Hell Bent

by Arlene Knowell

  He spun his attention toward the men in the windows

  again, his hands flailing angrily. “What the fuck are you looking at?”

  “Maybe they aren’t accustomed to a Gunnery Sergeant running around bitchin’ like a girl.” Shane smirked then turned his attention to the men and waved them away from the window.

  “Bitchin’ like a girl?” Pat chuckled. “I’ve got your fuckin’ girl you damn pansy. I’m here to get answers about my sister and I’m gonna get them if I have to jerk ‘em out your ass.”

  Newhope rolled his eyes. “How many times do I have to tell you? Are you having trouble understanding that I did everything I could to talk her out of staying there alone?”

  “I’ll tell you what I’m having trouble with,” Pat said as he reached onto his forehead and removed his sunshades, closed them then turned to his truck. He laid the shades onto the hood and turned his attention back to Newhope. “I’m having trouble with your smart mouth insinuating I’m stupid, when it was you that left my sister alone after she killed somebody.”

  “What the hell did you want me to do? Would this be better if I’d offer to spend the night with her? Should I go to your house now and offer to sleep with her tonight?” Shane lifted his hands in frustration.

  “You keep your ass away from my sister.” Pat’s lip quivered in anger.

  “Well I sure can’t change the past.” Newhope explained with a single nod of his head. “But here you are busting my chops for something that happened almost a week ago.”

  “You better hold on to that girl of yours, Newhope,” Pat puffed as a smirked grin grew across his lips. “Because you’ve got a hell of a lot to learn about women.”

  “My understanding of women has nothing to do with this.” Shane stiffened his back and moved closer, dangerously close. “I did all I could. What was your point in calling me here this morning?”

  Pat flexed his jaws and fought the desire to knock Newhope flat of his ass. “Now’s not the time. Don’t think you’re gonna put on your MP hat and I’m gonna back down.” Pat poked his finger into Newhope’s chest. “I blame you for this. If you’d let us handle it, my sister wouldn’t be fighting the demons of having killed someone. And I think we both know what demons I’m talking about.”

  Newhope looked down at the finger on his chest. “I was trying to obtain enough evidence to arrest him,” then shoved aside Pat’s finger.

  He had to give the guy credit, he was a ballsy bastard. He was trying to stand his ground, and the idiot had to know that he’d been wrong. Hell Pat wouldn’t do the biggest bitch he knew that way.

  Pat stepped forward, closing the gap between him and Shane. It seemed that it was show time. “You gave me your word that you’d take care of it. I’m not sure what your honor is worth, Marine, but I can tell you that it’s not nearly enough.”

  Pat held Newhope’s gaze, it was time for this guy to learn that people didn’t always back down just because he was an MP. He didn’t care, at this point, if the guy was the damn Commandant of the Marine Corps, he needed his ass kicked. Pat was just the man to do it.

  Shane glared into the eyes of the man who had invaded his space. His nostrils flared, and it was easy to see that rage had bombarded him like a heat seeking missile. “Don’t push it.”

  “Push it?” Pat arched one brow. “Is that supposed to scare me? I should’ve gotten a piece of you that day, but I took you at your word. Today your word isn’t worth shit to me, so go ahead, you big bad-ass fucker, give me half a reason.”

  The silence was deafening as the two stood eye to eye, nose to nose and toe to toe. Pat was close enough to smell the cinnamon gum in Newhope’s mouth. He hated cinnamon. The vein in Newhope’s neck was pounding, but Pat couldn’t associate it with fear considering his own felt like it was doing the same thing.

  “Get out of my face, Austin,” Shane snarled his lip slightly. “Don’t make this personal.”

  “It’s already personal. You let me down. I took your word as a Marine that you’d deal with it. Now my sister is dealing with the hell that goes along with being in a war zone. And you’re telling me not to make it personal? If it

  were any more personal, you jack-off, I’d be up your ass.”

  “You weren’t there Austin.” Newhope made one last attempt to defuse the situation. “Let it go. I’ve played this game with you as long as I’m going to.”

  Pat reared his head back and snapped it forward making brutally hard contact with Newhope’s upper eye and brow line. “Game on mother fucker!”

  Newhope stumbled back, wiped the top of his hand across his brow and looked at the blood. Lunging quickly forward he planted a solid left fist into Pat’s stomach and followed through with a right hook to his eye.

  “We’re even.” Newhope said pointing a stiff finger toward Pat. “Now back the fuck off.”

  Pat bolted toward him, planted his shoulder into his chest and pushed. They impacted Newhope’s car and sprawled across the hood. Pat was swinging with all he had as they rolled off the car hood like a couple of bouncing basketballs.

  Suddenly there were hands everywhere. Someone was pulling him off Newhope and this fight was far from over. “Get your damn hands off of me.” Pat struggled against the men who were pulling against him and he got a good hit on one of them.

  Newhope was struggling just as hard against the men who held him. “Let him go! Let’s get this over with.”

  A tall black man pushed between them, dodging the flying fists and feet. “Break it up. Now!”

  Pat’s muscles went limp as his eyes landed upon the dress blue uniform with yellow chevron stripes easily distinguishable at Sergeant Major. Of all the times for a Sergeant Major to show up, why did it have to be now? Given five more minutes he’d make a believer out of Newhope.

  “What the hell is going on here?” the Sergeant Major’s voice roared, grabbing a fist full of material on Newhope and Pat’s chests. He pulled them closer and looked from one to the other. “I’m tempted to send you both to the brig.”

  Newhope’s eyes were wide as saucers, and he acted as if he’d quickly forgotten the reason for the fight. “Sergeant Major Hansford I let my temper get the best of me, Sir.”

  The Sergeant Major released Newhope and turned his attention to Pat. “And you?”

  “This is nothing we can’t deal with another time, Sergeant Major,” Pat offered, his eyes full of regret. “It was just a little misunderstanding.”

  “He’s right.” Shane nodded. “We’ll deal with it, another time at another place.”

  ~ * ~

  When Pat walked back into the house, Pete was standing motionless in the hallway, watching Mindy pack up trinkets for the move.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Pat asked, rubbing his hand over the puffy lump on his lip.

  “She’s talking to a guy,” Pete said, glancing toward Pat then turning back toward Mindy. “She’s planning to meet him somewhere tonight.”

  Pat looked her way with furrowed brow. “What guy?”

  Mindy was stacking the items from her dresser top into a small box. She was also giggling as she talked to someone on the phone. She had killed someone a few days ago. Pat had just finished a brawl in her honor, and she was giggling. She brushed her long black hair behind her shoulder and laughed aloud.

  “Someone she was very happy to hear from,” Pete explained then turned back toward Pat with wide surprised eyes. “What in the hell happened to you?”

  Pat sucked the lump on his lip then began to speak, “Me and Newhope didn’t see eye to eye.”

  “Who won?” Pete teased, his eyes focused on Pat’s puffed up lip.

  “The Sergeant Major,” Pat admitted with a chuckle. “We didn’t realize until too late that if it was a big dick contest, the Sergeant Major’s was bigger.”

  Pete fought a laugh because more than once Pat had let his mouth overload his ass. This time, however, Pat was right in getting in Newhope’s face. Plain and simple, the MP had been wron
g in the way he’d handled the situation with Mindy. In fact, Pete wasn’t fully decided against having a little talk with him, too.

  “You do realize we were trying to fix her up with a guy that absolutely abandoned her when she needed somebody

  the most?” Pat stated more than asked.

  Pete nodded. He didn’t want to admit it, but most civilians would have done a better job of keeping Mindy safer than Newhope had. This was a sharp price for her to pay to finally prove to them that a military man was the last thing she needed in her life.

  “So this is it? We agree to let her do her own thing?” Pete asked, glancing at his sister, who seemed oblivious to them as she tucked a figurine into a box.

  “Hell, man, it’s her life. I don’t even think a civilian could have been a worse choice than that asshole.”

  Five

  Mindy checked her hair once more in the mirror, then turned toward the living room. She stared over the living area as memories of the night she’d killed Sanback flooded her mind. She cringed to see how close the telephone was to the front door, but the only jack in the entire apartment was between the front door and the kitchen door. She walked toward the sofa where her brothers sat watching a pay-per-view wrestling special. It was odd how the living room seemed huge when she was alone, but when her brothers were home it was hardly large enough to accommodate their imposing figures. She’d never understood how two such manly men had ended up with an apartment with a rose pink couch, but they had. She leaned over the back of the sofa and kissed Pat on the cheek. “Thank you for swapping rooms with me. And thank you for helping,” she finished, planting a kiss on Pete’s cheek also.

  Their smiles were warm, but their eyes never left the rough and tumble action playing on the huge plasma television in the corner. She fought off a laugh because it looked like they were planning to barricade themselves in the house for the remainder of the evening. There were two six-packs of beer in an open, ice filled cooler to the left of the coffee table. There were enough snacks on the table to feed a third world country.

  “You still haven’t told me how you got that puffy lip,” she teased Pat as he struggled to open his mouth to accommodate the man sized burgers they’d bought down the street. “Did some girl bite you?”

  He grunted, wiped his mouth on his arm and chewed

  his food slightly before speaking. “Just a little run in with somebody that’s had it coming for a long time.”

  “Oh, so you aren’t the only one with marks?” she asked as she reached into the plate of French fries sitting between them on a throw pillow.

  He nodded confidently, and took the French fry from her fingers as she opened her mouth to gobble it down. “Not hardly.”

  “Oh come on, give me fry.” She smacked his hand and reached into the plate again “I’m sure the guy had it coming,” she finally bit down on a crunchy fry.

  “So, little sister, are you going out?” Pete rolled his eyes toward her as he swallowed down a bit of his burger, “Where are you going?”

  Mindy grabbed her purse and walked toward the door, “Out.”

  “That’s not an answer.” Pete made room for his burger on the coffee table and rose to his feet and moved toward her. “Have you been seeing this guy for a while?”

  “Yep,” she said simply resting her hand on the door knob. “I’ll probably be late.”

  “So when do we get to meet him?” Pete quizzed then swept his tongue over his teeth just in case any burger was left behind. “Why doesn’t he come here to pick you up?”

  “Because that’s the way I want it, I have no intention to force him to endure the big brother inspection.” She said as she fumbled with the buckle on her purse strap. “I hope you understand, but I’ve realized that life is too short not to go after what you want.”

  It was probable that her brothers wouldn’t like that idea, especially since Sanback. It had to be her choice, it was her life.

  Pete glanced toward Pat who’d turned his attention from his burger to their conversation. “He’s a pussy.”

  Pat pushed several fries into his mouth. “That’s what it sounds like.”

  “He’s not a pussy,” she stomped her foot, sometimes they made her so mad. “Just because I refuse to let you meet him yet doesn’t mean he isn’t a great guy.”

  “What does he do?” Pat rose from the sofa licking the

  last remnants of his burger from his fingers.

  “I’ll tell you when I think its time,” she chimed. “Why should I give you a reason to criticize his job?”

  “Oh hell, he’s a hairdresser or some shit like that,” Pat said with a lisp, batting his lashes quickly.

  Mindy stood by the door, and watched her silly brother. His actions were wrong on so many levels that it was all she could do not to burst into laughter. She bit her bottom lip as she fought the desire to smile. “Would it make you feel better if I told you he was a boot camp barber?”

  “Bite my ass, Mindy.” Pete waved off her evasive answer. “I know there’re some bad apples in every bunch but all military guys aren’t like Sanback. I think you’re making a mistake. You don’t know the civilian world enough to be part of it.”

  “At least it’s my mistake.” She twisted the door knob and pulled it open. “I’ll gladly accept the consequences.”

  “Well, it’s a good thing because a man like the kind you want can’t handle a woman like you.” Pat moved back toward the coffee table, snagged a Twinkie and threw it toward Mindy.

  She closed the door and almost burst into laughter. She certainly did like making them miserable. It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate what they were trying to do. It was just that they were failing to let it be her decision. There would come a day when they’d both have wives and she couldn’t depend on them to defend her anymore. She needed to have a man of her own, one she’d selected because they were compatible not because he wore a uniform.

  ~ * ~

  She pulled into the mall parking lot to meet Shane, locked her car then jumped into his waiting car.

  “Sorry I’m late, but my brothers were giving me the business about dating a pussy.” She stated honestly as she leaned toward him and met his warm wet lips with her own.

  Her fingers touched a small cut beneath his right eye before leaning in and kissing it. Everything about him was sexy. Every inch of him was pure male and he made the womanly urges within her throb with alertness.

  “And you defended me, right?” he asked as he raised his face and kissed her fingers.

  “No, now they think you are a hairdresser. I just let

  them draw their own conclusions and someday, when I spring you on them, they won’t know what to say.” She glanced at him as she sat her purse into the floorboard between her legs.

  “Oh, so now I’m not going to always be a secret?” His hand trailed across the small of her back as she leaned forward.

  “No way.” She leaned back and pulled his hand into her lap. “I just want them to suffer because they think I should do exactly as they say.”

  He nodded and looked down the roadway. “They are head strong that’s for sure.”

  She turned her attention back to the cut beneath his eye. “What happened?”

  He drew in a slow deep breath. “Pat came to visit me today.”

  The reality of his words shook her so much that her heart almost skipped a beat. Did he say Pat? She whipped toward him in the seat. “Did you say Pat? My brother?”

  He nodded. “Your brothers are pissed that I let you stay at your apartment after the shooting.”

  “Did Pat do this?” she questioned as she touched his eye again. “And you’re the reason he has a puffed up lip?”

  “Guilty as charged.” He looked into her eyes. “But unfortunately, it isn’t over because he didn’t get as big a piece of me as he wanted.”

  Mindy listened in shock as he described the confrontation. She’d never dreamed that Pat would blame Shane for what happened with Sanback.
>
  “Don’t sweat it.” Shane pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “When you’re ready we’ll tell them, until then I can take whatever they want to dish out.”

  “I’m so sorry this happened.” Tears formed in her eyes. “I’ll tell them about you. I never dreamed this would happen.”

  He laid his hand on her knee. “It’s okay. He’s a tough hombre, but nothing I can’t handle. Besides, I’m cool with it as long as he thinks he’s protecting you.”

  Reality slapped her in the face. She’d thought it was funny when she decided to keep her relationship with Shane a secret. It wouldn’t have been quite so funny if someone was seriously hurt in the scuffle they’d had this morning. There was no reasonable excuse for a twenty six year old woman to act like a child. She wasn’t a ten year old trying to hide cigarettes from her parents.

  ~ * ~

  The thoughts of the fight hadn’t left her mind for a second since she’d learned about it. Part of her hated Sanback for the hell he’d caused in her life. But did she have a right to hate him for causing trouble in her life, when she’d taken his? There should be a time to resign the anger and forgive, and for the best interest of the men in her life, that time was now.

  “What’s wrong?” Shane sat his glass onto the dinner table and reached for Mindy’s hand. “You’re quiet. Are you mad at me about what happened with Pat?”

  Her eyes widened and she shook her head. “You didn’t do anything wrong. I didn’t give you a choice.”

  “But they don’t see it that way,” Shane explained as he waived off the waiter advancing to their table. “All they see is that I let you go back to that house alone.”

  “You would have stayed with me, I know that. But I certainly didn’t want you to think that I’d slept with you so that you wouldn’t leave me alone.” Her face full of regret as her eyes begged him for forgiveness.

  “You’re stubborn. But I’m just as stubborn.”

  She tilted her head and studied him. “How so?”

  “Because I slept in my car the first night you were there.” His eyes searching her face. “I sat outside during my shift last night hoping like hell you’d swallow your pride and call me.”