fridge and with his face, a mere two inches away, Keisha's breath instantly went static. Green eyes lowered and Hunter basically breathed on her lips, "Do you want your ginger fried chicken or not?"

  Wide-eyed and heart pumping Keisha breathlessly replied, “…Yes, please.”

  “Good girl,” Hunter replied while stepping back and in the space given for her to breathe Keisha ironically craved the burning of her lungs that came from his presence.

  “What are you having?” she managed to ask while taking the plastic platter container from Hunter and a fork.

  “Cashew chicken,” Hunter replied while grabbing some napkins and moved to the living room. “It’s an old favorite.”

  Moving back to the living room she sat back on her spot on the couch and popped the lid open only to have Hunter sit on the floor with his back between her legs. Cautiously, she framed his torso with her legs and felt his hand ran down her shin before he opened his container.

  She looked at the news and frowned before taking up the remote and switched to a satire program and turned up the volume a bare stroke from mute. It was just background noise to fill the air as they ate and spoke.

  “So,” Keisha said after swallowing a piece of chicken, “Can I ask about my case or is it still a, ‘you can ask but I’ll have to kill you’ situation?”

  “Yes, but I’d probably find another way to kill you,” Hunter snorted, “a more pleasurable way."

  "I can just imagine," Keisha replied wryly. "So, how was your day? I told you the stimulating highlights of mine and turnabout is fair play, don’t you think?”

  Hunter twisted his head to look at her, “Why on earth would you want to hear about police duty? I’d hardly think filing a mountain of reports is anything interesting.”

  Keisha frowned slightly, he did have a point. “I highly doubt you squandered the day doing paperwork but I know tactful avoidance when it comes up. Let me change the whole topic, can you tell me more about what happened in the military. Like what were some of your best moments.”

  The stretch of Hunter’s broad shoulders went tight for a moment before they sagged. “You know… no one has ever asked me that before.”

  Keisha nudged him with her heel and Hunter looked up at her under the fringe of his hair, “Never?”

  Leaning back into the ‘V’ of her legs Hunter nodded, “Never… but… I can tell you one reason that solidified my reason for being a marine. One time, in the middle of Fallujah…”

  While eating Keisha sat there intuitively listening to how Hunter had risked his life to rescue a little girl who was trapped in the line of gunfire, after a flash mob had descended on the marketplace they were in.

  With precise descriptions, Hunter recalled the situation and how he defied his commander's order to not rescue the little girl who had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

  With his empty plate beside him, Hunter spoke how the girl, no more than six, had clung to his chest for dear life and how her mother, with tears running down her face, had thanked him for saving her child’s life.

  The TV was complete ignored when he went on to tell her how the reopening a well to give a stricken community the single blessing of running water and how giving out cheap over-the-counter drugs like Advil or Tylenol saved lives.

  By the time he was describing how they had held off a horde of bandits who were dead set on destroying one of the few running hospitals where American doctors were saving lives, Keisha’s ankles had slipped under his arms and the soles of her feet were sitting on his lap. His head was in hers and she was softly carding her fingers through his hair.

  Hunter's eyes were half-mast as he focused on his memories and voice was low. With every story, he recalled Keisha wanted to kiss him. He spoke of his actions in such a modesty that it was hard to believe he was the one doing those heroic acts. It made it even clearer why Hunter had become a cop after leaving the military.

  They sat there with Keisha slipping under the hypnotic spell of Hunter’s voice and she didn’t even realize that she was lulling off to sleep. Hunter did though; when he realized that the soothing massage of his scalp was gone he shifted and saw a sleeping Keisha.

  Her head was back on the couch and twisted slightly to the side. A section of her hair was falling over to the side of her face and her long eyelashes were resting on her cheek.

  Steeped in innocent sleep Keisha looked so angelic and gorgeous. Hunter’s eyes ran over her face and settled on her lips and almost for the hundredth time he wondered what they would taste like.

  Internally, he cursed the bad experience that had made him swear off kissing. He had told Keisha about the past girlfriend who he had thought he was in love with but she was only using him for stress relief.

  What he hadn’t told Keisha was that that had happened when he was eighteen. He had grown up and knew that teenage girls didn’t know what the hell they wanted and that his older self should have gone on, but it had still scarred him deeply.

  Now though, every time he looked at Keisha's lips a deep yearning had settled in his stomach. There was no question that he was falling for her but could he just take this chance, knowing that there was a high possibility that she would be shipped to prison if he didn't prove her innocence?

  Scrubbing a hand through his hair Hunter carefully got up and took his and her empty containers and disposed of them. He then switched the TV off and checked all the windows and the door. Lastly, he went back to Keisha who had listed to the side and was contorted in a comma with her hands clenched beside her head like a child.

  Reaching out carefully, Hunter slipped his hands under her head and knees and lifted her up to his chest. Instantly Keisha’s head burrowed under his chin as he carried her to her bedroom with a soft cute snuffling sound.

  Gently he placed her on the bed and reached down to the folded blanket at the foot of the bed. While placing it over her, she shifted and opened soft sleepy eyes.

  “Stay,” she said quietly, “stay with me…please.”

  Hunter was about to refuse but the very notion of it made something cut through his chest like a two-edged sword. She looked so fragile and her eyes had a deep supplication in them that he could only silently step back, release the catch for his gun strap, place it on the closest night table and then shuck his shirt.

  Her eyes lightened and she held up the blanket for him to slide under and when he did, she moved to rest her head on his chest, “Thank you.”

  Cupping his hand on the base of her neck and massaging the tendons there while she rested her head on his chest, Hunter could only murmur, “Sure.”

  *****

  Hard brown eyes glared through the glass of the rented blue Honda sedan at the door of Keisha’s building and where the good detective had gone into more than hours ago.

  More than five hours had passed and just as it was going to midnight Etienne came to the same conclusion that he had gotten the moment he and Keisha had met the damn cop. The detective had smugly said that he had ‘assisted her with a personal matter’, which clearly meant that they were screwing around.

  Starting the engine Etienne drove away with anger burning in the depths of his soul. How could she do such thing to him? When he was tr
ying his best to get back into her good graces?

  His hands trembled on the steering wheel in anger. She was surely going to pay for this, even more than he had planned.

  Chapter 13

  By slow degrees Keisha came to a hazy consciousness in the dimness of Saturday morning. This time she was on her side with her head resting on a soft pillow and pressed so intimately on her back was the warm and hard body of Hunter.

  She felt his soft breaths on the back of her neck and his body felt so good behind her. It was as if his presence was the very thing her subconscious had been wanting for such a long time, but somehow it still felt like dream.

  That notion was dismissed when his arm wrapped around her waist in such a possessive action softly tightened.

  Slowly, she lifted her hand and used the tips of her fingers to trace over his sparsely haired arm. It didn't take much for her to remember what those hands were capable of.

  How they had been so searing hot running over her skin and how his fingers had stoked her to a body shaking orgasm when deep inside her and held her shuddering body after. His strong hands had so effortlessly held her against the wall and softly brushed her hair aside in one of their tender moments.

  Sensory deprivation was an unknown notion whenever Hunter was around. With every look or touch or smell, her body had reacted like it had touched a live wire. Hunter was slowly becoming an addiction and that was scary but it was a good kind of scary.

  Lately, the deep desire to know everything about him had taken her over; she already knew that Hunter was sexy, smart, dedicated and honorable to a fault but last night she had glimpsed his soul. The man was solidly bent to either execute justice or see it executed. He hated injustice to the point where he would go to extremes to make the wrong right.

  He was stubborn too and would hold on to a point to doomsday but also had a playful side too and that just made him more interesting.

  Keisha closed her eyes; she knew this feeling running through her chest. She had only felt it once before with Etienne but this was acuter. She was steadily falling in love with Hunter and she knew it but the very thought of facing it was terrifying,

  What if he felt otherwise? What if she was just a momentary indulgence; an interesting and engaging one, but a momentary one never the less? What if she was fooling herself about him?

  “Again,” Hunter’s voice was a little rugged and scratchy with waking up, “Your thinking is giving me a headache.”

  Aside from herself, Keisha laughed, "Sorry, I was just thinking… of what to make you for breakfast.”

  Slowly, Hunter's arm slid from her waist and Keisha softly mourned the loss. He then grasped her shoulder and pulled flat on her back. Then his mouth pressed a kiss to her neck and she didn't hide her shiver.

  “Sorry Keisha, I appreciated the thought but I can’t stay,” He murmured on the patch of skin. “I don’t doubt your cooking would be phenomenal but I have to go.”

  A low pang of disappointment rang through her but she nodded in understanding. Her hand rose to sink into his hair and she softly uttered the same words. Hunter’s head rose to look her in her eyes and a strong feeling ran through her at his look. It wasn’t the first time she had felt it but this was the strongest; she felt his desire to kiss her but once again, he held back.

  "I'll catch you later," Hunter said quietly before smiling at her.

  “Sure,” she replied softly.

  From her place on the bed, Keisha watched him reach for his shirt and admired the flex of his muscles. A yearning to reach out and ran her hands down his skin, wrap herself around him and ask him to stay for a little more tugged at her but stopped herself. That was the privilege of a girlfriend, not her.

  As he stood up she sat up too and stretched up with her arms and let out a soft groan when her joints popped. Hunter twisted his head around and shot her a look which slipped away in less than a moment.

  “I’ll show you out.” She said while sipping out of the bed. “It’s the least I can do for manipulating you to stay with me last night.”

  Hunter laughed quietly, “Manipulated is a strong word for when someone actually wanted to do the same thing in the first place.”

  Keisha squinted at him, “So, you were just waiting for what…permission?”

  Snorting softly Hunter grabbed his car keys and jacket and turned to peck her on her forehead. “I’ll see you later Keisha.”

  "You didn't answer my question," Keisha called out to him.

  Hunter shot her a mischievous grin over his shoulder, "I know."

  Leaning on the doorjamb Keisha could only shake her head and tenderly murmur, “Bastard.”

  *****

  Hunter stepped into the PD office with the acute feeling of the deadline hanging over his head. It felt like every minute that passed was a minute wasted and he loathed that feeling.

  With strong strides he went to the Cyber Crimes department and pushed the door open to spot Jackson, one of the lonely three techs, sitting on his console and tapping away.

  "You do know that is my day off, right," Jackson said a bit surly when Hunter approached him.

  “Did you really check the job description when you signed up for it? A day off is an illusion.” Hunter scoffed, “Please tell me you got me something I can use.”

  While not moving his eyes from his screen Jackson shoved a paper pad to him and scribbled on it was a name, “Stephen Wood?”

  “Uh huh,” Jackson said, “That’s who leased the house Ogden and Nash but for the life of me, I can’t pin this guy down. I’ve gone through all the registers, the ID, drivers’ license and social security and got nothing. Then I went to Facebook, Instagram, and even Twitter, even more, nothing. I even ran him through the database and sex offenders’ registry and got even less than nothing. It’s like this guy is a ghost.”

  “Or maybe he never existed in the first place.” Hunter put in. “It’s probably a fake ID.”

  Jackson grunted while tapping furiously, “I guessed that, but whoever did it is damn good.”

  "What are you doing now?" Hunter asked as a line of jibber-jab coding was flashing over the screen.

  "You know how the Feds didn't put a hold on the account? Well, this morning an encashment was put in for withdrawal seven tonight and I’m coding in a trace for the transfer to the terminal.” Jackson said with a note of excitement in his voice, “Hopefully by this evening we’ll know who is taking the money.”

  A slow shark-like smile crossed Hunter’s face, “And finally break this damn thing apart. If I’m not there, you have my full permission to use my name to send some officers to the place.”

  *****

  Keisha just finished eating her breakfast of Belgian waffles loaded with slices of strawberries, raspberries, and peaches when her phone lit up and she answered it, “Hello?”

  "Good to see you in a better mood," Lea said through the connection. “Up for brunch today and some clubbing tonight?”

  “Um,” Keisha said, “Brunch would be fine but I don’t know about the clubbing.”

  The young financial mogul heard a small and stifled gasp, “Okay, who are you and what did you do with Keisha’s body?”

  Keisha rolled her eyes, “Her rotting carcass is somewhere in Oregon. Geez, Lea, it's not like I'm in the clubbing mood every day you know."

  “Right,” Lea dismissed, “When was the last time you actually set foot into one?”

  “A few months but it’s not like it’s something I can live without,” Keisha replied while fiddling with her fork, “And besides…it’s not like I’m that young anymore.”

  An aghast gasp came from her friend, “Keisha, god, you’re twenty-nine. You’re in the prime of your life. Stop talking like you’re in the middle of some midlife crisis.”

  Keisha pushed her chair back and drew her legs up to her chin, “Maybe I am…it’s just lately… I’ve been looking over my life and I just need a change.”

 
Lea was silent for a moment, “Keisha, you’re scaring me…should I grab Danny and come over?”

  With her head balanced on her knees, Keisha considered it, "It’s nothing that serious but... I’d really like that, so yeah… do that and grab some ice-cream on the way.”

  “Be there in twenty,” Lea replied, “Or thirty depending on how the traffic is flowing.”

  Keisha smiled softly; it was so great to have friends that would drop everything at a hat to come over. “Sure.”

  After the call ended Keisha cleaned up her plate, straightened up the living room and then went to take shower.

  Under the warm spray, she wondered why she was now feeling so despondent. Last night had been amazing. She had connected with Hunter in such a personal and intimate level after he had bared parts of his soul to her and even more, he had joined her in bed for a night of restful sleep.

  She should be happy but a soft angst was in the middle of her chest. Was it because she hadn’t acted on her impulse to have Hunter stay with her? Countess fantasies of them actually being a couple and doing all the couple-y things ran through her head.

  Things like making breakfast in the morning and sharing a savory dessert a night. Things like showering together before going out to a fancy restaurant or on some night just staying in, dressed in pajamas and with a box of pizza between them.

  Moments of whispering tender words to each other and nights of soft lovemaking came before her. Even thoughts of fiery fights and furious words and the slamming of doors before a cooling down period and then a night of passionate make-up sex was envisioned.

  Keisha laughed depreciatingly to herself his thinking of boring things like grocery shopping and paying bills and even balancing the checkbook with Hunter.

  It was decided; she was so deep in love with him that she was balancing on an emotional precipice.

  Shutting off the water she stepped out and wiped the mist of the mirror and stared at herself, “You fool.”