11 comments/ 10529 views/ 6 favorites For Karine and Country Ch. 01 By: NorthernWalker This is the first part of my first story, inspired by a friend of mine serving in the Canadian army. No sex in this one. ******************* Now a newly minted Captain, Matt Young stared out of the bar's window, looking at the rain softly flow down the pane of glass as the night took hold. After what seemed like an eternity, he quietly turned back to the bar and stared down at his drink, stirring it slowly like he would a coffee. Coffee. There was something he hoped he wouldn't have to taste for a long time. Weeks of military training led into months, months into years and rarely did he ever wake up to the warm orange glow of the sun. In his opinion, man was not meant to wake up that early, and man was certainly not meant to drink coffee by the gallon. Course, nobody cared, and truth be told, he really didn't give a shit anymore. Truth be told, he had always fancied the idea of serving his country somehow, but had never seen himself as a soldier. Push came to shove, and with student loans to pay off in an unstable economy, he had jumped for what seemed to the best option at the time. He should have been prouder of his accomplishment. Yet he felt empty. He had nobody to share his accomplishment with. Certainly not her. Certainly not after what had happened. Her. The girl that had captured his heart, only to break it. At nights, he would dream of her. Her long, flowing hair. Her deep brown eyes. Her smile. He shivered as he remembered that infectious smile of hers, full of perfect white teeth. He remembered looking up from them to find her staring into him. Not just his eyes. His soul. She stepped forward, pressing her body against his while gliding her arms onto his shoulders. A chill ran down his spine as he felt her breasts press into him. Noticing his awkward reaction, she smiled, then softly pressed her lips onto his as he caressed her long, chestnut hair. "Hey buddy, you gonna finish that?" Matt snapped back into the present, and looking down at his drink, noticed that he had been simply stirring and playing with it for the last hour or so. He looked over to the bartender, and nodded. "Sorry." Matt picked up the drink and looked at it with disdain. Truth be told, he didn't enjoy rum on the rocks... but he did enjoy the momentary respite it gave him from his existence. The bartender chuckled. "No need to be. No point in buying a drink if you're just going to play with it, though." He went back to wiping his counter, leaving Matt to his own devices. Not intent on feeling like crap, he took a sip of the rum, and then decided to glance around the bar. It was a fairly classy place, well lit, and friendly. On the far wall, there were some booths, and their padded seats certainly seemed more accommodating than the bar stool he was sitting on. Grabbing his green beret in one hand, and his drink and phone in the other, he got up, and paced over to the second last booth from the door where he sat down. He stared at the washrooms in the back and grimaced. That was where it had all ended for him. He had walked out of that bar that Friday night, five years ago and into the army the next day. "Don't lie, you didn't join to serve, you joined to get away." He tried to silence the voice in his head, but it was true. She had betrayed him. She had walked away from everything they knew that night, and he had just broken under the immediate weight of what had happened. The door opened, and the wind blew in. Matt was glad for a moment that he had chosen to bring his rain jacket along. Granted, the thing was made of rubber and it smelled due to the waterproofing... but it worked. He heard steps coming down the aisle. They sounded like women's shoes. That, or clickers, the metal plates on the bottom of some soldier's boots. But there wasn't a base for hundreds of kilometres- His train of thought was quickly and thoroughly derailed when a tall brunette sat on the bench seat across from him. He had imagined this day for years on end, but never thought that it would happen. What were the chances of that, he thought. Now, in all his bewilderment, he could only ask, "Karine?" "No, it's Santa Claus," The brunette replied. She smirked. "Of course it's me." Matt leaned back into the padding and gave her the once over. She seemed to look exactly like she did five years ago, except she now wore her hair down, cut femininely to just above her collarbone. He noticed she was soaking wet, then remembered, somewhat belatedly, that there was a rainstorm outside. "You should really take that jacket off." "I should." She replied, and she pulled the jacket off of her shoulders, and slid it out from behind her back. She straightened out her clothes, and Matt couldn't help but stare at the swell of her breasts as the cotton blouse struggled to contain them. She wasn't that well endowed, by any means, but she was very well proportioned. Matt smiled at the fond memory, moments before a darker one replaced it. "How have you been?" he asked. As long as they kept to the banter and not the heavy stuff, they'd walk out with some sanity left. "I've been fine," she said impatiently. It was her turn to look him up and down. "Now forget about how I've been, you don't even look like the Matt I knew." "Being in the army does things to people." "I can see," Karine said as she took a deep breath. "Matt... about what happened-" "Not now Karine. Not now." "But-" "Please. Just not now. We'll deal with it later," his words coming out forcefully. Karine didn't look too pleased. "Later? Matt, I've waited for the last five years for this, and you want to wait until later?" Matt felt that rage rise, the one he had suppressed since that faithful night. "The last five years, huh? Well do you want to know what I've been doing for these... past... five years, Karine?" Karine's aggressiveness promptly evaporated, and Matt continued, becoming increasingly irate. "For the past five years, I have been at war, especially with myself. I can't sleep, I take on increasingly risky jobs and throw myself into situations where I'm likely to get killed." His voice started faltering, but he continued. "When that doesn't work, I go to bars with the guys back at the regiment and I pick up a girl and proceed to fuck her as hard as I can. Sure she comes, sure I come. I try to get back at you for what you did to me. But it doesn't work, and it's all because I still fucking love you." Karine gasped as he let the silence permeate, then finished off his rant. "One of these days, I just might take my nine mil, stick it in my mouth, and pull the damn trigger, and end this sad story." Matt was at his breaking point now. He shot up, and turned towards the door. Karine's face was a look of sheer horror as he turned back, and looked directly into her eyes. "Go to hell." By now everybody in the bar was staring at this soldier, dressed in dark green combat uniform, on the verge of a breakdown. He walked as fast as he could out of the bar and into the downpour of the cold night. In his haste, he hadn't taken his rain jacket, but he didn't care. Fumbling with his keys, he pressed the button for the unlock on his car, and got into the driver's seat. He stared forward for what seemed to be an eternity. He then started sobbing uncontrollably, leaning on the steering wheel, pounding on the horn with his fist. His solace was interrupted by a loud banging on his passenger door. He glanced to his right, and unable to make out who it was, didn't respond. The door suddenly thrust open as the sound of thunder echoed through the streets, and standing there, was a rain soaked Karine. They stared at each other for an eternity, unsure of how to proceed. Finally, Matt, having managed to get his outburst under control, looked at the wet and now shivering Karine. "You're going to get sick. At least get in." "Okay," said Karine in a voice barely above a whisper as pulled herself into the car. She then looked at him. If Matt had just been able to pay a bit more attention, he would have noticed the change in Karine's eyes, as if a layer of her armour had been cracked. She started pounding on him with her fists, swinging her arms at him with all her might. "What the hell are you thinking, you bastard!?! Trying to get yourself killed!?! Thinking of shooting yourself!?! Why the hell would you do that!?!" Matt yelled back. "Because you slept with him! Because you threw away everything we had for a cheap thrill! Why the hell wouldn't I want to!?!" Karine screamed at him. "You didn't do anything wrong! You don't have to live with the consequences of what YOU did! You didn't get shitfaced! You weren't the one that slept with him! You weren't the one that lost your virginity with your boyfriend's best friend in a goddamn washroom stall, and you CERTAINLY weren't the one that miscarried!" There was an immediate silence in the car, broken only by quiet sobs. Karine pulled herself onto Matt, and he put his arms around her, doing the best to cope with this news, having put his issues aside for this girl who now seemed as much as a victim as he was. The shock of the statement hit him hard. Karine, the Catholic girl, had been pregnant? Wait, she miscarried? All the assumptions he had made in the previous five years, of her laughing at him for being such a pushover, for not being enough of a man for her, were thrown out the window. It was at this point that the horrific thought entered his mind. He had, in fact, abandoned her and everything they had. Granted, she had cheated, and of her own volition, but in those hours where she was alone, trying to cope with the aftermath, she had nobody to turn to. Surely her parents wouldn't have approved of her being pregnant without being married. She would have become a social pariah. She would have had to deal with the knowledge that it was her fault that everything she held dear had been destroyed. He wasn't sure if he could deal with what she did. "Oh god," he whispered. ******************* They arrived outside of a nondescript house north of downtown, on the grounds of what used to be a military base, decommissioned after the end of the Cold War. Though the base was gone, the community was vibrant, sustained by the families of the soldiers who worked at nearby Brigade headquarters. Matt had been lucky to get a nice house on the corner of two quiet streets, and enjoyed the peace and quiet of such an area in what was arguably Canada's biggest city. He pulled up into the driveway, parked the car, and killed the engine. He turned to his right, and saw Karine shivering. He didn't have any towels in the car, and despite the heat, she was shivering uncontrollably. Matt recognized the signs of hypothermia setting in. "Come on, you can't stay like this. Wait here and I'll help you in." He got out of the Escape, ran up to his door, unlocked it, and turned around to see Karine, shivering, but with a quiet smile on her face. "I can take care of myself, you know. I always have been." Karine had once been a tomboy, and the memory of the tall and awkward girl that he grew up with gave Matt a momentary smile. Regardless, he still took her hand, and walked her inside. Karine was actually surprised at how clean and ordered the place was, especially since as far as she knew, he lived alone. Doubt ran through her mind. Maybe he didn't. He was a decent guy, and a lot of girls wouldn't mind having a soldier as their- She killed the thought as fast as she could. "Bathroom's down the hall, to the right. There are towels in the washroom, I'll grab some of the extras from the linen closet, and see if I can't scrounge up something for you to wear. Throw your clothes into the hamper, and I'll dry them." Shivering cold, she didn't have much of an option. She walked into the washroom, and began to strip down. She threw her clothes into the laundry hamper, making sure that her pockets were empty, first of all; she didn't think Matt would be too happy to see a pen explode in his laundry. Turning towards the shower, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Nothing she saw in the mirror was new, but there was a chill in her spine, an unknown feeling of trepidation. Vulnerability. She was vulnerable. Stepping into the shower, she moaned in relief as the hot water cascaded down onto her head, following her every curve, warming her body. She noticed Matt had one of those fancy soap dispensers in the shower, and pressed the button for body wash. As she soaped up and cleaned herself off, she felt a twinge of desire, a yearning for something more. Her eyes slowly closed, and her hands began to slide across her body, closer to her warmth. She softly caressed the slit between her legs, moaning softly as she smelled the warm, flowery scent of the body wash- Wait, body wash? What kind of a soldier uses flower scented body wash? Her eyes shot open, and she stood up straight and inspected the soap dispenser. Conditioner? Okay, there was definitely a woman living here. With this realization, Karine's shoulders slumped, and her hopes and fantasies had fallen apart. Why didn't Matt mention her? Were they fuckbuddies? Was she his girlfriend and he had just not brought her up in his outburst? These questions filled her mind for the remainder of her time in the shower. When she finally got out of the shower, she dried her body with the extra towels- Wait, extra towels? Her attention was then diverted to a neatly folded pile of clothes on the counter, next to the sink. Matt had entered? She turned to the hamper and looked down into it. It was empty. Apparently the army had taught Matt how to be a sneaky bastard. She was mortified as soon as she realized he had been in there. Was she so preoccupied that she didn't notice him? Did he see her? Did she want him to see her? He had left a tan t-shirt and pants for her to wear. On closer inspection, these pants were similar to Matt's uniform pants, but in a desert colour. She pulled the tan t-shirt over her head and onto her body. It was tight, and the shirt left no question that she wasn't wearing a bra, outlining and accentuating every curve straight down to her hips. This was not his shirt. Did it belong to the other woman? Nevertheless, it fit, and it made her feel damn sexy, something she hadn't felt in a very long time. Heck, they weren't even hers and she felt kinda naughty. The pants, however, were another matter, as she realized she threw her panties into the hamper. Not willing to embarrass herself, she decided to go commando, and hoped Matt wouldn't notice. Again, these were too small to belong to Matt... so did this mean the other woman was a soldier too? Someone who would understand his motivations, and offer a comfort based on mutual exper- She sighed as she pulled on the combat pants, and did up the buttons and zipper. She looked into the mirror. She'd have to find a hairdryer. ******************* Matt was in the kitchen, trying to do something to keep his sanity. For five years, he had been expecting this confrontation, the one that never happened. He would spend nights, looking up at sky, whether it be from his backyard, the bases he had been transferred to one after another, or Afghanistan itself. Afghanistan. Now there was a place that he never wanted to go back to. But, in his time there, one thing that he did in fact miss about the place was the sky. Countless stars dotted the night sky, a beauty in a land that had seen none for a very long time. In a way Afghanistan was symbolic of his inner conflict. A simple, clear cut situation, that had gotten increasingly complicated. Canada was in Afghanistan. But Karine was his battle, and his alone. Matt stirred the pot of soup on the stove, and tried to find some Ramen noodles to throw into the mix. Years of being a soldier had forced him to improvise, lest he deal with army rations. Instead of Ramen noodles, all he could find was a can of hot chocolate, bought years ago, never used, and probably still good. He put the kettle onto the stove, and pulled two mugs out of the cupboard, putting them down onto the counter.. He took off his combat shirt, so that he was only wearing his dry t-shirt, and threw the wet thing onto a chair. With all immediate tasks taken care of, he settled into his thoughts once again as he slowly stirred the soup, hoping that it wasn't burning on the bottom. Karine had been wet and was going to get sick... she needed somewhere to dry off and warm up. He remembered basic training, where... what was his name... Simmons? Simon? Whatever it was, buddy had gotten ill after falling into a creek in the field. But she could have gone back to wherever she was living, right? He could have driven her there, right? Why did he drive her back to his place? Unless he wanted to... No. As much as he found Karine attractive, it wasn't something he would do. He just wanted to get things worked out and do in home court... right, yes, that would be the reason. Not that she was attractive... Matt's internal conflict was interrupted by Karine's entry. From behind the counter he couldn't help but feel a twinge of desire in his groin for this girl. Very few women manage to look good in uniform. Karine had managed to make the baggy combat uniform pants and t-shirt look very, very good. Karine was the first to break their silence. "Hey there, soldier boy." She cracked a smile. "Hey there soldier girl." "How do I look?" "Dressed to kill." "Literally or figuratively?" "Well, you seem to have the guns for it." He motioned to her arms. She giggled as she pretended to flex. "Well, I've been working out." "So I see. Take a seat, soup should be ready in a bit." Karine walked up and sat at the counter, directly opposite of Matt, who seemed to be taking this pot of soup a little too seriously. Her hair was done up in a ponytail, with her bangs hanging down and to the sides of her face, dry. She had found the hairdryer that he had forgotten to take out. Then again, he didn't want to be in there too long, lest something awkward happen. Karine finally spoke up. "You know how to cook?" "No, I can't cook for shit. Jacalyn does that." The room got quiet, once again. Karine's poorly suppressed concerns broke free and Matt could see this on her face, as she tensed up. Desperate to contain the situation, he rushed the words out of his mouth. "Jacalyn's... Jacalyn's my roommate." "Your roommate?" "Yeah. She was a sniper, I was her spotter and after we got back she got posted as a recruiter, and I as staff... so we decided to split a place, better than living in the singles quarters." Matt saw Sara relax, and silently thanked the gods. "Are you two... involved?" It was Matt's turn to tense up. He scratched the nape of his neck with his left hand, and then replied. "We... we saw a lot over in Afghanistan. War bonds people in certain ways, but you know... we just wanted to stay alive. Once we were sent home, the army made our company stopover in Cyprus and take five days decompression... Matt flashed back to the night where he and Jacalyn got wasted at a Cypriot bar. He remembered how he had grabbed her and kissed her outside of their hotel. He remembered her ripping his uniform off in his room and assaulting his mouth with her tongue. He remembered the heat and tightness of her cunt as he entered her after months of mutual celibacy and how she had moaned as he bottomed out. "And?" He remembered thrusting in and out of her cunt as she screamed in ecstasy, driving her hips against his as hard as she could, desperate for more of his cock as he grabbed and played with her D cup tits. Then he remembered the heat building up, and his orgasm... where he shot his load into her sopping wet pussy, thrusting as deep as he could into her to fill her with his seed; collapsing on top of her. For Karine and Country Ch. 01 "We were lonely... But by the end of that week, we knew nothing was going to come of it." He remembered how they had spent most of the week crying, reliving the battle, not understanding why they survived. He remembered how they were curled up on the bed, taking solace in the comfort of each other's arms. Then he remembered her pregnancy scare. Once the tension was gone... we figured we made better friends than lovers or whatnot. Plus the military wouldn't be too happy about a Captain sleeping with a Master Corporal." He took a breath, and continued. "Karine?" Karine was now worried at the serious tone of his voice. With a bit of trepidation, she answered. "Yeah?" He spoke slowly. "Listen... about earlier in the bar..." She cut him off. "No apologizing. We'll work it out. Somehow." Matt's serious demeanour lightened as he ladled the soup into a bowl. He paused to think, then he slid the bowl in front of her. "Alright," he answered. ******************* The two of them had finished their food, and now were on the couch in the living room watching a movie. Karine was nestled in Matt's arms, in his army hoodie, enjoying the warmth of being so close to him. Matt was right, he couldn't cook for shit, but he was a master at making drinks. She finished the remainder of her hot chocolate, and placed the mug onto the end table. "Somebody likes her hot chocolate. That's the third one you've finished." "Well I'm not the only one that likes it. Isn't that your fourth, soldier boy?" "Stop calling me soldier boy." "No. Not until you tell me how to make this." "It's a recipe that only us army types know... to let an outsider know would be treason." "I know there's scotch in it..." "There's scotch in a lot of stuff." "How did you learn how to make it again?" "Years ago on my basic training, I was offered a warm drink by one of my Sergeants after a particularly long week in the field. The moment I tasted it, I knew I had to find out what was in it." His story was interrupted when he noticed that Karine was leaning on him more heavily. "Go on." She nuzzled his collarbone. "So, ahh... he wouldn't tell me. Told me to find him the day I returned from my first tour in Afghanistan. That was, what, about two years ago? So I tracked him down, and you wouldn't believe the look on his face when I showed up on his front porch in full dress uniform." Karine couldn't help but laugh. Neither could Matt. "You are something, aren't you." "Yes ma'am, I'm one of a kind." "Yes you are." They turned their attention back to the movie, Casino Royale. Bond had just been tortured by the villain, and now was in the hospital, falling in love with Vesper Lynd. The increasingly obvious romance between the two only served to make Matt and Karine feel increasingly uncomfortable. It was only a matter of time before somebody spoke. "Karine?" "Yeah." "Do you hate me?" "What?" "Do you hate me?" "I'm in your house, watching a movie while nestled in your arms. Of course I don't hate you." "I walked away." "As would have anybody." "I never tried to talk to you." "As would have anybody." "Stop saying that." To Matt's surprise, Karine sat up straight, and turned so that she was facing him. She looked at him, took his hands into hers and adamantly said "No, I won't." Matt pulled his hands away gently. "What kind of a man would abandon someone he loved?" "The same man who thought his girlfriend was cheating on him- Well, knew she was cheating." "Only that one time?" "Duh." She leaned back into the couch. "How about you?" "Huh?" "Do you hate me Matt?" Matt took a while to come up with a response, and every second longer he took, Karine grew more and more anxious. He finally replied. "I hate what you did... but I don't hate you." "That was a fucked up night, wasn't it?" "Yeah." ******************* Matt replayed the familiar nightmare. They had been celebrating a friend's birthday at the bar, and over the course of the night, everybody had disappeared to one corner, or another. Some were on the dance floor, some smoking outside. Karine had left for the dance floor at least an hour before, and Matt assumed he simply couldn't see her. At that second booth closest to the door, Matt had been drinking beers when nature called. Making his way to the back, and into the restaurant's washroom, he was at the urinal when he heard a dull thumping, hindered by the music playing outside of the washroom on the dance floor. He then heard grunting and moaning, and finally connected the dots. Somebody was getting lucky in the handicap stall next to the wall. Finishing his business, Matt was washing his hands in the sink when couldn't help but sneak a peek in the mirror and see if he could figure out who it was. The only clue he had was a black university hoodie hung on the stall door. It looked just like the one Karine wore all the time. She had replaced the drawstring with a red one when it fell out. Most of them had black ones... wait. This one wasn't black. Matt's heart dropped. Years of football had left him in superior shape, and as soon as he connected the dots, he found himself turning around and rushing towards the door. His mind stopped functioning as he brought his right foot up and kicked the door as hard as he could. The cheap lock on the stall gave way, and Matt stepped in and turned his eyes to the left, to the remainder of the stall. There she was. Naked as the day she was born, pinned up against the wall with her legs around some equally naked guy. Karine was the first to see Matt, and she screamed once her glazed over eyes made contact with his now vacant eyes. The guy had twisted his shoulders around to see what had just happened. They made eye contact. His girlfriend... the love of his life... was screwing Adam. His best friend. Matt's face said everything. Part shock, part horror, part anger. Karine threw her legs down and pushed Adam away from her as if he were a disease. Adam twisted around while putting his hands up defensively, and backed as far as he could away from Matt. "I swear man.. she came onto-" Adam didn't get a chance to finish his sentence, as Matt smashed his face in. His body, suddenly limp, collapsed onto the ceramic floor, blood and sweat pooling in a puddle. He looked pathetic. Matt turned his eyes back to his girlfriend. Well somebody that used to be his girlfriend. He took in the sad sight in front of him. Her makeup was smeared, and her face covered in beads of sweat. Was that cum dripping from the corner of her mouth? There were bite marks around her nipples, her breasts were red as if they had been grabbed, and hard at that. Cum dripped from her pussy onto her inner thighs. She slumped onto the wall, slid down, and started crying. In a broken and slurred voice, she tried to speak. "Matt-" Matt interrupted her. "Don't." Matt then looked back at Adam, and decided to give him another kick for good measure. The body groaned. Good. He wasn't dead. He then looked back at Karine, and found himself unable to be in the same room as her at that point. He did a 180, and then walked out of that bar. Matt's friend saw him walk back to the booth. But there was something different. His eyes were vacant, the thousand yard stare present in them. He walked past the table, not even bothering to collect his jacket, and out the door. Little did anybody know that there was an engagement ring in that jacket. ******************* "You were really drunk, weren't you?" Matt stopped the movie. "Shitfaced. I don't remember much, but I somehow made it out of that washroom. Didn't make it too far, and Sarah had to drag me back to her place and get me to wash up." "Massive hangover?" "You bet." "How'd you feel?" "Confused. I didn't remember the night, all that I knew was that I had too much to drink and Sarah had just dragged me back to her place. I called you. But I got your answering machine. I texted you after that so many times." "I know." "I.. I was sore all over, but as the day went on, the soreness... down there... remained. It wasn't part of my general soreness... it was specific... as if something bad had happened. Then it came back to me. The washroom. Him. You kicking in the door. You looking at me like something that crawled out of the sewer." Matt couldn't sit back anymore. He pulled Karine into the crook of his arm, and hugged her reassuringly. "Karine, you don't have to-" "No Matt. I want to." Karine took a deep breath, and continued. "I started crying, and the more I tried to reach you, the more I realized you didn't want to do anything with me. I told Sarah what happened, and while she was mad with me, she tried to help me find you. But everybody said they hadn't heard from you. I checked your place. Nobody was there." "I moved out a week after." "Did you?" "Yeah." "You never told anybody what happened?" "Figured nobody needed more drama. I did tell a few shrinks... but it only sorta helped." "I'm sorry." "Stop saying that." "No. No, I won't." Karine was breaking down. But she soldiered on. "So just when things were a disaster, they got worse. I started throwing up in the mornings. Turned out I was carrying his baby. Mom and dad weren't too pleased, and wanted me to get an abortion. Some religious parents they were... hypocrites. Stopped talking to them. I decided I would do something right for once." The room was quiet once more, with the exception of their breathing. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she spoke up. "Then that December... maybe few days in... Sarah was driving me to the doctor's. Nice, sunny morning. Some day it turned out to be. We hit a patch of black ice, and she lost control of the car. The last thing I remember was seeing a bus coming at us... I don't remember being cut out of the wreck. I don't remember the ambulance. All I remember was waking up in that hospital, and being told I lost my baby." Karine finally lost it, and started sobbing. Matt wasn't much better off. His pain seemed very, very unimportant now. He remembered how he used to comfort her when she was at her worst, back when things were happier. He hoped that it still worked, for her sake. He slowly and softly kissed the top of her head, and did so until she managed to slow herself to sniffles. It had been over three hours since they had started watching the movie. Three of the longest hours of their lives. "Don't go any further. Please. Please don't do this to yourself." "Matt, I need to get this off my chest. I've waited for five years, for my sake, just let me finish." Matt decided to not push the matter, and pulled her in closer, yet again. She continued. "Those were the worst months of my life... I mean, I wasn't that badly hurt, Sarah was alright... but I just didn't want to live anymore. I went in and out of my paces, went to work, sat around at home, and went to see the doctor. Sometimes I thought about jumping off a bridge." She felt Matt tense up and his heart beat faster. It had been getting faster all night, but it was at its peak now. "Then one day, the May after, while waiting for my counsellor at a hospital, I saw him in the lobby. A soldier in full dress uniform, on crutches, and in pain. Missing his leg." Matt had a brief flashback to all of the men he had lost on his tours. Men who didn't deserve to suffer. "There was this sort of a shop in the lobby next to the office, and the soldier stopped to buy a candy bar. He was the last one in there, as they were closing. So as he made his way over to the office, I could hear someone running. A boy. He wasn't older than ten. Ran around the corner, saw the place closed, and you should see his shoulders slump. Karine paused. "The soldier heard him too. He turned around and waved to get the boy's attention." Karine looked up into Matt's eyes, then back down. There was a new emotion in her eyes, one he wasn't sure of. "They talked for a bit, then the soldier reached down gave him his candy bar. You could just see that boy light up, and after thanking him, he ran back where he came from. The soldier turned back in my direction, and made his way into the office. There was something different about him though. He was happy. Full of hope, full of life and it was right there and then that I decided that despite what happened to me... I had the rest of my life in front of me." She smiled, tears in her eyes. "Eventually... I did get my life back together. Started going out with friends again. Started talking to family again. Learned to love every moment. But there was something missing." "What?" "You." "Is that why you were at the bar tonight?" "Yeah." "You didn't know if I was coming." "I hoped that you would. It just seems like something you would do." "Am I that predictable?" "Oh yeah." They both laughed, the first time in a while. Their moment quickly died. "But I know it can't happen." Matt's heart stopped. Confused, and stunned, he pressed. "Why?" "You said so yourself, in the bar. I nearly got you killed. I was the reason you were out there in the battlefield. Now look at you. You could have any woman you wanted. Why would you want me, the girl who broke your heart?" "Do you remember what the last thing I said in that bar was?" "Go to hell." Karine sighed dejectedly. "Before that." "You were thinking of killing yourself." "No. That was me being a drama queen." "Then, I don't remember." "I said it was all because I still love you." A pause. "I'm sorry I kept you waiting." Matt was confused. Karine sensed this. "Sex." "Oh. A lot of girls do wait, you know." "I wanted to wait for the right person. Until I was married. Like a proper Catholic girl." "It's not like you deprived me." They shared a fond memory. She remembered tearing off his pants and taking him entirely into her mouth whenever she could. He remembered the way she and that ponytail would bob up and down as she quite literally fucked him with her mouth, and how she'd always swallow and look up at him with a mischievous smile. "Blowjobs aren't sex." "That's not the point. Sex gets boring if you don't feel anything for the other person. You made it personal." "I guess I did. You know I got pretty horny too." She giggled. Incredulously, Matt replied. "Really?" "Totally." "I wanted to go down on you." "I know. But it got to the point where I was fighting with myself over if I should have just gone and slept with you... Part of me wanted to wait like I had been taught growing up. Part of me just wanted to throw you down and have my way with you." "You know that counts as rape right?" "No jury would every convict me." "Not that I would have minded." Karine gave him a playful punch on the shoulder, and continued. "Eventually horny me won out. A cucumber can only go so far." She thought she felt his cock twitch as she looked up at his reddening cheeks, and laughed. She then continued in a more serious tone, her eyes falling back to the floor. "Unfortunately, it was when I was shitfaced." Matt spoke flatly, not happy to remember the night. "I remember. Whatever happened to Adam?" "Adam? He fucked the wrong woman, so I heard." "How?" "Her husband was a cop." "Ouch." "Yeah. Drugs got planted, a 'random' search occurred, next thing that bastard knows is that he's bitch to a guy named Bubba up at Kingston. Ten years." Matt couldn't help but smile as the man he had once considered killing was going to be facing such an ironic punishment. "Matt?" Karine looked up at him again. "Yeah?" "Where do we go from here?" Matt didn't know how to answer that. "I don't know. I guess slowly. We'll figure things out." He looked at the clock, and continued. "It's nearly one. Guess if we figure out anything, it'll be tomorrow." "Yeah, I'm kinda sleepy. I'm sure we can wait." "I'm going to take a shower. I'm sure Jacalyn won't mind if you sleep in her room, she tends to be a lot more laidback than I am. I've put your clothes up there." "Including my panties?" Matt stammered. "Yes, including your panties. Luckily Jacalyn won't know you went commando in her fatigues." Karine blushed. "Thanks for everything." "Don't mention it." ******************* Matt was trying to dry out his ears as he entered his bedroom. He never was one for a short shower, despite the trouble he got into with the army for it. It gave him time to think, and he had no shortage of material to digest this hour. Stopping in front of his bed, he threw the towel onto the computer chair. His room was a simple affair. In the center was his bed, and to the right was a large desk against the wall with his computer, as well as a bookcase. To the right was his army gear, stored neatly. Some of his gear, such as his helmet, was on a mannequin- Wait, where was his helmet? He sensed he wasn't alone. His suspicions were confirmed as he heard his door swing and click shut. He turned around as fast as he could, and suddenly, lost the ability to say something. A foot away from him was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She was wearing his helmet, the sweater from earlier... thin pink panties... and nothing else. Her arms were by her side and she was looking into his eyes. He saw her soul. He was incapable of speech. She spoke instead. "So I got to my room... got into bed... and decided that I didn't want to wait until tomorrow." Matt was finally able to speak. "The helmet?" She stepped closer to him, to the point where they were touching. Her arms came up to grab his arms, and she slowly caressed the tanned skin. "I'm willing to fight for you, no matter what." They kissed. ******************* End of Chapter 1. Jacalyn will play an important role in Chapter 2. Thanks for reading. Constructive feedback is always welcome. *******************