by Mj Fields
“Why’s that?” His voice was tender and he kissed the back of my head.
“Well, you think I’m a whore and now you know I’m fucking crazy.”
He kissed me again. “Break up with him. I’ll say nothing to your parents as long as you promise to talk to me when you get low.”
“Like you’ll be around,” I huffed.
“Break up with him and I promise I will be.”
I turned around and looked at him and then looked away, “I can’t even look at you.”
“Why Frankie?”
“Because you know everything.” He took my face and forced me to look at him.
“A girl I banged in Florida probably thinks I’m gay.”
“What are you telling me that for?” I was confused.
“Apparently I said your name in my sleep…”
“What?” I gasped.
“So now who should be embarrassed?”
He blushed.
“Jaxson, you’re blushing.”
“I couldn’t be.”
“No, you are…”
“Great, can we drop this now?”
“No way.” I turned and straddled him and hugged him tighter.
He leaned back and looked up at the ceiling. “What are we doing here, Frankie?” He looked at me. “I was banging a girl, calling her Frankie, who is my dead best friend’s baby sister, who I banged last night, who…”
“Hold up, you were banging her thinking about…”
He stood up and I clung to him so I wouldn’t fall. “Listen, you started this shit when I left back then.”
“Told you I was a good kisser.” He grabbed my ass and carried me to the bedroom.
“True. But you never warned me that you were gonna sprout tits and have the sweetest little pussy in the world.” He sat me on the bed.
“Oh, the world, huh?”
“I’ve been around, Frankie, can you deal with that?”
“I liked to be spanked, can you handle that?”
“You didn’t need to be spanked, you just needed a real dick.” He pulled my shirt up and leaned down and kissed my breast.
“I don’t agree.”
He let my breast fall out of his mouth, “No?”
“No. I think it’s the whole package.”
His eyes had that look as he brushed my hair out of my face. “I want you again.”
“I want you too.”
“I don’t want to hurt you, Frankie. I’m not good at this shit, never tried it before, and never wanted to.”
He was opening up to me. We were opening up to each other.
“How about we play it by ear. And how about you stick to what you do know you’re good at?”
He kissed my nose. “Fucking?”
“I’ve never had oral before.”
“You have got to be kidding me? That poor bastard doesn’t know what he’s missing.” He kissed me again. “You’ll break up with him or I won’t be doing this again.”
“This?” He kissed down my body. “Oh. Oh god. This.”
Poker
Jax
“TRAINING, FRANKIE, THAT’S where I need to go, and you need to study, college girl.” I said as I hopped around, putting on my sneakers. I was running late already and I didn’t do late.
“I can study here?”
I bent down and tied my sneaker, “Probably not a good idea. We play cards after Saturday training at my place.”
“Oh, okay.”
She stood up and gathered her things. I stopped and watched her. I knew that face. The one she gave Will every time we left their family home. “You’re pouting.”
“Am not.” She turned her back to me so I couldn’t see her.
“Frankie, we should probably exchange numbers.”
“You sure about that?” She turned and looked at me.
“Wasn’t it you that I told I would try, right before I made you come, again? Or am I missing something. You know what—”
“I do. This is a bad idea.”
She turned and started walking to the door.
“Hey Frankie, I was going to give you a ride.”
“I’ll walk.” She opened the door and walked out.
I grabbed my briefcase and gym bag and was gonna take off after her, but fuck if I knew if that was the right thing to do or not.
I locked up the house and headed out the door. I decided to take the car, just in case she wanted a ride. I didn’t have two helmets, so the bike wouldn’t work.
I drove down the road and pulled over and rolled down the window. She looked over and then quickly away.
“Go away, Jax.”
Son of a bitch, she was crying. I slammed the car into park and jumped out. She saw me and walked faster.
“Frankie! If you want a ride, get back here. I told you this is all new to me. No god damn games.”
She stopped and turned around, “This is new to me too!”
“No, you’ve done this before, fuck you’re still doing it. I never have.”
She started storming towards me, and then walked around me and got in the car.
I jumped in and slammed the door. “What the hell is your problem?”
“You! This! It’s not a good idea.”
“Fine.”
“Fine!”
I drove towards the campus in silence until I couldn’t stand it anymore.
“Tell me what the hell I did. Give me at least that, Frankie.”
“Nothing, you did nothing.”
“Then why are you pissed off and crying.”
“I’m not crying.”
“Come on Frankie it’s me, not some god damn kid who doesn’t know how to eat fucking pussy.”
“Well at least he wouldn’t shove me out the door.”
“I didn’t shove you Frankie. I have to go to work, what would you like me to do?”
She pointed to an apartment building just off campus. I parked and she opened the door and got out. She looked back at me, “Grow up Jax, think beyond yourself. That’s what I want you to do.”
“That’s not fair, Frankie, I told you I had no idea how this works.”
“Well look, let’s just go back to the way it was a month ago.”
“Is that what you want?”
“Yes, it is.”
She slammed the door and ran through the gate and into the courtyard.
I looked at my clock, and I didn’t have time for games. And honestly, I wasn’t sure that’s what she wanted anyway.
As always, my temper got the best of me and I laid rubber as I pulled out onto the street.
I pulled into the hanger parking lot, jumped out and hauled ass inside just in time.
We were training in the pool today, rescue and night vision exercises.
“Alright everyone, today we’re going to crash and burn.” A bunch of the new jacks chuckled. “This is no joke. Today you’ll live and so will the people you rescue but when you’re out there for real, you have no idea what’s gonna happen. The better trained you are, the better chance you and everyone around you have at surviving.”
* * *
I WAS IN the locker room changing when Titan and Shadows walked in.
“You take care of little Will last night?”
“Yeah.” I shut my locker. “Let’s go play cards.”
“I’ll ride with you, Shadows, you stopping at the store?”
“Sure thing.” Shadows flipped his shades down and walked to his Jeep.
We got in my car and I started it up. “Spill it, Irons.”
“What are you talking about Titan?”
“Little Will.”
“Her name is Francesca and there’s nothing to spill.”
I backed out of my spot and pulled out of the parking lot.
“This how it’s gonna go?”
“Titan, this isn’t up for discussion.”
“The fuck it’s not. You were an ass today so one of two things happened. You either fucked her or you didn’t.”
/> I didn’t feed into his shit. It was none of his business.
“And for what I’m guessing by the shape you two left in, you fucked her. Now you’re pissed at yourself ‘cause she’s Will’s baby sister.”
“Titan,” I warned.
“And if you fucked her, you better believe Will would be ecstatic that two people he loved were dating. But if the fuck didn’t lead into something you’re an asshole.”
“I’m an asshole?”
“If you did her like you do everyone else then yeah, you’re an asshole.”
I pulled through the gate and out onto the street.
“So are you an asshole, or are you dating little Will?”
“She has a boyfriend.”
“You banged Will’s sister?”
“Enough! I don’t wanna talk about Frankie, understand?”
“No man, I don’t fucking understand.”
“Not that it’s any of your fucking business, because it’s not. But yeah, Frankie and I fucked. Then shit went south and she walked out.”
“Then fix that shit.”
“Titan, I am almost at boiling point. Back off.”
“What would you say if I was fucking Will’s kid sister? We loved him too. He was one of us. Thicker than blood, man, remember?”
“She has a boyfriend.”
“Did you ask her to dump him?”
“Yeah I did, what the fuck do you think I did?”
Titan knew I was gonna blow but he pushed and now he knew that she blew me off.
“Sorry, man.”
“Yeah, whatever. I’m killing this conversation, understand?”
“I sure do.”
* * *
I SPENT THE rest of the weekend drinking with the guys. We didn’t go out, we chilled at my place. Sunday, dad called.
“Well, we have the support we need to move ahead, son.”
“Support?” I sat up and scratched my still foggy head.
“The Republican party is nominating me. They are all on board.”
“That’s great.” I looked at the clock and it was noon already.
“You know what this means, right?”
“Keep my shit together and smile pretty, yeah. I know what to do.”
“We’re campaigning now. So that means we divide and conquer. Your mother is working on a list of events close to you. She will email you a schedule. I expect that you attend them and represent me just like you’ve been taught, son. This is it, this is what we’ve been working toward.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” I lay back and looked at the ceiling.
“Please keep in mind, discretion is important. The Democratic Party will be looking for anything they can to discredit me. No fights, no unruly women, no drinking and driving, no—”
“I got it, Dad. I’ll do what I can.”
“Good, I know you will.”
“Congratulations, sir.”
I hung up the phone and lay back down. I tried to go back to sleep but it wasn’t happening.
I pulled my lazy ass out of bed, and pulled on some shorts and decided to go for a run. I needed to clear my head and let go of this guilt I had been carrying around for two days. She didn’t want anything more and that was just fine.
As I ran, I thought a little harder about my situation. I never promised not to tell her parents about that slimy fuck. And Will would want me to watch out for her, regardless. I fucked up, I fucked up bad. It never should have happened but I couldn’t walk away now. I needed a plan and then I would give her a chance to fix things before going to her folks. Maybe after that, I could turn the shit off in my head. Because God knows I couldn’t stop thinking about her.
* * *
MONDAY MORNING DIDN’T come soon enough. I had been awake since three and, because I had one too many damn dreams about her, I didn’t wanna go back to sleep.
I walked into the training center knowing we had a presentation this morning and then I was in the air that afternoon. I never looked forward to sitting through these things. It’s not like one was any different from the next, but it was hours towards qualifications so it had to be done.
I walked past the desk where Ace was leaning over, talking to a skirt. I couldn’t even look at the bastard. I wanted to crush him.
“Morning, Jax,” he said in a fake ass way, obviously trying to either get in the civilian’s skirt or looking for me to lose my shit on him in front of the civilian.
I walked on by and turned down the hall to the training room. Everyone was already seated when I walked in., Shadows was tilted back in his chair and waved me over. I walked over and sat.
“Good way to start the week, huh?” He winked.
“Fucking great.” I plopped down.
Titan was all smiles. “You have a good weekend?”
“Hell, yeah, I did. Left your place Saturday night and found myself a hot piece of ass at Tuna’s. Dropped her off at Dominion this morning. Fine, fine young lady who happens to have a serious oral fixation. I think I’m in love.”
He held out his fist waiting for the bump, Shadows and I obliged.
Commander Smith walked in and we all stood. “At ease.” He set his file down and looked directly at me. “About two weeks ago, headquarters received several applications for internships from Old Dominion. Normally this company doesn’t accept any, however, one was accepted. I didn’t find out until this morning and truly wish that I had more time to prepare you all for this.”
I wasn’t sure why the hell he was staring at me but he was.
“A couple of the SEAL teams will be joining us as well. Lieutenant Ace offered to do the introduction. Please give all due respect to Ace and the intern who will be joining us for the next six weeks.”
He came around and sat right behind me.
Ace walked in and stood at the podium. “A few years ago we suffered a tragedy and lost one of our own.”
No fucking way. I shifted and then felt a hand on my shoulder.
I looked back at Smith and he shook his head back and forth.
“The accident could have easily been avoided had this information been available to us then. I would like to introduce Miss. Francesca Cruz, a junior at Old Dominion whose research and findings came a bit too late to save her brother, and our brother, Lieutenant William Cruz. She has dedicated her time and efforts into trying to spread the word and hopefully save some lives.”
My heart was beating out of my chest when she walked up to the podium and set her notebook down.
Flight
Frankie
“GOOD MORNING. I am Francesca Cruz. Three years ago we lost my brother, Will, due to a horrible accident that took not only his life but the life of Robert Snell. A year later, we were finally given an explanation as to why my brother crashed and was killed in a rescue mission.”
I took the remote and clicked on the presentation I had prepared. “As you see here, we have energy drinks. Moonstar, RockStars, five hour boost, and the one here that gives you wings. They all look perfectly safe and they’re sold in every convenience store and drug store in America. So they’re perfectly safe, right? No. Wrong.”
“Energy drinks are sold as nutritional supplements so the FDA does not regulate nor limit the amount of caffeine, taurine, ginseng, carnitine, or other stimulants that are added. Caffeine in a cup of coffee gives us a boost at 100mg. These substances in small doses are pretty innocuous. However, many of these energy drinks give us five times that in one drink. This is not only dangerous but can be deadly. Sleep disturbance, restlessness, elevated heart rate and blood pressure, arrhythmia, seizures and even deaths have been reported and linked to these seemingly safe drinks.”
“As pilots and flight crew, you know what obstacles you are up against while in flight. You have to depend on your ability to stay calm, and react with the precision with which you were trained to perform. It should be very clear why these drinks are dangerous to your ability. The US Navy has begun testing pilot flight performance. So far,
it is evident that after drinking energy drinks a pilot’s abilities are notably impaired.”
“Colonel Smith has agreed to let me be part of the team assigned to getting a new policy placed in AvMed prohibiting pilots from flying for twenty four hours after an energy drink is consumed. That being said, you’ll more than likely be seeing me around here a lot more often.”
“Thank you for your time. If you have any questions, I will try to answer them to the best of my ability.”
Hands shot up and Colonel Smith walked up and stood next to me at the podium.
I pointed to one of the men whose hand was raised. “Your brother was a great man, Miss Cruz. His and Roberts loss still weighs heavy on many of our hearts. But with all due respect, twenty four hours seems like a bit of overkill, don’t you think? I mean alcohol can’t be consumed for twelve hours preflight.”
“Alcohol’s effects are known. Studies have been conducted and it is regulated by the FDA.”
“The stuff in these drinks is mostly all natural.”
“I understand that, but that argument won’t work. Caffeine is a natural ingredient but again, you wouldn’t drink five cups of coffee down in the matter of minutes and expect that not to affect you. Calling something all natural and assuming it’s safe is, with all due respect, ignorant.”
I avoided eye contact with Jax but his presence was not easily ignored. I continued answering questions and when I had finished, I glanced over at another hand in the air.
“Your question?”
“Frankie, we loved your brother and I just want you to know that you have our support. He’d be proud of you.”
“Thanks Titan, that means everything to me.”
After spending the next three hours with Colonel Smith setting up a schedule and teams to conduct the studies I wanted to do, it was time for me to leave.
As I was walking down the hall Ace was walking out of the training room.
“Miss Cruz,” he smiled.
“Ace?”
“That’s me. Can you and I have lunch? I’d like to talk to you about something.”
