Chapter Twelve: Brainwashed

The drive to Oklahoma was a long one and Emmett struggled to stay awake, stopping a few times to pick up some energy drinks and to fill the car with gas. Royce selfishly had slept most of the drive, making it even more difficult for Emmett to drive because he had no one to talk to and was left completely alone with his thoughts. He worried about Rosalie, wondered what he was going to say to Tanya, wondered if Tanya was even going to answer his phone calls, and then finally wondered if Royce was telling the truth to Rosalie and if that's what he really wanted.

All Emmett knew of Royce's wife Maria was that she cheated on Royce a lot, and usually it was while he was deployed. That and she tended to spend a lot of their money, leaving them to struggle. He recalled that Royce had once told them she caused a miscarriage by taking a bunch of Plan B pills when she found out she was pregnant when they had been trying to have a baby, effectively making it near impossible for them to have kids.

Emmett never understood why people cheated, and worst of all he hated wives who cheated on their military spouse while they were deployed. He categorized these women near the top of his list of women he thought very lowly of.

What he knew of Rosalie, she was a very loyal type of person and very loving. It was probably a breath of fresh air for someone who was cheated on, but he didn't think it was right for Royce to flirt so shamelessly with other women if he was promising Rosalie a future together. He took out a cigarette as they neared the Oklahoma border and opened his window, watching the sun rise and the sky change colors. The sudden loud noise of the wind whipping through the car woke Royce up, who proceeded to stretch in his seat and sit up, looking around at their surrounding landscape.

"Hey, how's the drive been?"

Emmett snorted, "Long, but at least your snoring kept me awake."

"I don't snore," Royce feigned being offended.

"Jack hammers have nothing on you," Emmett retorted laughing.

"How far are we from Nevaeh's?"

"About another hour," Emmett took a drag of his cigarette, glancing at the clock.

"Do you want me to drive?" Royce offered yawning.

"No, I've been driving this far, an hour isn't going to hurt. You just lay back and enjoy the ride princess," Emmett joked.

True to his word, an hour later they pulled up in front of Nevaeh's house where Liam was waiting with his bags and smoking a cigarette on the front porch. Emmett got out and helped Jasper get his belongings into the trunk of the car and climbed into the back seat, stretching out as much as the space would allow his frame to. Emmett promptly fell fast asleep and remained that way for a majority of the trip.

Rosalie was exhausted that night, almost not bothering to change out of her work clothes before she climbed in to bed. She had started a new job at a clothing store at the nearby mall, where she pulled inventory for floor display, processed damaged items, and took inventory so they could order more items if needed. She loved her new job because she really didn't have to deal with customers and the people she worked with were a lot more accepting and nice towards her, a far cry from how she was treated at her last job.

As she laid in bed half asleep she almost didn't hear her phone ring, thinking it was a dream of some sort until she realized that her phone was actually ringing.

"Hello?" she answered it groggily.

"Hey sweetheart," came Royce's silky voice from the other end.

"Hey baby," Rosalie yawned trying to wake herself up so she could have a coherent conversation with him. "Where are you guys?"

"We just got back to base, I just wanted to see how your new job was going."

Rosalie thought it was sweet that he paid attention to the small details that she had told him about. She had only told him about the new job a couple of days ago, and here he was remembering that she had started it.

"I really like it, keeps me busy, but the people there are a hell of a lot nicer to me."

"That's good," Rosalie heard the click of his lighter and could almost imagine him lighting his cigarette.

"How did the drive go?"

"It was really long, but Emmett did most of the driving," he answered her exhaling. After he told her of some of the things they had seen on their drive, she heard him go back into his room and then country music started playing in the background.

"I miss you," she said after a lull in their conversation.

"I miss you, too. I can't wait to see you. I'm going to try to get some more leave before we deploy so I can come see you."

"Sounds like a good plan," she said smiling.

"How's Megan doing?"

"She's still as active as ever, kicking me every chance she gets," Rosalie yawned again.

"I'm going to let you go sweetheart, you need to get as much sleep as possible," Royce said as the songs in the background switched.

"Okay babe, I love you."

"I love you, too."

When they got back to their barracks they went their separate ways. Emmett lugged his bags down the hall to his room and opened his door. Once inside, he turned the light on and threw his bags on his bed rolling his shoulders to get the ache out. He threw himself down in his chair at his desk, past the point of exhaustion. He didn't even want to put his things away, but knew he should in case there were room inspections.

He dragged himself up out of the chair with a low groan, checking his phone to see if Tanya had ever texted him back, forgetting to when they had pulled on base. His phone was empty, there were no missed calls or text messages. He didn't even have one from Rosalie.

Once he had put away all of his things, Emmett sprawled across his bed staring at the ceiling. After debating on whether he should or not, he picked up his cell phone and called Tanya. It rang a few times before she finally decided to answer.

"Hello?"

"Hey," Emmett greeted her cautiously.

"What do you want Emmett?" Tanya asked in an annoyed tone.

"Will you just tell me what I did wrong? What did I do to upset you? We were doing so well that night and then you just turned into ice," Emmett asked her with a slightly frustrated and confused tone.

"You know damn well what you did!"

"No I don't! Otherwise I wouldn't be asking!" Emmett growled out.

"You slept with Jessica, and you don't have to bother denying it because she's the one who told me!"

"I did not! I don't even find her remotely attractive, you're the one I'm interested in. You're smart, beautiful, witty, and you've got a great sense of humor. You're the one I want to have a relationship with," Emmett tried to desperately please his case.

"I don't believe you. All you military types are the same, and I'm sorry but I'm not into sharing dicks with my friends."

The line went dead before Emmett could say anything else. He snapped the phone shut and threw it across the room. It hit the wall with a loud thud, and he heard the pieces hit the ground. He didn't even care at that point, he was so angry that he just wanted to break more things. There was a knock at his door before it opened to reveal Royce.

"Hey," he greeted him tossing him a beer and plopping himself down at the foot of Emmett's vet.

Emmett sat up and opened his beer, taking several long gulps of the bitter liquid, "How'd you know?"

Royce was quiet for a moment staring at his beer can, before looking up at his friend, "Jessica was texting me, I guess she's with Tanya right now."

Emmett grunted and took another sip of his beer.

"I didn't know she was going to do that," Royce said guiltily.

"It's not your fault," Emmett said waving his hand.

They sat there in silence for a while each sipping their beer until it grew a little bit awkward.

"Can you take the tampon out now?" Royce asked laughing.

"Me? You're the one who came in here with beer like we're a bunch of girls about to cry it out," Emmett joked.

Royce heaved himself off the bed, "Goodnight."

"Night," Emmett called out as Royce left his room.

He sat there finishing his beer and tossed the empty can in the garbage. His opinion about Royce as far as dating girls hadn't changed, but as far as friendship went Royce was a pretty good friend and loyal. He decided with new determination to not judge him, knowing his wife had done a number on him and to trust his friend. Little did he know, this was going to be one of the biggest mistakes he ever made in his life.

A few more days had gone by before Rosalie heard from Royce again, she had tried calling and texting him, but he always replied with a short response letting her know that he was busy and would call her later. He never did though and Bethany started to grow a little weary of their relationship. She was sitting at home on a rare day off in front of her computer, trying to keep up on her latest homework assignments when her phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey babe, it's me," Royce greeted her, sounding very rushed and upset.

"Hey, what's wrong? Is everything okay?" Rosalie perked up, suddenly growing concerned at his tone.

"Yeah everything is fine," he rushed out. "Listen, I'm really busy right now, but can you do me a favor babe?"

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Can you start looking at apartments for us? Two bedroom furnished and unfurnished in Killeen?"

Rosalie felt her heart flutter, he was suggesting that they take the next step in their relationship. They were going to move in together soon and he wanted her to start looking at places for them.

"Babe, are you there?" Royce broke through her thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm here. So you want me to start looking at apartments for us?"

"Yes, I want you to look at some places and send me some of the links to them so I can go look at them and decide which one is best for us."

Rosalie had to hold back a squeal of delight, "What price range are we looking at?"

"Anything around seven hundred is fine, listen babe I have to get back to work. I love you and I'll call you later, remember to send me those links," he hung up quickly before she could even respond.

Rosalie stared at the phone, a little shocked at how quickly he got off the phone with her, but it was quickly diminished as her joy quickly took over when she finally let it sink in that they were going to move in together. Maybe this meant that Maria had finally agreed to sign the divorce papers and they could be out in the open now.

Rosalie didn't dwell on it too long and pulled up her internet search bar, typing in, "Apartments in Killeen" and started the search for hers and Royce's new place. Maybe they would be moving in together before she had Megan. She could only hope, she certainly didn't want to be alone in the delivery room, although there would be the hassle of having to switch OBGYN's and doctors.

Rosalie immediately found several nice two bedrooms within their budget and saved the links to send to Royce. They were all unfurnished though and she had to think about leaving enough money for them to buy furniture for these places as well as nursery furniture. She then looked at several furnished places, but didn't find very many she liked or fell in love with and also saved these links. After extensively searching the many apartment websites, she decided she had looked at enough places and sent Royce an email with all the links she had saved and picked up her phone to call Alice.