8 Mile & Rion (12 page)

Doing as I’m told, I park and follow her to the trunk to get her bins out. While she does that, I look around and what I see is close to a hundred guys of various sizes in all stages of military dress. Turning again I see them carrying rifles, handguns, wearing masks, goggles, gloves and…”Here,” she says tossing me a vest, “you wear this one. It holds the most grenades.”

“Rion, what the hell is this?”

“Oh,” she says, pulling my face down to hers and kissing me right on the mouth in front of everyone. “Did I forget to mention we’re playing airsoft?”

“War games,” I mumble to myself now that the photo makes sense.

“What?” she asks, stacking her weapons. In that moment I wanted her more than I ever wanted anything.

“Nothing,” I tell her, reaching for the MP7. “You mind?”

“Pssh,” she says, smacking my shoulder. “I’d mind if you didn’t.”

As we gear up dozens of guys come over to say hello or razz her for the amount of firepower she carries. Feeling my jealousy rise, I decided to stow it and take it out on the field. I met one guy who they call ‘Pagan’ that runs shit. He’s a good guy, especially because he’s married and has a kid coming. But these other mother fuckers don’t get the same free pass he does.

Pagan announces the rules but I watch Rion. She pulls her goggles over her eyes, adjusts her face mask and wraps a scarf around the exposed skin of her neck. “You’re beautiful,” I tell her not caring who hears.

“I-I am?” she asks quietly.

“Fuck yeah, you are,” another guy says but instead of getting pissed, I ignore him. Leaning down to her ear I repeat myself. “Most beautiful thing in camo I ever saw.”

“You might not think so once you see me play.”

She laughs then Pagan comes over, slaps me on the shoulder and asks if I’ve played before. “No,” I tell him, “but I think I can figure it out.”

Nodding he looks over at Rion. “When the grenades start flying, get behind her,” he says laughing. “We all do. It’s safest there. When she gets worked up, no one’s safe. Ask her about the time she blew herself up.”

I don’t correct him to tell him she will always be behind me because, this is a game. But game or not,
I
protect her and I would never hide behind her. But later, I do want to know how she blew herself up and I want to be sitting down when she tells me.

After we walk a short distance to a makeshift castle someone built, I look over the op. We’re defending the castle so that means the others attacking have to cross the bridge, shoot from the trees, or come in from behind through the moat around it. Deciding I’d tuck her in a corner, she comes up to me bumps my shoulder and says, “Not my worst idea, huh?”

“You like this, don’t you?”

“Nope,” she says laughing, “I love it. Ready?”

“Just stay behind
me
,” I advise her.

She just giggles and takes off, leaving me with “Ha!
You
try and keep up with
me,
Marine, you’re in my world now!”

When I started to sweat, I ignored it. Just a game, it’s just a fucking game. Following her over the bridge to get in position, I see her across from me but then she reaches for a grenade, tosses it and takes off running. Fuck! Is she trying to give me a heart attack? Getting to the wall she just left, I watch her with rapt attention. She gives signals, takes strategic shots, all the while covering her team behind her, therefore leaving herself vulnerable on the front lines. Taking a deep breath I settle in to see what she does next. Two feelings were fighting inside me of at watching in her: pride and lust. She was fucking magnificent.

From behind the barrel protecting her, she calls out, “Cover me! I’m surrounded!” and that was the moment the game ended and saving her from a threat was my mission. Looking over my shoulder, I got bogies coming in hot a three and five o’clock with heavy fire. She throws another grenade to buy herself some time, but there’s too many and her rifle is jammed.

Sacrificing my life for hers isn’t even a question. It’s what any good Marine does. It’s what a man who cares for a woman does. It’s what I would do for her.

So that’s what I did.

‘Men will do dumb shit to impress a woman; they’ll also do honorable shit to protect her too. Pay attention to who displays honor, Junior.’

~Senior Reynolds

Wanting to impress my Marine, I took off like a shot getting in position on the far left interior wall. Once the other team started to advance there was a barrel just outside of the castle with my name on it. I look back once and see him across the castle watching me, so throwing him a daring smile I attempt to show off. I leave the safety of my wall for the advantage of the barrel. It’s true this was my world, but the man staring at me lived the real thing. I loved airsoft, it’s the best adrenaline rush I could get that was fairly affordable and fun. The weapons are made to look real but in reality they shoot pellets. Now if you get hit right they even sting a bit, mostly you hardly notice unless it’s a face shot. Airsoft is one of those hobbies where adults get to play dress up and shoot at people for fun. It wasn’t the real thing and I respected those that made the sacrifice.

With my back to the barrel, I get my own rifle ready for the guys who will come up on my left side in an effort to take me out to gain entrance to the castle. Firing several rounds, I’m able to take out three players but then my rifle jammed and they used the delay to bring the waiting players in. Playing in a sports bra also sucked. Not only was gun jammed my boob fell out to, I could feel it overflowing. My hands were too sweaty to reach in there and now I had two problems, fixing my wardrobe malfunction and staying alive. Yelling for cover, I toss a grenade hoping to buy some time so I can get the pellet jamming my rifle out before I’m taken out. My team provides cover but when I look off to my right I see six more coming. Aw shit, I’m about to get blown up with my boob hanging out.

Looking for another grenade and then looking for Loyal to toss me one, I see him on the wall I vacated and he looked miles away. Needing a better spot to fix my malfunction, I decided to take my chances at being hit in effort to fix my shit. Just as I prepare to make a run for it, from out of nowhere I’m literally thrown to my back by two hundred twenty pounds of pure Marine.

Trying to move is impossible. I say his name but he doesn’t answer. Using one arm he reaches into his vest, launching grenade after grenade and though part of me wondered if this was a ploy to touch me, the other part knew that for him this was no longer a game. And it was that revelation broke my heart.

Freeing my hands of my gloves I cup his face calling his name, but he still doesn’t hear me. All I can hear is heavy breathing and all I can feel is his body quaking over mine. I’ve seen this happen to Senior. Right now, Loyal, in his mind, was in combat. I was in danger and he was protecting me.

Throwing my mask and goggles back, I yell for him again and get no response. With all my strength I pull his mouth to mine and gave him the most punishing kiss I could, hoping it would bring him back to me. Seconds went by and though he didn’t move he didn’t respond either.

“Loyal,” I whisper to his ear after kissing his cheek and pressing mine to his. “It’s me. I’m okay. Look at me, Loyal.”

The moment his eyes cleared and focused on me was one I would remember for the rest of my life. Because in those precious seconds, I saw the real him. He was scared, he was in combat mode, he was a warrior and no matter what it took to make it happen, he was going to be mine.

“Under fire,” he says looking panicked, but I squeeze him tighter.

“We’re not under fire, we’re playing airsoft with pellets and we’re okay. It’s just a game, Marine. It’s just a game.”

When the panic left him he sunk further into me. When the reality of what he’d done hit him, I saw embarrassment cross his face. I knew I needed to make this better for him so I tried my best to do so. “You saved me,” I tell him. “You still got it, Marine.”

He blinks but stays silent, still unmoving. I hear Pagan call ‘game’ so we needed to get up and get moving. “Game’s over,” I tell him kissing his lips. “We won, the castle wasn’t breached. Let’s go grab some lunch, okay?”

“Did I hurt you?” he asks quietly with his eyes never leaving mine.

“No, you didn’t hurt me,” I tell him honestly. “But if you like me on my back we can play cops and robbers at the house later.”

“I thought it was---”

“I know,” I tell him softly. “You protected me, Loyal. Thank you.”

Moving off of me he stands up looking around seeing the castle and the woods for what it truly was. A game. “Fuck,” he mutters, offering me a hand. “You play. I’ll go wait in the car, I don’t belong out here.”

I can’t let him quit. He’d hate himself for it later so I up the stakes a bit. “Then where do you belong?”

“In the dessert, the ocean or---”

“Last time I checked I have someone gunning for me, Loyal. I can’t think of anyone better at protecting me than you. If you leave, I’ll be a sitting duck. Who’s better than you are?”

“No one,” he growls approaching me. Then he backs me into the wall of the castle with his nostrils flaring and his breathing heavy. “You ain’t supposed to know your charge. You ain’t supposed to give a shit. Your job is to rescue and protect then move the fuck on. How am I supposed to move the fuck on from you?”

“You don’t have to,” I whisper to him. “I wasn’t asking you to and I had hoped even after, you’d stay…for me.”

“I got nothing to offer you, Rion,” he growls again. “Look at me! Had any of those idiots got to close to you I’d have killed them with my hands, do you get that?”

“I---”

“Do you? No you don’t,” he says gripping me tight. “I’d have killed anyone that got close to you. That’s who you want? A killer?” Before I can respond, he pushes me away. “You deserve better than that. Because with me that’s what you’re signing up for.”

Grabbing him back and switching positions, I let him have it. “I want
you
god dammit. However I can have you. Let me choose, let me make up my own mind. You want me too. You fight it, but you fucking want me. Now get your shit together and show me how a Marine would win the next match because you
are
playing. I won’t leave your side. Teach me, show me how it’s done and when we get home?” I growl covering his dick with my free hand, “I’m going to show
you
how it’s done.”

When he starts to harden under my palm and his mouth crushes mine, I wanted to fist pump that shit out. He’s a warrior and fighting is what warriors do. “I want you under me, safe” he growls into my hair.

“Then you’ll have to take out the enemy first,” I tell him, smiling. Then taking his free hand, I place it between my legs. “And once that’s done
I’ll
be your reward.”

“All of ‘em?” he asks, rubbing me.

“All of ‘em.” I agree and then he kisses me hard, takes my hand and during our next match single handedly took out every last one.

Oh yeah, he’s the bad boy alright.
 

‘A true woman always loves a real soldier.’

~Belle Boyd

Gotta fuck her. That’s all I can think about. I’ve been a slave to a lot of things. My parents, my government and then to Jill’s bullshit, but never to lust. This is more than lust though, this is Rion. She doesn’t want me to be a slave. She just wants to make me happy. What the fuck does a guy do about that? He takes out the enemy with pellets, that’s what he does. When it’s over she whistles out loud and when I turn to look at her, she looks so fucking happy that I forgot to breathe. No one has ever looked that happy about anything that had to do with me. I grew up with a Marine for a father. Our house was a well-oiled machine. I have six years on my brother so by the time he was born I already knew the rules. My father died when my brother was one and I was seven. From then on, my mother was a fucking drunk mess. Being the man of the house as a kid wasn’t easy. My brother did whatever the fuck he wanted because he was too young. Me though, I had to take care of both of them until she died and we were split up by the state. Over the years I tried keeping in touch with him, but as he got older and got adopted I knew one thing. My brother was a fuck up, had it easy and I hated him for it. Hated the chances he was given that I wasn’t afforded.