Page 96 of Mr. Charming

“I’m coming,” I said then stepped back inside to grab my suitcase and messenger bag.

“Hurry. The chopper is waiting,” Tony said as I followed him to the large, open space in middle of the camp.

“Will you please tell me what happened?” I begged over the loud sound of the chopper blades and engine. “Was it the Taliban?”

“No,” he shouted. “It wasn’t an attack. You need to get on the chopper. Now.”

I glanced around, wondering about Cooper. Would he look me up and call to let me know what had happened? Fucking him was the furthest thing from my mind as I searched for him.

“You need to go,” Tony shouted, pointing at the helicopter.

“Fine,” I shouted, ducking my head and jogging over.

A soldier helped me inside. As soon as I sat down, the chopper lifted into the air. I peered over the side, looking down. Cooper! He looked up at me in the chopper as it flew away.

The entire trip to the Kandahar airport, I thought about what had happened at FOB Cobra. I hadn’t gotten the story I sought or the man I desired.

All I wanted to do was get back to New York and my normal life.

ELEVEN

Cooper

Two Years Later

As I got out of the yellow cab and saw the New York City skyline, I suddenly realized how much I had missed the city. The car drove away. I walked up on the sidewalk and pulled out my phone.

Everything had fallen apart after Jade left FOB Cobra in Afghanistan. Captain Jeffries, involved heavily with the smuggling operation, had ordered her to the chopper after Max blew himself up.

The damn fool had constructed a bomb from mining dynamite. It had gone off before he had a chance to take it off the base. He had said it was to shut-up a local Afghani who wanted to report us.

I glanced up at her building from across the street, wondering what apartment was hers. Was she looking out a window at me right in that moment? I checked her address on my phone then put it away.

After more than two years of not hearing from her, I had looked up her information online. It had cost me two hundred dollars, but I got it.

Crossing the street, I wondered why she hadn’t contacted me over the years. Her last night in Afghanistan had turned hot and heavy, but she was sent away before we could finish what we had started.

I made it to the front door of her building, not seeing a doorman. After finding her name, I pressed the button to ring her apartment. She’s not home, I thought immediately, stepping away. I’ll come back some other day.

“Hello? Who is this?”

The sound of her voice thrilled me.

“Me,” I said.

“Who is me?”

“Cooper.”

“Cooper?”

“Yeah, from Afghanistan.”

“Oh, Cooper! Come in.”

The door buzzed and clicked, unlocking. I walked through, entering the lobby. On the way to the elevator, I thought about the two years since I’d last seen her.

Was I insane for showing up out of the blue? Questions went through my mind as I rode the elevator up to her apartment on the eleventh floor.