A Marine Discovery Read online




  A Marine Discovery

  Jax Meyer

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2020 by Jax Meyer

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without written permission from the author.

  Cover design by Amanda Walker.

  Editing by Harpy Edits.

  Published by Jax Meyer.

  First Edition - January 2020

  For everyone who’s fallen in love with Cam and Sharon, I hope you enjoy this peek into their lives. This story only exists because you all wanted to know more. I’m grateful for all of you.

  Chapter 1

  April 17, 2004

  “Cam! Where’s the boot polish?” Sharon’s voice froze Cam in her tracks.

  “Shit,” Cam said under her breath. Yesterday she’d managed to scuff her boots on the end of the bed, requiring a quick touch up before they left for base. In her rush, she’d forgotten to return the supplies to their proper location. Cam gathered the polish, cloths, and brushes and brought everything to Sharon in the living room of their small one-bedroom apartment, handing it over with her head bowed.

  “Sorry.”

  “We’ve lived here for six months already. If you just put it back where it belonged….”

  “I know, I know. I’m sorry. It… will definitely happen again, but I’ll try.” Cam offered her best attempt at a charming smile.

  Sharon sighed but gave her a playful eyeroll. “I forgive you. Again.”

  Cam kissed her on the cheek. “Thanks, baby.”

  She crossed the room and sat in their comfortable, well-worn armchair, observing her girlfriend setup to polish her boots. How many times had they shared this ritual over the past five and a half years? Even a conservative estimate of twice a week, fifty weeks of the year, that would be more than five hundred times. An impressive number, but an activity rarely performed on a Saturday morning.

  “Why are you working on your boots today? That’s extra gung ho, even for you.”

  Sharon shot her a look, eyebrows raised in challenge. Not intimidated in the least, Cam widened her teasing smile.

  Shaking her head, Sharon answered the original question. “I just got a call from Johnson, who was supposed to stand duty tonight. She’s not feeling well, and I’d rather not have a stressed-out pregnant Marine on my conscience. I’m covering for her.”

  “Ah, of course,” Cam said, grateful this was Sharon’s responsibility and not her own. “Well, I can’t give you shit for that.”

  “You can, but there’s enough time for me to put you on the duty roster instead. I could stay here and watch a scary movie without your complaints about the level of gore.”

  Cam’s hands shot up in surrender. “Hey now, no need for threats.” Cam dropped her hands, leveling her gaze on her girlfriend. “Fraternizing with a sergeant is risky in ways I hadn’t anticipated.”

  “I didn’t hear you complaining last night.” Sharon voice dipped low and seductive.

  Something stirred deep in Cam’s belly, as always happened in response to Sharon’s suggestive comments. All this time and Cam remained at her mercy.

  Sharon smirked before placing a drop of water in the tin of black polish. Deftly, she wrapped a cloth tightly around her first two fingers and secured the end of it against her palm with her remaining fingers.

  Despite the familiarity of the act, Cam’s abs clenched as she remembered what those fingers had done to her last night. She swallowed hard and attempted to regain the conversation.

  “Should I go to the barracks with you? I could hang out in my room and you could stop by when you get bored.” As much as Cam enjoyed her quiet time, she hated sleeping alone in the apartment. The barracks weren’t much better but at least Sharon would be in the same building, looking sharp in her freshly pressed uniform.

  Sharon circled the cloth in the polish until it formed a thick coat and transferred it to the toe of her left boot. It had taken Cam months to realize Sharon always started with the left boot. Sharon’s ridiculous reasoning still made her smile, quoting cadence as she replied, “Left foot. Good foot.”

  Sharon was such a Marine sometimes, and Cam loved her for it, even if she wasn’t in love with the Marine Corps anymore. Being a Marine was such an intrinsic part of her girlfriend that Cam couldn’t imagine her any other way.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea. The other person on duty is that sexist asshole Able. If we show up together, he’ll be an obstinate little prick all night thinking he has something over me.”

  Cam grimaced. Able. A thorn in the side of anyone who wasn’t a straight, white, supposedly Christian male, he was just smart enough not to do anything that he could be written up for. That made complaining riskier than it was worth.

  As it stood, the list of people who knew for certain she and Sharon were a couple was short. Sarah, who’d been there almost from the beginning, was stationed with them at Miramar. Marcus, her fellow avionics tech, along with his family were like extended family now. And a smattering of others in the closet and smart enough not to say anything. There were people who talked shit, but Sharon was too good a Marine for anyone in the chain of command to pursue an investigation. As long as they weren’t caught being intimate, the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy meant their command shouldn’t investigate based on rumor. That didn’t mean they could afford to be careless. In a situation such as tonight’s, the safe choice wasn’t always easy to determine.

  “What if he doesn’t see us arrive together? Wouldn’t it be better for me to be seen on base for once? I could work on my history paper without you distracting me.”

  Sharon buffed her boots, testing the smoothness before adding another coating of polish. ”You know, this would be easier if you weren’t actively avoiding a promotion to sergeant. You were almost in zone last month. Just submit the paperwork for your college classes and you’ll have the points you need. Then you wouldn’t have to pretend to live on base.”

  “But then I’ll have to go to Sergeant’s Course. And do sergeanty things. What’s wrong with coasting to the end of my contract? In a few months I won’t have to pretend because I’ll just be your civilian roommate.” Cam formed air quotes with her fingers at the term roommate.

  Sharon laughed, most likely at her, but Cam didn’t mind. “Sergeanty things? You already sound like a civilian. Where’d my Marine girlfriend go?”

  “She’s working hard to become your college girlfriend.”

  “Ah.” Sharon shifted her attention to her right boot.

  Rather than sit around and waste more of their precious time together, Cam offered to iron Sharon’s uniform. When Sharon readily agreed, Cam retrieved the needed supplies from the bedroom closet. With practiced ease Cam had the ironing board setup and Sharon’s blouse laid flat in a minute.

  “Your argument makes sense, so if you want to come with, you can,” Sharon said, breaking the working silence. “I’ll drop you off at the gym. But you better be working on that paper so I have your full attention tomorrow. I might even stop by for some surprise checks. Make sure you’re working.”

  “And if I’m not?”

  Sharon’s eyes went from playful to smoldering in a blink, strangling Cam’s breathing for several seconds while her stomach fluttered in anticipation.

  When Cam was sufficiently affected, Sharon flashed a self-satisfied grin and returned to her task.

  Cam groaned. “Look at me that way again and you won’t be finishing those boots anytime soon.”

  “Is that a promise?”

  “Always.”

  They fell back into comfortable silence, both intent on their tasks. Cam’s thoughts soon drifted as she pondered the coming months. Her contract was up July 8. That left three months of sneaking around when all Cam wanted to do was relax.

  Finishing first, Sharon set her boots by the door and put the supplies away in the proper drawer without comment. While Sharon washed her hands Cam finished up, leaving Sharon’s uniform hanging in the bathroom. She’d only taken a moment, but Sharon was done by the time she returned and stood blocking Cam’s path.

  In a pair of green PT shorts and a tight gray tank top, Sharon looked every bit the nineteen-year-old Cam had fallen in love with, but with an added maturity that grew sexier with each passing year.

  Cam closed the distance between them, mentally rearranging her plans for the night. For all their teasing, they were absolutely not fooling around in the barracks while Sharon was on duty. Cam would do her homework, Sharon would try not to strangle Able, and it would be just another night without her girlfriend thanks to the Marine Corps.

  But the Corps didn’t need Sharon for a few hours. Cam reached for the hem of her tank top and pulled her closer. The look Sharon gave her lit a fire within Cam that she had no interest in extinguishing.

  Cam removed the tank top, adding, “a promise is a promise,” before meeting Sharon in a kiss that showed just how far reaching Cam’s promise was to her.

  ***

  Monday’s weren’t normally eventful, but when Cam was ready to leave work at 1700, Sharon wasn’t in the shop. After a quick check of the tool room and hangar, Cam stepped outside.

  Sharon was just leaving the comma
nd building, her expression uncharacteristically grave.

  The little burst of joy that always accompanied seeing Sharon fizzled. Heaviness settled in Cam’s stomach as she forced herself to walk forward.

  Sharon looked up and gave her the smallest of head shakes to silence the question she hadn’t had a chance to verbalize. They fell into step as they walked to the truck. Safely inside, Cam couldn’t wait longer to satisfy her curiosity.

  “What’s going on, Sharon?”

  “Don’t freak out, but I overheard the staff NCOs talking. Sounds like we’re heading out soon for pre-deployment training.”

  Pre-deployment. The words hit Cam in the gut. Since the attacks on September 11, she had known this was a possibility. Everyone serving did. They’d been lucky so far, but after two and a half years their luck had run out.

  Cam’s head spun. She was almost done with her contract. What did this mean for her plans? Would they extend her contract against her will? And what about Sharon? She’d re-enlisted early, not that war would change her decision. Sharon was deploying, with or without her. Lead settled in Cam’s stomach as she stared vacantly out the window.

  Sharon put the truck in gear and drove home without another word. By the time they pulled into the parking lot in front of their apartment, Cam was seething from the complete lack of control she had over her own life. Neither moved, though the engine was off. Cam closed her eyes, steeling herself for the question she had to ask. Just ask her. You have to know. Why did it take so much effort to say a single word?

  “When?”

  Sharon didn’t respond immediately and Cam was too afraid of what she’d see if she turned. Her gaze found a small bird hopping in the grass. It lifted into the air with all the freedom Cam lacked. Lucky bird.

  “Training is most likely in a month. Deployment not for a few months. It appears Headquarters is still finalizing the rotations.”

  A few months. That was more notice than a lot of people had in the early months of the war. Some units received less than forty-eight hours to deploy.

  “Do you know if they’ll forcibly extend contracts?”

  “I don’t,” Sharon said. “But would that be so bad? We’d deploy together and I wouldn’t worry about you.”

  Cam laughed mirthlessly. “You’d worry about me? You’d be the one in danger.” She ran her hand roughly through her hair. “I can’t talk about this right now.”

  She opened the door harder than she meant to, almost hitting the car next to them, and slammed it closed. Inside the apartment she stripped down to just briefs and her sports bra, not wanting anything to do with the Marine Corps while processing the unexpected news. Fucking Marine Corps and their damn bombshells. Cam’s brain quickly followed the most detrimental path to thoughts of bombs. Rockets. IEDs. The possibility that Sharon or one of her friends wouldn’t come home.

  Cam ripped the comforter from the perfectly made bed. That wasn’t nearly satisfying enough, so she picked up her pillow and threw it down as hard as she could. Growling, she flopped onto the bed and curled into the fetal position, unmoving. Sharon soon entered the bedroom.

  Cam refused to open her eyes, overwhelmed at trying to separate her emotions. Why was that so hard? Anger. Frustration. There. Two whole emotions. Fear. That was three. She didn’t even bother with hope, because there was nothing more futile than hope when the Marine Corps went to war. Then again, all emotions were futile. They had a job to do, and they were required to do it, feelings be damned.

  Sharon moved around the room, picking up Cam’s discarded uniform pieces and hanging them up, if the sounds around her were any indication.

  Cam remained still. What she wouldn’t give to be able to turn her feelings off and continue on, business as usual. They were Marines, after all. Warfighting was their business, or some bullshit like that.

  If she let her mind wander too much, Cam found herself worrying about the worst-case scenario. She counted silently, seeing how long each breath lasted. Not long enough, she thought as her stomach remained clenched. Refusing to give in to her emotions, she focused on the numbers until her breath evened out enough to avoid hyperventilating.

  Time faded until Sharon slipped into bed behind her, the pressure of her body offering the first true comfort Cam experienced since they left work. Sharon wrapped an arm over Cam’s side, her palm over Cam’s heart.

  Torn for a moment between wallowing and desperately wanting Sharon, she finally covered Sharon’s arm with her own. Cam couldn’t keep her here forever, but she could keep her for now. Cam gritted her teeth against tears pooling in her eyes, tapping into her anger once again to regain some semblance of control.

  It didn’t work. The tears won.

  Sharon, always her rock, simply held her as she cried.

  ***

  For a few minutes the next morning, Cam forgot what had happened the prior evening. Sharon was sprawled across three quarters of the queen bed, an arm across Cam’s belly. For all the years they were stuck in twin sized beds, Sharon seemed to be the only one to gain any space as the bed size increased.

  Since Cam rarely awoke before the alarm or Sharon, she decided to enjoy the view. Sharon lay naked on her stomach, hair fanning over her skin, darkened to a richer brown by their recent beach trip. The faint tan lines reminded Cam of the bikini top she’d worn as they relaxed on the beach after she’d removed her wetsuit. Over four years in San Diego and Cam still avoided going into the ocean past her waist, content watching Sharon surf exuberantly,

  Filled with the need to touch her girlfriend, Cam ran a hand down Sharon’s back, tracing her contours before coming to rest in the dip of Sharon’s spine.

  Sharon stirred but didn’t awaken. Her fingers tickled Cam’s stomach as she reached in her sleep.

  Biting back her giggle, Cam rolled toward Sharon to escape her wandering fingers and provide better access for her own hand. It didn’t take long before Cam’s light touches roused Sharon.

  “Hey, you’re up before me,” Sharon said, surprise evident in her sleepy voice. “Are you okay?”

  Cam’s face fell as the emotions of the night before rushed back. At least she could name a few more of those emotions. Sadness. Disappointment. And still so much fear.

  Sharon gently rubbed Cam’s forearm. ”Maybe we should talk about this?”

  Cam took a deep breath, releasing it with a sigh. “What good will it do? We can’t stop what is happening. Orders are orders.”

  “Of course they are, but we aren’t robots. If you’re not ready to talk, that’s fine, but I don’t want to hold my feelings in. I’d like to talk to my girlfriend, except I’m afraid to because I don’t want to make you feel worse. And frankly that sucks.”

  “Oh,” Cam replied as she sorted through her own feelings. Sharon’s words stung, but they weren’t meant as an attack, Cam knew that well enough. They were, however, a reminder that she was being selfish. It was so easy to forget that as unflappable as her girlfriend was in most situations, she was still human. “How are you feeling about everything?”

  Sharon huffed. “I don’t even know. A part of me accepts what is coming and is ready to move forward with preparation. But then I think of us, and our life here, and I don’t know how I’ll be able to leave without you. For the past two years I assumed we’d deploy together. It wouldn’t be the most enjoyable, but I’d know you were okay and vice versa. But now I don’t know what to expect and it’s more than a little scary.”

  Cam took Sharon’s hand in hers, intertwining their fingers. For a moment, Cam focused on how perfectly their fingers fit together, not unlike the rest of their life, minus the whole closet thing. That was all about to change.

  Cam lifted her gaze to Sharon. “When we’re here, in the privacy of our apartment, I forget how fleeting our freedom is. I can touch you, kiss you, tell you I love you, and there are no consequences. But then something like this happens and I remember that our freedom isn’t real. Someone else decides when and where you go. The freedom I gain as a civilian is limited. Even worse, I’m not allowed to exist as your wife. It makes me want to punch the bigots that created this damn policy.”

  Cam swallowed hard to control the emotions welling up again. “But it’s not just anger. I’m disappointed in myself for being unable to suck it up and re-enlist so I can go with you. But I can’t, not without losing a piece of me in the process. I’m sorry if that makes me an awful girlfriend or just a shitty Marine, but I can’t do another four years.” Cam averted her gaze, shaking her head to reinforce the point.