by Mj Fields
I looked between them. Both had acknowledged Will in their own way. I sat down. “I’d love to go, but I have a lot of shit to do.”
“We’ve left you alone for a week. No more bullshit, let’s roll.”
I slammed down my beer and looked at the empty bottle. “Here’s to the beer, here’s to a glass. May I find a girl with the prettiest ass.”
“That’s what I’m talking about!” Layes clapped, “Let’s roll.”
* * *
The place was packed with women on the hunt. Nothing had changed in the two years I had been gone. I walked up to the bar and laughed to myself when I saw Carmen the bartender. She turned around and walked towards me.
“Jaxson Irons, what brings you back to our little piece of heaven?” She set a shot of Jack in front of me and a draft.
“I was missing your sweet ass.” She leaned forward and I put a twenty between her tits. “Missed those two as well.”
She purred and winked. “You are about a year late, my friend. I’m married now.” She held out her hand and I saw her rings.
“Damn, Carmen, congratulations. I have to say I never saw that coming.” I tossed back my shot and took a drink of my beer. “Gonna need three more of each of these.” I pointed to the empty shot glass and the now half empty beer.
“Anything you want Jax, just ask.”
“I wanted my dick between your tits again but apparently that’s not gonna happen,” I joked as she poured the shots.
She laughed and leaned forward, “If he ever fucks up, I will call you first. I remember that masterpiece between your legs very well.”
I threw another twenty on the bar, and grabbed the tray she had set the drinks on and headed to the high-top table.
I sat the tray down, and looked around and laughed. “Everything has changed, yet absolutely nothing has changed.”
Deuces held his fingers up to his lips, signaling me to be quiet and then nodded back to the table behind him with three girls. He tapped his ear, signaling me to listen.
“Okay here’s the deal, flight instructors are the ones you want if you’re into the relationship scene.”
“What do you mean and how to you know the difference?”
“You ask them, Kipper, duh. The instructors are here for a few years so if you’re looking to have a relationship, those are the ones to look for…”
“They have more money than the students do, some live off base, have cars and homes.”
“You learn well,” the redhead laughed. “Okay, so as Casey said, you ask what they do. The students or fly guys, as I like to call them.” All three started to laugh, “Okay, now let’s be serious here for a couple minutes, I don’t want to waste any of my time. The fly guys are the ones you grab onto if you just need to get laid.”
“That’s crude, Tally,” the girl who was apparently new gasped.
“It is what it is.” Tally laughed and did a girly pink shot.
I leaned back and grabbed the barstool of the girl behind me, the red head, and dragged it to our table.
Her face turned red and I leaned over. “You girls want a drink?”
She looked at me in shock for a moment and then smiled, “Hell yeah.”
I signaled to the cocktail waitress as the other girls pulled their chairs over to the table.
“Do you three live around here?” Tally asked.
“We do.” I answered.
“Cool, what do you do?”
All three of us answered at the same time, “Students.”
She smiled. “Pretty cool.”
“And the three of you? What do you do around here?”
“We’re seniors at UFW.” Tally looked me up and down as her friends giggled.
“You a student?” I asked.
She raised an eyebrow and nodded.
“Perfect.”
“How about you two ladies?” Deuce asked.
“Yes. I’m Casey.” She stuck out her hand and he kissed it.
“Nice to meet you.” He didn’t let go of her hand and he looked at the other girl and held out his hand to her to take. “And you are?”
“Kipper?”
“You sure about that?” he asked as he stared at her arm and turned it so that her wrist was facing up. He brought it to his mouth and kissed it. She blushed.
“Yes, I’m sure.”
“Perfect.”
I looked at Layes and then back at Deuce, wondering what the hell he was thinking.
“Why don’t you ladies go dance to this song? It’s my favorite.” Deuce kissed each of their hands again and let go.
The three girls looked at each other and then slowly got up.
When they were out of ear shot I leaned over to Deuce, “You can share, man, Layes is here too, you know.”
I laughed and patted Layes on the back.
“He’s no longer…”
“Shut the fuck up, man,” Layes snapped at Deuce.
“What? You embarrassed? It’s not like he won’t find out sooner or later.”
“It’s our first night out man, let the guy have some fun.”
Layes was blushing.
“Spill it.” I did a shot and looked back at them.
“Our boy Layes here got married.” Deuce laughed and patted him on the back.
“Congratulations.”
“Fuck you, Deuce, and I don’t wanna hear shit from you either, Irons.” Layes got up and stormed to the bathroom.
“What the hell is up with him?” I asked Deuce.
Deuce laughed a full out belly laugh. “I would much rather he tells you about it.”
“Deuce, cut the guy some slack, some guys like that shit. The home life, the same pussy, the…”
“The two point five kids?” Deuce laughed again.
“Yeah, shit like that.”
“Well he got it.” Deuce was dying.
“Alright out with it.”
“Dude married Sally.”
“Sally?” I was confused.
“Mustang Sally? Name ring a bell?”
“Holy fuck, no way. Sally, the blonde who fucked half of our squadron, Sally?”
“The same fucking one.”
“What the fuck was he thinking?”
“Seven days Layes.” Deuce roared.
I looked towards the bathroom to make sure Layes wasn’t coming out.
“He married her!”
“He was on leave for seven days and came back married with two kids. I’m not even fucking with you. When he heard that half of our guys banged her, he was gonna get an annulment, pissed that she didn’t tell him. A month goes by Sally hadn’t been out hunting,” he tipped his glass towards the three girls dancing, “She shows up with a hot stick in her hand that says baby point five is on its way. Fucker almost died.”
I laughed. “So he’s gonna be a Dad?”
“Gonna be, he already is, Jax. Has her two kids plus his now one year old daughter. First thing he said to me when we found out you were coming back was, ‘I thought I’d heard the end of the Sally and seven days Layes,’” he said. “You and Sally?”
“Maybe, who the hell knows…?”
“I know. She told me everyone she’d been with.” Layes sat down. “You were the first she mentioned.”
“I don’t know what to say, Layes.”
“Well get it all out now, ‘cause I don’t wanna hear another word about my wife.”
“You happy?”
He nodded and smiled, “Yeah. She’s no different than I was. Just so happens chicks get the scarlet letter A, we get an Atta boy.”
I nodded. “I get it, man. No ball busting from me, congratulations.”
“Ask him how he knew she was the one?” Deuce laughed.
“Fuck you, Deuce!”
“No, man, it’s the best part of the story, tell him, come on. I promise not another word after that.”
“She was the first one to say yes? Is that what you’re talking about?”
Deuce was laughing so h
ard he couldn’t speak. He nodded and then shook his head no.
Layes rolled his eyes and serious as shit looked at me and said. “I like to fuck a woman’s ass. Whenever I asked before, I always got what I wanted, fuck, look at me.” He pointed to himself. “But it took persuasion. I asked Sally and she said yes…”
“Bullshit, that’s not the way you told it before,” Deuce roared.
“I was pissed before, dick!”
“He wasn’t here, you gotta tell him.” Deuce wiped the tears from his face.
“She said, ‘Yes, please, oh yes, fuck my ass, Layes.’ All throaty and shit.” Layes’ face was fire engine red. “We done, here. Conversation over. I don’t want to revisit it.”
The conversation stopped when the three girls walked over and sat down. The drinks kept flowing and I was wasted. Tally was on my lap dry humping me and Deuce was going from one girl to the other, kissing them each. When Layes’ phone rang, he smiled when he looked at the screen. I looked over at him and he showed it to me. A family picture: him, Sally and three kids.
I smiled, and picked Tally up off my lap and sat her down in her chair.
She groaned in protest. “Listen Red, my dick has denim burn. Give me a couple minutes with my boy and I promise I’ll have you screaming my name soon.”
“Promise?”
“I promise a good time, not a long time.”
She laughed. I smiled and turned back to Layes.
“You happy, man?”
“Fuck yeah, I’m happy.”
“I can tell. Good for you, man. Good for you.”
“I gotta head home, can I give you all a ride?” he asked.
“That would be perfect.”
* * *
I jumped and sat up in my bed. Will, every night I had dreams of him. About the crash, about the academy, about the last six fucking years that we had accomplished every goal we set, and how in a split second it was all gone.
I leaned over the warm body beside me, and grabbed the half empty bottle of Jack sitting on the night stand and took a swig. I looked down at the red head and took a deep breath. What the fuck was her name?
Her eyes fluttered open and she quickly covered them, shielding them from the sun.
“What time is it?”
“No idea.”
“You don’t have a clock?” she whimpered, holding her head.
“Not unpacked yet.”
“My phone.” She sat up and then held her head and moaned.
“No idea. I don’t even know where mine is.”
I stood up and looked around. Our clothes were not even in the room.
“I’ll look.”
I walked out in the living room and found my jeans and her skirt.
She walked out wrapped in a sheet. I noticed her looking me up and down.
“Sorry if this offends.” I was naked.
She smiled and shook her head no.
“I have no fucking clue where the rest of our clothes are.”
I looked at the front door that was still half opened and walked over to close it.
“Found underpants,” I said as I stepped out on the enclosed porch.
I picked mine up and threw them on.
I looked over and she was looking out the screen.
“Looks like two shirts and a bra out there on the sidewalk.”
Fuck! What the hell was I thinking? I bent down, and grabbed her thong and went to hand it to her.
She giggled. “No sense in trying to fix these.”
I squinted as I looked at them. The strings were popped. “Sorry about that.”
I ran out the door, and grabbed her bra and shirt and kicked my shirt up into my hand as I ran back in, hoping the neighbors wouldn’t see me.
She laughed when I shut the door behind me and handed the chick her clothes.
“What’s so funny?”
“You not like under clothes?” She held up the ripped bra.
“Apparently not.”
We threw our clothes on as we walked into my place. Then we stood silently for a moment and she smiled.
“I don’t have a car here.”
“I can take you home, um…”
“Tally. My name is Tally.”
“Right, sorry about that as well.”
“You explained last night. No strings.” She held up the underwear and smirked.
“That’s me.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Who’s Frankie?”
“Excuse me?”
“Well if you’re bi or….”
“Fuck no, I’m not bi.” I laughed out loud.
“Okay, well, you called me Frankie so I just thought…”
“Didn’t know your name.”
“Okay, that’s cool.”
We were silent again.
“Look, I have a lot to do today…”
“Right, me too.” She nodded and grabbed her phone off the couch. “It’s noon.”
“Shit!”
“Yeah, right?”
“So you wanna ride or a cab?”
“Cab’s fine.”
Thank Fuck! “Cool.”
* * *
After she had left I laid in bed, staring at the ceiling. Frankie? What the hell was I thinking? Whatever it was, that shit needed to stop.
Old Dominion
Francesca
It had been three years since my brother, Lieutenant William Cruz, had died at sea. I missed him terribly but was proud of how he lived the life he had, regardless of how long he spent here on earth. I sat on Norfolk Beach, needing to feel close to him on the anniversary of his death. It was a beautiful day in May and I was cutting class. I had done the same every year since he passed.
Mom and Dad were coming down for dinner. A short three hour drive. A drive they took monthly to check on me.
Joel, my boyfriend, was here until about an hour ago. We had dated now for three years. He was going to school at Duke and we rarely saw each other but for some reason, we stayed together. We fought like crazy, he was as stubborn as I was but it was something normal in a now abnormal life.
When Will died, everything changed. Mom and dad tried to make everything appear normal but the hole I felt in my chest was never filled. The emptiness never went away.
I was never a great student. Will was the brains in our family and I was the constant entertainment. I always thought I just liked to be the center of attention and if I couldn’t gain attention the way Will did, through achievement, then I would be the funny one, the loud one, the pain in the ass little sister that Will fawned over.
I hugged my knees and looked out at the sea as three helicopters flew into view. I used to love hearing Will and Jax talk about their missions. I loved listening to them talk with passion about their chosen careers. I suppose that’s why I was going to school for Physiology, minoring in exercise science.
When we received the autopsy report, a month after the Navy had, we found out that although Will was in top physical condition his heart failed him, which was what caused the crash. I now wanted to find out what caused it and hoped that my life’s work could help others realize the dangers of putting chemically engineered substances into their bodies that caused perfectly healthy young people to die. It wasn’t just happening to pilots, it was happening to athletes and otherwise healthy people.
I lay back on the blanket and watched as the Seahawks came into view. I smiled as I watched them. I wasn’t angry anymore. I wasn’t afraid to fly, or pissed at the Navy. I was empty because I missed my brother. I was empty because I missed Jax.
Jaxson Irons was only supposed to be in Pensacola for a year. The last time my parents spoke to him he, was staying another year and then he would be on sea duty with the USS Truman for another year. The Truman was docked here but I had yet to hear from him. Mom and Dad said that a man like Jaxson needed to grieve in his own way. That we should let him heal and, if and when he wanted to see us, he would.
I looked at my watch and realized I had been sitting here for three hours and that my parents would be arriving in a little less than an hour.
I jumped up, grabbed the blanket and shook off the sand. I kicked off my flip flops and walked out into the water one last time before I would head back to my apartment to get ready to meet my parents at Ship’s Cabin for a five o’clock dinner.
I turned around and saw a man running down the shore line. He had on basketball shorts, sneakers, sunglasses, and an arm band holding what I assumed was an iPod. When he came closer I looked away, hoping he wouldn’t see me staring. He was built very well. It was obvious he took care of himself. His dark hair and light scruff was sexy and sweat drenched. I loved watching a man sweat, nothing turned me on more than watching muscles work together in unison.
When he passed I noticed a tattoo on his left shoulder. It was the same one Will had. It hit me then.
“JAX!” I yelled behind him.
He slowed but didn’t stop.
“Jax!” I yelled again and he turned as he continued running in place and pulled out one ear bud.
“Can I help you, ma’am?”
I walked quickly towards him. “Don’t you ma’am me, Jaxson Iron.”
“Do I know…? Frankie?”
I nodded as a smile spread across my face.
He stopped running and his head tilted as he looked at me.
“You gonna just stand there or are you gonna come give me a hug and say hello?”
He pulled out the other ear bud and smiled as he walked towards me.
I was about ready to hug him when he stuck his hand out.
“Sweaty, girl. Wouldn’t want to dirty you up.”
“Are you serious right now?”
I jumped at him and hugged him tight around the neck.
“You sure are sweaty.” I laughed and kissed his cheek. I stepped back and looked up at him. “We have missed you so much, Jax.”
“Been busy.”
“I know, I know. Hey, Mom and dad are coming into town for dinner. Come with us, Jax. Please!” I jumped up and down.
He smiled, “Night duty, Francesca. I can’t tonight but we’ll catch up again soon, okay?”.”
“When?” I asked, a bit louder than I intended.
“Soon, okay?” He looked at his wrist and then at me. “I’m running behind. Take care, Francesca.”
I didn’t respond with words. I forced a smile and then waved. He waved back and took off down the beach.
