Fraternizing by C.C. Brown Page B

his face. I took
it, then walked down the walkway, passing the duty room in the process. Looking
in, Cruz was sitting at his desk speaking to another Marine. For that brief
second that I was able to look into the room, our eyes locked, and I felt time
stand still. His hazel eyes burned into me. His lips puckered ever so slightly,
and he swallowed… hard, that clit stimulating Adam's apple protruding with the
movement of his throat.
    I turned away
and continued down the walkway with Dalton. If I looked at him any longer, my
weakness would prevail, and I would find some reason to stay in my room in
hopes that he would make his way up and fuck me until I couldn't see straight. That
wasn't going to happen, so rather than set myself up for disappointment, I
tried as best I could to block any more thoughts of him from my mind. I needed
to be able to see him and not think or feel any salacious thoughts and
feelings. I needed to go back to being able to see him the way I had when I
first saw him at Coyotes.
    Who the fuck was
I kidding? From the second I laid eyes on him at that bar, my thoughts wandered
aimlessly to what I wanted him to do to me. I was hooked from the onset, so
trying to find my way out of that hole was going to be a monumental task.
    I was doing a
piss poor job of listening to Dalton as we walked over to the movie theater. He
had been talking a mile a minute, and unfortunately, I hadn't heard a lick of
it.
    "… yeah , and an axe murderer is going to come and chop us all
up tonight, right?"
    "Yeah,"
I quickly answered, trying to break free from the thoughts that were cruelly
shackling my mind while simultaneously breaking me down."
    "I knew you
weren't listening to a word I said."
    "Huh?"
    "I just
told you an axe murderer was going to come and chop us all up, and you
agreed."
    "Oh, shit. I'm
sorry."
    "You
okay?"
    "Yeah, I'm
fine. Just have a lot on my mind."
    "I can
tell." He paused as we were approaching the movie theater. "You sure
you want to stay for this? Your mind seems to be elsewhere and, well, jackass
of the year is here too." He nodded his head in the direction of the
ticket window where Allen was standing with a couple of his buddies. All of
them looked like meatheads with the behavior to match. They were yelling out,
"I am Optimus Prime!" and other things that I was sure were in
reference to the movie.
    "I'm fine. He's
loud and obnoxious, but I'm not letting him ruin my night."
    "Alright.
Sweet." He flashed a school boy grin, my facial
muscles forming into a tight smile, trying hard to reciprocate the gesture.
    We strolled up
to the ticket window, standing in line when we caught Allen's attention. He
made his way over to where we stood and I rolled my eyes, not in the mood to
deal with him or any of his antics.
    "You two on
a date?" He looked us over, and I could see why he thought that. I was
still holding on to Dalton's arm.
    "Nope. Just
enjoying a night away from the barracks with a friend," Dalton calmly
answered.
    "Well,
good, because I think you should totally go out with me, Bennett. I'll show you
what a real man is like, and I'll turn you into the lady that you need to
be." He smiled, but there was no sincerity behind the smile. Only malice.
    "That's
okay. If I want to go out with a real man, I'll just have to keep looking. I
don't think you're it." I smiled back, wiping the smug look of asshole
right off of his face. He lowered his eyes then cracked his neck before Dalton
pulled me up to the ticket counter with him.
    Allen reminded
me of the chauvinistic pricks who my mom often dated, and I couldn't find one
single appealing thing about the guy.
    "He's got
some serious issues," I told Dalton as we walked into the lobby of the
theater, making our way to the concession stand line.
    "Yeah. He's
just a prick. He's harmless, though. I'm telling you, he just has an issue with
women in the Corps, but he doesn't hate women."
    "Well, he
might as well. I'm in the Corps. I'm not going anywhere."
    "True.