Blackout

Chapter 12

Location: Imaia

Code Name: Blackout.

Time: 13:00 hrs International Time

“Push harder!” 

All the men groaned tiredly, but I wasn’t having that. The dam should have been built days ago for f**k’s sake. Cursing I jumped over the wood bridge and tightened the sandbags that would anchor the rustic wall. It would hold nicely during this season but I knew for a fact how bad hurricanes were in the Caribbean. One too many storms and the bridge would go up flying like a f*****g daisy in the wind. I cursed again, dried the sweat running down my face and tapped the bridge so my men could stop pushing the trench. 

“Stop everyone!” I yelled over my shoulder, still working on moving sandbags. They were wet and weighed f*****g tons but I was happy with the work. It kept my mind busy and my body buzzing with well spent energy. 

“Thank the f**k for that,” whimpered Bell way too loud for me to not hear him.

“Jesus Christ.”

“Somebody please find his sleeping pills soon…” whined Ghost and at that I lifted my head and looked down at them. All my men were standing against the current of the river, knees deep in the water and tired. One look from me sent them fast away, all of them clearing the area so fast that it would have been comical any other time. Not right then though.  Actually, I couldn’t say I had a sense of humor at the time. I was angry, tense as f**k and if someone dared to complain one more time I was going to start taking heads out of necks like potatoes out of soil.

Only Judge was brave enough to talk directly to me these past days and even he was walking over thin ice. Two new cadets had complained to our headquarters that I was pushing their training too hard and I hadn’t taken their whining in a good way. What have I done? I’d made the fuckers run while carrying bags full of rocks, uphill. On a rainy day. Over a muddy slope. It had been the most perfect sisyphean task I’d ever designed. It took Judge three long speeches about military despotism to make me stop ordering them around and we had fought over it. We weren’t exactly in talking terms but I couldn’t find enough clarity to get my head out of my ass.

Yes, I was brooding and yes I knew it, but what exactly was I supposed to do when all I could think about was that damn Cuban woman? An entire week had passed since I’d cornered her in that tiny as f**k supply room. She had been trembling and coming so sweetly in my arms and all along a voice at the back of my head kept telling me I couldn’t f**k up things with her because there was no other woman like Max Cruz. s**t, if that voice had a face I would have gunned it down to the floor. 

The truth was, I really wanted this woman. I liked her. Not only because she had rejected me. I wasn’t used to being rejected by a woman and maybe in the beginning I’d been hooked by her harshness. I liked how hard she made me work my ass off to convince her to go out with me. I liked that she didn’t accept any of my s**t and had a mouth on her.  I’ve liked all of that, but once I’ve kissed her I’ve realized I was in deep s**t. No woman had ever made me come in my pants like a f*****g pubescent boy. One touch of that p***y and I was a goner. Max only needed to moan and look at me with those big hazel eyes and I was coming with her. Just that. She was the woman of my dreams and she was right here with me, for six f*****g long months and...I couldn’t do s**t.

I couldn’t do s**t because she was waiting to f*****g marriage to have s*x and I couldn’t give her that. I will never have a change of heart and leave the military. The Army was my life. My men were my family, regardless of how much of a pain in the ass they were. I’d bled for them before and I couldn’t imagine not bleeding for them in the future. And Max… Max was too good to be true. She was damn gorgeous. A doctor. Smart, real, honest. She was a prize, the real prize, and she deserved a husband that could always be by her side, protecting her, making sure she had lunch, driving her home after a long shift so she didn’t need to get a f*****g Uber. I’d never wanted to give a woman all of that but for Max I could see myself trying.

I hadn't been able to sleep for days, but every single time I closed my eyes I thought about her. She was...perfect. So damn stubborn and smart. So temperamental. So f*****g crazy. I swear, that woman had stared death in the eyes and cursed at it. She had more balls than many men I knew and I was talking condecorated soldiers from the army. Whoever had the honor to marry her was a lucky bastard. I only wished I could be that one man.

One of the bags burst apart in my hands making me curse. s**t, I’d been holding them too tight. I looked over my shoulder to my men, who looked at the floating sandbag I’d just broken and back at me with rounded eyes.

“If any of you utter one single word I will send you all to the medical unit to donate blood,” nobody dared to say anything but I should have known better. I heard her voice loud and clear, reminding me once again that she had more balls than my own men and had no problem contradicting me.

“That will be amazing guys,” her voice managed to make me tense all the way from my neck to my feet. I turned around and sure enough there she was. Max Cruz, holding a basket full of clothes and smiling at my men, “you are welcome to make blood donations at any time.” 

“Hey Max!” smiled Blue, waving his hand like a clown and so did the rest of my unit. They all exchanged pleasantries as if they played Bingo on Sundays or some s**t like that. f*****g clowns. I wanted to punch their faces one by one. I looked between them and Max, taking notice how close they all seemed. Had they been sharing coffee behind my back these past days? I was going to grill Judge for answers later.

Why the f**k she was smiling at them anyway? Those stinky bastards didn’t deserve her smiles. And why was she holding that heavy basket? I scanned the river embankment and frowned at the long line of nurses and doctors that was coming down to the river. I moved fast, jumping down the bridge and moving easily through the water, reaching her in no time. I took the basket out of her hands, holding it with my fingers and staring down at her. 

“Why are you walking alone in this area? It’s dangerous,” to my surprise Max blushed, watching me with very bright eyes. We hadn’t talked to each other since the afternoon I made her come on my hand. I could see she was feeling a little self conscious and that only made me want her even more. My shoulders tensed at the way her hazel eyes stared at my mouth, as if she was begging me to kiss her right there. Damn, she was so f*****g beautiful. Today she was wearing jeans shorts, flip flops and this...flowery top thing that I could take off from her in three seconds. She moved closer, staring at me from under her black eyelashes. 

Instant. Hard. On.

“The washing machines at the dorms are broken,” she explained, pushing some brown locks of her thick hair behind an ear, “So a group of us are coming over to wash some things before our night shift. Don’t worry, I’m not alone.”

As in cue a small woman with short blonde hair turned around three meters down the road, widening her stance and resting her basket at her hips. She looked at us and then smiled, waving a hand at me.

“Hi there, Major,” she turned to Max then, frowning at her, “Come on, Cruz! These clothes are not going to wash themselves!”

“I will be right there Rosie!” yelled Max back, turning to me and taking the basket out of my fingers. She smiled, standing tall before me and staring at my lips again. In return I looked down at her. Max was all golden skin, tight stomach, big ass and shapely legs. I swear even her feet were f*****g hot. Her back was straight, ending nicely in a rounded ass that demarcated a sweet curve I was dying to bite. I swallowed, feeling my eyes turn heavy and my throat go dry. 

“You don’t need help?” I asked her, my voice sounding gruff to my own ears. I eyed the basket but we both knew it wasn’t that heavy. What I was really asking her was would you please let me touch you again? Our eyes met and Max seemed to consider my offer for a good couple of seconds. She drew her lower lip between her teeth and shook her head slowly.

“I shouldn’t accept your help, Major Jameson,” I grinded my molars but managed to give her a nod. Yeah, she was right. It was for the best if she walked away. I wasn’t the right man for her and we both knew it. Max gave me a half smile and started walking away. Any other better man would have looked away from her, but I wasn’t a good man to start with. I followed her ass with my eyes, undressing her with every step she took away from me. Those lower dimples were going to drive me insane. f**k, I needed her. f**k waiting. f**k abstinence and all that s**t. 

I took one step and all my men were on me.

“Major, there’s a dam to build,” said Reptile, trying to take my arm and missing when I moved back, thinking of using a shortcut to the other side of the river. I needed her. This woman had finally made me snap. 

“Somebody stop him!”

“Judge come here!”

I f*****g growled when Tower and Blue locked my arms, trying to make me stop. Reptile and Ghost blocked my way and Blue stepped back, looking scared at me. Judge was the one brave enough to get on my way, pushing my shoulders back.

“Hold on brother, think this through,” he started to say, trying to reason with me. I shook my head. What did he think, that I was five? I’ve reasoned against bedding Max enough times to know the best thing I could do was to walk away from her. I’ve tried to stay away from that woman. I’ve really tried, but I was losing my sanity day by day. Judge winced when I looked down at him. I don’t know what he saw but I was feeling in the mood to snap necks and break skulls, “Callan, I know. I know, okay? But think, goddammit! She is different. You have never been this crazy about any other woman before. Do you really want to scare her away? Right now you are behaving like a stupid bull, ramming against the red flag. What do you think she is going to do if you go to her like that?”

I groaned, trying to shake them away but the bastards held me tighter. Judge was only being honest but this madness has gone on for too long. I’d wanted her since the first day I saw her, badmouthing those fuckers that had tried to hurt her. I liked her at the restaurant, when she surprised the hell out of me by admitting she was a virgin. I’d missed her for three months when I’d never missed a woman before. And now I was going crazy for her. I couldn’t sleep, think nor eat without thinking about Max. I needed to make up my mind about her. I was either being the man she deserved or I was letting her go. There was no middle point with Max. It was ride or die and she was worth it. Damn it, she was worth it.

I stopped fighting my men and took a step back, bracing my hips and breathing hard through my nose. They all looked back at me, worried all written in their faces. They deserved better too. I couldn’t have a black ops team getting worried about their leader. A mission could send us away at any time and they needed to trust me to be level headed and in control of myself. I nodded once, letting them know I was back in control and then walked back to the river, preparing myself for another long day of work to forget about a certain firecracker that had managed to drive me half mad.