The Lonely Hearts 06 The Grunt 2

by Latrivia S. Nelson

  David laughed cynically. This guy was complaining about not being able to feel love when his heart was breaking into. The irony of it…“It’s overrated. Trust me,” he said, picking up his beer again.

  “I wouldn’t say it’s overrated.” Brett raised a brow. “It is complicated though.”

  “Well, which one is it?” Gavin asked sincerely. “Complicated or overrated?”

  David shrugged. “Both,” he said, taking another swig of his beer. His thoughts were still with Kelly. “It’s like this. As long as you act like you don’t care where the relationship is going, they’re attentive.” His eyes narrowed as he tried to make sense of the situation. “They set up all these parameters, make you jump through all these hoops and lay down all the rules.” He took in a deep breath. “As soon as you comply,” he slammed his closed fist in hand. “Bam! They don’t want you anymore.”

  Brett twisted up his lips. He didn’t agree with David, but he understood his frustration. Being rejected wasn’t exactly the type of thing that a man took well from his girlfriend. “You’ll have to excuse him. His girlfriend of over a year just broke up with him after he proposed to her.”

  Gavin bucked his eyes. “Damn! Talk about #wastinghistime.” And that was why he doubted he’d ever get married. Women were too much of a mystery. He licked his lips. “Still doesn’t answer my question though.”

  “You don’t feel anything, because you don’t love the woman.” Brett raised his finger for another whiskey. “And if you don’t love her, she can’t feel anything, because there is nothing there to feel.”

  David thought that they were getting ahead of themselves with the bar diagnosis. “Wait. Do you love her? Do you like her? Do you want to love her?” David asked, just for clarification.

  The idea was preposterous to Gavin. Did he want to love the bartender at the strip club? “No,” Gavin answered. “I just want to be able to love when I meet the right woman.”

  Brett downed another shot. “Well, then, there you go. You’ll know it when you feel it.”

  “Not true. I felt it. And she…didn’t.” The men were silent at his response and at that moment, David suddenly felt like he had shared too much, allowed himself to be too vulnerable. So he shut it all off. He looked down at all the empty shot glasses in front of them and pulled out his keys from his pocket. Setting them on the bar, he reached out his right hand to Gavin. “Keys, please.”

  “For what?” Gavin asked. He didn’t have the least bit of a buzz right now, and he didn’t need a babysitter.

  “Because we’re not drinking and driving.” David took Gavin’s keys and pushed both sets up to the top of the bar. “Until you get a DD-214, I’m still your superior officer, Brett, and after that, I’ll just be your pain-in-the-ass brother-in-law. Either way, I have a responsibility to look out for you. I’ll call Uber and have them pick us up once we’re done.

  “Uber?” Gavin rolled his eyes. He was more accustomed to having the girl he meets at the bar take him home. And there is always a girl, no matter what. He skimmed the empty bar. Usually, there was always a girl.

  “Yes, Uber,” David said, pulling out his phone from his wallet. “I have the app downloaded. I always keep it me.”

  “Funny, I always have a condom on me,” Gavin said, eyeing a woman as she walked into the bar. They made eye contact immediately. Giving a small grin, he winked at her, letting her know that if she wanted, she could have his complete attention tonight.

  Brett followed Gavin’s gaze to the redhead with the wide hips and big breasts as she came over and sat at the corner of the bar. He turned to Gavin. “Not tonight, dude. Give your dick a rest.”

  “You need to go home to your wife and make up before there is no one at home waiting for you or your dick,” Gavin said, motioning for the bartender. He perked up a little. “Excuse me, kind sir. Can I get a drink for the lady?”

  David looked over at Brett and hit him on the shoulder. “One more round on me and then you go home?” It sounded like a question, but it was an order.

  “I’m not drunk yet,” Brett said, words slurring.

  “That’s the point,” David answered. “While you’re still in shape to talk to her, go home and make up with your wife. Put her first. Talk to her. Reassure her. Do whatever married men do to stay married.” He shrugged and looked when the bar door opened. This time a black woman entered wearing jeans and a Cardinals t-shirt, cut into a V-shape in the front. With long braids pulled back from her face and a pie face complete with big brown eyes and a dimple in her chin, she strutted over to the bar and sat beside the redhead.

  “Do you feel like suddenly hanging out for a few more hours?” Gavin asked David under his breath.

  “On it,” David said as the woman looked over at him and grinned. He hit Brett on the arm. “Go home or you can break my baby sister’s heart and I can shoot you in the other leg. Then you’ll definitely be retired out.”

  Gavin laughed and turned to Brett. “I think he’s serious. He’s got that whole Captain America thing going on.” It was time to get rid of the dead weight. Brett would only dampen the mood, and these girls looked like all they wanted to do was have fun.

  Brett laughed. “Alright. Alright. Call me a cab or an Uber or whatever. I’ll go home and figure this out.” He knew exactly what they were up to, and he didn’t want to be around to witness it. If he were going to spend time talking to any woman, it would be Courtney.

  ***

  Brett had never used Uber before, but it was quite a handy little service. A young man, using this job as second income for his new little family, picked him up in a Toyota Prius right outside of the bar a few minutes after David reserved the ride, and then drove him home with almost no conversation and music from a peaceful jazz station on the radio.

  When they pulled up outside of the house a half an hour later in the rain, he was glad to see Courtney’s car in the driveway, but he was nervous too. How would he handle this? What would he say? What wouldn’t he say? He had a knack lately for putting his foot in his mouth. He’d have to work harder on that. He’d have to work harder on everything.

  Closing the passenger door to the driver’s car, Brett limped slowly up to the door. Being bullheaded, he had left his crutches at the Lawless’ house earlier when they went to the bar. So now, he was only using the boot, which was sort of uncomfortable, after such a long day.

  The rain washed over his face and body, making his cotton t-shirt cling to his taut lean muscles and highlight the dog tags under his shirt in between his wide well-formed pecs. As he approached, the front porch light came on.

  Courtney opened the door and stepped out on the porch in her nightclothes, wearing his favorite shirt and with her hair in a flirt ponytail.

  Brett walked slowly, keeping his eyes on her, like she was the prize he would win if he could just make it. Holding on to the rail, he moved up each step until he was up on the porch. Just a few more steps. Making his way over to her, he stood at her feet, his large frame loomed over her petite body as he breathed hard.

  Courtney lightly touched his chest.

  “I’m sorry,” he said quickly. It was better to get that out of the way first. “I was wrong.”

  Courtney looked up at him. Her hazel brown eyes were still red and puffy from crying. “I’m sorry too.” She grabbed his large hand and looked at his wedding ring. “I know it’s late, but can I talk to you?” She restated that question. It needed more authority. “I need to talk to you tonight.”

  Brett touched her face, looking at her full lips, the adorable curve of her nose and the determination of her small chin. “Of course, we can talk.”

  “I don’t want you to say anything tonight. I just want you to hear me out. I want you to hear what I want, not just for you but for us and for me.” She didn’t blink.

  Brett was just glad she was giving him another chance. On top of that she didn’t want him to do all the talking, which meant, he’d be less likely to fuck it up. His voice bro
ke through the silence of the night and sound of rain hitting the ground. “Whatever you want, baby. We can talk all night if that’s what it takes.”

  Courtney was glad to hear him say that. Leading him into the house, she closed the door behind her and locked it. “I put on some coffee.”

  Brett looked down at her in her night shirt and tall socks and felt desire start to rear its head. Maybe it was the whiskey or the sight of her nearly naked but he wanted to take her right then and there in the living room on the floor.

  Inhaling the scent of strong Columbian coffee, he quickly pushed away his aching desire. Tonight, there would be no distractions, not at least, until she had said what she had to say. Then he would have her.

  “Where do you want to do this, baby?” he said, hearing the television going in the den. He walked toward it, hearing Joe’s voice. “What’s that? What are you watching?” He stopped in the doorway and looked across the room at the television. She had been watching their wedding video while he was away. Joe was giving his Best Man speech. He stood there and watched it for a moment and actually smiled. That had been a good day for everyone, especially for him.

  Looking over at her, Brett reached his hand out for her, dripping water in a pool around his feet on the hardwood floor in the hallway. “Come here.”

  Courtney walked up to him and hugged him tight, ignoring his sogginess. She closed her eyes tight. “I don’t want to ever forget why we did this,” she said, voice quivering. “I don’t want to forget that feeling that I felt the day I married you.”

  Brett ran a hand down the back of her head as he held her in his tight embrace. “I don’t either, baby. I promise you,” Brett kissed her shoulder, glad that he had taken David’s advice and come home. “We’ll fix this together.”

  Chapter 24

  “I selected an enormous Marine Corps emblem to be tattooed across my chest. It required several sittings and hurt me like the devil, but the finished product was worth the pain. I blazed triumphantly forth, a Marine from throat to waist. The emblem is still with me. Nothing on earth but skinning will remove it.”

  —Major General Smedley D. Butler

  When Mr. Benson’s office called, Brett and Courtney were out shopping for food and enjoying the day with Bella. After hearing the news, they had dropped everything immediately and hightailed it to his office.

  “The test came back. There is a 99 percent chance that Cameron is Leo’s biological child.” Mr. Benson threw the results on his desk and walked over to the window. “We have to get you ready for the trial. Leo Tabor’s lawyer filed for temporary visitation, but I was able to get that thrown out.”

  “How?” Courtney asked.

  “Cameron has never been around Leo. Even though we have established Leo as the biological father, a judge still needs to decide custody. For now, considering Brett has been the presumed father and has cared for him his entire life, it is better for things not to change until the trial.” Mr. Benson pushed another file over to Brett. “Your friend was very helpful in me making my case early this morning. These pictures of Leo in the bathroom getting high may have persuaded the judge a little more than normal.”

  Brett looked at the black and white still shots from the video Gavin had recorded with his baseball cap and felt himself turning red. “This piece of shit wants custody of my son?” He pursed his lips together. “Over my dead body.”

  Mr. Benson noted Brett’s rage. They’d need to make sure that during the next few months, it didn’t get the best of him.

  Brett felt like he was going to throw up. “I guess I had been hoping even if he weren’t mine biologically that he wasn’t Leo’s either.” He raked a hand over his face. “Okay,” he said, taking in a deep breath and trying to find his center. “How do we get ready for trial?”

  “I’ve set a date, 60 days from today. A couple of my junior partners will meet with you each week to help get you ready with answering questions and outlining any additional information that you need to provide. We’ve also submitted our first set of interrogatories to the other side. He has to have them back within 30 days from today. If you look at that combined with the evidence compiled by your friend Gavin and the sworn testimony he’s been able to secure, then we are looking good. We have a chance.”

  Courtney looked at Brett. “What evidence?”

  “Gavin’s been snooping around. Leo’s got a past. He’s a coke head, a philanderer, a disgrace to the Navy.” Brett just didn’t understand. “It just doesn’t make sense. Why does he think that he’ll get Cameron considering how fucked up he is?”

  Mr. Benson had asked the same question. “It has to be financially driven. Maybe Amy’s parents are paying him, but I doubt it. They would have come for you much sooner than this, unless they didn’t know where he was and just now located him. There could be many different ways he’s being paid.” Mr. Benson took a seat. “If we can find out what his motive is, then we will do better in court.”

  “You can’t let me lose my son,” Brett said seriously. He gripped Courtney’s hand.

  Mr. Benson hated to make promises. “I have two boxes of Amy’s belongings in the back office with our team combing through everything, hoping we can use something else as evidence. Right now, we have a diary with detailed accounts of affairs with men on base and her acknowledgement that she was keeping Cameron’s paternity a secret from you.”

  Courtney looked over at Brett, expecting him to get angry at the news of Amy’s deception, but he barely blinked. He was over her, over everything that she had done and glad to be rid of her.

  Brett pushed up to the end of the chair focused on something far more important than his late wife’s previous lovers. “What else do we need to seal the fate of this case? What ensures me a win?”

  Mr. Benson looked over at Courtney and then to Brett. They were good kids. It truly was a pity that they were forced to go through this, but he had seen many couples like them over the years. “Patience. In my experience, at the very end of a case because of stress and other things, people get impatient, and they start to make stupid mistakes. Do yourself a favor, don’t be one of them. If you come into contact with Leo, do not engage him. You and I both know that this situation is so tense, you’ll end up in jail, and that won’t look good to a judge.”

  Brett laced his fingers together. “What else?”

  “You’ve done everything you can do. Now, you have to let me do everything that I can do. I’ll make sure that Cameron doesn’t have to be exposed to the man before the trial. If needed, I’ll get continuances if we get on the scent of his true motivation behind this and need more time to compile evidence.”

  Courtney was outraged. “This could take years, couldn’t it?”

  Mr. Benson couldn’t lie. “Unfortunately, yes it could.”

  “Whatever it takes,” Brett said, standing up.

  ***

  “How long is this going to fucking take?” Leo screamed into his cell phone as he sat outside the lawyer’s office. The lawyer that the Ripley’s had hired called him just before his appointment with the lawyer holding Amy’s money and told him that while paternity had been established, the judge had decided against allowing temporary visitation.

  “You said temporary visitation upon establishing paternity would help this case?” Leo said, hitting the dashboard. “Now you’re telling me that I can’t see him until after the trial?” His brow furrowed. “What kind of Mickey Mouse bullshit is this?”

  If Leo had just given the lawyer time to answer, he would have told him three minutes ago “They’ve got evidence on you, Leo. The judge felt like you could potentially be bad for the boy. He won’t know until the trial. Now I’ve got 25 pages of questions that you need to get on right now and get answered. You know the drill. I need your tax returns, your DD-214, and your bank statements. Everything.”

  “Why do I need to turn that in? It’s not like I’m divorcing the kid.” He had all of it, but it wasn’t exactly stellar. He was in the red for h
is checking and savings. His DD-214 said that he had been discharged Other Than Honorably and his tax returns told the story of his two daughter’s that he hadn’t seen in two months.”

  “No, but you are petitioning for full custody of this young boy. And if you fall short of that, you may end up with joint custody or visitation. Either way, you’re going to have to start paying child support and they need to review your entire life and make sure that they are not snatching a child out of a perfectly good home and giving him to a deviant.”

  “Are you calling me a deviant?” Leo snapped.

  “No, I’m saying that’s what the Courts don’t want to happen. I’m calling you to tell you what happened with the case.”

  Leo didn’t want to hear anymore. “When is the trial set for?”

  “In 60 days,” the lawyer said, tired of dealing with the man. He was not the guy that Rev. Riley had made him out to be, but attorney-client confidentiality made certain parts of his knowledge on Leo privileged.

  Leo gripped the steering wheel and shook it. “That’s too far out.”

  “It’s the soonest we can do this.” The lawyer was confused. “Why are you rushing this? As I explained to you, this isn’t something that can happen overnight. This man was raising this boy as his own and has been for the last five years.”

  Leo moved the vents so the air would hit him dead smack in the face. “If we get to trial in 60 days and the judge says that he’s mine, will he be mine that day or that week?”

  “Once the judge makes the ruling, it immediately goes into effect. But the trial more than likely won’t be just one day. It could be two days. It could be two weeks.”

  Leo didn’t want to hear the negativity. “Can it be done it two days?”

  “If everything is in order, I suppose.”

  Leo shook his head. “Then get it in order. I know that the Riley’s are paying your bill, but if you can get it done in two days and I can get my son with paperwork proving that he’s my son, then I’ll make it worth your fucking while in less than a week. I’ll double what they are paying you.”