Quinn
I thought I had seen the last of Susan by telling her how I didn’t miss her but I was wrong. She was more determined to have me in her space and because I mentioned my brothers the other time, she extended a bit of the gesture to them though it was all too obvious that what she was doing to them was fake and all she was concerned about was truly me.
I sighed. I hated unnecessary attention of any kind and I had tried my best to avoid it by staying on my own in the barracks but now she was bringing me out in the open against my wish.
I didn’t like this and I was going to have to talk to her. What did she think that she was doing? That I was going to like it? She was being ridiculous if she didn’t know it and she had to be dreaming if she thought that I was going to like her gesture.
I remembered that I wanted to tell my brothers something and was about to speak up but the bell beat me to it.
“Oh! That is the bell for dinner. Shall we?” Jack said.
“No problem.” John replied.
We had barely moved two steps when Susan came running into us, her breath wheezing loudly in her mouth. We all stopped in shock and looked at her.
“What is the problem, officer?” John asked, glancing at her and scowling at the way she was sweating.
She extended a pack to us. We peered in and saw three bottles in it. “What is this?” John asked.
I didn’t say anything because I knew what I was. It was similar to the bottle she had tried to give me earlier and I could guess why they were now tripled.
“I tried to give Officer Quinn drugs the other time because I noticed that he was weak lately but he wouldn’t collect it and rebuked me for getting only one and not noticing that the two of you were also weak.”
“Ah!” I groaned silently under my breath. I looked away when my brothers looked at me. Why was she trying to do this to me? My brothers would tease me about this for years.
John cleared his throat and lowered his voice into a caring whisper. I snorted at his gesture. He was always the considerate one trying not to hurt the feelings of others. He should be blunt with her so she could move on quickly.
I snorted at my thoughts. I had been blunt with her but it didn’t seem like she had moved on quickly. What was I saying? She hadn’t moved on at all and that was why I was annoyed at John’s attempt to be nice to her. If she couldn’t read between the lines when I was blunt with her, she would hardly move on as we wanted if he was nice to her.
The worst case scenario would be that her feelings would shift to him and that was still a disaster.
John began. “We are fine. You don’t have to worry about us.”
She bit her lips and I watched as they quivered. “But…”
“There is no but, officer.” I interrupted her. “I told you that we were fine and didn’t need drugs but you chose to hear only the part where I had said that you didn’t notice my brothers were also feeling weak. Why are you doing this?”
“I’m being concerned about my senior colleagues. Is that a crime?”
“I believe your senior colleague told you in clear terms that you don’t have to worry about him. What you are doing isn’t a crime but you are being a nuisance.”
She gasped. I didn’t wait for her to say anything else before rushing on. “Do I have to worry about you, Officer Susan?” I asked, using my stern official voice on her, the one I used to train and bark at the new soldiers.
“Do I have to be concerned about you? Do I have to report you to the major for abusing the clinic and taking drugs in it the way you like?”
Her eyes widened and she shook her head. “No, sir. I didn’t take drugs the way I liked. I had it on record.”
“By who? Who had it on record that you took drugs for patients who couldn’t come to the clinic themselves? Is that how you were trained? Is that how the person was trained? Who gave you the drugs? Who prescribed them and let you walk out of the clinic with drugs that weren’t for you?”
I knew I was barking at her – I was mad enough to do so – but I didn’t care. She had to stop annoying me. She whimpered, her eyes going rounder with fright as my voice got louder. She bit her lips, unable to talk as I knew she wouldn’t be able to. She wouldn’t dare to snitch on the medical personnel who had helped her in general clinic to avoid implicating that person and becoming an ungrateful snitch. Everyone would hate her in the camp if they happened and she wouldn’t like that.
I moved closer to her, my eyes intent on her face and my voice a deadly whisper that I knew she could still hear well. “Don’t try to be excessively nice and clingy where you are not wanted. Do I make myself clear, officer?”
She nodded. I was sure that she would have felt a chill in her spine with how dangerously low my voice sounded and the cold message that accompanied it and I hoped that she got the message.
I couldn’t keep dealing with her. She stood there staring at the floor. The bell rang again, shouting its last warning for every officer to get into the dining hall and breaking the silence in the air. She snapped to attention as if she suddenly remembered that she couldn’t stay here any longer with us and ran off.
“You didn’t have to be that harsh.” John rebuked me the moment she was gone.
“You think?” I snorted at him. “You weren’t the one who had to repeat what he had said minutes ago.” I sighed and shook my head. “How could she have interpreted what I said the way she liked? I thought I was clear enough.”
“Are you happy now?” Jack asked.
I snorted. “I don’t have to be happy. I only did what I have to do.”
“Let’s go have dinner before the hall gets filled up and we don’t get spaces to sit together.” John said, not intending to start an argument. He was always like dad in that regard. “I don’t think anyone would leave three chairs all together for us because we are triplets and I don’t want to sit and eat beside someone I’m not comfortable with.”
I chuckled. “Is there anyone you are not comfortable with? You are on good speaking terms with everyone in the barracks.”
He shook his head. “You don’t know me well enough, brother. I’m on speaking terms with almost everyone in the barracks and not everyone.”
Jack snorted. “Is there a difference?”
John nodded, looking at us as if we were ridiculous. “Of course, there is. The operative word there is almost.”
“Whatever. If that is what you believe then it is fine.”
“I don’t believe it, I know it.” John insisted.
“Let’s go. It seems like the talk of food is making me hungry.” Jack said.
“Aren’t we moving?” I asked.
“I meant. Let’s walk faster.”
I nodded. “I guess that we can do. There is also someone I’m trying to avoid and not sit beside.”
“Officer Susan?” The two of them looked at me and grinned.
I sighed and shook my head. I already knew that they were going to tease me about it whenever they had the chance to. This was no surprise but that doesn’t mean it was a welcome act.
“No, not her.” I lied.
“So you have someone else you are trying to avoid?” Jack grinned. “Who knew our brother was a popular hotshot among the ladies?” He teased.
I sighed and winced. Of course, I had asked for that.
We were almost at the dining hall when we met the major and he asked that I talk to him for some minutes. My brothers excused us and went into the hall.
“Sir.” I saluted the major once we were alone.
“You have been distracted lately, Quinn. Is there something you would like to tell me?” He asked.
I missed the soil of my territory as the alpha. I missed my Luna but they weren’t something I could tell him. I would like to retire but I couldn’t tell him that when I hadn’t discussed with my brothers.
“Nothing, sir.”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, sir.” I nodded. “I’m sorry for causing you concerns. I will get back into shape.”
“Good.” He smiled at me. “That was all I needed to hear.”
I moved to the dining hall after the major excused me but I was too late. The chairs were all filled except one and that one was beside Susan who was trying to conceal her annoyance and embarrassment as she stared at me.
I glanced at my brothers and they shrugged, telling me that they couldn’t find three seats all together when they had come in as well. I wondered what I was going to do. I couldn’t sit beside Susan. I would be uncomfortable throughout the meal and I doubted that the daggers she was shooting at me with her eyes would let the food digest.
I had been trying to avoid her anyways and decided that it wasn’t a bad idea if I tried it now. I turned my back on everyone and walked out of the dining room with my stomach yelling loudly at me in protest.