A Soldier's Love

Chapter 3

Henry let out a grunt as he began lifting the heavy bags of flour that his aunt wanted moved. Every time Henry walked by the door where his aunt and Elizabeth sat, he felt eyes on him. He knew that it was Elizabeth watching him because he recognized the feel of her eyes on him. Henry finally looked in to catch Elizabeth watching him. Henry gave her that small smirk of his that used to drive her crazy when they were teens. Elizabeth's eyes widened before she blushed and dropped her eyes.

There was spring in Henry's step as he went to see if his uncle needed anything moved. A plan started forming in Henry's mind. He would make Elizabeth realize what it was that she had given up. Henry had no idea if Elizabeth still had feelings for him, but he was planning to find out. There were enough women around town that he could flirt with. It had driven Elizabeth crazy the few times Henry had purposefully flirted with other girls when they were dating. He knew from experience that Elizabeth would sit and stew for a few days before she would get even with him. Henry's breath caught as he remembered all of the times Elizabeth had gotten even with him. Just the memory of those erotic times caused him to harden even more.

It was nearing midnight and Henry couldn't get to sleep. His mind was still puzzling over the fact that Elizabeth worked at the bakery. All day he'd been aware of her sitting there with his aunt Elizabeth learning how to do the ordering. Henry didn't believe in fate or karma, but he knew that it wasn't a coincidence either. He didn't believe in coincidences.

The clock in the hall chimed midnight and Henry gave up trying to sleep. Henry threw back the covers and slid slowly out of bed. Pain shot up his bad leg as Henry stood and he gritted his teeth from the pain. His leg throbbed with each step he took as needles of pain shot up his leg. The stairs were always the hardest, but Henry knew that the exercise would loosen his leg up.

By the time Henry made it down the stairs his leg had loosened up enough to where he barely limped. A light was on in the kitchen and voices could be heard. Henry moved softly towards the kitchen already coming up with a plan for intruders. A soft breathless giggle came from the kitchen and Henry relaxed. He knew that giggle. It belonged to his cousin Jennifer. If Jennifer was in the kitchen then Anthony must be too. Those two rarely went anywhere without each other. Henry couldn't blame them. They had been through so much together that they couldn't bear to be apart for very long.

Henry peaked around the corner into the kitchen. Jennifer was sitting on the counter with her legs crossed while Anthony was busy digging in the fridge for something to eat. A Cheshire cat grin stretched across Henry's face as he realized that this was the perfect opportunity to scare the shit out of his cousins.

"What are you doing?" Henry said as he smacked the counter with his hand.

Jennifer let out a screech and almost fell off the counter. Anthony jumped so hard he hit his head on the fridge. Jennifer pressed a hand to her chest as she leaned back against the cupboards. Anthony closed the fridge door and rubbed at the sore spot on his head as he glared at Henry.

Henry couldn't help laughing. "I haven't seen the two of you jump like that in a long time."

"You scared the shit out of us Henry," Jennifer said as she fanned herself. "I thought for sure it was Uncle Igor coming to let us know that he was disappointed in us for being out so late."

Henry smirked as he limped into the kitchen and sank down into a chair trying to keep his bummed leg from bending. "I couldn't sleep and decided to come downstairs for some water. I thought the two of you were intruders till I heard your giggling Jennifer." Henry shrugged. "The next logical thing to do was to scare you."

"You gave me a heart attack man." Anthony scowled at Henry. "And a sore head."

"I'm sure you deserve it." Henry commented. "What are you two doing up at this late hour?"

Jennifer shrugged as she jumped down from the counter. "We were out at a party. Don't tell Aunt Heather or Uncle Igor." Jennifer turned her big eyes on Henry as she handed him the glass of water she'd poured for him. "They thought we were having a study night."

Henry grunted as he took the glass from Jennifer. He didn't answer till he had a drink of water. "Elizabeth and I used to do the same thing."

"I wondered if there was something between the two of you. I told Anthony there had to be with the way that Elizabeth acted whenever anyone mentioned your name."

"Did you bang her in high school?"

"Anthony!" Jennifer said in horror as she made a swipe at her brother and missed.

"What?" Anthony snapped at his sister. "She's hot and it would be something that I would have done if I'd gone to school with her."

"She's way out of your league cousin." Henry downed the rest of his water.

"You know here?" Jennifer questioned. "Don't you."

"We dated in high school. She broke up with me as soon as I told her that I was headed to basic training."

Anthony sucked in a breath as he winced. "Ouch. That must have hurt."

Henry shrugged. "It did and still does. I want to know why she did that. I had planned on proposing to her once I was finished with basic training. I still have the ring."

Jennifer's eyes lit up at the word proposal. "Oh how romantic."

"Are you going to try to get her back?"

Henry smirked at Anthony. "I know how to make Elizabeth jealous. That is what I'm going to do. Back in high school I used to purposely make her jealous. Not to hurt her, but she would get revenge in her own way. There were some nights where I had trouble walking the next day."

"Ew gross." Jennifer made a face.

Anthony leaned forward and high fived Henry. "Nice man."

"Anthony and I can keep an eye on Elizabeth." Jennifer offered.

Anthony gave his sister a pained look. "I am not babysitting some woman that our cousin is chasing after."

Jennifer cocked her hip out and planted a fist on that hip as she shook her finger at her brother. "You will do exactly as I say Tony or I will let Hannah know that you're crushing on her. We both know how crazy she is about you. She'd jump at the chance to know that you like her."

Anthony scowled at his sister. "Fine, but you owe me sis. I want you to set me up with one of your hot friends and it better not be Hannah. I'm not into skanks."

Henry was confused by the conversation. "I thought you dated skanks."

The look Anthony sent towards Henry caused Jennifer to burst out laughing. "I date women of class. Sure they want to get in my pants, but they aren't jumping me as soon as I walk up and speak to them."

"Ah," Henry said as he thought back to the women he knew. "I've known some of those kinds of women."

Henry looked at the apple clock hanging over the doorway. "I think it's time the two of you went to bed."

Anthony groaned. Jennifer let out a sigh. Henry watched his cousins leave the kitchen. They were Henry's favorite cousins even though they could both be obnoxious at 17 and 21. Henry was surprised they went that easily to bed. They never did anything easy, but Henry was thinking that they were being easy on him.

Henry stood with a groan and limped over and sat his glass in the sink. He began the long process of climbing the stairs. Henry had only made it up the first step when Anthony appeared next to him. Anthony looked at him, but didn't say anything as he wrapped a muscular arm around Henry's waist and began helping him up the stairs. Henry grunted softly at Anthony. He was secretly glad for the help.

Anthony let go of Henry once they reached the top of the stairs. Henry clapped Anthony on the back. Anthony retaliated by punching Henry on the arm before he went back downstairs. Henry shook his head as he settled down on his bed and elevated his leg up on a pillow. His thoughts drifted to Elizabeth as he stared at the ceiling. His cock twitched and Henry shut down his line of thinking. He didn't want to deal with an erection right now. He needed to sleep because tomorrow he'd need all of his wits about him as he started his plan on making Elizabeth regret dumping him. A smile teased the edges of Henry's mouth as he thought of the chase. He was going to have fun.