Free Shameless by Ann Major Page B

he’d rejected the Marines and their madmen drill instructors and had gone AWOL. He’d hidden out in the swamp that surrounded the base for a week, with nothing to eat but raw lizards and snakes, with nothing to drink but swamp water. He’d squatted up to his eyeballs in mud and scorpions and mosquitoes while platoons had searched for him. That was when he’d first learned to shut down emotionally.
    The MPs had finally found him, of course, and had hauled him to the brig in handcuffs. The meanest sergeant on the base had taken over at that point. He’d made a show of verbally flaying Phillip in front of his platoon. Then he’d collared Phillip and shoved him toward his office for a private torture session. He’d pushed Phillip into a chair and slammed the door.
    â€œA week? You ate lizards? Snakes? What were you thinking about, kid?”
    â€œWasn’t thinking. Shut down.”
    â€œCrazy kid. You ate snakes? What the hell were you trying to prove?”
    â€œShut down.”
    The sergeant had crossed his arms over his bull-thick chest and eyeballed him. “Either you’re going to make one hell of a crazy Marine. Or…”
    He let that word hang like a grenade that had been thrown. His eyes narrowed. “Or I’m going to personally take you back to that swamp and feed you to the alligators and snakes myself. Do we have an understanding, kid?”
    â€œYes, sir.”
    â€œDo we have an understanding?” he’d screamed in that awful maniacle tone that had driven Phillip to go AWOL in the first place.
    â€œYes, sir!”
    â€œSeven days on snakes and swamp water. You’re a born Marine. You’re crazy enough to be anything you want to be. Don’t you ever forget that.”
    Then the sergeant had given him a fatherly pat. “Now you make me proud, son.”
    â€œYes, sir!”
    From that day, the Marines had been Phillip’s home and his family. They’d been enough. Until Celeste. Now that she’d come back he wanted more.
    He wanted Celeste.
    Shut down! Shut down! Dive!
    When he got back from his hour-long walk, Celeste was in the middle of watching some chick-flick called When Harry Met Sally. Curled up at one end of the couch, she was munching fat-free microwave popcorn out of a sack. Her golden hair flowed down her back. Hell, she looked like an angel.
    â€œWant some?” She smiled at him as he shut the front door and then held up her popcorn bag. When he hesitated, she shook it.
    He went over to her and scooped out a handful. Their hands brushed, and to his surprise he felt a jolt.
    Shut down.
    Their eyes met and he felt pulled toward her like an iron filing to a powerful magnet. No matter how hard he tried to ignore her and shut down, he was failing big-time. Just the sight of her on his couch, and her golden female beauty had his blood heating and his heart pounding.
    â€œThis is a great movie,” she said. “One of the best.”
    â€œNever saw it,” he mumbled, determined to stumble to bed.
    â€œâ€™Cause you prefer those boring old war movies.”
    â€œMovies with no mush.”
    â€œHey, sit down. Watch this! This is my favorite! Meg’s in a restaurant—”
    Sure enough, Meg Ryan was in a restaurant proving to Billy Crystal that a woman could fake an orgasm. Meg was cute. The scene was hot. Meg got hotter and hotter. Just watching her throw back her head and gasp made Phillip want Celeste in bed, made him want to see Celeste’s face when she came.
    He went around the sofa and sat beside Celeste. She squirmed a little, relocating as far from him as possible. Meg twisted and writhed and struggled to breathe. Celeste turned beet-red. She didn’t look at him, though, and she didn’t get up.
    They pretended to watch the movie together. Every scene, every piece of dialogue between the mismatched lovers maddened him and made him want Celeste more.
    Shut down! But he