Part 5 (1/2)

The pretty boy laughed his surprise, but then stopped. ”Oh, my G.o.d, you're serious,” he said as he sat down in the chair across from her and lowered his voice. ”You're like, twelve. Are you...? Have you really really...?”

”I'm sixteen,” she told him, giving up her pretense of not being able to speak English well. After so many years, her accent was barely noticeable, too.

”You look twelve.”

Neesha shrugged. ”I'm short.”

”I'm Ben,” the boy said. ”And I don't want a b.l.o.w. .j.o.b.” He caught himself, smiled. ”That's not really true. I do do want one, who doesn't? But...not from you. Trust me.” want one, who doesn't? But...not from you. Trust me.”

It didn't make sense, and she didn't didn't trust him. ”Then why do you give me money?” trust him. ”Then why do you give me money?”

”Because...you look like you need it more than I do. I've seen you here for about a week now, and you're always wearing the same thing.” He looked down at his own clothes. ”Of course, I'm one to talk. But I'm doing it as a statement. You're not.”

He pushed the money across the table toward her and withdrew his hand.

Neesha found herself looking down at it. Wanting to take it.

Wondering what was the catch.

There was always a catch.

”When did you run away?” he asked, and she looked up at him, worried.

Ben smiled, which made him look like an angel, come down from heaven. ”It's not really that obvious. I mean, I know because I pay attention. But you really should should get different clothes. Maybe just a few other s.h.i.+rts. The Salvation Army sells stuff for two bucks a bag. Do you know where that is?” get different clothes. Maybe just a few other s.h.i.+rts. The Salvation Army sells stuff for two bucks a bag. Do you know where that is?”

She shook her head, and he told her, but the address was meaningless. She knew only a few streets and not by their official names but by their landmarks. She'd learned to speak English by watching hour upon hour of TV back when she was a prisoner, after they'd taken away her books and papers and pencils. She'd learned from watching and listening, but she hadn't learned to read it. Not yet, anyway. Not well enough to handle street signs.

”If you go there,” he told her, ”you just have to be careful. Sometimes cops hang out, looking for runaways. Make sure you tell the ladies behind the counter that you're looking for clothes for your sister's birthday. And that you're the same size. That you're twins. That way they won't flag you or ask too many questions.”

She pushed the bill back toward him. ”I can't,” she said. And she couldn't-take his money, or his advice. As much as she would've loved to have a whole bagful of clean, fresh clothes, she couldn't do it.

She started to stand up so she could walk away.

But he stood up, too, far more gracefully. He pushed his chair in and backed off.

”I'd run away, too, if I could,” he told her. ”My stepfather is a son of a b.i.t.c.h, and my mother's invisible. School's a nightmare, and...” He shrugged. ”It doesn't matter. In a few months I'm moving to San Diego, to live with my brother and sister. Either that or...I don't know, maybe I'll be dead. One way or another, it'll be an improvement. See you around.”

And with that, he walked away without looking back, leaving that five-dollar bill on the table.

So Neesha picked it up, and put it in her pocket.

CHAPTER FOUR.

LANDSTUHL, GERMANY.

TWO WEEKS LATER.

MONDAY, 4 M MAY 2009.

I love living in Germany, don't you?” the Army nurse asked Izzy as they sat at the corner of the bar. love living in Germany, don't you?” the Army nurse asked Izzy as they sat at the corner of the bar.

In truth, Izzy fricking hated fricking Germany. It was where his soon-to-be ex-wife Eden had run after her baby had been stillborn. She had a friend here-Anya Podlasli-who gave her room and board in exchange for help with child care. And every time Izzy had gone to try to see his wife, old stern-and-disapproving Anya with her tightly, Germanicly pursed lips, had turned him away.

The last time had been the final time, except now here he was, unexpectedly back in Germany, not far from where Eden was living. The urge to go visit her for one final final final time was strong. Especially when the training exercises he'd gotten caught up in after his release from the hospital had ended a full two days before his flight back to Coronado and his next a.s.signment as a BUD/S instructor. Whoo fricking hoo. Still, everyone had to take a turn, and it was his-spurred, no doubt, by the recent supposedly irresponsible behavior that had put him into the hospital, true, but had also saved Eden's brother Danny's life. final time was strong. Especially when the training exercises he'd gotten caught up in after his release from the hospital had ended a full two days before his flight back to Coronado and his next a.s.signment as a BUD/S instructor. Whoo fricking hoo. Still, everyone had to take a turn, and it was his-spurred, no doubt, by the recent supposedly irresponsible behavior that had put him into the hospital, true, but had also saved Eden's brother Danny's life.

Not that Izzy had done what he'd done for Eden's sake. He'd done it for himself and for Dan, and because sometimes rules needed to be broken.

And okay, yeah, he was a liar. He'd done it for Eden, too, because he knew she'd already had too much pain and loss in her life, and try as he might, he couldn't make himself stop caring about that, and about her.

But he could could make himself accept the fact that his marriage to her was over, so instead of hopping a train and trying to see her one make himself accept the fact that his marriage to her was over, so instead of hopping a train and trying to see her one final final final time, he'd put on some civvies and left the base. When he got off the bus, he'd started walking until he hit the first bar. final time, he'd put on some civvies and left the base. When he got off the bus, he'd started walking until he hit the first bar.

And when he'd found this one, he'd walked in and then found the first seemingly available woman and sat down beside her.

Love Germany? Sweetheart, he was counting the minutes before he could leave.

But telling this woman that wasn't going to get him laid. And that was his goal here, tonight, wasn't it? s.e.x with a convenient stranger, to pull him out of the purgatory in which he'd resided since Eden walked out of his life.

”I haven't ever really lived here,” Izzy told the nurse. d.a.m.n, he'd already forgotten her name. Sylvia or Cindy or...Cynthia. That was it. A pretty name for an equally pretty woman, with her red curls and blue eyes. She was dressed down in jeans and a T-s.h.i.+rt, sneakers on her feet-which should have been a warning to him. She wasn't here trolling for a one-nighter, in her f.u.c.k-me shoes. She really was here for just a gla.s.s of wine. ”I only drop in briefly, for visits.”

”You're not stationed here?” Her disappointment in that news was almost palpable, and Izzy watched the integer for this evening's potential o.r.g.a.s.m count nosedive back to the solid zero it had been for most of the past year.

But it wasn't disappointment he was feeling, it was relief. And that p.i.s.sed him off. He didn't want to not want s.e.x. He didn't want to feel as if his getting in a little recreational happy-fun was wrong-for any reason. But most of all, he didn't want to look at a perfectly acceptable beautiful, s.e.xy, and intelligent woman like fair Cynthia and think why bother trying why bother trying simply because she couldn't hold a candle to his soon-to-be-ex-wife. simply because she couldn't hold a candle to his soon-to-be-ex-wife.

There was a lot of room between his current state of not having any s.e.x at all and the unearthly bliss of being sent into s.e.xual orbit via Eden. And the sooner he moved into that as-yet-unexplored territory between the two, the better.

So even though Cynthia was giving him all of the cla.s.sic pre-shut-down, this won't work because you're not stationed here this won't work because you're not stationed here signs, he pushed aside his feeling of relief and went for it, firing the biggest gun he had in his possession. signs, he pushed aside his feeling of relief and went for it, firing the biggest gun he had in his possession.

”I'm a Navy SEAL,” he told her, and yes, her body language immediately changed from I have to go find my friends I have to go find my friends to to What friends, I never had any friends What friends, I never had any friends.

So he embellished, heavy on the lighthearted flirtation. ”We only come to Germany to let you and the doctors check the st.i.tches we give ourselves. And to give you pointers to use in the OR.”

She laughed at that, and her eyes sparkled. She really was was quite pretty. But not even half as pretty as Eden, of course. quite pretty. But not even half as pretty as Eden, of course.

f.u.c.k.

”And how are are your st.i.tches?” she asked. ”Wait, don't tell me-you need me to check them for you. Privately, of course, because you're bashful.” your st.i.tches?” she asked. ”Wait, don't tell me-you need me to check them for you. Privately, of course, because you're bashful.”

”I am.” Izzy made himself flirt back. See, he could do this. ”But alas, this time I have none for you to check. I was here because I donated a little too much blood to a teammate out in the field. I needed a major resupply of my own.”

She sat back in her seat. ”Oh, my G.o.d,” she said, her flirtatiousness instantly gone, her eyes wide. ”You're the one...? I heard about you.” the one...? I heard about you.”

”Uh-oh, that's never good,” he said, going for the laugh and getting it.

”But it was in a good way,” she corrected him. ”You saved your friend's life. I was in awe when I heard what you did.”

”In awe, like, you couldn't believe someone could be that stupid?” he asked.