To Love a Soldier (17 page)

Video Call

Mandy

Liz and I had been sitting around shooting the shit for a few hours, waiting for John to call me. It was getting closer. I had my little props ready, Liz was ready, and all we needed was my baby daddy. I was still nervous about his reaction, especially after that stupid dream I’d had, but Liz was reassuring and I trusted she knew John best.

My laptop was logged in and sitting on the coffee table. I got all dolled up because I wanted to look my best for him, especially since I essentially was about to tell him that he was going to be seeing me for the rest of his life. The laptop started to ring and I threw the lid open to see if it was John calling, finally. Liz stepped off-screen and was ready to do her part.

I centered the camera on me and hit the accept button. A few seconds later, John showed up on my screen. He was topless and it immediately made my mind go into the gutter. I smiled big.

“It’s so good to see you, handsome!” I said, unable to control my excitement by the simple sight of him.

“Hey, babe, you, too. I got ready for you
, since you texted me you had something to show me over video.” He winked, and then slowly started lowering his camera, exposing his bare navel and continuing down. “This soldier wants to salute you.”

“No, no, wait!” I tried yelling before he went any further.

“Ewww, John, stop!” Liz yelled from the sidelines.

The picture went wild. We heard all sorts of booms and bangs on the other end. John had gotten embarrassed when he heard Liz and fumbled his phone until it went bouncing across the floor. Liz took a seat next to me and we watched as John mumbled something while picking up his phone. The camera came into focus on his face, beet red.

“You didn’t see, um, anything, did you?” he asked, clearly directing the question to Liz.

“No,” she answered immediately. “
Gah, luckily I looked away in time, perv!”

“Hey, that’s not fair,” he tried to justify. “I was told from my sexy woman to be sure to video call her so she
could ‘show’ me something,” he said, using air quotes.

“You know I’d send you a teasing pic first, right?” I asked, blowing him a kiss.

“Oh my God! All right, just stop. Both of you!” Liz snapped. “Actually, John, I have something to show you.”

“What’s wrong, Liz? I thought you weren’t hurt?”

“Relax, she’s fine,” I told him, while Liz grabbed her prop.

Liz came back into view with clothes and a bear. She showed them to the camera and John looked confused. “Still playing with bears, Sis?” He shook his head.

“No, but check out the little army fatigues,” Liz said to him. “Aren’t they cool?”

“Yeah, actually they are pretty cool. It would be even cooler if you could fit a real baby in them.” He smiled.

Liz scooted aside and I came into the screen.

“Yeah, you could maybe fit a real small baby in them.” I smiled big at him. “And Liz thinks that her little nephew would fit in them, but in the event that you have a girl with me, we could always go with something like this pink
onesie,” I said, holding up the tiny, pink onesie I had bought.

We watched as John went back and forth between multiple facial expressions. He looked at first like it was a joke he found humorous, then he looked confused, then possibly concerned, then he looked panicked. Liz and I both started laughing.

“You following, soldier?” I asked.

“Oh, you poor lost puppy,” Liz interrupted. “Does she have to spell it out for you?”

“Oh my God, I think I get it,” he yelled. “You’re pregnant, Mandy! You’re going to make me a father!”

“Yes!” I was overwhelmed with joy at being able
to finally tell him. “You sort of had something to do with making you a father but, still, yes,” I said, nodding and smiling.

“This is the best news I think I’ve ever heard!” he said, beaming.

“And I’m going to be an aunt,” Liz said, letting the happy tears fall.

“Holy shit, fellas!” John yelled, turning his head to his door. “Get in here! I’m going to be a father!”

Seconds later, his door flung open and about four of who had to be his fellow Marines rushed in, yelling in excitement. The audio was messy with all the noise, but the room was obviously filled with excitement. ‘Congratulations, brother;’‘that’s awesome;’ and even a ‘great job.’ I’m still not sure what exactly was meant by great job, as if John had worked real hard to do this… however, this was only at first.

The room quickly turned to humor and we hearing things like ‘Oh bro, what the fuck?’ and ‘you fucking called us in here and your balls are hanging’ and ‘you dirty fucker, you were spanking and splashing on your screen
and you call us in here? What the fuck!’ and so on. It quickly cleared out when they realized he was sitting there naked! He turned his attention back to me.

“I’m sorry, I got so excited,” he said, grinning ear to ear. “I had to yell it to the world.”

“It’s quite all right, handsome,” I reassured him. “I’m real glad you had the reaction you did.”

Liz smacked me on the back of my shoulder, as if she had known 100% that it was going to go well.

“Listen, brother,” Liz said. “I’m heading out of here, so you two freaks can do whatever it is, and I’m going to go tell Mom, if that’s okay with you?”

“Does she somehow, in some way, already know?” he asked.

“Duh, her Spidey senses picked up on it in minutes. We only just took the test yesterday to confirm, though, so she doesn’t know. She only suspects,” Liz told him.

“What do you mean, we?” John asked.

“Relax, we were both there. I didn’t take any test,” Liz said.

“Listen, go ahead and tell Mom in person, please.”

“You got it,” Liz said, grabbing her coat and keys and running out the door. She ran back in and gave me a hug, telling John she loved him before running back out again.

“Wow, I’ve never seen her like that,” I said. “She’s pretty excited to tell Lisa.”

John laughed. “Babe, this is seriously the best news I’ve ever gotten. I love you so much and I can’t wait to get home to you!”

“I can’t wait, either,” I said. “But you need to put a shirt on because, between these hormones surging and seeing your hot-ass body there, I’m getting pretty horny.”

“I have a better idea,” he said. “Take your laptop upstairs and I’ll call you back in two or three minutes, okay?”

“Sure, but why do I have to hang up the call? I can just leave us connected.”

“Because I have to call my mom and tell her the news,” he said, laughing. “Liz always tries to get to her first with big news and I always take the wind out of her sails for fun.”

“Oh, you’re such a dick. You just completely set her up for that, didn’t you?”

“Sure did. Now hang up and I’ll call you back in a few.”

I did what he asked and waited for him in my bed. I took the liberty of removing some clothes so I would be in just my bra and panties for his call. True to his word, about two and a half minutes later, my computer
rang. It was him calling back.

I answered
, and he came up on the screen. His gorgeous face stared right at me. I was getting horny. I pulled down my screen to show him my bra.

“Babe, I’m doing a three way Skype with my mom. She wants to say congratulations to you,” he said.

Holy fuck!
I tossed my computer to the side and grabbed my blanket to cover myself. I was mortified. “John!”

He just started laughing. “I’m just fucking with you. Get back on screen.”

“I’m going to get you back, you dick!”

After seeing his face, though, I began to melt again and immediately forgave him for his horrible trick.

“Let me see you, babe.” I moved the computer down to the end of my bed and lay down in front of it. I spread my legs open for him. “I wish I could be in your pussy right now.”

He repositioned his camera so that I had a full frontal of him as he sat there stroking his hard cock.

“I love how wet you get for me. I love how you fucking taste.” I could watch him stroking himself for hours. “Rub your clit for me. I want to see your face while you get off.”

Moving my hands over my chest, past my navel until I reached my clit, I did my best to make it a show for him. Taking two fingers, I slowly began working slow circles around my
already aroused clit. Part of me wanted to feel embarrassed, but it was John.

“That’s it, babe. I wish I had those perfect tits in my face so I could suck them. You’re so fucking perfect.”

“I wish you were here fucking me. Just how I like it, hard and fast. I love when you’re inside me.” I began rubbing faster. I wanted him here to fuck me so bad. I wasn’t kidding earlier when I was talking to Liz about being horny.
Damn hormones!

“Fuck, babe. You look so good. I’m
gonna cum. Think of me fucking that perfect pussy.”

I wanted to close my eyes and visualize it, but I didn’t want to take my eyes away from his. I focused on him and his movements and that was enough to send me into an intense orgasm. His pace picked up at the sight of me. Watching him come left me feeling satisfied but empty.

Afterwards, we both felt slightly awkward, but we managed to laugh it off. We stayed on the call for another 30 minutes, just talking. He couldn’t be more thrilled with the news and I felt the same way!

“Mandy, I still can’t believe I’m going to be a dad,” he said, looking like he was trying to hold back tears.

“Believe it, handsome.” I panned the camera down and rubbed my belly. “Just know that the baby’s name won’t be John, Jr.”

“Why?” he asked. “What’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing really. It’s just that I had some names to go over with you, and besides it’s a pretty ugly name if she’s a girl.”

John laughed. “Oh right, I had just assumed it would be a boy.”

“It?” I raised one eyebrow at my camera.

“Sorry. Not it. The baby. The boy or girl,” John backpedaled.

“I’m just fucking with you.” My phone gave me a text notification. I read it. “Ha ha. You’re such a douche.”

“What?” he asked. “What did I do?”

“Nothing. I got a text from your sister, and she asked me to read it aloud to you. Apparently she got home to tell your mom the news and was derailed.”

John laughed. “I told you, I love doing that to her.”

“Well, it wasn’t very nice, but I’ll admit it was funny.”

“Babe, I need to get going,” John said, frowning. “I have to go take a beating by these clowns.” He pointed towards his door to the soldiers on the other side.

“Okay. When can I hear from you again?”

“Soon, I hope.” His expression dropped. “My unit is being moved tomorrow to another location.”

“So… what does that mean?”

“I don’t know yet. It’ll be fine. Once we are settled in and secure, I’ll call you.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.” He nodded. “I love you, Mandy.”

I felt a tear roll down my cheek. This was so hard. I just wanted him with me. I didn’t trust in his trying to assure me everything was fine.

“I love you, too, John.” I put my lips close to the camera and kissed the air. I longed for his lips to touch mine, but this would have to do. “Please be safe!”

“Hey, EC,” he said, winking. “I had a good time.”

I couldn’t laugh. I was too anxious. “Me, too. Call me as soon as you can.”

“I will, babe. Bye, Mandy.” His hand reached forward to end the call.

“Bye, handsome.”

The call ended and I stared at myself in my own screen. My single tear had made it almost to my chin before being pushed off by a waterfall of following tears. I just kept staring at myself, wishing it was him in front of me. I smacked the laptop screen shut and went into the bathroom to throw cold water on my face. I felt tired and really had no motivation to do anything more. I wished I could just sleep until he came home.

Pushing Forward

Liz

It had been two weeks since the Mike incident and things were slowly calming down and life was getting back to normal. The crime scene was finally clean and the police had cleared out. I had gone back to work a few days before and spent most of my evenings playing catch up with my schoolwork. Brady only spent a few days in the hospital before he was discharged. The stabbing was not nearly as bad as the amount of blood had led everyone to believe. No vital organs were lacerated and several stitches later, he was like a new man, just a new man in a lot of pain. He was spending his every free minute with me, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. He helped me get through this horrible time, along with Mandy.

My mom was there for me, too, but sometimes, things are different with close friends. I talked to John once after the night Mandy and I called him to break the news. He said his unit had been deployed to another country
, and he was going to be out of touch for a while. I didn’t like the sound of it, but it was normal to hear news like that over the years. My only fear was that it was going to affect him coming home when he’d planned to.

I was also been a little worried about Mandy. She had been such a mess because she couldn’t talk to John. I understood where she was coming from, but at the same time, I’d been living like this for so long that it was almost normal. It was just the lifestyle of being in a military family.

Between work and school, I seriously needed a night to do something else. I had sent Mandy three text messages the night before to see if she wanted to go to the movies with Brady and me tonight. By now, it was mid-morning and I still hadn’t heard back from her. I was becoming concerned, but then again, she could have just been sleeping.

“See you later. I love you!” my mom yelled
, as she was heading out the front door.

“Bye, Mom. Love you, too.”

I was so happy for her. I had noticed a huge change since she’d found out that Mandy was definitely pregnant. She seemed genuinely happy. Nothing would ever fill the void left by my dad, but she was really looking forward to becoming a Nana.

Picking up my phone, I sent a text to Brady.

Sexy bitch. I’m almost ready so pick me up when you’re ready.

He replied,
I hate when you call me that. I’m a man! Be there in 20.

See you then.
Xoxo

I put my speaker phone on and dialed Mandy, so I could finish getting ready. She was supposed to be working the day shift, so I figured if she was sleeping in that she’d need to be up by now. It rang four times before she finally picked up.

“Hey, Liz. What’s up?” she asked.

“What’s
shakin,’ baby momma? Did I wake you?”

“Sort of,” she mumbled. “I was up late.”

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, everything’s good. I went to bed at a decent time, but then I had some freaky dreams and couldn’t go back to sleep after.”

“Mandy, he’s fine,” I said with confidence. “He’s been doing what he does for years. He knows what he’s doing and so do his buddies.”

“I don’t even want to talk about it.” She sounded upset.

“All right. So I’ve been texting you to see if you want to go out with Brady and me tonight.”

“I’d go with Brady if you stayed home,” she laughed.

“What? Why?”

“Because I’ve been pretty horny lately and you’d just get in the way.”

“You’re such a bitch. I swear!”

“
Whateves,” she threw at me. “I don’t know. I’ll let you know how I feel about being a third wheel later.”

“It’s not like that with us, is it?” I asked.

“No, you guys are pretty good with that. It’s just that when I do things like go out to dinner, or to a movie, or almost anything, it just makes me more depressed, wishing I was doing it with John.”

“I get it, but you need to cowgirl up!”

“I know, I know. It just really sucks. And I know it’s early, but I want to start planning and I need him to do that with me.”

“I’m always here. You know that, right?”

“I do,” Mandy said, her voice lightening up. “Thanks.”

“Anytime,
prego. Hit me up later to let me know for sure.”

“I will. Have a good day,” she said, hanging up the call.

I grabbed my coat and bag and went outside to wait for Brady. I locked the door behind me and double-checked it. It was a sunny, mild day for late fall and I enjoyed letting the sun beat down on my face. Moments later, Brady came pulling up in his ugly truck. He got out slowly and hobbled to the passenger door to open it for me.

“You don’t have to do that,” I scolded. “Especially when you’re hurting.”

“I do have to,” he said, grinning.

I leaned in and kissed him before I jumped in.

“This is one of those little things your brother discussed with me and he thinks it’s something I should do, regardless how long we’re together.”

“Discussed or demanded?” I laughed.

“Demanded. Not that I wouldn’t do this for you anyway, but if I didn’t want to, I really wouldn’t have a choice.” His eyes got big. “Well, I’d have a choice, but I wouldn’t want the other.”

Shutting the door, he walked around the truck and climbed into the driver’s seat, fastening his seatbelt. “I’m not moving until you buckle up,” he threatened.

“I know the drill. I just wanted to be able to move, so I could help you feel better.”

Leaning over to the driver’s side, I placed my head on his lap and felt him twitch. I knew he was shocked. I ran my hand up his leg until it reached his package, just inches below my face. I began grabbing and rubbing it until I felt it growing beneath his jeans.

“Liz! No way,” he yelled. “I can’t drive with you doing that!”

“Sure you can.”

“No, really, I can’t. Besides, it’s early morning.”

“So?”

“I guess I have no point there. It’s just that we always do things at night.”

“You’re such a dork,” I laughed at him. “Then we need to embrace change.”

“I don’t know,” he said, shaken. “What if I crash? Or someone sees in? Or we get pulled over?”

“I’ll just say I dropped my contact lens.”

“You don’t wear contact lenses,” he argued.

“Like anyone would know that!” I shook my head.
Man, was he dingy sometimes.
“If you really don’t want me to, I won’t.”

“It’s not that I don’t want it.”

“Save it, Junior.” I leaned back up and grabbed my seatbelt. “It’s cool.”

“You’re mad, aren’t you?” he asked.

“Mad? No. It’s not like I wanted a mouthful of man meat first thing in the morning. I just wanted to make you happy.”

“You do make me happy, Liz. Everything you do makes me happy.”

“You do the same for me.”

“Okay, well, I guess I’ll take it,” he said, looking down at his crotch.

“That window passed, buddy. You can take it wherever you want, but it’s not going to be my mouth.”

“Dammit,” he said.
“I guess I’ll learn never to say no again.”

“Lesson learned, bitch. Now take me to work.”

“Could you please stop calling me that?” he begged.

We walked into the mall together and separated with a kiss. The day was as expected. No surprises and nothing exciting happened. I met Brady for lunch as planned, which was the only highlight. I texted Mandy to harass her about later and she got back to me saying she was in. I was happy she was going to come out; she always made things more fun. The day dragged
, until finally it was time to clock out. I left my store and waited for Brady in the food court. I watched as people passed by nonstop.

I felt like someone was staring at me for some time before I turned to look. I don’t mind if a guy wants to check me out, but it gets annoying when they think
it’s okay to stare. I glanced over and saw Mike’s old friends. One from the party and another who worked with him. I glared, hoping they realized that I knew they were looking and would turn, or better, walk away, but they didn’t. They just stared me down and I could see them commenting to each other. I turned away and kept looking to see if Brady was leaving yet. I kept them in my peripheral vision, since now I didn’t trust anyone.

Finally, I saw Brady come walking towards me. His facial expression changed when he saw the concern on my face. He walked straight past me, without saying a word or giving a second look.

I watched intently, not knowing what he was doing. He walked past the two men and quickly turned, positioning himself behind them. He raised his muscular arms and aggressively slammed them down, one on a shoulder of each staring man. The two men jumped a bit out of their seats and looked up at Brady. I saw him push them back down to a sitting position and stick his head between theirs. I wished I could have heard what he said to them. They looked visibly shaken. Brady let their shoulders go and the men got up and quickly left the food court. Brady came back over to me with a big grin on his face.

“What are you grinning for? Something funny?” I asked.

“No, not at all. I’m grinning because I feel like I popped a stitch!”

“Oh, baby, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I didn’t really. I just feel like it. I saw Brandon and Tom staring at you and it pissed me off.”

“Yeah, I noticed.”

“I just wanted to make it perfectly clear that anyone else who fucks with you will end up just like Mike did.”

“That was kind of harsh, but I appreciate it.”

“I failed at protecting you last time,” he said angrily. “I won’t let it happen again.”

I hugged him, careful not to push too hard on his stiches. He’d been upset this whole time, feeling like he had failed me. I kept telling him that no one could have done anything differently. Even John admitted that Brady had done everything he could
, and that he’d seen bigger guys drop from being stabbed.

“You are my knight, baby.”

“Thanks,” he said, and he kissed me hard. “You’re my queen. Now, let’s get out of here.”

“Sounds good.”

I smacked him on the ass to get him moving. He jumped, which made his stitches hurt.

“I’m so sorry. I wasn’t thinking!” I said.

Brady just shook his head and laughed. He grabbed my hand as we left the mall. I sent a text to Mandy to tell her we would pick her up at home in an hour.