The Cost of His Infidelity

Military training had barely started when my boyfriend, Marcus Sterling, succumbed to temptation with the beautiful drill sergeant, Captain Jessica Monroe.

Within a week of the new semester, he and the gorgeous Captain Monroe crossed a line. On a 104-degree day, I was punished with 300 push-ups for being two minutes late.

Meanwhile, Marcus pinned Captain Monroe down in front of everyone while they cheered him on.

When she injured my stomach, which already had an old stab wound, he shielded her eyes and whispered with dark intimacy, "Don't lose focus. She's fine."

That same night, alone in my rental apartment, I found a torn condom wrapper under my pillow.

After military training ended, I hid beneath the trees and called my father. "Dad, I changed my mind. I want to study abroad."

I'd barely hung up the phone when Marcus Sterling appeared through the heat shimmer, wiping sweat from his forehead as he walked toward me. He handed me a bottle of water.

"Who were you calling?"

His eyes didn't leave Captain Jessica Monroe in the distance while he asked me that question.

I told him it was my dad, straight up.

He made a small sound of acknowledgment, clearly not interested in the answer.

I smiled and pocketed my phone, turning back toward the training grounds. When he saw the water bottle hanging unused in his hand, he called out to stop me.

"Vicky, is your stomach still hurting? Do you want me to take you to the hospital to get it checked?"

I didn't break stride. "No."

The scar on my stomach came from high school, when I'd gotten stabbed three times trying to save him from some street thugs. Twenty stitches. The doctor said pregnancy would never be possible, but we were lucky I'd survived at all.

Seeing how cold I'd become, he turned and rushed after me, reaching out to grab my arm. Then he noticed Captain Monroe looking his way. His hand dropped immediately.

Marcus flashed that smile at her, sidestepped past me, and jogged over. He handed her the water bottle I'd refused, wiping the rim with the edge of his shirt first.

I glanced at the gesture and settled back into the cluster of my classmates.

"I'm telling you, Marcus is totally trying to get with Captain Monroe. The way he's acting is way too obvious," one of the guys, Davis Roberts, said.

"But doesn't he have a girlfriend?" Owen Packer asked.

Marcus's roommate, Tyler Richardson, laughed. "That's nonsense. I asked him point-blank last night. He said he's single."

I listened quietly while my phone buzzed with an email from Dad. I pulled it up and filled in my information without hesitation, submitting the form right there.

That evening, Marcus and a group of guys took Captain Monroe out for Mexican. He strolled over to me with the kind of confidence that made me want to laugh.

"Vicky, your stomach can't handle spicy food anyway, so I'll count you out tonight."

I