Ben Ryder - Side Line Read online

  “No, he’s in here waiting for me to have breakfast with him. You mustjoin us!”

  “Jacks, I am not really in the mood to act—” “Oh, and apparently he’s not a SEAL, he’s a Marine! A colonel, if you please!” Jackie said excitedly. “He wants to take us both out to dinner tonight to say thank you for getting me the night off last night.”

  “No, I mean—”

  “I know he just wants to get into my knickers again, but if we get a free meal out of it, who am I to say no?” “Jacks—” “And don’t worry, he’s all about the gays. In fact, he’s got a gay younger brother! Who knows, he may be able to introduce you to him. One day you and I could be related!”

  “Huh? Wait, he’s got a—” Before I could finish, Jackie waved and shot forward, greeting Peter with a hand sliding across his shoulder as he stared into his BlackBerry.

  “You remember Jay?” Jackie said, introducing me again. “I sure do. Good to see you again, Jay. Thanks for letting this lovely lady out of your sight last night.”

  I nodded politely, then waited for his eyes to go back to his BlackBerry. I looked over at Jackie and gave her a look that must have read nothing other than “I am in pain.” I didn’t know what to say, as I was unaware of how much, if anything, Jackie had said to him about Damon and me.

  “Damned NCIS,” Peter said, putting his phone back on the table. “Sweetheart, I was hoping to spend the morning with you, but I have to head back to base to sort something out.”

  Jackie pouted.

  “Nothing serious, I hope,” I said as conversationally as I could manage. I tipped a glass of orange juice to my mouth to hide any concern on my face.

  “It seems we have some issue with the local law enforcement. They claim one of our boys may or may not have assaulted one of their cops last night, and now I have NCIS on my ass.”

  “What is this NCIS?” Jackie asked. “Naval Criminal Investigative Service,” he responded. “You know? Like the TV show?” Jackie and I stared at him blankly. American TV just wasn’t our thing, and we were never home long enough to get into any syndicated shows. “They’re the police force for the Navy and Marine Corps,” he explained.

  “Sounds serious,” Jackie said in a tone I referred to as her “I don’t really give a shit, but I’ll pretend I do” voice. “It’s nothing to worry your pretty little head about, sweetheart. But I’m afraid I have to make a quick phone call and then leave you until tonight. Can we head back to the room so I can grab my keys?”

  “Jacks, I need to have a quick word with you. Can you give us a minute, Peter?” Jackie slid her key card to Peter. “There you go, sweetie,” she said, giving him a peck on the cheek. “Isn’t he handsome, Jay?”

  Both Peter and I looked at each other, unsure how to respond, so we nodded at each other. Peter got up and left the restaurant.

  Now that Jackie and I were alone, I quickly retold the story of the night before. Jackie was horrified.

  “Jay, what the hell were you thinking?”

  “I clearly wasn’t thinking, Jackie! Now what the fuck am I going to do?”

  “You want to help this guy? The police are out searching for you, and you want to protect him?” “Jackie, it’s more complicated than that.” I looked up and saw Peter returning to the restaurant. “What the hell am I going to do?”

  Jackie leaned back on her chair and watched Peter take his seat. She twisted her lips into what looked like a sideways whistle, first looking at me, then over to Peter.

  “Peter, sweetheart, it seems we need to have a little chat.” I buried my head in my hands and leaned my elbows forward onto the table, waiting for Jackie to tell him everything I had just confessed to her. My body began to burn as I realized that, by telling him the truth, there was an ounce of hope that he might be able to help, but it would also “out” Damon. Or even worse, he might report Damon as well as “outing” him to his unit.

  I shook my head at Jackie to tell her to stop, as I realized the whole thing could backfire and Peter might report not just Damon, but me as well.

  “Well, as you know, the lovely Jay here gave me the night off last night so you and I could go on our rather lovely date.” Jackie reached up and pulled softly at his earlobe. They looked at each other as though they had just shared a very fond memory.

  “And I thank him for it!” Peter said enthusiastically. “Well, it seems that I may be inadvertently involved in your little problem at work.”

  Peter looked utterly confused. “As I was unable to make the distributor’s meeting last night, because—” Jackie gave a little schoolgirl laugh. “— well, I was otherwise engaged, Jay took one of our young girls, Emma, along with him to fill in for me.”

  What are you doing? I thought as I followed Jackie’s words. “Now, Emma was due to have her own little date with someone she met the night we arrived. A young Marine called… Damon?”

  “Damon? He’s one of my boys.” “Yes, yes, we have just realized that.” Jackie leaned over and stroked the back of Peter’s hand. “Anyway, it seems that since Emma had to work instead of me, they delayed their date until later that night. Damon met Jay and Emma by the bar after the meeting, and they all went off to have a couple of drinks.”

  Jackie looked at me in a playfully disapproving manner. “But it seems you had a little more than a couple, didn’t you?”

  I nodded, not entirely sure where she was heading. “Anyway, Peter, it seems that after far too much alcohol was consumed, Emma was, let’s say, ‘caught short’ and was forced to urinate in a public alley.” Jackie showed her disgust with a wince. “However, just when Emma was tinkling, the police drove past. Damon, much to his credit, blocked the view of Emma’s shame and gave her a chance to flee the scene!”

  “I don’t understand,” Peter said.

  “You know how the laws are here, darling. If a young, blonde girl was found with her knickers around her ankles in public, she would be strung up on the nearest pole. It was Jay here who had the scuffle with the police in order to give Emma the chance to make a getaway, not your boy Damon.”

  “Well, I am sure that NCIS will understand,” Peter said, almost looking relieved that there was a reasonable explanation for why one of his men was involved.

  Jackie turned to me. “Do you think they will allow Emma to stay until the end of the month, or will they dismiss her immediately?”

  “Hang on. She could get sacked for this?” Peter asked. “But it was Jay who had the trouble with the police.” I interrupted and took Peter’s attention. “The company policy is that if there are any dealings with the police, it must be reported immediately. If I get called in over this, and I tell them what happened, they will automatically blame and dismiss Emma since she was the person who caused the incident.”

  “And with a young baby at home…,” Jackie said, shaking her head in sadness.

  Peter considered the situation. Jackie’s eyes darted over to me before she went in for the kill.

  “I am afraid we will have to cancel tonight.”

  “No!” Peter said in a kind of whiny voice that didn’t suit his size. “Why doyou have to cancel?” “I’m afraid I will be looking for local attorneys for Jay and Emma for the rest of the day. And God knows what paperwork I’ll have to do.”

  Peter looked crestfallen. Jackie watched him sympathetically as her hand slipped under the table to rub his leg in consolation. The angle of her arm suggested that her hand had traveled up toward his crotch. “It all seems so unfair. Our last night together ruined over something so silly.”

  We sat in silence for a while as Peter mulled things over. “Okay, how about this?”

  My ears pricked up.

  “We will never allow a foreign police department on base, so I am sure the only thing NCIS will do is offer them the chance to do some kind of lineup in their local station. I will simply vouch for Damon and say he was with me and excuse him from any lineup they want to conduct. One of the head NCIS guys is a friend of mine, so with any luck h
e won’t question it. That should keep everyone involved out of trouble.”

  “Well, that certainly would solve things,” Jackie said, practically bouncing in her seat and clapping her hands. “Thank you so much, Petey.”

  Peter tore off a piece of toast in his teeth. “I’m happy to do it. Besides, anything I can do to keep Dammo out of any trouble, I would do in a second.”

  “I must admit, I have changed my mind about that boy,” Jackie said, patting Peter’s hand. “I will be honest, on first introduction I wasn’t too enamored with him and had suggested that—” Jackie caught herself just in time. “— Emma should stay away from him, as he gave the impression he was somewhat of a troublemaker.”

  “Dammo?” Peter asked, somewhat confused. “Are we talking about the same Damon? Sure, that kid has his demons, but considering what he’s been through these last few years, I think anyone would have a few issues. No, he’s far from a troublemaker. If anything, he’s the one that the others look up to.”

  “What do you mean, ‘demons’?” Jackie asked casually. “Should we be worried about Emma being around him?” “No, what I mean is—well, it’s not really for me to say, but I assume you guys will keep this to yourselves.” Jackie and I both nodded. “I served in the same unit as his dad for years. He was a good buddy of mine. I knew him and his wife, Katherine, for years. Man, they were the cutest couple. They were childhood sweethearts who married when they were twenty years old.” Peter gave a wistful smile.

  “Anyway, Eddie and I were in one of the first units sent over to Iraq when the last war kicked off about eight years ago. It was Eddie’s last tour. He’d decided to come out of the military and get on with civilian life. He was tired of spending so much time away from his wife and felt like he had missed out on seeing his kids grow up. Especially Damon, who he complained had grown a foot each time he came back from being away. He wanted to do it years before, but stayed in service when he and his wife unexpectedly got pregnant fifteen years after their first two kids were born.”

  A ghost of sadness passed over Peter’s face, like he had let his guard down momentarily. “Eddie was in the vehicle leading our convoy through Baghdad a couple of days before we were due to return. An IED exploded, and he was killed instantly. Damon was just seventeen years old, in his final year of high school, and getting ready to go off to college.”

  “Oh, the poor boy,” Jackie said, both of us expecting this to be the end of the sad story. “Then, six months after they buried Eddie, Katherine was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer. She lasted just another six months before those kids buried her next to Eddie and were left alone.”

  “Wasn’t there any other family that could help?” I asked. “They were left the house and some money, but they were all still so young, so they went to stay with their uncle and his wife soon after Katherine died. But his aunt and uncle never wanted to have kids and were none too pleased with being landed with the responsibility, especially so soon after a big corporation had just bought the steel mill that his uncle worked for and laid him off. That whole situation just gave them more excuse to tear through the money Eddie and Katherine left. Between his uncle’s love of whiskey and his aunt’s screaming complaints about having to raise someone else’s kids, the tension got bad, and the uncle regularly beat down on Damon. Even back then he was a big kid and could have easily defended himself, but he took the beatings in the hope that his uncle would take it out on him rather than his sisters. But then one day, Damon saw his uncle backhand his little sister square across the face. Damon stepped in, so his uncle started beating on him and pushed him straight through a plate glass door.”

  I remembered the scars on Damon’s arm and back and wondered whether his broken nose was from one of the beatings his uncle had given him.

  “Damon finally snapped and went at him. He put his uncle in the hospital for two weeks. It was while he was in there that he contacted a lawyer. His sister and he managed to get guardianship of his youngest sister. The day after they moved back into their parents’ house, Damon enlisted to make sure he had the income to support them. His sister looked after the little one any time Damon was away, but for the most part, Damon raised that little girl. Even now, years later, he still sends back every cent to his sisters to get them through. He’s even saving for his kid sister’s college.”

  I massaged the tear that was spilling from my eye into my fingertips as though I was trying to clear away a flake of sleep.

  “Well, I better get a move on to make sure everything gets sorted out.” Peter stood and raised his hand for me to shake. I gathered myself just in time.

  “Thanks for all your help, Peter. I’m sure Emma will appreciate it.” “Anytime, son.” He turned to Jackie. “So, are we still on for tonight?” Peter was clearly more interested in Jackie’s response than my reaction to the news of Damon.

  “We most certainly are!” Jackie exclaimed. She gave him a peck on the lips, then hooked her arm to his elbow and steered him out of the restaurant, away from the man she could see was close to cracking.

  I ran up to the room and left a message on Damon’s voice mail filling him in, hopeful that he would get it before he saw Peter again.

  I SAT in shorts at the poolside table and watched the girls mess around in the water. The T-shirt I wore to cover the scratch down my back was already drenched in sweat.

  “Cheer up, Jay!” called Lei. “You look like you lost a pound and found a penny. Come get in the pool!”

  “I’m fine! You girls enjoy yourselves,” I called back. Jackie sauntered over in a bikini wrapped in a sarong. The Jackie Onassis sunglasses hid her eyes, so I wasn’t too sure whether her smile was one of self-happiness or kind sympathy.

  “You look like a little ray of sunshine,” she said, letting her beach bag drop from her shoulder and onto the ground. She took the seat next to me and called the pool attendant over to order two glasses of white wine.

  “Not for me, thanks, Jacks. I’m overtired and an emotional wreck as it is without adding alcohol into the mix.” “Bah, it’s good for what ails you,” she replied, confirming her original order with the attendant.

  “What the hell went wrong with me this week, Jacks? I’m never like this.”

  “And I allow gentlemen callers to grace my boudoir every night?”

  I took my dangling sunglasses from the collar of my Tshirt and slipped them on. “I hope you’re not concealing another tear, young man.” “You saw that, huh?”

  “Darling, let me tell you, I like Peter. I like Peter very much, indeed. He is a good, kind man who has a big heart and is an absolute wizard between the sheets. However, I have to take this for what it is.”

  “And what exactly is it, Jackie?” The bitterness in my voice came out as though it was directed at her.

  Jackie remained silent for a moment, allowing our drinks to be delivered and set on the table.

  “You’ve fallen for him, haven’t you?” Jackie asked, kindly.

  “No. Yes.” I threw my arms up. “I don’t know!” Jackie took her glass and toasted mine that still sat on the table. “Chin-chin.”

  I picked up my glass, clinked hers again, and took a long cool sip of wine. “I spent most of the week thinking he was an utter prick. But the more I know of him, the more I look back on the week and understand the reasons why he behaved like that. But that doesn’t explain why I feel sick like this.”

  “Would you care for some words from a wise old bird?” “I’ll take anything you got.”

  “It sounds like you are the first man that he’s been comfortable enough around to open up to. I’m sure you find that to be quite a connection between two relative strangers. Yes?”

  “I suppose so.” “He trusted you enough for you to take his virginity, so I can only imagine that you feel as if you now have some kind of ever-memorable, if not everlasting, bond. Yes?”

  “I can’t see either of us forgetting that in a hurry.” I smiled. “Would it be fair to say that he sou
ght you out? I mean, to have a big ol’ stud muffin like him pursue you must be flattering. Yes?”

  “Hell yeah. Of course.”

  “If he had gotten through that fence, do you believe he would have come back for you?” “He threw himself between me and the guy at the bar that I thought was grabbing Emma. So yes, I guess he would have wanted to protect me.”

  “Do you respect him?”

  “I do now. How could you not when you hear how loyal he is to his family?”

  “Well then, darling. There it is. You have fallen in love with the boy!” “What?”

  “You heard me!”

  “Where’s my advice from the old bird?” I asked. “I never said advice. Only words.”

  “And what if I am? What if I do find myself feeling more than I should for him? It could never work. We live on opposite sides of the planet!”

  “Stranger things have happened. I have a dear friend called Sadie, who I used to fly with. She met a young man who was—”

  “Jackie, I don’t need to hear a happily-ever-after story right now,” I said a little bitterly.

  “Okay, okay. There’s no need to jump down my throat, Jay. I was only attempting to give you a little hope.” “Well, I don’t need it. Leave it alone,” I said, with a clip to my voice I had never used with Jackie before. We sat in silence until the waiter collected our glasses. Jackie ordered another two wines and resumed watching the girls.

  “Jay….” Her voice was tinged with nervousness. “What’s really upsetting you?” I felt another tear well up in my eye.

  “I’m sorry, Jacks. You know I love you.”

  “I know.” Her tone and smile showed she forgave me.

  “I’m just so confused. I hardly know the guy, but I feel like he’s put me through the wringer. No man has ever made my emotions go crazy the way he has. I know I shouldn’t feel anything for him and I should be sensible, but it feels like he’s turned me upside down and shaken every emotion out of my pockets.”

  “Is that not a good thing?” “I’ve gone from kind of liking him, to being scared of him, to lusting after him, to wanting to humiliate him, to being grateful to him, to wanting to protect him, to now caring about him. And as I sit here now, after hearing everything Peter just told us, I feel like he’s almost too good for me.”