My Soldier My Mate

Chapter 2

Payton

We are heading home, 48 hours ago we were hanging off walls as a team of 6, we are now heading home as a team of 5 and one coffin and me just out of surgery, our full team comprises of 16 men. Golden....... Golden was 23 and we got on like a house on fire, I have his letters in my pocket, I never wanted to do this and I have never had to before.
We are in the air, no one is talking, my gun shot wound is killing me but I will show no pain, we all look like we have seen better days, my face isn't too bad, they usually went for my body so I only have a split lip and a black eye, and I heal a lot faster than most people,I just need my bed. We are all in our combat gear, we look out of place at the airport but our barracks doesn't have a runway strip so we have to use a normal airport. We are the last ones to get off the plane when an air stewardess comes over to me "thank you for your service, I am sorry for your loss, my father was in the army and I always saw his pain when he lost a family member" I nodded "thanks" she smiled a sad smile and let me exit the plane.
The boys all live in the same town but I live in the next town over, so I got a separate taxi, after 30 minutes we pulled up to my little palace, home sweet home I thought to my self, I walked in, threw my duffel bag in the lounge and made my way to my room, i just wanted a shower, there was a funny noise coming from my room, I quickly went back to my bag and grabbed my gun, I quickly and quietly walked to my room opened the door and pointed my gun "what do we have here?" There were screams coming from the bed as 2 heads popped out, one being my boyfriend "oh my god Payton your home?" I kept the gun pointed at his head "I will repeat my self again what do we have here?" I look from my now ex boyfriend and his toy "look man, I'm sorry he didn't tell me he had a boyfriend.....I'm just gonna go" he got out the bed grabbed his stuff, I let him pass me and out the door, Andy is just staring at me whilst trying to use the covers to cover himself, I bend down pick his clothes up and throw them at him, I winch a bit as my arm and shoulder are hurting from the gun shot wound. Andy starts to stammer "ummm, welllll, youuu seeee, I'm sorrrrryy I was lonely" he got dressed as I rolled my eyes " can you put down the gun?" "Nope, get your stuff and get out, I don't know why you are here, this is my house, I never gave you a key, so I want that back NOW" he hands me the key out of his pocket, grabs his shit and slowly walks past me and my gun, I follow him down stairs to the front door, he opens the door walks through it and turns to face me as I slam the door in his face, what a welcome home party, I walk back up to my room to have a shower and pass out once I have replaced the fucking sheets on MY bed.
—————————-
A week later my now team of 5 are all dressed in our army uniforms standing at Goldens Funeral, his younger brother Josh is the spitting image of him, it's kinda scary, we stand at the back out the way ready to pay our respects, I have his letter burning a hole in my pocket. But something or should I say a smell is distracting me, it smells like maple syrup and I can't figure out where it's coming from but it's driving me crazy, it's making me want to fidget but I can withstand it and stand like a statue.
Josh is crying into the arms of a taller young man which I can only think is his boyfriend, Golden talked about them a lot, there is someone else standing next to them and he hasn't taken his eyes off me, he is probably an inch or 2 taller than me, he has the most amazing blue eyes and if i wasn't in the state I'm in with my personal life and the fact it's a funeral I might have gone over there and talked to him. I haven't seen Goldens older sister maybe I just missed her. As everyone starts to leave the cemetery we make our way over to Josh,
"Hi Josh, I'm sorry for your loss, I'm Lt Knightly and this is my team, Johnson, Turner, Wright and Carter"
"Yes I know who you are, Will talked about you a lot and I mean a lot, you were like family to him" we all smile at that "Yes we are family"
"Oh sorry this is my boyfriend Aiden and this is our friend Jason" finally I know his name and that's where the smell is coming from "Hi" we all say, I pull out the letters "I have 2 letters from Golden, one for you and one for your sister but I don't know what she looks like" "ummm, she is" he looks around and points to a blonde lady who is walking towards us "Sammy this is Lt Knightly and his team, Wills team" she smiles at the guys then winks at me, I hand her the letter, she holds onto my arm "it's so hard, he was my brother, I will miss him" then the tears came, I could tell straight away they were fake tears, I clear my throat "yes we will all miss him dearly"
Aiden then saves the day "shall we head to the wake?" But she doesn't let go of my arm.
——————-
I spent most of the wake hiding from Sammy the guys thought it was very funny. I was hiding in the kitchen when Josh came in "Sorry about Sammy she doesn't know when to stop" "it's ok I guess you can't do much, she should know that's it's in appropriate to come onto someone at a funeral let alone her brothers."
"Will talked about you a lot sometimes it felt like you should have been his brother" l laughed "We are brothers all of us, when you spend every minute together you become family and I guess me and Will clicked, I don't know if it was our love of basketball or the fact that we both couldn't stand the music the other guys listened to, we just kinda drifted together"