4 Paving Roads with Good Intentions

Lilah and the gang went out and met a military bar called 'The King's Castle'. While it was far from the opulence she expected from the name, it wasn't a total dive either. According to some of the local personnel it had the best drinks in town and the atmosphere was very much Armyesque. I saw many faces that I recognized from the base, some with girlfriends or wives, and some flying solo.

Our rag tag group contained 5 recruits including myself and Adam, The very gentle giant I had met earlier, and 2 other fairly friendly privates that seemed pretty nice so far, both of which had families outside of the base.

The first thing they did was order a round of shots, which Lilah was not accustomed to drinking. Her and Lindsey preferred wine for the comradery, and rarely made mixed drinks. Typical 'girly drinks' Lilah thought. It was time for her to man up and be one of the guys. The first shot went down like fire, each man accepting his sacrifice gladly except for Adam who nearly vomited on the spot.

Lilah rubbed his back and assured him he would be ok. "Looks like Adam needed Eve to help him out." One of the men joked. Lilah giggled, and Adam toughened up as if on cue, demanding another round to prove his manliness. The second round was easier though still burned every inch down Lilah's throat. This time Adam somewhat held his poker face, and the others cheered him on for his effort.

"Can I buy the next round?" Lilah spun around to find that the offer came from none other than CO Schumer. He walked up to us at the bar and pulled out his wallet, while the bartender was already pouring our next round. It is commonly known that on base, and in uniform CO Schumer was our boss and was not to be spoken to as a contemporary. But off of base, he was just another civilian like Lilah and Adam. Though everyone knew this, it didn't make it any less uncomfortable.

"CO Schumer, fancy seeing you here." One of the men in our group, Donald, offered. Though he was by no means drunk, he seemed more brave than he would have when we first entered. "This is a watering hole boys, we all make our rounds here eventually." Schumer glanced in Lilah's direction, making the alcohol in her belly feel especially hot at his gaze; Lilah couldn't put her finger on why though.

The drinks arrived, and we all chose our respective glasses, before holding them up for a toast. "To Shoe, the meanest, fairest CO in all of Oklahoma." If the new nickname bothered CO Schumer it didn't show, and with that they all drank, giving a bitter look when the warm liquid hit its destination.

Just then a new song came on, some upbeat dance tune meant to lure guests to the dance floor and hopefully buy more drinks. Lilah was swaying gently to the music when Schumer fully turned to her now, his attention fully set on her. "Care to dance?" He had to raise his voice a bit to be heard over the loud bass that filled the room but Lilah understood just fine. "Um, no thank you, I'm a horrible dancer I would just make a fool out of myself right now." Schumer shrugged, leaving his eyes firmly set on hers.

"So? You think I would be teaching these maggots if I had any dance skills of my own? Come on, it will be fun. I promise." Schumer seemed sincere, and the vodka had hit her just enough to turn off her inhibitions for a while. What could it hurt? "Ok." she responded finally.

Without a word Schumer smiled and grabbed Lilah's hand, leading her to the dance floor.

When they arrived, he spun her to face away from him, and they began to dance; more seductively than Lilah was used to, but lights and the heat in her belly soothed her enough to go with it. She caught a glimpse of Adam and the others watching them with wide grins. She supposed they had already gathered that this wasn't a normal action for her and everyone was taking it in stride. Lilah felt Schumer's body pressed against her, his pelvic bone flush to her bottom and his hard abs pressed against her back. It had been a long time since Lilah had felt the touch of a man, but she had hardly prepared herself for this.

It made her dizzy to think about it so she closed her eyes and tried not to think at all.

Suddenly his hot breath tickled her ear and he said "Told you it would be fun." She ignored him and continued to dance. The tune changed to a slower beat that caused Schumer to snake his arms around Lilah's waist, holding her hips firmly in his grasp; pulling himself even closer to her if that was possible. Lilah peeked up from their private moment briefly, and noticed another man sitting across the room watching them intently.

Schumer's face was entangled in her hair, so he had yet to notice their admirer. After a moment of watching the man, she recognized him as Officer Gabriel Austin she had encountered earlier that day. He sat leisurely, but with his back ramrod straight, with a glass of some kind of brown liquid in his hand. His eyes never deviated from hers, despite the fact that they both knew he had been watching them. For how long, she had no clue. She felt his stare bore through her, they both knew what she was doing was against the rules.

There was no 'hanky panky' allowed between officers and their inferiors. It was considered an abuse of power. There was no such rule about dancing however; and even though her and Schumer were very... close, nothing else had happened. So why did he watch them like this? Lilah, tired of asking herself these questions, decided to close her eyes instead; spinning around in Schumer's arms, placing her arms on his neck and her head on his shoulder.

He seemed pleased with this, glancing down at her briefly before settling his hands just above her bottom and pulling her close once more. Finally the song ended, and Schumer pulled away from Lilah, leaving her wanting for more. He leaned in this time and whispered "Thanks for the dance cutie." When Lilah turned to say something, Schumer was already half way out the door.

She could still feel the imprint his body made on hers, leaving her shivering. She glanced toward Officer Austin's hiding place and found him also gone, not even his glass left behind. For a moment Lilah wondered if it was some kind of kinky fantasy, if the liquor had gotten to her, but as she neared her friends the catcalls reminded her that this indeed was no dream.

"What the hell was that?" Came one man. "I guess we can officially call you the teacher's pet cuz he was petting you dooown." Adam motioned with his hand in a rather obscene gesture, causing everyone around him to laugh. She was too tipsy to be offended by the remark, and settled on a chuckle and a beer instead.

"Hey at least I'm getting something, more than the rest of you." Lilah took a sip of beer while everyone else 'Ooh'ed at her pun. Lilah supposed she was earning some friends from her outgoing personality, little did they know how much of an introvert she truly was. "Touche, touche." Adam relented, visibly swaying from the alcohol.

Lilah finished her beer then headed for the ladies room; it seemed the mass quantities of liquid had come to bite her in the ass.

She was having a hard time even identifying the ladies room sign, much less completing the task. When she finally made her way to the sink to wash her hands, she took one look in the mirror and shuttered. "God, why would anyone want to dance with YOU? You look like hell." She did her best to smooth back her hair, sweeping long tendrils of dark locks behind her ears, and trying to fix her makeup. It was irreparable.

"Obviously not everyone agrees with your assessment my dear." Lilah spun to find the origin of the voice to be Officer Austin, lurking in the shadows once again. Actually he was leaning against the doorframe casually watching her attempts to fix herself, but what's the difference? "Why the hell are you here, this is the woman's bathroom you know." Lilah slurred her words, and gripping to the sink trying to keep from swaying. Austin chuckled.

"I was here first doll. This is the men's room. Didn't you read the sign?" Lilah glanced at the door, then back to the tall shapely older man in front of her. If she had to guess she would say he was probably 40, but his stature made him seem ageless. "No. No I didn't. What's your point?" Lilah took a few steps closer to the man a pointed a finger in his face, they were close enough to touch.

"My point is this, if you are drunk enough to walk into the wrong restroom, you probably shouldn't be dancing with strange men." Lilah took yet another step forward, not bothering to mind how close she was to him now.

"Oh, should I be afraid of you then? You're a strange man, I suppose by your reckoning I should leave then right?" Lilah once again did not recognize how flirtatious she had become, or the fiery look that had appeared in Austin's eyes once again. He let out a quiet sigh and tried to back away a few inches, but Lilah once again closed the gap.

"I'm saying, Someone like you should be more self aware, more... careful; of people like him." Lilah raised a hand to pluck a piece of lint off his shirt, then seductively looked up at him and asked "And men like you?" She flicked the fuzzie away, and after a pause Officer Austin lunged forward, grabbing Lilah by the face and kissing her deeply. He wore a motorcycle jacket that was warm on Lilah's arm from his skin; he too, had his body pressed to hers, but less assertive, and more gentle.

His tongue probed her mouth, while Lilah stood in shock. Deep down she knew she had pushed him to this, and she wanted to say no, that she didn't want it but she did. She relished his soft hot lips on hers, and the way his hands tangled in her hair, being careful not to pull any while they kissed.

Finally he pulled away and stared into her eyes, which were now swimming in a mix of desire and over consumption of alcohol. His face remained close to hers, hovering from above with an expression Lilah could not decode in her current state. "Be glad that I, and Schumer respect you like we do. The way you throw yourself at men will get you in a lot of trouble some day."

He paused, Then hastily planted another kiss on her lips before exiting the restroom. Lilah now smelled the trail of musky cologne that followed after Austin, and couldn't quite understand what had just happened. Either way, before she had a chance to put any more thought into it, the taste of second-hand vodka started making it's way back up her throat, so she ran to the nearest stall and hurled everything she had drank and then some.

When she was done she leaned her face on the seat, swearing she was only going to rest her eyes for a minute, then promptly passed out; and dreamt of warm leather and beard stubble.