“I can’t stand bitches like you!” she yelled out.

Her hand grabbed onto my hair, tugging fiercely as she pulled hair from my still well put together bun. It hurt like hell coming from the tight confines of my ponytail holder, and as she was yanking my head down, I grabbed her hair once again, jerking and tugging just as hard as she had done to mine, if not harder.

Just as I was tightening my grip on her, a strong set of hands wrapped around my midsection, pulling me off of her. She still had my hair in her hands, and the ache from the pull made me cry out in pain.

“Fuuucccckkkk!”

She finally let go.

“What the hell is going on in here?” Dalton’s familiar voice mixed with heavy breathing finally brought me back.

I stood glaring at Angelica, hard breaths shooting from my nose as my chest heaved in a laborious manner. She was breathing equally hard, throwing her hand into her hair and thrusting it back and out of her face.

“Ask your dick-whipped friend over there,” she said, running her tongue over her lip that now had blood coming out of it.

“You want another busted lip? Keep running your mouth.”

Dalton stepped in between us, looking like he had no clue what he would do should we decide to charge one another again. The thought crossed my mind. I had been wanting to let loose on her ever since the initial PFT when she tried to screw me. Everything from there had only escalated, and I was done sitting by, taking her shit as she gave it.

“You two had better knock this off before the duty comes up here. You’ll be in trouble for sure.”

“Trouble seems to follow this girl,” she said. “And his last name is Cruz.”

“Angelica, that’s enough,” Dalton scolded.

Her eyes fixed him, lowering into a wickedly low stare, hooded by her dark eyelashes. “Oh, you already knew? I should have known.”

“You say one more thing and he won’t be able to hold me off,” I warned. She had me so full of rage, I could take her on another round.

“Bring it bitch.”

“No one else is throwing another punch, pulling anymore hair, or bitch slapping anyone.” Dalton took a firm stand, asserting himself between both of us.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve left my mark. Her fucking boyfriend is going to wonder how she got that fucking scratch on her forehead. I’m sure I’ll be done then. And so will the two of you.”

She grabbed some clothes and stormed out of the room. I was still breathing hard, adrenaline gripping me as Dalton pulled me closer to him, taking my chin in his hand and lifting my face to meet his gaze.

“What the hell got into you two?” he asked, worry laced throughout his words.

I shook my head and stepped away from him, walking to the bathroom to run some water over my face. I took notice of the scratch on my forehead. I’d been in a couple of fights in my life, but I was never the aggressor, and I usually never retaliated the way I had done just now. I wasn’t sure where that overly aggressive me came from, but I liked her.

I only wished that she had been around a few years prior.

Looking into the mirror, Dalton caught my eye. He leaned on the frame as he looked me over, probably wondering where this rabid beast had come from since he had never seen even a glimpse of me in this state.

“I told you I was sick of her. Today was just the final straw.”

“You can’t go around getting into fights. You’ll get kicked out of school. What the hell, Cassie?”

“I don’t need your fucking lectures right now, Dalton. You have no idea what she said to me. And anyway, it was self-defense. She made first contact, and I finished her ass off.”

I walked past him, throwing myself down on my bed. He followed behind, lifting my legs and sitting down, placing them back down on his lap.

“And anyway,” I continued, “what are you doing here?”

“You didn’t answer my text. Pete has a few people in the room. Guess his gym plans got cancelled.”

He studied me for a bit before muttering, “So I guess she knows about you and Cruz?”

“She’s known. Or at least knew something was up.”

“So what happened today?”

“This morning some Pfc. on duty came up here and told her to go and see Sgt. Cruz in the secondary room. She went and came back a living mess. I can only imagine what he must have said to her. Then, when she got back in here this afternoon, she was full of all kinds of venom. She said some horrible shit that I was going to let slide until she pushed me. I had to attack.”

Dalton laughed, shutting his eyes and throwing his head back. Laughter in this situation seemed completely out of place.

“What’s so funny?” I asked.

He paused for a second, wiping his eyes.

“Um, you. And what I saw when I walked in here. That was seriously one of the best catfights I have ever seen, and in my circle, I’ve seen quite a few.”

“I don’t even know what to say to that,” I joked.

“It was hot. If you two would have lost the shirts, it would have been even hotter. Even for me.”

I playfully kicked him. He knew how to bring me out of my funk and lighten the mood whenever I got down.

“So anyway, enough about that crazy ass chick. You need to tell me about this info that’s burning holes into my thought process. What’s going on with Sgt. Cruz?”

I swallowed and sat up in the bed.

“Hold on one second,” Dalton said, retrieving my hairbrush and handing it to me. “I can’t look at you like this any longer. I can’t take you seriously.”

I had forgotten that my hair must have been a serious mess after Angelica ripped it from my bun. I quickly took it down, using the brush to smooth it out while also massaging my scalp.

“Well, I can only assume, based on her outburst in here, that he said some shit to her. When he called me down this morning, he apologized for cutting me off and ignoring me, and also for fucking up on Friday.”

“Fucking up?”

“Yep! He fucked up. I guess he was trying to drown me out. His NCO of the Quarter award made him think twice about what he was doing so he went out, got shitfaced, kissed some random chick, then let Castillo blow him.”

“What the fuck?”

“Yes, precisely.”

“And he told you all of this?”

“Angelica initially told me about Castillo, and I questioned him. He was honest about it and told me about the random too.”

Dalton rubbed his hands over his face, then blew out a deep breath.

“So now what?”

“Now, he wants me to go off with him for the weekend.”

“Huh?”

“Yeah. He says he was wrong, he admits that. He wants me to leave with him this weekend and make things right.”

“Are you gonna go?”

“I don’t know. I was so pissed off at him. I don’t know if I want to just take off with him.”

“Can I throw my two cents in?”

“Don’t you always?” I replied, grinning at him.

“True. But anyway, I think you should go. He fucked up, but the fact that he admitted to it, even the shit you didn’t know about, says something. I don’t know him well, but I see what kind of hold he has on you, and apparently you have the same hold on him.”

I laughed a bit. He was on to something.

“You two crazy asses stand to lose so much if this gets out, and yet you can’t stay away from each other. I think you already know what your answer is to his request, but you want to play tough ass. I say suck it up and go. If he’s to burn for you, with everything he has on the line, are you willing to do it too?”

“I get what you’re saying, but the Castillo thing—“

“It sucks. And you probably need to scrub his dick before you get anywhere near it, but people make mistakes, and thankfully he didn’t fuck her. So you have to ask yourself if you want to overlook it or not. It’s simple. Yes, or no.”

“I really hate you sometimes.”

“I know. But what would do without me?”

I rolled my eyes and shook my head.