“What about the other two?” Staci asked after Shay admitted that he had helped Tony get out of that mess.
“The woman I just told you about was the first one. I was leery the next time I fell for the girl, but she made it easy for me.”
“How?”
“She knew my military obligations, and it was fine for the first two months, but because I had to miss an event, I was scheduled for my one weekend of the month, an event she never told me about, mind you, she gave me an ultimatum. She knew which weekend it was, because I had made red x’s through the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. If she bothered to look at the calendar, she would see those red marks throughout the entire calendar for the entire damn year.” He shook his head sadly.
“Damn, let me guess, her event or your military career.”
“Correct.”
“What was the ultimatum? Other than what I just said.”
Shay started laughing from the passenger seat, and Tony turned to glare at him.
“What?” Staci asked.
“The event was the secret wedding she had planned for the two of them.” Shay couldn’t stop laughing. “She got her dates of when he was supposed to be away mixed up, and scheduled a wedding on his weekend to serve.”
“Oh my god, was she crazy?”
“This isn’t a laughing matter,” Tony said angrily, then sighed heavily. “But by the time, or when I returned from that weekend, she had destroyed my entire apartment. I need to stress here that we didnot live together, and I never gave her a key to my place. However, when I returned two weeks later.”
“Wait, why two weeks later, I thought the weekend service was three days.”
“Normally, that was what it was,” Shay said. “However, during the night from Saturday to Sunday, the Guard was called out to help everyone several counties over to evacuate because of a flood. It took several days for that to happen, then we helped them come back. We didn’t have to, but the streets needed to be cleared, and well, that’s some of what we do.”
“Okay, thank you both for serving, but what did she do?”
“Destroyed my entire place. My neighbor was out of town, so they didn’t notice anything, and by the time I returned, it was a mess. I’m saying that the only clothes I had to my name were the ones I had with me on that weekend.
“How did you know it was her?”
“The neighbor had installed a Ring camera a week before. It clearly showed her picking my lock and walking in my house. By the time I was done with her in court, she was hospitalized in the local mental ward. It was only for a seventy-two-hour stay, but she had to have extensive counseling. Don’t quote me on this, but some things came out in her trial, that other people came forward to file complaints against her, and again, don’t quote me, but I believe she lost her job because she tried to pullthe same stunt with her married boss. Hell, they weren’t even dating, he was dedicated to his wife. The crazy one wanted him, and set out to try to get him. It didn’t work.”
“Did you ever ask why she did it?”
“Which part? The part about planning our wedding without telling me? Or the part about her destroying my home? Or the part where she tried to do the same thing with her boss?”
“Both, but I’m curious as to why she planned a wedding?”
“She was desperate to get married, saying her biological clock was ticking. When I sued her, she tried to counter sue me for the money for the wedding. The judge agreed with me that because I knew nothing about it, then I wasn’t responsible for her irrational planning of the wedding. However, she did have to pay me for the things she destroyed.”
“Wow, and the third woman?”
Both men shook their heads and after they sighed heavily, they were quiet for several miles before Shay spoke. “When I got the call about the accident, that involved Tony and Marcia getting hurt, I told no one outside the military who didn’t need to know. Once Jacobs and Ramos were taken to the hospital, and I arrived to get everyone’s statements then waited for the doctors to tell me what condition they were in. It took two days to get everything sorted out, and when I felt comfortable in my own skin about what hadhappened, I contacted the girl Tony was dating. Hell, I can’t even remember her name now.”
“Anna,” Tony said through gritted teeth.
Staci reached up and put a soothing hand on his shoulder, and nodded when he reached up and touched it with one of his. “What happened?” she whispered.
“I was in a coma, so I have no clue.”
“She showed up three days after I called her, and I told her what was up, at least what I could. She waited until she got the news about your prognosis from the doctor, then turned to me and I quote, ‘I’m not dealing with this shit, I’m out of here.’ She turned on her heel and walked out, that was the last anyone heard from her.”
The three occupants in the truck were silent as they completed their journey to the airport, and as Tony swung his truck over to the curb to let Shay out, the other man hopped out, helped Staci from the back, but before he let her into the front seat, he hugged her, but whispered, “Hurt him, and you’ll have me to deal with.”
“I understand,” she whispered back as she hugged him. “But I won’t.”
