Die for You

Chapter 46

I'd come a long way, but there was a time and a place for statements that and this wasn't one of them. Not when we were surrounded by testosterone-fueled cretins on an adrenaline trip who would just love the idea of two girls together, let alone see it in front of their eyes.

"I'll see you later, Miss Armstrong," I said as she got the hint and turned away. 

Eyes from the clique followed her as she weaved through the compound heading for the exit; eyes attached to chests that puffed out as she passed in order to look more impressive, chests that were attached to arms that nudged at their friends suggestively as she walked away. Right then, all I wanted to do was flip off the safety on the HK and start firing, such was my anger at seeing them lust after my girl. 

I turned my back and busied myself with my kit, trying to calm down; unpacking and loading the pistol and the spare magazines I had purchased for the HK just in case the C-Mag jammed. There was so much to do to get ready, and it seemed like there was no time left to do it.

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Ten minutes after Becky went on her way, our names were drawn from a hat to determine the order for the combat run. As the leading competitor, James had the privilege of drawing first, with me drawing second. I drew the number nine, he had drawn number twelve; quite literally, now the ball was in his court.

He had a real advantage now, he would know exactly what he had to do to beat my score, and all he had to do was enough to keep his points lead. If I wanted to win, I'd have to push as hard as I could and risk making a mistake; he could play it safe, it was that simple. As was the choice that I was facing, put the hammer down, try to win and risk pissing off my boss; or take it easy, play it safe, lose and risk pissing off my girlfriend after all her efforts for me. 

A girlfriend who simply wanted me to do the best I could and bugger the result, a girlfriend who had told me she'd be proud of me whatever happened. It was the rock and a hard place, I was definitely stuck between that same old rock and that very hard place. Either way this went down, there was a chance that someone was going to be mad at me. Happily for me, the situation was solved fifteen minutes later as competitor number three was called to the arena.

"Hey blondie," James said as he walked over to my table, "buy you a coffee?"

"The coffee's free to us boss," I replied nodding over at the catering truck that was parked at the far end of our area, still a bit annoyed at his little gang's actions earlier.

"Jesus, I don't mean that swill, I mean buy you a proper coffee. Come on, grab your pass and follow me."

I dropped my HK and its fancy magazine into the storage case and locked it closed. I'd spent a long time feeding those rounds into the twin drums and I wasn't going to risk someone fucking with it to give them an advantage.

James handed me the steaming cappuccino, listening carefully as the speaker system announced the time and score for competitor number five. It was taking a goodly amount of time between rounds, and the afternoon was already drawing late, they were going to have to speed things up or we'd be competing in the dark. Still, the delays did mean that I had enough time to enjoy my drink before having to worry about going out again.

James and I sat down at one of the tables, far from the madding crowds that were drinking beer, and champagne and generally making an unholy noise in the spectators area, I felt conspicuously underdressed. I'd opted for boots, black combats and a webbing vest with my gear pouches. My concession to the American summer was I'd replaced the jumper with a matching black vest top and a soft 'crap hat' and glasses to keep the sun out of my eyes. 

Becky had looked at me, practically drooling, when she'd seen me, I have no idea why. Really, there's nothing in the least bit sexy about boots and combats, no matter what she kept telling me.