Chapter Six
Samantha
“Holy freaking shit.” I dropped down onto the couch in my apartment and draped one arm across my eyes. “Holy fucking freaking shit.”
Across the room at the small table in what we called the dining room, Harper spared me a glance. “Is there a problem, sweetie?”
“Only if you consider me about to cause the implosion of a good man’s career a problem.” I peeked at her from beneath my arm. “Which of course it totally is.”
“Uh huh.” My roommate stood up and came over to join me on the sofa, picking up my feet and dropping them on her lap. “I’m going to take a wild stab in the dark and assume that you’re talking about a certain Captain Max Remington, the man who’s been taking up just about every one of your waking moments for the past month.”
“Bingo.”
“And just how are you going to make his career implode?” Harper’s tone was one of resignation, with a tinge of tired amusement.
“He wants me to go with him to some deal on post on Friday. A hail and farewell, which I guess is a big party where they officially welcome soldiers cycling onto post and say goodbye to those leaving.”
“Hence the term ‘hail and farewell.’” She nodded solemnly. “All right, I’m with you so far. Why is this a problem? Wouldn’t you be more upset if Max asked someone else to go with him? I mean, sugar, I understand that you’re jittery about calling this a relationship, but you two have been together just about every day or night for a solid month. Either he’s here, eating with us or taking you out, or you’re at his house. You can’t keep your hands off each other. I think you’re going to have to suck it up and realize that you, Samantha Crewe, have yourself a boyfriend, and that boyfriend just invited you to something that’s kind of big deal to him. So buck up, buttercup. Pull on your big girl panties and a pretty dress, use your best manners and do your man proud. You know how to play the game. I’ve seen you do it.”
I groaned again. “Yeah, I know. I can do it. But it’s more complicated than that.” I pushed myself to sit up, curling my knees into my stomach. “Right after Max called to remind me about this—he actually asked me last week to go with him—I got a message from the advocacy board. They’re planning a big rally for the Johnson case, and it’s on Friday afternoon. Apparently, Petersburg PD just dropped the charges against Private Reardon, although no one’s saying why or what really happened.”
“Shit.” Harper winced. “And let me guess. They want you to head it up and run the whole thing.”
“You know it.” I massaged the bridge of my nose. Over the past four weeks, more information had leaked out about what had happened that night at the Crater Bar. The name of the soldier who’d put Billy Johnson in the hospital had come out, along with the fact that he didn’t exactly have a stellar record either in the Army or in his younger years. I’d seen the pinched look on Max’s face whenever the topic came up between us; I knew that Reardon was one of his soldiers, and I realized that this man, whom I’d come to care about more than I wanted to admit, was in an extremely difficult position. His job was to protect Reardon’s interests, while at the same time to ensure that the soldier received whatever punishment was deemed necessary by the Army.
I was also aware that Max had more information about the case than what he could share with me. While I respected that, it also frustrated me, because I’d begun to have my suspicions about the absolute innocence of the victim. A couple of locals who worked with me at the battlefield had hinted that Johnson was a known troublemaker and all around jerk, and a few had even asked me why I would bother wasting my time standing up for a guy who had a reputation as a woman beater.
The whole thing made me feel uncomfortable and unsettled. I wasn’t so naïve that I thought every case of injustice was cut and dried, with a clear-cut bad guy and a lily-white victim, but I definitely felt better when I knew more definitively that I was standing up for the right side.
“Well, what are you going to do?” Harper crossed her arms over her chest. “You could go to both, right? The protest will be in the afternoon, and the big Army party is that night. You go wave around your signs, do your thing, and then come home, shower, change into a dress and go schmooze with the brass. Easy peasy.”
“Yeah, easy peasy foryouto say.” I stabbed a finger in her direction. “But how do you think the brass is going to like Captain Remington bringing one of the rabble rousers to their shindig? When someone, some colonel or general or whatever, asks Max why his date looks so familiar and then realizes that he saw me that afternoon yelling about violence against civilians, how is Max going to feel? And what if he gets in trouble for bringing me?”
“I’m pretty sure that can’t happen, babe. The Army might like to control its soldiers, but even they can’t dictate who their people date, outside of, like, spies or enemies of the state or whatever.” Harper patted my knee. “I think you’re making too much of this.”
“Maybe.” I sounded pathetic even to my own ears. “But it scares me shitless, Harper. I like Max. I mean, I really, really like him.”
She laughed. “Yeah, I got that feeling around week two, when you couldn’t have a conversation that didn’t include ‘Max says’ or ‘did I tell you what Max did?’.” She winked at me. “I’m only kidding, hon. I’m really happy for both of you. Why does this scare you? You should be dancing on air. Floating on clouds. All that lovey dovey crap.”
I drew in a deep breath. “I’m terrified that I’m going to fall in love with him, invest myself in this relationship, and then Max is going to realize that I’m a liability he can’t afford. I’m afraid that if I give in, I’ll end up breaking both of our hearts. Because no matter how much I care for him, I can’t change who I am. Even if this whole shit storm about Billy Johnson and Private Reardon isn’t what it seems, at some point, something else will come up, and I’ll feel like I need to get involved. And then I’ll have to choose between being the woman Max needs or being the person I know I am. And it will destroy both of us, Harper. I know it will.”
“Sweetie pie, you need to chill just a tad.” Harper shook her head. “I think you’re building monsters where there are none. Why can’t you just go with the flow for a little while and see where it leads? And have you talked with Max about all of this? It could be that it’s not nearly as bad as what you think.”
“Not really.” I shrugged. “A little bit here and there. He says he likes who I am and that it doesn’t matter to anyone else but the two of us.”
“See there?” Harper smiled. “Like I said, you’re making a big deal out of nothing. Wipe off that frown, hon. Let yourself be happy for a change, okay?” She stood up, stretching. “Now this hard-working chef is heading into her next shift at the restaurant, just so that she can get yelled at and cursed out for the next eight hours. Oh, happy day.” She grimaced. “What’re your plans for the night?”
I toyed with the seam on the edge of the sofa cushion. “Max is coming over and bringing Chinese takeout for us, and we’re going to watch the new James Bond while we eat.”
She clapped one hand over her heart. “See? Right there, that’s romance, baby. I wish someone would bring me food and watch a hot guy perform impossible shit all over the world, and then take me to bed and fuck me breathless.”
I smirked. “Hey, I didn’t say anything about the fucking part.”
Harper rolled her eyes. “With you and that superhero hunk, the fucking is a given. It’s hard to be in the same zip code as you two when you’re together, because you both give off so much heat. Since I’m going to be gone most of the night, I’ll just assume what’s going to happen. Just make sure the place is standing when I get back, okay?”
I stuck out my tongue at her. “Jealous bitch.”
“And proud of it, babe.” She paused, considering. “Well, proud of the bitch part. The jealous part ...” She tilted her head. “Not jealous of you, exactly, or of Max, although I like him and he’s yummy, for sure. But maybe a little jealous of what you have.” She smiled at me a little, all teasing gone. “It doesn’t happen for all of us, Sam. So don’t you throw this away.”
