My dog tags.
I picked them up and ran my finger over the raised letters.
ARDEN
EVAN N. USMC
047289
A NEG
CATHOLIC
I took a deep breath and tried to push away the plethora of memories the cool metal tried to conjure. For the most part it worked—the tags only evoked pleasant memories. The only real regret I had was labeling myself as Catholic, though as a seventeen-year-old, the response to the question had been automatic.
If there was a God, He didn’t have any love for me, so fuck Him.
I slipped the metal chain around my neck and tucked the tags inside my T-shirt before I laced up my boots, donned the hat, and left the room. I had to sign a few more papers, but the process didn’t take that long. I hoped that Lia had received my message by now and also that she wasn’t waiting for me for too long.
Without any other direction, I headed outside. I looked up and down Van Buren Street but didn’t see any sign of Lia parked anywhere. I walked to the corner of Van Buren and South Clark, but I didn’t see anyone there, either. There didn’t seem to be any actual parking on the street close to the entrance, so it was hard to tell where she might have to go to park a car.
I dropped my ass to wait on a cement wall used as the foundation of a flower garden.
And wait.
After a while, I was beginning to get a little nervous. Would Trent have already taken action, believing that I wouldn’t follow through with my end of this deal? Would he have grabbed her and detained her just to have more leverage over me?
I leaned over, took off the hat, and dropped my head into one hand.
How long would it be before Rinaldo knew I had been released? How long after that before he came looking for me? At what point would he realize I wasn’t coming to him, send out a search party of sorts, and realize I was batting for the other team?
That was the most difficult part of all of this: he would have no idea that I was doing this to protect him. There wasn’t going to be an easy way to get that message to him without alerting both Greco and Trent.
“Hey, Marine!”
I flinched, glanced to my right, and saw a guy in jeans and a sweatshirt approaching. He reached down and grabbed my arm to shake my hand.
“I just want to thank you for your service,” he said in a thick southern accent. “My cousin was a Marine, and you guys are the best!”
I didn’t have much time to react before he was off across the street, so I shook my head a little and watched, wondering if he had any idea what he was really saying, and if he’d still thank me if he knew everything. When I first returned from active duty, a bunch of people said similar things to me, and I still I didn’t understand why they did. I figured most of it was because I was in Virginia at the time, and they kept putting my picture up on television.
I needed to get the fuck out of these clothes.
There was a trash can near the wall where I sat, and a noise coming from it caught my attention. A small rat made its way up a plastic bag and sat along the rim of the can, looking at me.
“Getting takeout?” I asked it.
The rodent looked to the sound of my voice before it scurried back down into the bottom of the can.
Looking up and down the sidewalk and the street, I still didn’t see any sign of Lia. I checked my watch. It had been a full forty minutes since I had contacted Mark to call her. I wondered how far away she lived and if she had been caught in traffic or something.
Maybe she’s not coming.
It was more than possible that she had thought better of hanging out with a fucked up lunatic like me and refused to show up. If that were the case, Mark would have contacted me—I was sure of that. He would have at least called into the main office and had someone step outside and look for me. Hell, considering how dedicated he was, he’d probably just show up here and offer me a ride.
How long was I going to wait? An hour? Two?
I wasn’t used to waiting for someone—depending on someone. It just wasn’t a good idea. I hadn’t relied on anyone since Corporal Martinez, my spotter during a mission in Afghanistan. It had been cut short. He was called back home, and I never saw him again. Three weeks after that, during the last mission I was on, I was in charge and everyone was depending on me. It didn’t do them any good, either. All of that seemed like another lifetime ago despite how close it was in my sleep-time memories. Since then, I hadn’t depended on anyone.
Not until now.
I didn’t like it, not in the least. What if she had decided I wasn’t worth the effort? As much as I might have agreed with her, the thought pissed me off. Rinaldo was right—bitches weren’t worth the trouble. Look at where I was now and what I was considering because of her. If it weren’t for her, Trent would only have prison to hold over my head.
“Fuck it.” I stood up and decided to start walking east on Van Buren. I didn’t really know where I was going to go at this point and figured I might as well just walk to my apartment. I had no idea what condition it might be in, or if the door was locked, or if the whole place had been cleaned out. I also didn’t have anywhere else to go. I gripped my fingers against my palms and tried to get some clarity in my head.
“Evan!”
I turned to the sound of my name and saw Lia walking quickly up the sidewalk from the other side of the building. The relief I felt was frightening. I felt my heart speed up in my chest at the very sight of her. My arms ached to reach out and bring her close to me, and my cock throbbed at the possibilities her presence presented.
So much for not depending on anyone.
I unclenched my fists and turned around to move down the sidewalk to meet her. The lunch crowd was milling around us, and as much as I might have wanted to pretend they weren’t there, rush up and pull her into my arms, I knew that wasn’t the least bit cautious, and I needed to be cautious.
I hesitated in my steps, stopped a couple feet in front of her, and just stared for a long moment. The wind picked up some loose strands of her hair and blew them around her neck, drawing my gaze that way. I recalled the salty taste of sweat in the same place as my cock moved inside of her, and thoughts of kissing her left my head as the desire to fuck her on the street grew in their place.
She took a step forward and began to reach for me, but I stopped her with a shake of my head.
“Not here,” I said quickly. “Too many people. We need to get out of the open. Where are you staying?”
“I’ve got a place rented on the west side of the city,” Lia said. “It’s not great, but it’s affordable. It’s close to Rehm Park, so I have a good place to walk Odin.”
“Where’s your car?”
“I don’t have one.”
Shit.
“How did you get here?”
“The train.”
The one time I wanted to avoid public transportation, there wasn’t another option. Fucking Murphy’s Law.
That did explain what took her so long. Without many choices available, I grabbed her hand and led her over to the nearest Blue Line entrance.
“Shit,” I grumbled as we approached the station.
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t have my wallet or anything,” I said. “My transit pass is in there.”