Changing Tides

by Simone Anderson

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Changing Tides Copyright © 2014 Simone Anderson

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  The New Reality Series Now Available at Resplendence Publishing

  Also Available from Resplendence Publishing

  www.resplendencepublishing.com

  Changing Tides

  A New Reality Story

  By Simone Anderson

  Resplendence Publishing, LLC

  http://www.resplendencepublishing.com

  Changing Tides

  Copyright © 2014 Simone Anderson

  Edited by Michele Paulin and CJ Slate

  Cover Art by Les Byerley

  Published by Resplendence Publishing, LLC

  1093 A1A Beach Blvd, #146

  St. Augustine, FL 32080

  Electronic format ISBN: 978-1-60735-761-2

  Warning: All rights reserved. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  Electronic Release: April 2014

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and occurrences are a product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, places or occurrences, is purely coincidental.

  For my cousin Brad, who reminded us that just because our parents were being stupid, didn’t mean we had to be.

  Congratulations on the next chapter of your life and overcoming the odds.

  Chapter One

  Tension eased in Lieutenant Brett DeMarco’s shoulders as he neared his base, Tottenham. The lights from the city and surrounding businesses had faded away miles ago. Unlike his father’s base, Fort Landry, a Strategic Military Command base, the government required a ten-mile business and city free zone with a limited number of people allowed to live in all directions from any Tactical Command base or installation. Farmers were given permission to reside there so long as their property measured between five and two hundred and fifty acres. In exchange for inexpensive land and lower taxes, the owners agreed to abide by a curfew and lights out whenever the order came down from the base.

  Light from the car’s headlights caught movement on the side of the narrow, two-lane road. Brett tapped the brakes, slowing the vehicle as a trio of deer stared at him. The way his week was going, hitting a deer would be the perfect way to end the one vacation he took each year.

  His one full week of leave coincided with the anniversary of General Vanessa Landry’s accidence to the Presidency and the day celebrated as the date of rebirth of the country. He’d been spent it with his parents. The visit had started off with another fight with his father about who Brett should marry. He’d been reminded that the time to make his choices was coming up and they needed to be submitted in writing with his signature as approval. Brett had countered by stating he needed a sponsor but it didn’t have to be a parent. He could ask his boss or the base commander to sign off if he needed to. His father had threatened him and Brett had started to walk away until his mother had interceded.

  The week had ended with his father trying to set him up with younger men he personally deemed appropriate. Brett did not. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. After years of yelling at him to marry a woman instead of a man, his father had conceded too easily. It made him suspicious, even as his father began suggesting younger men to him. Those his father found acceptable were all good-looking men with the manners and intellect found in the children of officers and high-level public administrators. They’d all seemed stiff and emotionless next to Brett’s memories of Orion Hellman, and none had the golden-brown eyes and uncommonly long brown hair.

  A figure stumbled out into the middle of the road pulling him from his thoughts. Brett slammed on his brakes, yanked the wheel and prayed he’d miss the person. The car skidded to a halt several feet beyond where the man stood. Brett looked in his rearview mirror and saw him fall. Throwing the car into park, Brett jumped out and ran over to them.

  “Are you okay?” Brett asked, kneeling. The red from his taillights cast an eerie glow over the scene. The man wasn’t someone he recognized. While they were closer to the medical clinic on the base than to other facilities, it was reserved for military personnel only. The civilian medical center was about fifteen miles away, close to the center of town. Blood coated the man’s face and hair, and bruises were starting to form. “I’m going to call for help. I’ll be right back.” Brett started to stand.

  The man grabbed his arm and pulled, shaking his head.

  “You need help,” Brett replied.

  The man shook his head again.

  Brett stared down at the man. If he did nothing, the man would die. He wasn’t even sure if the civilian medical center would send a response team this far out. The military emergency personnel travelled off base only for military personnel or their dependents. The man’s shirt was bloodied and torn, exposing more of his battered body.

  Brett squeezed his eyes shut, trying to prevent the familiar images of his deceased fiancée from pressing forward. The similarities were too close to be discounted, but left him no closer to knowing who was responsible. “I-I need to take you to the base.”

  The man tried to push himself up.

  “Stop, you’re going to make everything worse. You don’t want me to take you to the base, right?”

  “No base,” the man said, his voice soft and cracking.

  “I suppose I can take you to the clinic instead. You’re a civilian?”

  “Yes.”

  “All right, let’s get you into the car.” Brett helped the man up, trying not to dwell on the fact that he was probably breaking another rule or wonder why the man was so far from the residential areas. But the man needed help, and as a military officer, he was duty bound to help. More than that, he knew, was Taren’s influence. No one should suffer as his lover had.

  The ride into the city’s center was quiet. Brett’s passenger refused to answer questions or talk until Brett tried to turn down the road leading to the medical center. The man adamantly refused to go to the large clinic, instead giving Brett directions to a different place, in an area of the city Brett had never been to. Nerves taut, he made his way through the winding streets until he came to an area of abandoned and crumbling buildings, most of which looked as if they might have been warehouses at one point. He stopped at the edge of an alley.

  “Here?” Brett asked hesitantly, unable to hide his dismay.

  The man nodded. “Thanks for the ride, but you should’ve left me where you found me.”

  Brett turned and stared at the man, astounded at the first full sentence he’d said. “You need medical help, I can—”

  “You’ve done enough. I don’t like medical centers.” It was eerily similar to what Orion had basically “told” him.

  “How—”

  “End of the road. Turn left. Two miles turn left again. First working light, turn right. You can find your way from there.”

  Brett nodded and watched the man pull himself out of the car then disappear into the shadows. Had he helped an enemy of the state get away? Noise from the other side of the street caught his attention, reminding him why he didn’t w
ant to wait around. He carefully followed the other man’s directions until he was familiar with the area then made his way back to base. Parking in his assigned spot in front of his building, he turned off the car and grabbed his bags. His heart was heavy with another secret he couldn’t tell.

  Entering his darkened quarters, he thought about everything that had transpired in the past month. It was dwelling on memories of Taren and finding his tortured body that had led him to leave the marked running trail and end up in the woods where he’d literally run into Orion Hellman, the special staff member to the base commander. He’d seen the younger man before but had never dealt with him personally. Hellman usually accompanied Brigadier General Reynolds to the weekly security and intelligence meetings, running errands and fetching things when needed. Rumor held that Orion was gay, but the base commander’s verbal orders to stay away from Hellman meant that even if Brett had been interested the man was off limits. To everyone.

  The chance meeting had drawn Brett’s attention to Orion Hellman and for the first time, he actually saw him. There was intelligence and sorrow in the haunted brown eyes, alluding to the man seeing far more than he should have for his age.

  Brett had landed on Orion hard and had wanted to take him to the base medical center. After an awkward, but animated conversation with Hellman talking with hand gestures and facial expressions, he’d reluctantly left. While Brett had learned that Orion was gay, it didn’t change the fact that Orion was off limits. Specifically, sex of any kind with the special staff member wasn’t allowed, not even in a relationship. The semantics didn’t matter in the larger scheme of things if Brigadier General Reynolds took exception to it. Brett had been so caught off guard by his reaction to the man that it wasn’t until much later that he’d wondered what the other man had been doing on that part of the base. The area was considered off limits by an unofficial order from the base commander. If his boss found out he was out there, Brett would end up in a dead-end job in some remote outpost, if he’d managed to keep his commission at all.

  Brett turned over his father’s words. He turned twenty-five in a few months. Could he stand coming home alone every night? He needed more information. Could he live with someone long-term without marrying them? He didn’t think the military allowed that, but he wasn’t sure. If he didn’t make that choice now, he wouldn’t get it again, even if he found someone who could. The chance to marry was allowed only until a person turned twenty-five. If he opted out of marriage now, he would never have that chance again.

  The last step into adulthood was supposed to be a time of celebration, of commemoration at least. On the day of his twenty-fifth birthday, he had to make three choices—marriage with the possibility of children, his career and sexual orientation. Only those identifying as straight were allowed to apply for a permit to have natural-born children. Everyone else was encouraged to adopt, along with those couples who were turned down from having natural-born children. Decades ago, each married couple had been allowed to have one child. In the more recent years, following a severe population decline, income was used to determine how many children were allowed. Those who remained unmarried were sterilized, prohibiting illegal births. The career path chosen on the twenty-fifth birthday was the only one allowed until death or mandatory retirement at eighty-five years old.

  His choices on that day would dictate the rest of his life. If his father had his way, it would be a wife and eventually base commander. If he had his, it would be a husband and the possibility of being in charge of intelligence at the capitol or for one of the sectors of Aelland. The third option was a life alone. Marriages took place the Saturday after a person’s choices were made. Once made, decisions couldn’t be changed or undone. Divorces were granted only by the governors, and the parties both underwent sterilization after finalization. Brett could choose whatever he wanted, but his request had to be approved. He’d be stuck with whatever answer he received. Choices that weren’t accepted were given appropriate alternatives to pick from. Brett scrubbed a hand over his face. Without support from his family, he could even lose his current position.

  While he unpacked, his mind turned to the man he’d helped out tonight. He’d refused to give his name, not even a first name. Brett knew he’d recognize the man’s face if he saw it again. He would do a little digging tomorrow. He needed to know who he’d helped and why the secrecy. He also wanted to spend more time with Orion. Brett knew they would be a good match, and they could find a way to communicate. Over the past month, he’d found ways to keep running into the other man. Each time, the draw he’d initially felt, grew stronger. It bothered him more than he wanted to admit the way that the base commander and other officers treated Orion, as though he was too dumb to understand anything, going out of their way to degrade him whenever they got the chance. Brett blew out a breath at the anger brewing inside him and shifted the focus of his thoughts back to Orion. The younger man had to exercise. It was mandatory on base for all military personnel, as well any civilians employed on base. They could coordinate their workouts. Brett could always find out when and where Orion exercised and simply show up there.

  Brett stretched his shoulders and rubbed the back of his neck. He had a plan. Now, all he had to do was enact it. He should run off the excess energy. Instead, he grabbed everything he needed for a shower—a shower followed by jacking-off to a fantasy of Orion seemed like a much better plan. It would also provide a distraction from his latest actions.

  * * * *

  Orion Hellman stepped out of the dormitory and stretched, looking around as he did. A car stopped in front of the building, he tried not to stare as the passenger leaned over and kissed the driver slowly. He didn’t need to be reminded of what could never be, especially with the memory of one certain man unwilling to fade into oblivion.

  Orion dropped his gaze, wondering what it would feel like to kiss Brett like that. The general hadn’t said he couldn’t date anyone, only that there could be no sex, and he wasn’t technically in the military so there wasn’t an issue with rank. He knew though that Reynolds had told key people that he was off limits permanently, and they’d spread it around base.

  Brett was still dangerous to him. More than anyone else had ever been. He caused Orion to think about and want things that weren’t his to have. Orion’s thoughts were still centered on the slightly older man when the passenger from the car bumped into him.

  “Sorry, man,” he said, hugging Orion. “I finally found the one!”

  Orion nodded and smiled.

  “He’s good.”

  Orion ducked his head. He pulled away from the man who lived down the hall from him and had come to his defense more than once when he was being beaten up or threatened. Orion knew the man’s last name was Miller and his rank was corporal. Orion was glad the man had found someone to love. Everyone deserved to love and be loved.

  Sparing one last thought for the man, Orion took off down the well-lit running trail. He liked the solitude at night. It gave him time to think, to sift through information and to reflect on the path his life was taking. It usually kept him out of trouble and away from prying eyes.

  The running trail wound through base housing and the buildings on its edge before splitting into two different directions. One took runners past the flight-line and toward the firing range and wooded area where he’d first met Brett DeMarco. The well-lit path curved away from the dangerous areas as long as the runner paid some attention to where they were at. The other direction led to the center of the base.

  Usually, he took the longer trail, enjoying the quiet. This time he was certain that his thoughts would stray toward DeMarco, a man he would be better off avoiding. Orion had seen Brett before, he was in the periphery of people he’d come in contact with while working for the general. He preferred knowing as much as possible about the people he was dealing with, but Brett had never been someone he’d worked with or even talked to before. It wouldn’t take much to uncover everything there was to know about the
other man, but he’d learned long ago not to tax the few resources he had. He had to be discreet about who he checked into and why. Lieutenant Brett DeMarco simply wasn’t worth the risk.

  Taking a deep breath, he pushed himself faster, wishing for a different life. He knew Brigadier General Reynolds would never release him from duty. He wasn’t even sure the man would let him take a regular lover. He’d never asked before. Truthfully, he’d never been interested in having anyone in his life until he’d met Brett. Now, the other man had him wishing for things he knew he couldn’t have. Things that would take away from the promise he’d made standing over his parents graves.

  To keep his thoughts away from Lieutenant Brett DeMarco, Orion mentally recited the true history of Aelland that his parents had taught him through stories they told. A century ago, Aelland had a different name and was a Mecca for freedom of all kinds. People could express whatever opinion they wanted, they could worship whatever and wherever they wanted, could marry who they wanted, had the ability to defend themselves and higher education was open to everyone. There had been a statue in the harbor near the capital. That had long ago been dismantled.

  Aelland was born out of the Second Civil War. In the years preceding the war, a series of laws were slowly introduced by politicians that systematically restricted the rights of the people while increasing their dependency on the government before the funding for all social programs was stripped away without being replaced by anything. The move left millions without basic necessities nor any way to provide for themselves and their families. Citizens had revolted against overcrowding, low pay, not enough food, high crime rates and work practices that bordered on slavery. Halfway through the war, multiple factions appeared, all vying for control of the government. One small paramilitary used deception and double cross to seize power. They renamed the country after their home base of Aelland. They’d installed a small council of handpicked men and women to run the government before a dictator claimed power, retaining the title of President.