Seven Letter Words #Wattys2016

Part 7

Liam

Her tears fell until we reached the end of the city limits. I knew from experience there were no words that even got close to healing that wound. When the guys and I returned to base after losing Pines, they'd sent in a chaplain to talk to us. He could have preached bible verses until he was blue in the face and I still would have felt like someone used a giant rusty tool to bore out my heart. Words just can't fill the space left behind when someone is pulled from you too soon.

I remember staring down at his blood on my hands and wondering how something like that could even happen. We'd all been alive just moments before and then in just the passing of one second, Pines was dead. It was so unreal. I don't think I even wrapped my head around it until his boots and rifle were set up for the memorial service. I tried to leave the whole experience back in the sand, but even being back in the US couldn't stop the nightmares that sometimes plagued my sleep.

"Turn right here and the diner is on the left side of the road," her soft voice directed. She kept her head turned away as I followed her instructions. The sun was dipping a little lower, but it was just past four and the parking lot looked empty except for a few cars with out-of-state plates. She must have picked this place knowing it would be more likely for her to sit in a room full of passer-throughs than people from their small town.

I parked her car in an end spot and turned off the engine. "Do you want to wait a minute before we go inside?" I didn't want to let go of her hand, but I knew I didn't really have any reason to keep holding besides that it felt so good in my own. I let her go, and she turned back around to look out the front windshield. She wiped her hands beneath her eyes to dry her face and then she took a deep breath. When she let it out, she flipped down the visor and checked her face in the mirror.

"We can go inside unless you're embarrassed to be seen with a crying girl," she joked.

"I don't mind being seen with you. They will probably just think I broke your heart or something." I tried to lighten the mood and succeeded when she laughed softly at my stupid joke. We both got out of the car and walked up to the old restaurant. No one seemed to notice that she'd been crying, or at least they didn't mention it as they sat us and took our order. I was dying for a hamburger and fries, and Juliet ordered cheese fries and a chocolate shake.

"So where in California are we going?" I asked as we waited.

"Rancho Palos Verdes. It's this little town where my dad's from just outside of Los Angeles." I didn't want to ask too many questions so I just nodded my head and reached for the ice water the waitress had brought before taking our orders.

"What do you think your mom will say about us leaving? She doesn't even know me."

"Unlike me, she trusts Marines. If you were a friend of Ken's, she'll trust you with me. I think she might just be disappointed I'm not hanging around to attend some of the senior year activities." Her words were like ice water to my veins. Senior year? She wasn't even out of high school yet?

"You aren't going to graduate? No wait, more importantly, how old are you?"

She smiled at me from across the table and my heart gave a resounding thud against my ribs. She was so pretty and innocent looking with those big blue eyes and long lashes. Maybe she wasn't even legal age. Her mother wasn't going to let me put her in a car and travel across a few states. I would be shocked if she didn't shoot me right there on her porch. "I'm eighteen. Stop panicking." She laughed and looked up to the waitress as she dropped of her chocolate shake.

Juliet twirled the straw in the frosty glass. She slid it through the whipped cream and then slowly lifted it to her mouth. I could hear my own pulse in my ears, a low thud, thud, thud, that pushed blood south and into a place that my thoughts were quickly headed to. Her tongue met the end of the straw as she sucked the white fluffy cream into her mouth. Her eyes closed in pleasure as she swallowed it down and my own mouth went dry. Holy shit, she was going to kill me. I adjusted in the booth, but couldn't take my eyes off the show she didn't even know she was giving.

"Why," I started, but had to stop and clear my tight throat. I watched her eyes open and meet mine. Her cheeks were still flushed pink from the heat and in that moment she was the sexiest girl I'd ever seen and she wasn't even naked. "Why aren't you going to wait until the end of the school year? Won't you miss all the fun stuff you've been waiting four years for?"

My eyes dipped down to her full lips again as she slowly licked a small amount of cream from them. My head swam with lust, my heart not helping with its staccato rhythm. "All I'm going to miss is my prom. We should be back in time for graduation. I already have enough credits to graduate plus some with all the cheer I've done. This trip is more important."

The straw dipped back into the shake and I almost reached out to stop her movement before I lost it at the table. I don't even think watching porn ever got me that twisted up. If the guys knew how turned on I was just from watching her with that straw, they'd never let me hear the end of it. Instead I took a small steady breath and forced myself to look her in the eyes and ignore the straw and her killer lips, which now probably tasted like whipped cream. It was agony.

"Prom's a big deal. Don't you have a date or a dress or something? I thought girls lived for that shit."

She shrugged her shoulders, but stopped playing with the straw and leaned back. "I have a dress and a date, but I don't really care about it anymore." Her eyes left mine and she turned her head to stare out the window into the parking lot. I nudged her foot with my own under the table and when she looked back at me I gave her the go on look.

"I have a boyfriend. We've been on and off for a while. He's my date," her eyes dipped down to her lap. The waitress came to the table again, putting our dinners down. Neither of us moved to touch them. She had a boyfriend. Bloody hell.

"How do you think this boyfriend is going to feel about you traveling to a different state with some guy you don't even know?" If she were mine, I'd never want to let her out of my sight, let alone in a truck traveling through states and staying at roadside hotels. I shook my head a little with the thought. I'm a protective guy. I can even be a little possessive at times, but I'd never had a girlfriend as stunning as Juliet. It might have driven me mad.

She laughed a little. "He doesn't get a say in it. I guess I don't really care what he thinks." Her brows rose up in indignation. "He cheated on me. I found out when I tried to find him after we got the visit with the news about Ken." I didn't know the guy, but I was pretty sure I wanted to kill him.

"What do you mean?" I leaned in closer, trying to stay calm as I rested my arms on the table and watched her face.

"He was supposed to be at practice. I didn't want to wait to tell him over the phone so I drove over to the school. The field was empty, but his truck and a few other cars were still in the lot." She moved the shake away as if the story was making her too sick to even look at it. "I parked beside it and got an eyeful of him in the back with a freshman."

"What the fuck?" How could anyone have Juliet at home and still be banging someone else? I hadn't even slept with her and I knew she'd always be enough.

"That's what I asked," she smiled. "We haven't really had a chance to talk about all of it yet. He tried to come by my house that night, but my mom told him to go home. I've been ignoring his calls. So I guess technically I have a date to prom, and a boyfriend, but neither of which I really give a shit about right now."

"Your brother would want him dead. I'm happy to help with that also." She laughed again, this time with more humor. Sliding the shake back in front of her, she began to twist the straw again.

"I might just take you up on that offer." She scooped up the last of the cream and opened her mouth. If she had asked me to jump off a cliff right then, I'd have plummeted to my death a happy man. 

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