Breaking Brandon

Chapter Five

Regina

Now

Week two of this boring ass assignment hadn’t gotten any better. Regina missed the lavish projects she’d gotten in New York already. This would never live up to the excitement of working on sky scrapers and one-of-a-kind buildings like the Ronnet Museum she’d worked on early last year. She’d taken this transfer only because of its location. Now she wondered if she’d made a mistake.

She thought working on the west coast and living on the beach would be an exciting change, the change she needed. But the job was turning out to be so boring. Of course, she’d been notorious her entire life for having the worst luck ever. Her family and friends had labeled her the female Charlie Brown. They thought it was funny. It never failed. If something could go wrong at the most inopportune time to any of them, no one had to guess which one of them it would be. It was never anything real bad, or maybe her family wouldn’t think it so funny, just frustrating, mistimed, or inconvenient things like always being the last to be served at a restaurant when in a group or the restaurant no longer serving the specific dessert she’d craved all the way there. On the airplane, she’d been stuck next to the chattiest person on the planet when all she’d wanted to do was sleep.

Taking a deep breath, Regina folded her arms in front of her as she went and stood by the window of her makeshift office. Her sister had been right. There were a ton of soldiers here, which meant major potential for meeting someone. But as usual, as her rotten luck would have it, she was stuck working on the side of the base where it was mostly basic training with brand new, way-too-young troops who seemed terrified of doing anything inappropriate that might get them in trouble like flirt or even talk to a civilian—that and a bunch of hardnosed drill instructors and their even harder superiors. So far, the only one who had caught her eye seemed to be the hardest of them all, the same one she caught staring at her at the airport in Washington D.C. He’d blown her smile off then and then again when she’d run into him a few days ago.

Because they were on the same flight to San Diego and he’d been wearing fatigues, she figured since she’d be working on the base there was a small chance she might run into him again. But she never imagined it would be this soon and certainly not that they’d be working in the same building. At the airport, she’d thought she’d imagined the look of distaste she’d picked up from him—distaste for her. She’d chalked it up to him having a bad day or something. Their flight had been delayed over two hours. Even she’d been irritated by that. And certainly there could be no reason for him to dislike her. He didn’t even know her. But the other day, the way he’d looked at her was even worse. For whatever reason, the man found her repugnant. Of course, that made him all the more intriguing than when she’d first laid eyes on him at the airport.

Sighing, she walked away from the window and sat down in front of her desk. For all she knew, the guy was married. He was certainly good-looking enough. None of that mattered anyway. Her excitement about working on a base full of soldiers had all been an act, just as this entire last year had been. She pretended she was excited about meeting men and getting on with her life. Of course, her family would never know the truth. She’d never forgive herself if she were ever the cause of anything that might send either of her parents back into the hospital. Between her dad’s bad heart, and her mom’s high blood pressure, she didn’t dare tell them.

The day dragged on as the previous days had, and she finally made her way out of her office, down the elevator, and out to her car. Hitting the ignition button with one hand, she checked her texts with the other then pulled off her name badge. The radio turned on along with the car. She was so engrossed in reading a text from her sister it took a few seconds for the song playing to register, but when it did, she froze.

Would you know my name, if I saw you in heaven?

Immediately choked up, she hit the off switch, but it was too late. She felt herself drowning fast in that overwhelming grief and despair she thought she’d made progress dealing with. Choking back the tears because she was not about to fall apart right there or go into hysterics as she knew she could very easily do, she took a deep breath, fighting the anguish that bathed her so quickly and mercilessly.

She tried to think of something, anything she could channel her thoughts into instead. Her therapist had instructed her to do just that at times like this when she thought she might lose it. So she breathed in deeply and began channeling. She thought of her work, the designs she’d presented to her subordinates today, but it wasn’t working, so she thought of her plans for that evening. She’d be going to the gym later, and then it hit her. Her Fitbit, the pedometer she used around her wrist to count her steps, the battery had died today, and she left it hooked up to her computer, charging in her office.

Glad it seemed to be working because she was already grabbing her keychain and pushing the car start button off, she opened her door. Taking more deep breaths even as the tears continued to spill from her eyes, she could feel herself calming. It’d been months since the last time she’d broken down as she almost had today. She’d consider this progress. This was the first time she’d been able to fight it.

Knowing her face must be a mess, she didn’t care. It was late, and there were few people still walking around. She reached the door of the building just as it opened, and out walked the guy from the airport, who she now knew was a sergeant up there in rank. He stopped when he saw her, and she stopped too. They faced off for a moment, and the sudden puttering of her heart surprised her. She wiped the tears from her face even more regretful now about her sudden outburst because she was certain she must look a mess. This close his deep blue eyes were even more amazing than she first thought. The long dark sheath of lashes that draped over his eyes as he blinked almost in slow motion nearly took her breath away.

For an instant so quick it was over almost as soon as she thought she saw it, there was the slightest softening of his hardened stare as she wiped her eyes again. But then it went rigid again.

She started to reach for the open door, but he didn’t move. “You’re not wearing your badge,” he said as stoned-faced as ever. “I can’t let you in.”

“But,” she tilted her head, pinching her brows, “you know I’m authorized—”

“Only if you’re wearing your photo ID.”

Regina smiled nervously. He had to be pulling her chain. “Are you serious?”

She didn’t think his expression could go any more severe, but it did, and she knew now he was absolutely serious. “Those are the rules, ma’am.”

Her mouth fell open for a moment, but she closed it quickly when she saw his eyes drop down to her open lips. “I just need to get something I forgot on my desk—”

“Without your ID, you’re not allowed.”

Chewing the inside of her cheek in frustration, she squeezed her hand around her keychain. She was tempted to ask him if he actually had something against someone he didn’t even know or if he was really just this big of an asshole. Afraid somehow that might get her in trouble, she refrained.

“Fine,” she said through her teeth. “I’ll go get it from my car.”

She spun around, stalking off to her car, and she wondered if he’d even be there when she got back, making her need to walk all the way back to her car a waste of time. To her surprise, but even more puzzling, she was pleased to see him standing right at the door, waiting for her. At least he hadn’t made a fool of her, making her go back to get a badge she’d wouldn’t have anyone to show.

Walking up the stairs, she looked him straight in those intense eyes that still gave her no clue what his damn problem with her was. Even as she got closer and he stared her down as she imagined he did to intimidate his recruits, she hated how damn good he was at it. The determination to continue to stare back at him without looking away was beginning to wane as she got closer. He held out his hand, and she shoved her badge into it, noticing that even as she pushed down his strong arm hadn’t budged.

His eyes were still on hers even as he held the badge in his hand, and it made her gulp, but she refused to look away. Finally, he looked down at her badge and studied it. She glanced at the badge he wore—Gunnery Sergeant Billings—but turned away quickly when he lifted his eyes from her badge and looked into hers. His expression was completely unimpressed, even though her title as an engineer had the words “Senior” and “Lead” in them. At her age, that was almost unheard of, but then she shouldn’t expect him to know that.

“Make sure you always have this on you, Mrs. Brady,” he said, handing it back to her, offering not so much as a tiny smile in exchange for having made her walk all the way back to her car. Then he just walked away, leaving her standing there.

Seriously? Not even a goodnight or have a good evening? Regina was beginning to wonder if the man ever smiled. She stood there, not sure if she should be mad or happy that he successfully yanked her right out of her depressed mood because now she was pissed. Who the hell did he think he was anyway? He may be a high-ranking officer, but she was not in the Marines. She had her own superiors to answer to, and he wasn’t one of them.

Feeling completely annoyed as she made her way quickly to her office, she now hoped she’d never run into him again. Unlike the past few days where the anticipation of seeing the mysterious sergeant again made her feel like a silly school girl, she now had no desire to be anywhere near his self-important ass ever again. He may have every right to talk down to his recruits, making them feel inferior to him, but he had no right to look at her or make her feel that way.

Armed with a sudden feeling of resolve, she grabbed her Fitbit from her computer and put it on. The next time she ran into Sergeant Billings, because she knew it was inevitable, she’d give him that same hard look he’d given her from the very beginning. The look that practically said just the sight of her left a bad taste in his mouth.

After working out last night, Regina had called her best friend, Janecia. She was the only childhood friend who hadn’t drifted away over the years. In fact, she’d been her best friend for as long as she could remember. She’d even vacationed the last few years in New York and came out and stayed with Regina a week out of the year. She also made shorter visits often for weekend getaways. The girl loved New York. She’d been sorely disappointed that Regina had moved back because she’d hoped to move out there eventually. Janecia was also the only one who knew about Regina’s secret, but even she didn’t know the whole story. Regina was taking that to her grave. Only Quinn, Mrs. Shimley, and Regina’s therapist knew the whole truth, and the only one Regina had any intention of ever reuniting with was the latter.

Regina had been in San Diego over a week now and was beginning to feel like a hermit, something she’d never been. She’d gone straight from her place to work to the gym and back to her place. Part of the deal she’d made with herself when she decided to move back home was to do what her therapist told her she needed to do—move on. Live again. She was still very young, and there was so much she had yet to experience. Despite her doubts that she could ever find the kind of love she once had, she knew she could, at the very least, enjoy other aspects of her life.

Because she enjoyed cooking, trying out new restaurants was one of her favorite treats. She and Janecia had visited The Gaslamp Quarter a few times when they were younger, and she’d always said she was determined to go back there and try every single restaurant on that strip.

Now that she lived so close and Janecia was only a half hour away, Regina was ready to try and have fun meeting that goal. When she told Janecia last night, her best friend was, as expected, all for it. Since today was Friday, they’d get right on it, starting tonight after work.

Grabbing her Starbucks cup from the cup holder, she grabbed her things from the passenger side and got out of the car. She hurried up the steps of the building and inside, glad that her plan on getting to work extra early meant she’d miss most of the morning elevator commute. She was the only one in the hallway as she reached out and hit the button to retrieve the elevator. The elevator dinged, and she held her breath, hoping he wouldn’t be behind the doors when they opened. Thankfully, a couple of other sergeants stepped out, but neither were him. She got in and pressed the button for the second floor, feeling a little anxious when the doors took a few seconds before starting to close. She exhaled slowly. Just as the doors nearly touched closed, they opened suddenly. Someone outside had hit the button and caught the elevator. Great.

Standing in the middle of the elevator as the doors opened completely, she was now face to face with Sergeant Billings. A nod so minute it was barely perceptible was the only greeting she got from the jerk. Lifting her chin and glad she was wearing her stupid badge, she took a step aside, ignoring the nod and him completely. The doors once again began closing. This time they closed all the way, and the elevator began moving. They reached their floor as the elevator came to a slow stop and not a moment too soon. Ignoring him was one thing, but ignoring how damn good he smelled was quite another. Regina needed to get out of that elevator before she was tempted to say something to him.

Just as the elevator came to a complete stop and the doors began to open, everything went black, making Regina gasp. Except for the early and cloudy morning’s dim sunlight that streamed in through the small crevice of the barely opened doors, they stood there in near pitch darkness.

She felt Sergeant Billings move forward and block the only light they had as he tried to push the doors open. “It’s just a power outage,” he explained as he grunted, trying in vain to push the doors open. “It should be temporary.”

Regina knew all about the power outages. They were necessary when working on parts of the construction near or around dangerously high-voltage areas. She also knew they saved the longer power outages for the early morning or late evenings when it was less inconvenient to those working in the buildings.

Of course! This shouldn’t even surprise her sorry ass. It made perfect sense that she’d get stuck in an elevator with of all people him.