“It doesn’t fucking matter now. It’s out. I’m sure he ran back and ran his mouth. It wouldn’t take long for him to figure out who this “tall, blonde Cassie who hasn’t been in for very long” was.”
“I’m lost,” I threw out, feeling as if everything were going over my head once again.
“Sgt. Scott Vernon works at the schoolhouse in the Admin section and hates Alex,” Riley said, trying to clarify things. “He—”
“That’s enough, Riley. I’ll tell my own fucking girl about my personal dealings. You need to reign in yours.”
Riley let go of Nat and took a few steps over to Alex, stopping directly in front of him. “It was an honest mistake, Alex. She had no idea that she wasn’t supposed to speak about her friends and how awesome they are. Damn, come off your high fucking horse. She had no idea that you were breaking fucking rules.”
“And you never thought to fucking fill her in?”
“No, why would I? I wasn’t the one fucking my student. I wasn’t paranoid.” He looked over to me, as a slice of regret pierced through his eyes at the choice of his words.
“So that’s how you see it, too? Me just fucking a student.”
“You know that’s not what—”
“I don’t fucking know anything anymore. I don’t know who has my back and who doesn’t. Who is looking to be the next whistleblower so they can get in good with First Sergeant to get that next good fit rep and move up the ranks. I don’t know who the fuck was jealous of my promotion selection and would do anything to get it for themselves.” He stopped and moved even closer to Riley. “I don’t fucking know anything anymore.”
I swallowed hard, unsure of what to do or say, but knowing that standing here and allowing this to build would absolutely lead to nothing but trouble. Accusations and true feelings were spilling out all over the floor, leaving a friendship hanging in the balance. I knew Nat didn’t set out to tell on us. Hell, she had no idea that it was a bad thing in the first place, but Alex was not so forgiving. He wasn’t even willing to listen to reason. He was stuck in tunnel vision, seeing only one thing, and that one thing was that Nat had run her mouth, to a supposed enemy, and that gave First Sergeant O’Hara the ammunition he needed.
“Well, it is just some guy at a tattoo parlor’s word against ours. That’s not solid evidence.”
I looked from Alex and Riley, who had since each other breathing room, and over to Nat.
“He came in to see me.”
“Who did?” I asked.
“That O’Hara guy.”
My heart sank. Alex began pacing, one hand rubbing the back of his neck while the other lay clenched at his side.
“He came in and asked for me specifically. I had no idea who he was and started asking me questions. He said Alex was getting promoted, which I already knew, and that the schoolhouse wanted to invite his friends to a party for him afterward. He asked me if I knew of anyone that should be there and I said yes, his girlfriend, Cassie.”
She’d confirmed it for the man who had Alex and me in his crosshairs.
“He started asking questions about Cassie, but I realized that something about his questioning was off, so I stopped answering them and told him I had to get back to work. I didn’t know what he was up to, but the feeling I got just wasn’t good.”
“Did you think to maybe fucking tell us, or Riley?” Alex yelled out from across the room.
“I didn’t think there was much to tell. I didn’t give him much.”
“You gave him plenty, Nat. Fucking plenty.”
Nat began shaking her head as a tear streaked down her cheek. “I’m so sorry, Cassie. I had no idea. I would have never—”
“It’s okay, Nat. I know.”
The bedroom door to Alex’s room slammed as I looked up and realized that he was no longer there with us. I knew he was pissed, but he was being completely irrational, and while I wished that Nat wasn’t so loose with her lips, she had no clue that by speaking about us, she was ultimately doing us in. We hadn’t filled her in, so if anyone was at fault, it was Alex and me.
“Cassie, I know we’ve just recently met, but I really like you and Alex together, and I would never try to break you guys up.”
“I know, Nat. Alex is just very high strung, but he knows it too.”
She seemed to calm down with my words, but the fear of the damage her words may have caused was still written all over her face.
“I’m gonna take Nat home. I think it’s best if she has some distance from Alex,” Riley said, putting his arm around her shoulder. “I’m just gonna stay at her house tonight. Let you and Alex have the house to yourselves so you can work through whatever you need to.”
I nodded my head. “Thanks, Riley. I don’t even know what I’m about to walk in on in that room.”
“I know Alex, Cassie. He’s a stubborn motherfucker, but you can be the one to let a little bit of sanity seep into that thick head of his. Talk to him.”
“I will. I promise.”
I gave Nat a hug, letting her know that I wasn’t angry with her. She squeezed me tight, and I instantly felt sorry for her. She wasn’t to blame for this, yet Alex had laid it all at her feet. He was wrong, so wrong for it, and I wasn’t going to let him get away with the way he had treated her.
I pulled away from her and waved goodbye to them. Nat looked like a lost puppy—sad, yet eager to get away. When I walked back into the room, Alex was sitting at his desk, still fuming as he worked on his laptop.
“Alex,” I said, shutting the door behind me.
“Don’t start, Cassie.”
“No, you need to listen to me.”
He shut his laptop and laid it down on the bed next to him, then looked up as I sat down at the end of the bed.
“I know you’re all sorts of angry right now, Alex, but going after Nat like that was completely unnecessary.”
“You think everything is fine, Cassie?”
“I didn’t say that. I know everything isn’t fine. But Nat isn’t the culprit here. We are. We got into this relationship knowing it was wrong, and didn’t fill her in.”
“Her mouth runs like fucking water.”
“Right. And knowing that, we should have told her that we couldn’t come out as a couple. But we didn’t, so it’s our fault, not hers.”
“And the fact that she didn’t tell anyone. You’re okay with that?”
“Alex, listen to yourself. Nat is a civilian who happens to work at a tattoo shop whose patrons are a bunch of Marines. She is not a Marine, and she has no idea about the archaic rules of the Corps. Stop fucking blaming her. It isn’t her fault.”
“You’re much too forgiving and naïve, Cassie.”
“And you’re much too stubborn and a hard ass. Now what? How do we compromise and find a middle ground because I hate dealing with you when you get upset and jump off the fucking deep end.”
“What are you saying?”
“Just that, Alex. I love you, but you have to loosen up. You struck fear into that poor girl. And call me naïve if you want to, but she is not out get us. I can see that. If you’d saddle some of your rage, you’d see it too.”
He stood and began walking the room. I could tell the anger deep inside of him was clearly trying to make its way out, but he was working hard at holding it in.
“Alex. It’s out. It was out from the moment you held me in that barracks room. So whatever Nat may or may not have said is really irrelevant at this point.”
He stopped walking, then turned and burned that hazel gaze in my direction. “Cassie, it’s one thing for O’Hara to have his suspicions, but to go to someone who is unaffiliated with the Corps and have them basically give him everything he wanted, that’s some fucking damage that we can’t undo.”