All four went down and held themselvesthere.
He continued on until all four were sweating andpanting. “You have fifteen minutes to get this mess squared thefuck away.”
He got them up and walked out. His booming voiceannounced that inspections started in fifteen minutes.
***
That evening Ryan had CQ duty. His shift was1200 in the morning to 0100, right after Patrick. That nightPhillip was staying with the privates. He was nervous as hell forsome reason-- maybe because at night when his head was cleared ofall of the day’s events he thought back to that freaking kiss. TheDrill Sergeant hadn't brought it up and Ryan damn sure wasn't goingto.
Patrick woke him up and Ryan slipped down to thedesk carrying paper and a pen. He could hear soft talking comingfrom the office and figured Grabowski was watching TV. Ryan wouldkill to be able to watch a few minutes of TV. Hell, he even missedthe news. The door opened suddenly and he was confronted withGrabowski.
“Gracin,” he was greeted.
“Drill Sergeant, anything I can get you?” heasked politely.
“Nah, come on in.” Grabowski gestured for him toenter the office. It was unsurprisingly clean.
“How is training going?” Phillip asked; as hesat down to polish his boots.
“It's going fine, Drill Sergeant Grabowski,”Ryan said, as he stood. The other man gestured for him to sit down.Ryan's eyes strayed from the drill, who looked fine as hell in theblack PT shorts and plain white shirt he had on. The office wasrather big. Beside the desk there was a large cot set up. Hefigured that was where the three slept when they stayed thenight.
“Good,” Grabowski said with a grin. Itdisappeared when he opened his mouth again. “That kiss should havenever happened and I'm sorry for putting you into thatposition.”
Ryan's mouth fell open and he looked back at thedark-haired man. “Umm. It's cool. I know..” he said, trying not toappear like a thirteen-year-old girl. If the guy had any idea howfucked up that kiss made him he didn't wanna know.
“You've got potential, Gracin. Realpotential.”
“Thank you?” Ryan answered. He was dumbfoundedand just not sure what to say.
He looked toward the television set and hismouth fell open. “Holy shit! Is that a football game?”
Phillip laughed huskily. “Yeah, my mom DVRs andthen burns games for me so I can watch.”
Ryan felt like crying. “Is that Ohio State?”Being an Ohio boy he, of course, rooted for the “Buckeyes.”
“Ohio State versus Texas.” Phillip laughedharder when Ryan damn near started to drool. “Texas won. You likeTexas, right?”
Ryan shook his head. “I'm from Columbus,Ohio.”
“Oh God, no wonder! It all makes perfect sensenow.” Phillip smirked and picked up a pair of panty hose.
Ryan was about to ask what made perfect sensebut he saw the panty hose. He blinked and then looked away.
“Freckles, panty hose applies the world’s bestshine on these boots,” Phillip informed him. “Go grab your kit andboots. Might as well show you how it's done.”
Ryan ran up the stairs and did what he was told.When he got back he saw that the panty hose had been cut and oneleg was lying on the sofa next to where he’d been sitting.
He spent the next forty minutes learning thevalue of a spit shine and panty hose.
Chapter Four
Morning PT runs sucked ass, especially sinceKing was the one who ran the Alpha group that Ryan was in. Hestarted them out slowly and increased the pace gradually. His voicewas loud and strong as he started calling the cadence. A mile inand the bastard changed cadences. Ryan seriously wanted to killhim.
“Superman is the man of steel!”
“Superman is the man of steel,” came the cry offifteen voices.
“But he ain’t no match for an armydrill.”
