Chapter 7
Fraternization
Major Connelly was waiting for her right where he said he would be, and as she got in the car, she finally realized what she was about to do. There were serious regulations against instructors and students having any kind of physical or romantic relationship. But then again, she'd never been about the rules or the regs.
"Bet you didn't think I was going to show up."
Connelly looked over at her and shook his head. "Honestly, I didn't. I figured you were just using me to make your boyfriend jealous."
"What boyfriend?"
"Adama."
Kara snorted. "What gave you the idea he's my boyfriend?"
"There's a very interesting dynamic between you two. Half the time when you were talking to me you were looking at him. And he couldn't take his eyes off you."
Kara snorted. "Is that a fact? Well, he's not my boyfriend. I just met him a couple of nights ago. He wanted to congratulate me on smoking Burgher's sims."
"There seems to be a lot of that going around. Look, Kara, I've been sitting here thinking about how crazy I am to have asked you to meet me. We're way past that red line right now with you just sitting in my car. Why don't I take you back to your dorm? No hard feelings. I promise."
"You know something, Connelly, I've never cared much about rules and regs. And I like it past the red line. Sometimes I think I've lived most of my life beyond the red line. But if you've changed your mind…"
He started the car. "Lords of Kobol, maybe I don't value my teaching career as much as I think I do. I can't believe I'm doing this."
Back at his apartment, a small, neat, one-bedroom place about a mile from campus, he threw his keys on the table. "It's not much. I'm divorced. My ex-wife kept the house. With child-support and alimony this is all I can afford."
Kara looked around. "Next to some of the places I grew up in, this looks like the Caprican Governor's mansion. My mother was an enlisted Marine. Her salary didn't pay for much in the housing department."
"What about your father?"
"I haven't seen him since I was eight years old."
"Would you like something to drink? Another beer? I think I've got…"
She cut him off. "No thanks. We both know that I'm not here for the beer."
"I guess I'm just trying to make damned sure you don't think you have to…go through with this."
"Don't tell me you've never done this before."
"With a cadet? Hell, no. I've never even come close."
She walked over to him and put her arms around his neck.
"Well, doesn't that make me feel special? Relax, Connelly, if you're worried about me saying something about this, I don't kiss and tell."
She made a motion like she was zipping her lips shut.
"That's good to know."
"Unless you're really, really good. Then I'll write your number on the bathroom wall in my dorm."
"Uh, Kara…"
She grinned. "Just playing with you. And you don't need to worry about me doing something I don't want to do. I don't. Ever. Somewhere out there there's a few guys with the scars to prove it."
He pushed a wayward strand of hair from her face and for the first time since they had walked into his apartment, he seemed to relax. His lips touched hers briefly, more of a question than a kiss. He smiled at her.
"Be gentle with me, okay?"
"I'm not going to make any promises I'm not sure I can keep."
The first time wasn't so good. He was scared or nervous, probably both, and he fumbled in the nightstand drawer for what seemed like forever before he found the little box he was looking for. When that was taken care of, they'd barely gotten started again when it was over for him. Way too quick for her.
So maybe it had been a long time for him, though Kara couldn't imagine that somebody as good looking as Connelly was going without sex. Even worse, he couldn't stop apologizing.
Finally she had to tell him to shut up. "You don't think you're going to get away with just once do you?"
He was on his back with one arm crooked over his eyes. "You mean I get a second chance?"
"And a third, too, if you're up to it. And I mean that the way it sounded."
After that, everything was fine. He was a much more skillful lover than she first thought, and she found that if she closed her eyes about halfway, he looked like Lee Adama. Maybe it was the alcohol at work in her brain, but for a minute she thought she was in bed with Lee. That was all it took to push her over the edge in the best kind of way.
She managed to stop herself from calling Lee's name out loud, although when she was able to think again, she did give him silent credit for it.
Thanks, Lee, that was beyond good. Better than anything I've had since I don't remember when. Then it was all she could do not to laugh. Pathetic, Kara. That's pretty damned pathetic. Talking to the guy you wish you'd just frakked.
Afterward she and Connelly lay and talked for a long time about his ex-wife's affair with her boss at the ad agency where she worked and their divorce. He told her how tough it was not to see his two young sons but every other weekend and once during the week.
She found herself opening up to him about some things in her life, too. Like how she'd gotten into the Academy because her mother had been wounded twice in the line of duty, and how she had played on the freshman pyramid team until she messed up her knee. She told him her father was a musician and she wasn't even sure where he was now since she hadn't heard from him in over ten years. Finally she told him about her Physical Education instructor, Captain Reider, who was giving off some seriously creepy vibes.
"I can't place him," Connelly said. "What's he look like?"
"A little taller than me, slim, brown hair, going bald on top. Struts when he walks like he's the gods' gift to women. The gods' joke is more like it."
"I know who you're talking about now. I saw him at the start of the year at the big faculty dinner. He was sitting with a couple of the coaches. Last year Conrad told me we'd gotten a new PE teacher, a captain who'd washed out of Flight School. What do you want to bet that's him?"
"So the creep is a washout. Didn't have the chops to get his wings. That explains a lot."
"I shouldn't have told you that, Kara. And I trust you'll keep it confidential. Has he ever said or done anything reportable?"
"You mean has he gone past the red line?"
"Past it or even close to it?"
"Not yet."
"I want you to promise me that if he does, you'll report him."
"I doubt he'll be that stupid. He's just been dogging me and another cadet about our times on the obstacle course, which aren't the best, but aren't the worst either. She and I are the only females in our PE class who are headed for Flight School. He leaves the others alone. A couple of weeks ago I came seriously close to kicking his ass. Jerk."
"I understand why you'd want to do that, but it would get you expelled."
"I know that, but when I think about facing that creep twice a week for the rest of the year…." She shuddered and didn't finish the sentence.
"Should I tell Colonel Winters that I've heard rumors about Reider harassing some female cadets?"
Kara had been lying on her back and now she rolled over and kissed him. "No, but I appreciate the thought."
"If it gets any worse, just say the word. That last thing I want is you getting expelled for something he started."
"My hero. You get a reward for that," she said playfully.
She smiled before she leaned over and kissed him. The kiss quickly became passionate.
"I see you're up for round three," she said softly.
"You have that effect on me," he groaned.
The third time was even better than the second. And she didn't think about Lee Adama at all.
TBC…
