Rick stood there in the blazing fucking sun trying to figure out how to not sound like an ass when he responded. “Thanks, but no thanks. I have friends in the area who have been texting about getting together. With our schedule, I haven’t had the time, so…” Yes, Rick purposely didn’t fill in any blanks. Penston didn’t need to know that he was hoping to be on his knees for Coop within the next few hours. Or Coop on his knees. Rick really didn’t care one way or the other. Just to get some one-on-one time with his man.
“Too good for us? What? No one’s dropped to their knees for you?” Penston shot back, snidely.
He took a deep breath and held in his instincts to knock Penston on his ass. Nope, wasn’t working. Just as Rick raised his arm, fist clenched tightly, a voice from behind him said, “I wouldn’t if I were you, Lieutenant Stanton. I can guarantee if you complete the movement you are transmitting, you will be in the front leaning rest position for longer than you’d like to be.”
Shit shit shit. Rick dropped his arm and swiveled to face Lieutenant Colonel Williams. He did not want to be in a push-up position for hours. “Sir, I was—”
“About to join me in my office,” Lieutenant Colonel Williams finished for Rick. Never mind shit.Fuck fuck fuck.
“Yes, sir.” It was the only response that Rick could or would give at this point. He wasn’t stupid. Williams had shown himself to be an honorable officer, one worthy of Rick’s respect. Rick heard Penston snicker. Oh, Rick was so going to take this out on his ass.
“Lieutenant Penston, I do not know what your plans are for the weekend. However, I would strongly suggest that you spend that time studying how to properly issue an operational order. Your OPORDs have not been to the standard they should be at. I have not been impressed with your performance,” Lieutenant Colonel Williams said before he gestured to Rick to follow him.
Rick followed the lieutenant colonel across the parking lot to the command headquarters. Since he’d in processed, Rick hadn’t been in the building. But hallelujah, it was air-conditioned. He removed his field cap and sunglasses as they walked down the hall. The commander’s office was at the far corner of the first floor, with a secretary sitting outside. There were two chairs in front of the commander’s desk with a little sitting area across from the open door. Williams motioned Rick to join him in the sitting area and Rick stopped next to one of the chairs, waiting for the senior officer to sit.
“Drop down, Stanton,” Williams commanded. Rick bent at the knees and reached his hands out to the floor in front of him. Push-ups it was. Guess he was spending some time in front leaning rest after all. At least it was air-conditioned. “Whoa, stop that forward movement. Drop down into a chair, lieutenant.”
Rick caught himself and sat facing the commander. Fidgeting wasn’t his thing, but he was close to it right now. He had no idea why he was in the commander’s office. He fell back on his ROTC training, pulled his shoulders back and looked at the wall over the man’s shoulder. He could wait this out. He’d spent enough time at attention that this was easy.
“Relax, please. Would you like some water? It’s a hot one out there.” Williams didn’t wait for Rick to answer. “Lori, could you bring some water?” Rick heard the woman answer in the affirmative before he continued, “I’m not going to make you sit there and contemplate whatever your mind could come up with as the reason I asked to speak with you. The cadre meets on a weekly basis to reflect on the performances of each of the second lieutenants in the class. You have shown outstanding abilities when it comes to MDMP and OPORDs. Your fellow classmates should take notes.”
Rick was stunned. Maybe all the hours studying with Drew had done more than fry his brain. He realized that the lieutenant colonel was waiting for him to respond. “Thank you, sir. I spent many hours with a fellow cadet formulating exercises for the junior cadets.”
Williams chuckled as his secretary came in with bottles of water. “Thank you, Lori,” he said, acknowledging the delivery. “I’m sure they were appreciative of all your work. The choice will be given to each member of the class after the next field exercise as to where they’d like to be assigned. Your scores put you at the top of the class, so you will get the first choice.”
He tried extremely hard not to drop his mouth open. He was at the top of the class? Holy shit. It was looking like he could get his next set of wings.
“I can tell you’ve already got an idea as to where you’d prefer to be stationed. I just wanted to give you a polite shove to myregimental affiliation. I think you could go far in the Seventeenth Infantry. The command structure for the Stryker Brigades could use your presence.” Williams smiled widely and winked at Rick.
Oh shit, how was he going to tell the commander that he had no affinity with armored vehicles of any type? “Ummm, thank you for that vote of confidence, sir. I don’t know that I would…” Rick trailed off, not sure how to finish his sentence.
A loud laugh broke from Williams, startling Rick. “Oh, Lewis owes me twenty,” he said through his laughter. Rick sat there, trying to figure out what was so funny. The lieutenant colonel laughed for a minute, then composed himself. “That had to be the best laugh I’ve had in weeks. Thank you for that. I bet I can guess you’d like to go to either Liberty or Campbell.” When Williams stopped talking, he tapped his left chest, over his…Rick looked closer. The man had two sets of wings on his uniform.
Knowing he’d been had, Rick smiled and shook his head. “Yes, sir. You are correct. I fell in love with jumping during summer session, where I earned my wings. I do not want to be a five-jump-chump. I would also treasure the opportunity to earn air assault wings.”
“Lewis was sure that he had convinced most of your class that the Stryker was where it was at. It’s always a joy to see him be overconfident. I’ve been doing this for several years and can tell who wants their knees in the breeze. The hundred-and-first or the eighty-second will be lucky to have you in their ranks.” Williams pushed to his feet, prompting Rick to jump to his. “I do believe that I have kept you long enough that your urge to punch Penston has passed.”
A blush raced across his face faster than Coop took the jumps in the arena. He wisely kept his mouth shut, neither confirming nor denying the lieutenant colonel’s assessment.
“You’re dismissed, lieutenant. I know that I don’t have to caution you about the weekend. I’ll just say, enjoy yourself and do get some rest,” Williams said, holding out his hand for Rick to shake. Quickly, Rick put his hand in the older man’s, shook, and then moved into a salute. Williams snapped a return.
“Thank you for your guidance, sir. It’s greatly appreciated,” Rick said before heading toward the door.
“Oh and lieutenant? Not that I could recommend any course of action, but I do know that combatives is on the training plan for next week. It is possible that you will be paired with Penston. Have a good weekend,” Williams said as he walked around his desk.
Rick kicked back in the driver’s seat and pushed the button for the cruise control. He had an hour’s drive to Americus. It was between Benning and Coop’s training camp. After he’d left the commander’s office, he wasted no time in getting to his room in the barracks. There had been several missed calls and about ten texts from Coop.
Hot Wheels: Seriously? Can’t respond to a text message?
Fuck, Coop was a bit pissed. He would’ve taken his cell with him if he hadn’t been in PT gear. Not that he would’ve had a lot of time to chat or text. Yeah, there were pockets in the shorts, but there would have been no way they would’ve stayed up during the run with his cell phone bouncing up and down.
Me: Sorry, long run today and PT shorts do not agree with cell phone weight. Any chance you’d like to meet somewhere between us for dinner?
After hitting send, he grabbed his towel and hopped in the shower. He might have said a little prayer while soaping up that it wasn’t going to be him and his hand this weekend. Coop seemed pretty pissed. Maybe they needed to talk about the timing of messages or calls or something so they could avoid misunderstandings in the future. Look at him being all adult and responsible. Rick really wanted things to work out with him and Coop. He didn’t know why it seemed the most important thing in his world but it did. They’d only met a few months ago. How could Coop be so important?
Seeing the “I’ll meet you in Americus” text when he got back to his phone lifted the weight of the world off Rick’s shoulders. Okay, he hadn’t fucked things up. Well, at least for now.
The drive flew by, and before Rick could really settle into a driving groove, he was pulling into The Station parking lot. Coop had sent him a text with the address while he’d been driving. Rick didn’t know what to expect from the restaurant but the outside looked good. He parked his car and climbed out. Before he could even close his door, Rick was slammed chest-first into the side of the car. Raising his hands to fight back, Rick pushed away and started to turn.
