Love Under Two Financiers by Cara Covington (best free e reader .txt) 📗

A single Benji lay inside the wide-open safe there, a taunting kind of a “fuck you,” the only payout available to him.

That had been just one more kick in the face he’d been forced to endure. The dream of that cash had been the only thing that had gotten him through prison. He’d been so sure that Jerry had intended to leave that stash there until he retired from the army. He’d gotten in touch with a mutual friend and had been told that yes, Levine was still in Kabul.

One lousy week. He’d missed his windfall by one lousy week.

Bryce pulled himself out of the past and put his attention on the man who’d so recently knocked on his door. He was another old army buddy, Arnie Bates, a man who’d also been involved in the same side business that Bryce, Jerry and Johnny had been in over in Afghanistan. Until Arnie had shown up at his door today, he’d only thought of Leesa occasionally, like when he was completely shit-faced. I guess my rage with her has just simmered all these years. That thought was the truth and brought another. If he could somehow pay Leesa back for what she’d done to him, would his luck change? It was something worth considering.

“So, she mustered out when, exactly?” Bryce took a long drag on his cigarette, the nicotine doing just enough for him that his mind remained sharp and clear. A cold beer in his hand and company that didn’t completely suck. Life wasn’t so bad. It sure as hell had been worse for him.

Sometimes he awoke in the dark of night, sweating from nightmares about prison life.

Arnie shrugged. “I don’t know the exact date. Best as I can tell, a couple years ago. Not long after she took that slug in her shoulder, I think. After that firefight, I got transferred and lost contact with Digger, my guy in food services. Just recently, I hooked up with another pal of mine who’d also been in the business over there. We got to shooting the shit, going down the list of the grunts we’d known, and he told me about her mustering out.”

Bryce spit into the garbage can on the floor to his right. Arnie had led with the news of Leesa having gotten herself shot, likely thinking to make him smile, and he had. Now, considering, he said, “Too bad the bullet got her in the right shoulder instead of the left and a few inches lower down.”

“Naw, you’d a been pissed if she’d been killed over there. That would mean you couldn’t get revenge on her for having you tossed in the brig and ruining your life.”

“Well, that’s true.” Bryce had let all his buds know at the time the only reason he got court-martialed was because Leesa was in tight with her C.O. No need to tell them I lipped off in court.

“I figure I owe you some, because when they nabbed you, you kept your mouth shut about the drugs. You could have ratted us all out, cut yourself a deal, but you didn’t. A lot of us decided if you ever needed anything, we’d be there for you.”

Wish I had fucking known that when I got out of prison. Bryce had spent two years behind bars for assault with an added charge for insubordination. It had been a bogus charge as far as he was concerned, but he couldn’t find anyone to fight for him. A man was entitled to give his wife a pop when she needed it, wasn’t he? Unfortunately, his timing had sucked, because another pain-in-the-ass bitch in his life at the time, Captain Elaine Morris, had seen the whole thing go down.

One of the JAG officers at his court-martial had been a woman, too. She’d poked and prodded at him until he’d lost it. He’d told them all that the charges were bullshit, and why. And then he’d let all those bitches know, in no uncertain terms, what their proper place in life was—on their knees with their mouths open, in front of whatever man wanted to use them.

It’s a free fucking country, and I can say what I want. The army hadn’t seen it that way, and he’d gotten the toughest penalty possible, and then, when his sentence had been served, he’d been tossed out. Dishonorable discharge, my ass. An honorable man controls his woman and his kids—if he’s stupid enough to have any.

Bryce put his attention back on the matter at hand. Arnie’s words replayed in his mind. He wouldn’t mind getting his hands on Leesa. No, he likely wouldn’t kill her, but he'd be happy to smack her around a little, especially if she gave him a hard time about doing her duty by him. The more he thought about it, the more he decided he liked that idea. He’d like to tune her up as payback for being such a bitch and making him hit her in front of a commanding officer in the first place.

He'd really like to pound her senseless for ruining his life. Yeah, that might help.

And how sweet would it be if he could get Arnie to do all the legwork for him?

“Any idea where she ended up?” Bryce asked.

“Naw, I figured you’d know. You always bitched about her sending money to her folks. I just thought that might be where she headed to when she’d mustered out.”

He didn’t let Arnie know he’d forgotten all about her folks—hell, he’d all but forgotten about her. He thought they might be gone by now, the way she went on about how hard they’d always worked and how she wished she could make things easier for them and blah blah blah.

“She came from San Antonio,” Bryce said. “That’s close to where you’re at, isn’t it?”

“I’m over in San Marcos—yeah, ’bout fifty miles or so.” He tilted his head to the side. “I see that calculation in your eyes, pal. What are you thinking?”

“That you could maybe