Books from G.A. Hauser > Bound to You

Book: Bound to You EXCERPT FROM BOOK Finn and Casey held their rifles at the ready and jogged over the sand to see from a high drift which surrounded their trucks. Nothing was in sight. Finn tapped Casey on the shoulder and gestured to the sky with his chin. Casey looked upwards. A squadron of US fighter jets were flying by. Loud whooping from the men echoed in the emptiness. Grinning at the sight of powerful backup, Finn spotted his commander waving them back to their vehicles. Seconds later, explosions from the jets shook the ground as they bombed the enemy. Once the men had returned to their vehicles, Kelly said, “Take a break. Eat something. Then we’ll head out.” In the shade of an M2 Bradley truck, the two men sat down and slipped off their heavy camouflaged backpack. Finn dug through it and opened a packet of MREs or, meals ready to eat, to satisfy his hunger. Casey sat beside him. “What do you have?” “Chicken.” Finn held up his package. “You?” “Bacon cheddar pocket.” “Swap halfway?” Casey nodded, eating and staring at the other men who were doing the same thing around them. “Any letters from Arianna?” “Not lately. I don’t even know if we get all the mail we’re sent. Don’t get me started. Pisses me the fuck off.” Finn held his half-eaten packet of food and tossed his helmet beside him, wiping at the sweat from his shaved head. “Here.” Casey swapped meals with him and they finished eating. “Yours was better.” “That’s funny. I thought yours was.” Finn smiled at his comment and then tried to relax, sipping water. The dusk was setting in and their commander began to get them moving. “That was fast,” Finn said, feeling his body ache as he got to his feet. “On the move. It’s what we do best.” Casey shouldered his pack and he and Finn walked alongside the trucks as the engines began to start up in a loud roaring noise that seemed to slice the silence like a hatchet. They joined the few men who were walking in front, keeping an eye out for trouble. Finn had bonded to all of the men in his unit, but none compared to how he felt about Casey. Though Casey had a gal back in Seattle, waiting for him, he and Casey had done things together here, on their tour, that they hoped stayed secret. At least they were scheduled to end their time on the front lines together. And keeping each other alive was everyone’s concern. Did he regret enlisting? At times. But as he walked with his men in front of the slow moving vehicles, he knew he would never make connections like this to anyone back home. All of them were bound to each other. Brothers. And Finn would lay down his life for any of them, but most of all, Casey. ~ Darkness fell after a few hours of walking. The caravan of men and metal were vulnerable in the dark since the truck lights made them perfect targets. They were making for one of their camps, but since the gunfire earlier and Kidd’s sniper hits, it had slowed them down. Their commanding officer gave a signal to stop, and the trucks immediately turned off their headlights and engines. “Fan out.” Casey and Finn began jogging away from their line of trucks, making sure it was safe to stay where they were for the night. In a wide perimeter the men used night-vision goggles and held their rifles up at eye level. Casey scanned the horizon, but it was nothing but sand. He heard someone call out from behind them, so he and Finn hurried to one of their men. They stopped short and Casey could hear Finn’s panting as he stood beside him. In the darkness there were forms. But from where they were, Casey couldn’t tell what he was looking at. Their sergeant led the way, and they fell in formation, ready to kill. As they drew near, Casey could make out shapes of burned out vehicle hulks and blackened stains on the light sand. They crept their way to investigate the area and someone said, “Doesn’t look like our guys.” Finn exhaled loudly, and Casey reached to touch his arm in reassurance. Since the threat had been a false alarm, the men began to draw closer and take a look. Casey spotted a burned corpse and looked away. The shitty food began to churn in his gut at the sight. Then the smell of burning plastic and meat hit. Finn walked with him, obviously all of them realized what they were looking at; a fiery graveyard of cars and corpses. Not finding anything alive, they were called back and Casey figured they were going to stay put for the night. He and Finn walked to the trucks and dropped the heavy packs beside the rigs. As the sergeant assigned a night-watch crew, the rest of them had to sleep. Casey never thought he’d be able to sleep like this; daytime or nighttime, hungry, filthy, and sometimes terrified. But the exhaustion did them in and inevitably they slept. He took off his helmet and leaned back on a truck tire as Finn did the same beside him. “Christ, I’m so tired.” “Get over here.” Casey gripped Finn by his shirt sleeve and allowed him to rest on his lap. He knew Finn Payton was gay, but not out. Nope. Not out even after the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell bullshit was gone. The guys knew Casey had a girlfriend waiting for him in Seattle. So, he didn’t give a shit what they thought. If someone did anything more than tease them playfully, he’d kill them. In the darkness he could feel Finn relax. Casey caressed Finn’s short hair and rested his head on the truck behind him. With Finn sleeping on him, Casey could sleep. He closed his eyes, feeling Finn holding his leg as he drifted off. All they had to do was make it to the end of their tour. And he would keep every one of these men alive if he had to die doing it. Both he and Finn were privates, first class, E-3 and neither of them even mentioned reenlisting. As far as Casey was concerned, this was a huge mistake. He hated it. If it wasn’t for the camaraderie of the men, especially the relationship Casey shared with Finn, he didn’t think he could do it. Yeah, he knew there was a damn war going on when he enlisted, but he had no idea what he was up against. All the guts and glory posters at the recruiting office made him feel like he was going to be a hero. Nope. It was like prison. He was just doing his time and going to get the fuck out.