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It was such a common assurance for me. To feel the water encompass my body and Hawk's lips on mine was like second nature. Even still, it would send fantastical sensations up and down my body.
I felt his hard erection pushing against the thin fabric between us.
“You know this is a public pool,” I said between kisses.
He stopped then and looked around the indoor pool on the college campus like he just realized for the first time where we were.
“We’re all alone,” he said as he took his kisses down my neck.
I heard myself giggling as if it was some far off echo. Like traveling down a tunnel, the memory started to fade from view.
Soon the giggles were replaced with soft crying. I came to my senses. I was back in my darkened room. Huddled in my bed hugging my pillow. I was the one crying.
Seven
It was pitch black. I couldn’t even see my nose in front of me. It made my heavy breathing all the louder. In the distance, I could hear the gunfire. It was much closer then it should have been.
I was still covered in blood. It wasn’t my blood, though. I was in the middle of surgery. It was just a clamping of an artery to stabilize the patient for airlift. One minute I was under the bright lights of our makeshift surgical tent and then next everything was black.
I had enough sense to realize it was some kind of bomb. It was close enough to knock me back and cover me in debris.
Now that my senses were slowly coming back, I realized that I was covered in various trays of clamps, lights, as well as the whole operating table. I felt around looking for the private.
I finally reached far enough that I touched flesh that wasn’t mine. The stretching sent a horrible burn up one leg. I had no care for the pain. The patient would bleed out if I didn’t see to his wounds. That didn’t even take into account any new wounds he might have received in the blast.
Scrambling around, I found one lamp still working face down in the dirt. Flipping it over, I illuminated the entire room, or what was left of it.
My vision was going in and out and now being more able to see around me I realized the shooting was much closer then I realized. Half the tent had collapsed on top of us the other half was open and ripped to shreds. I could see men all around shooting.
It made me pause for a minute. They were close enough that if I took just a few steps, I would touch one. Yet, the sounds of their guns were like a distant echo.
I felt up to my own ears and found more blood on my fingers. A part of my mind said ruptured eardrums, nothing to worry about now.
I saw the streak in the night sky. I heart the men shouting next to me but in the distance. Focusing on a face, I realized it was LT Franklin yelling at me. The streak was another incoming missile.
It all happened in an instant but seemed like slow motion. I lunged forward not caring for the ripping pain in my leg and covered as much as I could of the Army private.
The sound of the second blast woke me. I sat bolt upright in my bed. I was drenched in sweat, and the ringing in my ear was so loud I wanted to scream.
I sat their gripping the sheets hard as I struggled to regain my breath and calm my heart. Finally, it started to pass, and I wiped the drenched hair off my forehead. I peeled the blankets from off of me and crawled out of bed.
It didn’t matter that it was the middle of the night, there was no going back to sleep after that. Instead, I headed to the bathroom, slipped into some workout clothes, and headed to the 24-hour gym down the street from my small townhouse.
I wasn’t exactly sure that a hard workout at three in the morning till the sun came up was the right choice. It was what we did, however. One thing you could count on every Military base across the world was a fully equipped gym. It was the best way to forget nightmares, to exhaust yourself so much you didn’t even have the energy to think.
By the time it was six in the morning I was completely and utterly spent, and finally able to unclench the fear that had shot up during the night. I got home and showered.
I knew Julie wasn’t to keen o
n me coming by and defiantly didn’t trust me. I didn’t see any other way of gaining that trust back if I didn’t stop by. After a lot of back and forth in my mind, I finally resolved I would go back to her place.
Worse case she kicked me out, and I spent the rest of the day at the gym burning off that frustrating. I was hoping for the best scenario, however, that I got to get to know Emma a little more.
By eight o’ clock I decided I waited long enough. Julie had been a morning person before. I figured having a kid wouldn’t result in sleeping in, so it was a good chance she was already up and ready for the day.
I stopped at my favorite mom and pop bakery and picked up some beagles and a doughnut with pink sprinkles for Emma. I was not above bribing her to like me.
I hesitated for just a second outside Julie’s apartment door. I listened in. I could hear the TV going, so I was relieved I at least wasn’t waking them up. I knocked softly.
