The Lonely Hearts 06 The Grunt 2 Read online

  Without looking at the check, Brett sucked in a breath. This whole fake sorrow thing was really getting to him. How could he pretend that he was all broken into pieces about Amy’s cheating ass with Courtney sitting right beside him? It was rude, condescending, and complete bullshit. Clearing the air, he held up a hand. “Let’s be real, gentleman. I’m sitting here with the woman of my dreams. I don’t need any closure from the act of God that took place two years ago. I need some financial benefit.”

  Ouch, Courtney said to herself. That was harsh…but true. She covered her face slightly and tried not to look at the reaction of the men.

  Kevin hesitated and nodded his head. “Yes, sir. I mean, yes Mr. Black. We understand.” In truth, he didn’t give a flying shit. He had memorized the lines that were given to him by their PR person. That was it.

  Brett smacked his lips. “Alright. Well, now that that’s out of the way, we can move on with a certain amount of transparency.”

  The other men smirked as Brett finally looked down at the check.

  Trey Donovan, the young, eager, attractive dark haired attorney put his elbows on the table. “Keep in mind that this agreement will be executed and finalized today. We’ll sign all the necessary documents here and immediately provide you with this live check.”

  For a moment, Brett did not blink. Finally making himself breathe, he passed it to Courtney. “Sorry baby. It’s not $500,000.” He winked at Kevin. “That was her dream number.”

  Rolling her eyes, she took the check in her hand and then let out a small whimper. “$2,600,000.00,” she said in disbelief. She dropped the check on the table and put her hands over her mouth. Could this be? Was this real? Did this just happen? Darting her confused look between Brett and the men, she let out a laugh, followed by tears.

  “Right here, today,” Kevin said with a smile. “I told you we’d come back with an offer that was more respectable.”

  “Well,” Brett wiped his hand down his mouth and chin. “I can respect the hell out of that.” He finally laughed aloud.

  There was a sigh of relief around the table. The lawyers immediately began to pull out their paperwork to be signed, and Kevin pulled out his shiny executive pen – the one he only used when he closed deals.

  “Let’s make you a millionaire, Mr. Black,” Trey said with a wide grin.

  Brett had never signed his name so fast. Within 10 minutes, they were all done. He had signed over 30 pieces of paper and would have given them a blood sample if they liked. When it was all done, he looked over at Courtney in complete shock. What a fucking twist?

  Passing the check to Courtney, he rose up out of his chair and kissed her lips. “Hold on to that for me, will you, baby?”

  “You bet,” she giggled. “All the way to the bank.”

  The men laugh and stood. As they were about to shake Brett’s hand the doorbell rang.

  “Who is that?” Courtney said, getting up from the table. She turned and looked at the figure at the door. “If you would excuse me, just one moment.”

  She walked a few feet to the door and opened it to find a Sheriff’s Deputy waiting.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked, tears still in her eyes. “What happened?”

  The look on her face made the Deputy stutter. “Ma’am, I’m sorry. I know how this looks.” He raised his hands so that she could see them. “No one’s hurt and no one’s dead.” Looking in the door at the men around the table, he smiled. “Is one of those men in their Brett Black?”

  Brett walked to the door on his crutches. “I’m Brett Black,” he said, the smile still permanently on his face. “What can I do for you, deputy?”

  The Deputy pulled a summons from his back pocket and slapped into Brett’s hand. “Sir, you’ve been served.” Walking away, he left Brett to open the paper and look at it more closely.

  “What is it?” Courtney asked, looking over his shoulder.

  Brett opened the paper and stared at it. “It’s a fucking paternity hearing for Cameron,” he said, dropping the paper on the floor. He rubbed a hand through his hair and laughed cynically. “That fucking bitch! Even in death, she’s still ruining my life.”

  Chapter 11

  Four Years Ago

  Checking her rearview mirror every few minutes to make sure that she wasn’t being followed, a paranoid Amy Black hightailed it into the small coastal port town of Wilmington, North Carolina for a clandestine appointment near noon on a blistering hot Wednesday.

  Only, this wasn’t one of her normal afternoon trysts with some no-name officer in a seedy hotel. Today was all business, and she only had a short window of time before Brett came home from the base and wondered where the hell she had run off to.

  “Turn right at the next light,” the female voice programmed into the GPS system instructed over her sound system.

  “Move out of my way!” Amy yelled in a high-pitched southern accent at the car blocking her from entering the right lane.

  She snatched her BeBe shades off and rolled down her window to flip the honking car off as she darted in front of it just in time to make her turn.

  “Fuck you, asshole,” she sneered, not bothering to look back as car horns blared behind her.

  That one singular moment in time summed up most of Amy Black’s short, complicated life. She was the type of woman who always made selfish choices at someone else’s expense, but she never looked back to see how those decisions affected people who happened to fall into her path.

  However, she had not always been this way.

  ***

  When she first married Brett, she was head over hills in love with him as much as he was in love with her. They had big dreams and were happy to be in each other’s life. Everyone thought they were the perfect couple – attractive, young and full of hope.

  Then it all changed.

  They moved onto the Camp Lejeune military base housing for a short stint while Brett worked and saved his money for the down payment on their house in Swansboro, and during that time, Amy experienced what it was like to have raw, unadulterated ambition.

  On base, she saw a completely new world of status where polished men with emblazoned insignia on their chests were treated dramatically different from the men who reported to them, and so were their families. These officers were saluted, respected, and revered, much more so in her eyes than the grunts. They even had their own clubs and their own facilities, which were much nicer than the ones for enlisted personnel.

  Everywhere that they went, their presence commanded attention - attention that she wanted.

  As the only child of her parents, Amy was used to attention. She had gotten it all her life from her family, her friends, her peers and her suitors. Except, when she married Brett, she expected a lot more from him than she received. She had pushed him to become a Recon Marine, because of the kind of prestige that came with the title, especially when she had found out he wasn’t interested in going to college and becoming an officer. The only problem was that once he became a part of a special operations team, he was never there. He was always training, always deploying, always somewhere else with someone else and not keeping his promise to always keep her first.

  Thus, started her love story with the other man. Only, the other man was no particular man to speak of. He was more of a rank of a man. She wanted an officer instead of an enlisted man. She wanted a better quality of life. She wanted a better quality of man. She wanted the house with the white picket fence, and to be a part of the officer’s wives club and to be catered to by everyone else because she was part of an elite society, and she couldn’t get that with her absentee grunt husband.

  At first it was just a fantasy that she cuddled in her mind, especially at the Commissary or the gym, where officers normally were, simply out of sheer necessity. Then she started to pick them out in town, based on their clothes and demeanor. She became a pro at identifying places that officers frequented in Jacksonville. Then she branched out and find out where they liked to hang out in nei
ghboring cities, especially the coastal town of Wilmington.

  The next transition was an internal one. She started to dress like an officer’s wife, although it cut heavily into the family budget. She got her hair done at the same salons as the officers’ wives, even though they snickered at her behind her back. And she went to the gym religiously, so that when one of those wives was slipping, she’d be ready to catch his eye.

  After a complete overhaul of her outer appearance, she was invited by girls from the gym to several wild parties while Brett was away training, giving her a chance to be the center of attention by horny officers looking for a good time. They spoke better; came from better families and were destined to have better futures. Everything about them turned her on and suddenly a whimsical fantasy became a lifelong goal.

  However, any officer - on his way to be a U.S. Senator or even better President - would never take her seriously if she met him at a wild party with trashy women.

  So again, she had to change her plan.

  The spider needed a web. The web needed a fly. It was just that simple.

  Brett had been a good stepping stone, but she’d have to ditch him as soon as she had secured said-officer. She’d have to woo the mark with charm and sex, before making him fall head over hills in love with her. When he was so in love that he couldn’t see straight, she’d have to tell him she was married to make sure that he was knowledgeable of the fact, and she’d have to do it via text, so she would have tangible proof of her confession. Then, once she’d gotten him over that hump, she would lock him down by telling him that she was pregnant with his illegitimate child and that her husband would bring it before his superiors, if he found out.

  Everyone knew that adultery was an offense punishable by the Uniform Code of Military Justice under Article 134 and led to a dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of pay and allowances, and confinement for one year. Basically, the military didn’t like it when people screwed their wives. So, if the mark wanted to protect his skin, his career and his future, he’d have to insist on her leaving Brett, marrying him and legitimizing the baby.

  With Brett’s schedule, he’d just sign the divorce papers and move on without questioning a thing. And although she knew that, he’d never tell his superior officers even if he did find out that she was cheating with another Marine, she’d definitely wouldn’t paint him that way to her mark.

  It was the perfect ploy, guaranteed to snare some poor schmuck into giving her everything that her heart desired.

  So, the plan was hatched and carried out, but then as life would have it, Amy hit a snag.

  The mark officer she thought she had trapped had other plans.

  ***

  Pulling up to a small Mexican restaurant off of Front Street, Amy parked her car under a tall palm tree to shield it from the hot sun, grabbed the paperwork on the passenger seat and jumped out on the gravel parking lot. Why in the hell did he want to meet here was beyond her, but desperate for things to be finalized, she had agreed.

  Shit, she was late! But it wasn’t her fault. The drive from Swansboro to Wilmington had been a daunting one today with roadwork being done for half the trip. Plus, it took longer to get ready when her boobs were still leaking milk.

  Pulling down her shirt and hiking her shorts up her toned thighs, she sashayed across the parking lot and up to the front door.

  Then it hit her just as she made her way inside of the shabby, dark Los Cabos Diner.

  “Shit,” she said, stomping her feet. Turning on a swivel, she pushed the doors back open, marched back across the parking lot to her car, snatched open the back door and unsnapped the baby, who had fallen off to sleep on the hour and a half drive.

  This had been the third time she had forgotten this kid. Hopefully, eventually, she would remember that she was a mother.

  Cameron’s dark brown eyes popped open as soon as she scooped him up. With a small cry, he reached for her and nuzzled his small body into the curve of her embrace.

  “Don’t cry little fella,” Amy said, closing the door behind her. She felt his diaper and cursed. He was bound to overflow at any minute, but hopefully, he could hold on just a little longer.

  Kissing his forehead, she headed back to the front door with the little bundle wrapped in her arms. “Mama’s going to get you taken care of in just a minute, little man.”

  ***

  In the very back of the seedy restaurant tucked into one of the worn, red leather booths, Lieutenant Leo Tabor sipped on a Jack and Coke and texted his wife. He needed to make this meeting quick and get back to base, but he had to pick a place where no one in the world knew him.

  After all, it was a little hard to explain meeting a woman and a freaking baby without looking highly suspicious. Plus, he got the feeling that it wouldn’t take too much probing for Amy to proudly tell everyone whose baby she had given birth to. It was not a proud moment in his life.

  I’ll call you in a few. I’m busy, he texted. Rubbing his thumb over the screen, he quickly checked to make sure that the “Find My Phone” app was off. The last thing he needed was his nosy wife showing up and confronting the mistress.

  Where are you? She texted right back.

  In a meeting. I’ll call you in just a little bit. He texted.

  You’re a lying piece of shit. End of text.

  Leo rolled his eyes, but he knew his wife was right. He was a lying, cheating piece of shit, which was why today was so important. It was bad enough that he had a thing on the side, but what made matters worse was that the affair hadn’t even been with the caliber of woman that his life-sucking lawyer wife was. So a transition, while welcomed under the right circumstances, could not happen because of the sheer financial implications.

  Wow, had he fucked up.

  Over a year ago, on a hot Saturday night, Leo met the short, blonde bombshell Amy Riley at an upscale bar off the pier in Wilmington. It was a little after midnight and his friends had left already to get home to their wives, but he had stayed to prowl.

  Surprisingly, Amy was alone and seemed to be interested in what he had to say, even though he was noticeably drunk. She laughed at his jokes, bought him a few rounds. She even blew off the fact that he was an officer, which most girls went for immediately.

  After a few more shots and some serious heavy petting, they went back to a hotel, had rough, dirty sex and parted ways early the next morning after a complimentary continental breakfast.

  What he had liked about Amy was that she didn’t seem clingy or the least bit interested in a long-term relationship. She didn’t call much. She didn’t want to meet all the time. She didn’t mention meeting her folks or her dreams in life. Plus, she had an amazing body and loved anal, so the relationship naturally flourished.

  On a few occasions, they went off on the weekend together. Occasionally, they’d have dinner together. And nearly every day, they talked or texted on the phone for a quick, non-evasive check-up. It was easy and a break from his normal grind. He liked her conversation and he loved her body. He’d even said he loved her a few times, but that was when he really wanted to do something freaky in bed.

  Overall, things were going good.

  Then, one evening after a show and dinner, while they were lying in bed together, Amy broke the news.

  She was married to a fucking Marine. Great. Then she dropped the bomb on him that he was a Recon Marine. Wonderful.

  It explained a lot in terms of her sometimes erratic behavior, but it also made things easier on him. He knew that Amy wouldn’t risk getting caught. He knew that their time together was precious. And he knew that it would never go anywhere. So, things actually were perfect for him. Unlike other previous situations, he was in no risk of getting found out by his wife. So, he didn’t mention her.

  Conversely, after her heartfelt confession about her failing marriage and her unwillingness to leave it, the sex got even crazier. She met him in hotels with just her coat on; she went down in him in parking lots; she sent him porno via email; s
he talked about threesomes and hinted at wanting to go to private sex parties with him. She would let him do anything to her, and she never protested, no matter how degrading, no matter how painful. It was completely different from his conservative home life, and he loved it. Finally, he was in control, not his wife, not her money, not the Navy.

  A couple of months later, the entire little arrangement went to shit.

  He remembered the news feeling like a ton of bricks falling on his universe. She had texted him a picture of the ultrasound, then told him that she didn’t believe in abortion. “What are we going to do?” she’d asked, like it was his responsibility to tell her what to do with her body.

  He felt like texting her back, I’m going to run.

  Of course, he had thought about changing the number to his cell phone and forgetting all about her, but while she didn’t know he was married, she did know his full name and rank, and would have easily tracked him down.

  So, in the spirit of not giving up, he had pushed again for an abortion, but she had stalled him with verses from the Bible.

  The Bible!

  Based upon their sexual activities, he was not even aware that she was a Christian.

  The only good news was that she hadn’t been stingy with sharing her goods with her hubby, so he had no idea yet that his cheating whore of a wife was carrying another man’s child. Only, Amy said that if her Marine did find out about the affair, he’d have him personally brought up on charges; especially considering he out ranked him.

  “What do you expect me to do?” he remembered asking her over the phone.

  She mocked cried as she stared at herself in the bathroom mirror. “Well, you said that you love me. Let’s just run off and get married. I’ll divorce him immediately.”

  This was a cluster fuck and he had no choice but to drop a bomb of his own.

  “I still can’t marry you,” he said, sliding his back down the office wall to the floor.