It's Always Been You by Jessica Scott Read Free Book Online Page A

wasn’t for me having to clean up your mess, I would be exceptionally happy that you’ve been relieved.” He rubbed his hand over his jaw. “Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.”
    “You always were a cowboy, Teague. Too idealistic to do what needed to be done. You should have fired Escoberra after your base got blown up, but instead you sacrificed your career for him.”
    “Didn’t make a damn bit of difference, now did it,” Ben said mildly. As badly as he wanted to throw Marshall—physically—from his office, he figured he should probably refrain. Especially after the pissing contest with Major Hale in front of the battalion commander. “Looks like I get a chance to command after all.”
    Marshall snorted. “You’re just going to fuck this up, too. You couldn’t make a hard decision to save your own ass back then; you think you’re going to be able to do this?”
    Ben smiled. “I’ll do a better job than you. And I’ll do it without betraying everyone around me to save my own ass.”
    “Mistakes were made on that mission,” Marshall snapped.
    “Indeed they were. And I thought we were supposed to be responsible for our subordinates’ actions?”
    “You don’t know the meaning of the word ‘responsible,’ ” Marshall said quietly.
    “And you don’t know the meaning of the word ‘loyalty.’ ” He brushed a piece of lint from Marshall’s shoulder. “Now, get the fuck out of my office and go mourn the end of your career.”
    Marshall’s smile was ice cold as he stood, an inch from Ben’s face. The peppermint sting of Copenhagen snuff filled Ben’s nose and he fought the urge to gag. “You think this fiasco matters? Do you know who my father is? I’m going to be reassigned to the Infantry Center at Fort Benning and I’ll be commanding a real infantry unit in less than six months and all of this heavy armored Cav bullshit can kiss my ass.”
    Ben patted Marshall’s collar down. “Jimmy, Jimmy, what’s the weather on your world like? Because where I’m standing, you’ve been flagged by
division headquarters.
That means you’re stuck here at The Great Place until the investigations are complete. Which means that unless you’ve been giving the chief of staff of the army hand jobs in your spare time, you’re not going anywhere until this is over. And these things tend to take a very, very long time.”
    Marshall’s face turned an unhealthy shade of purple. “Fuck you, Teague.”
    “You’re really not my type. Oh, and let’s not forget how many future high-powered officers come out of Cav. You can call it bullshit all day long but your ticket is punched, sport. Daddy can’t save you. You might want to brush up on that résumé. I hear they need check-out boys at Walmart.”
    Marshall’s nostrils flared. He was getting ready to start screaming. Ben could see it in the vein pounding in Marshall’s forehead. Good. It would give him an excuse to throw his sorry ass out of the office.
    “Before you blow a gasket, can I remind you of something?” Ben leaned close, close enough to see the five hairs on the edge of Marshall’s jaw that the other man had missed when he shaved this morning. “You’re in my office now. So get the fuck out.”
    Marshall grabbed his headgear off the desk and slammed the door against the concrete wall as he stalked from the small office.
    The stink of Marshall’s snuff hung in the air after he left. Ben badly needed some air freshener. Maybe a scented candle or something. He sighed and glanced at the chaos on his desk. He didn’t even have time to look at his e-mail, which was probably just as well—his inbox had probably already exploded with pointless garrison stuff that meant little in the grand scheme of more important things.
Like the war.
    It was probably just as well that the formal passing of the BlackBerry hadn’t occurred. It meant that Ben wasn’t tied to his e-mail. Yet.
    He lifted one stack of files and skimmed the names written