The car ride on the way back to Commander Branson’s house was quiet. Sienna wouldn’t look at Brandon. She kept her face pressed up against the glass staring out of the window. Brandon kept glancing at her. She hadn’t moved.

He wanted to say something to her, but he wasn’t quite sure what he could say. He also couldn’t help but stare at her legs. That damn dress was dangerously close to riding up her thigh and giving him a show.

He tried to keep his focus on the road, but chanced another glance at the riding hem of her dress. Big mistake. When he glanced up at her face, she was staring at him. And not just staring at him, but she looked like she was trying to channel all the hate she could into her eyes and sling it at him. Her face was tear stained and her puffy lips were turned down in a frown.

He tried to smile at her to lighten things up, but he couldn’t manage one. Finally he blew a sigh.

“I can take care of that for you,” Sienna offered lowering her eyes to his semi hard erection.

When his eyes followed her path and it clicked in his brain at the same time, semi was replaced by full blown hard on.

“What?!” he choked out.

“I’ve seen guys get boners before because of me. Just wanted to know if you wanted me to help you out.”

Brandon flexed his jaw again, and he couldn’t help but think of some little bastard pointing his intruding cock at Sienna. And then the thought of her ‘helping’ them out made his blood boil.

But Brandon had to chuckle to himself. Commander Branson had wanted him to visit the shrink on base so he could get rid of his past demons and look to the future. Said it was the only way he could reign in his quick violent temper and force it into positive energy or some shit like that.

It didn’t work because Brandon didn’t consider himself one of these flaky guys who liked to talk about his emotions. For him, they were locked away in a deep chest buried at the back of his mind and that’s where they would remain.

But the shrink did teach him some techniques to control his anger. Normally, he just liked to drop people. One quick hit to the bridge of the nose and they would fall to the floor and grab their face. The blood usually scared them and anyone else who would have tried to jump in on their behalf. But now, he’d count backwards from ten and breathe. Worked sometimes. Other times, blood was necessary.

But what caused Brandon to chuckle was the fact that Sienna seemed to piss him off more than anyone else he had ever met. And there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.

But he decided to call her on her bluff. Someone really needed to teach this young woman a lesson and obviously her still bruised ass didn’t do the trick.

He pulled his Jeep over to the side of the road.

Sienna kept staring at him wondering what the hell he was doing. He removed his seatbelt and turned to her and rested his hand over her headrest.

“So…you ready to help me out?” he said through a smirk.

Sienna gulped praying he didn’t hear it. She tried to maintain her straight face, but inside she was panicking. She wasn’t sure if she was ready. Not like this anyway.

Brandon slowly licked his lips and ran his eyes down her body, resting on several parts that made her shiver.

“Get in the back seat,” he whispered.

Sienna was frozen. Nervously she smiled and tried to search his eyes to see if he was serious. He looked serious.

“I, uh…well, I didn’t mean it like that,” she stuttered.

“How did you mean it?” he asked twirling his fingers around a strand of her hair.

“I just meant, um…I mean that–”

He cut her off, “I know exactly what you meant.” He put the car back in gear and sped off.

“I’m not one of your little high school boyfriend playthings. Don’t fucking come at me like that again if you can’t back that shit up,” he continued in his Bostonian drawl.

He glanced back over at her and she was staring out of the window again. He hadn’t meant to get testy with her but she needed to learn.

After a few minutes of silence Brandon decided to speak.

“Okay, since you’re not going to say anything, I have something I need to say. I’m sorry about what happened back there in my house. I got carried away. And if I hurt you, I’m even more sorry.”

“Do you want me?” she asked and turned back around for his answer.

Of all the things he was expecting her to say, THAT wasn’t it. And he didn’t know how to respond. If he said, yes…then it would encourage her. But if he said no, after tonights little display, he’d seem like a liar. He chose to be brutally honest.

“Of course I want you Sienna. What man wouldn’t? But that’s all it can ever be. Just want. I can’t have you,” he answered quietly while looking straight ahead.

“Why not?” Sienna asked, more inquisitive than mad.

“Well, the Commander for one. You know he’s like a father to me. And this would betray his trust in the worst way. I couldn’t stand to look at his face if I ever let him down. That would kill me.” Even just thinking about Commander Branson not trusting him or being his confidant put an unsettling feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Sienna sat quietly for a moment thinking about his answer. Then she turned back to stare out of her window. “But you don’t mind killing me,” she replied more to herself than him.

Brandon took another deep breath and decided to turn on the radio and drown out the sad silence they both were forced into.

When they reached her house, he barely had the car parked when she jumped out and slammed the door. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw her father sitting on the steps. She was too tired and emotionally drained to deal with one of his moral speeches. She walked up the steps and right past him even though he had called her name.

Brandon stared at the Commander for a second before he got out of the Jeep. Jackson looked tired. He rubbed his hand over his face and five o’clock shadow. He gave a weak smile to him as Brandon strolled slowly up the steps to sit beside him.

“Hey Commander. Long night?”

“Yeah. Very. So where was she?” he asked already dreading the answer to that.

“Well, she uh, she walked to my house,” Brandon answered sheepishly.

He knew what Jackson was thinking. It was no secret to either of them that his baby girl had a crush on Brandon, but now that she was a beautiful and sexy young woman, it was getting harder and harder for both of them to pretend it didn’t matter.

“Is she okay?”

“Yeah, she’s fine,” Brandon lied.

Jackson just sat there for a moment staring out into the driveway. Brandon was about to leave when he heard him speak again.

“It’s just that…I don’t know what to do with her sometimes. I…hell,” he whispered.

Brandon leaned back against the steps. He knew it was hard for Jackson to say anything touchy, so when he did, Brandon always listened. Actually, he listened to him all the time regardless. He had never really had much respect for anyone in his life until he met the Commander.

Jackson continued, “She has so much of her mother in her and it scares me. She looks like her, she has her free spirited fighter attitude. But I don’t want her to be like Dara. But I see her going down the same path. Dara always wanted everything the world had to offer. I was never enough, but I was okay with that. Just being with her made me feel special, but after awhile, your love for someone can’t carry an entire relationship.”

Jackson had to stop for a moment. He had tried hard over the years to forget his past relationship.

“When she ran off with that guy, I wanted to kill her. For leaving me, for leaving our baby. That guy was no good for her and now she’s all damaged goods. On drugs last I heard. How does that happen? She was such a sweet girl when I first met her all those years ago. Just like Sienna is now.”

Brandon didn’t know any of this. The Commander never talked about his wife. Brandon sat in silence and continued to listen.

“I’m so scared that I’m going to lose her one day. She’s so naive and impulsive and she’s constantly doing things that scare the hell out of me. Like she’s daring the world or something. God, if anything ever happened to her, I’d die.”

Brandon looked out into the front yard thinking of how he would feel if something happened to Sienna. The thought paralyzed him. He couldn’t bring himself to think of any harm coming to her. Not his Sienna. His thoughts were interrupted by the Commander.

“I’m sorry Brandon, it’s late. You should probably get back home. Thank you so much for watching over her. As always.”

Brandon got up and smiled at Jackson.

“Not a problem sir. Just glad she’s safe.”

Brandon walked to his jeep and then thought about something else. “Oh, hey Commader!” He yelled back at him before Jackson entered the house.

“Yes?”

“Please find that dress and burn it,” Brandon said with a smile on his face.

The Commander smiled back at him. “With pleasure.”

*******************

Lori was in her bed asleep when Sienna came barreling through. She pulled the dress off and put on a thin shirt and got into bed. Lori turned to ask her a question right as they heard a knock on the door.

“We’re sleeping, dad,” Sienna yelled through the door.

“You just got in there. Let’s not wake Lori up. Please come to my study, we need to talk.”

Shit, she thought. This was easily racking up to be the worst night of her life. She just wanted to go to bed and dream that it never happened.

“Now young lady,” he quietly whispered through the door.

She threw the covers off and grabbed her white shorts and snatched the door open. Her father was standing there staring at her. He turned and walked back to his study. She begrundginly followed.

When they reached the study, he sat down in his chair and leaned back. He calmed himself before he spoke to her. She stood with hands on hips staring at him. A smile reached the corner of her mouth when she noticed that Brandon did that same thing when he was pissed at her. He’d look up towards the ceiling as if begging the Gods to please tame his anger.

Her father finally looked back down at her. “Sienna…what’s going on?”

She shrugged her shoulders.

“That’s not a good enough answer honey,” he said while lightly tapping his fingers on his desk.

She could tell he was nervous. He was always nervous when they had their little talks. She knew this was hard for him. These were things that mothers did. Not fathers. Their talk about sex had been a funny one. He called her into his study when she was 13.

“Now, you know about boys and all that stuff, right?” he had asked her.

“Yes,” she lied to avoid being utterly embarrassed at the thought of her father discussing sex with her.

“Okay,” he answered quickly and went right back to work.

That was the extent of their ‘sex talk’. Obviously, she had a lot to learn. So for those little details, she would learn from her girlfriends who had potty mouths and were the more ‘experienced’ girls in her school. She knew deep down that she was a good girl, who would play at being bad because it was fun. She liked to tease boys. Or men. Most of the boys at her high school would flirt with her but that was about it.

They knew who her father was. They were scared of him. They didn’t realize her father was just a big old soft teddy bear and would never hurt anyone. Actually, if she were being truthful with herself…it was the lion they needed to watch out for. Brandon was the dangerous one.

On occasion the Commander couldn’t pick her up from school, so Brandon would come in his place. Her heart would flutter when she’d see him pull up in his black Jeep and park in front of the school.

All her girlfriends wanted him. They would go over to the Jeep and flirt with him as she slipped into the passenger side. He would talk to them in his thick Boston accent that seemed to melt them even more. He wasn’t like the soft friendly guys out here in California. He was darker and harder. Maybe it was an east coast thing. But whatever it was, it made her friends melt.

Lori was her best friend and had known her longer than any other friend. She supported her crush on Brandon, but would frequently remind her that it wouldn’t work. She felt that the Commander would never allow it. Sienna knew that her father loved Brandon like a son, but that would cause a unforgivable rift.

“Is it me?” her dad asked bringing her back from the past. “Am I not a good father?”

“It’s not you dad,” she answered honestly while digging her toe into the carpet.

“You seem to be restless and irritated all the time. I know I don’t say much and have never been the overly affectionate type, but I do notice things. Especially when they are with my only child.”

She really didn’t want to do this now. She was tired, emotionally hurt and her ass was still raw.

“It’s only us baby girl. I am all you have and you are all I have. I need you to talk to me. Let me know what’s going on in that pretty head of yours. Please.”

She didn’t answer him. She didn’t know what to say. SHE didn’t even know why she acted a certain way sometimes. Maybe it was hormonal. One of her friends had gotten on birth control for hormonal reasons, which only turned her into an even bigger bitch, so Sienna opted against that.

When she didn’t respond to him, Jackson sighed. But he knew what this could be about but he just wasn’t ready to go there yet. But knew he had to.

“This is about Brandon, isn’t it?” he asked quietly.

Sienna couldn’t bear to face her father. If her skin was white, she would have turned bright red. She wasn’t ready to talk to her father about that either. It was a given that she had a crush on him, but she and her father never tested those waters of talking about it. He would just shake his head or roll his eyes whenever he caught her staring at him, or vying for his attention. But now it looked like she had to face it. And so did he.

“Honey, Brandon is a grown man. He’s 28,” he sighed and leaned back again. “I know you have a crush on him, but he’s like your older brother, you know.”

Sienna snorted. “You don’t know anything,” she replied.

“Then tell me.”

She stood staring at her father. She was not going to let him reduce her feelings for Brandon down to some stupid teenage crush. She knew it was more than that. And even if Brandon wasn’t ready to admit it, she knew it was more than that for him too.

“I’m tired. Can I go to bed now?” she asked.

Jackson sighed again. “Sure. Sleep tight.”

With that, she turned on her heels and stomped out of the room.

When she walked out of the room, Jackson started to feel strange. He felt a sharp pain in his hand that rolled up his arm into his chest. He grabbed his heart and tried to stand up but slumped over the desk knocking everything off in a loud bang against the floor.

Sienna heard the crashing noise and went running back to her fathers study. When she opened the door, she saw him leaning over his messy desk.

“Daddy?!” she screamed as she ran to him.

“I’m fine baby, I just need to go to the hospital,” he whispered.

*******************

Brandon paced back and forth at the hospital. LT Nick Dennison was there also. Or just LT as he was known by his men. Nick had told the other men that the Commander was fine but just needed rest. So one by one they eventually left. All except Brandon of course. And he had no intentions of leaving until he could see Jackson.

Sienna sat on the hospital bench looking at Brandon. He was trying to remain calm, but she knew her phone call to him earlier that evening had scared the shit out of him. He had on his poker face, but his constant walking back and forth gave him away.

When Sienna called him, he was halfway back to his place when he almost flipped his jeep trying to turn back around. The doctors had told him that the Commander had suffered a mild heart attack. That is was nothing to worry about, but they needed to run some tests.

He glanced over at Sienna. He knew he was looking at her with evil eyes, but he couldn’t help himself. Part of him was blaming her for why Jackson was laying in this cold hospital anyway. He knew when he had left, Jackson was worried and stressed about his daughter. And no doubt probably tried to talk to her, but obviously it didn’t go well.

Sienna looked away from him. She didn’t know what he was thinking, but again, he looked pissed at her. Well hell, she thought. That makes about 3 or 4 times that he’s managed to be mad at her in the same day. Think that’s a new record.

Finally the doctor came back out and broke Brandon’s gaze.

“We just got some of the tests back and he’ll be just fine. As we mentioned before, it was a mild heart attack due most likely to stress. We have to wait a little while longer for his blood test, but we are pretty confident that he can be released tomorrow morning.”

Brandon blew a sigh of relief and Sienna slumped a little in her seat for the first time since she’d been there.

“At this time, anyone who’s a part of his family, can go back,” the doctor continued.

Sienna got up and walked towards her fathers hospital room. Brandon began walking back with Sienna when a male nurse stopped him.

“Sir, it’s only family right now,” he stated with his hand lightly resting against Brandon’s chest.

“Step the fuck back and get your hand off me,” Brandon growled at him.

The male nurse jumped slightly and quickly removed his hand. Nick shook his head and walked over between Brandon and the potential target of his aggression.

“Thank you, we understand. He’s just a really important man to us, but we will wait until visiting hours,” Nick told the poor young nurse.

Brandon huffed and turned his back. It took everything in him not to bulldoze right by and go in anyway. And he would probably punch that motherfucker in his stomach for stopping him to begin with. He considered himself apart of Jackson’s family. But Nick outranked him, so he resisted.

*******************

Sienna stared at Brandon’s back from his kitchen.

When they had left the hospital, she told him she didn’t want to be alone. So begrudgingly he took her back to his place. He had gotten out of the car without saying a word.

He walked to his cabinet and pulled out some vodka. He poured himself a shot. Downed it immediately and then took another. He leaned up against the counter dangling the glass over the sink. Sienna jumped when he let the glass drop.

He walked past her, took off his white shirt which he had worn almost two days in a row and headed to his bedroom. He changed into another shirt. Jesus it was hot in his house. His air conditioning had been broken for weeks but with summer now approaching, he needed to get it fixed.

When he came back into his living room, she was standing in the kitchen washing his dishes. He wanted to tell her to stop, but he was tired as hell and didn’t feel like doing them himself. He went to sit on the couch.

Sienna turned around and dried his shot glass. His back was tense and his head was resting in his hands. She knew he didn’t want to talk.

She walked over to him and stood in front.

“BT?”

He didn’t answer her.

Sienna got to her knees. He seemed to look right past her. She tried to remove his hands but they were like steel bands.

“He’ll be okay BT. The doctor said so,” she offered.

Brandon continued to think about everything. He thought about losing his “father” and how lost he would be. Completely alone. He felt stressed and…horny? He kept flexing his jaw. His teeth even felt tight.

He glanced down at Sienna. She was wearing a white tank top and tight short trendy black vest and an even shorter jean skirt. She must have thought she was going on a fashion shoot when the ambulance arrived. That pissed him off too. A lot for some reason. What the fuck was wrong with him?He wasn’t sure why, but he quickly grabbed her wrist in each of his hands. The sudden move scared her. He stared at her nervous face. Then a small bead of sweat fell from her neck to her chest and slowly slid down between her round caramel breasts. Shit.

Again, he could see himself doing it, but fuck if he could stop it. This isn’t how he wanted it to be with her. It should be in a soft bed with plush pillows and soft satin sheets. Not on a hard dirty floor in a hot ass house. And her first time shouldn’t be with him. He had always assumed she was a virgin. At least she better fucking be is how he looked at it.

He pushed her onto her back and fell in between her legs. He began kissing her. Hungry messy kisses all over her face and neck. This girl made his senses crazy. He couldn’t think of shit else while he was on top of her.

He ripped the buttons from her vest and pulled her flimsy white tank top and bra up and over her head. She immediately covered her full breasts with her hands. She bit her lower lip and that action alone made him even crazier. He couldn’t get his pants down fast enough.

Sienna couldn’t believe it was happening now, this moment she had waited for since she was old enough to understand what sex was. He was being rough but she didn’t care. She was so nervous, but felt it best to just take his lead on everything.

Once he finally kicked his jeans and boxers down he pulled his shirt over his head in one swift movement. His fucking dog tags almost choked him in the process, but they clanked back against his chest. He slid her jean skirt down her legs and flung it across the room.

He scanned over her body for a brief moment. Damn, this girl was beautiful. This is the body that had been torturing him for quite some time. God, if he didn’t get inside of her right now he was going to embarrass the hell out of himself and spray her stomach right then.

He knew it was a mix of emotions causing him to act so crazy. Normally he always kept his composure, especially around women. He never let any of them know they had gotten to him. And actually, none ever had until Sienna.

Brandon leaned over her and began kissing her. His sweet tongue invaded her mouth. She could feel his manhood pressing up against her white cotton panties, which were quickly becoming soaked. There was a lot more down there than she was expecting to feel.

She had only seen men’s private parts on TV. Never in real life. She kinda wished she could see it first now, but every time she would lean up he would push her back down.

He reached one hand in between them and quickly pulled down her panties. He rubbed over her wet mound for a few seconds and couldn’t take it any longer. He positioned himself at her entrance and pushed.

He let out a moan and her whole body tensed up beneath him. He could feel her breathing quicken. Fuck, he knew he was hurting her and he wasn’t even 1/3 of the way in yet. A better man would have stopped immediately. Asked her if she was okay and wanted to continue. A better man would have said loving things in her ear while he tried to take it slow. A better man would have told her to go home the moment he saw in her eyes what she wanted.

Better man be damned…he couldn’t–wouldn’t stop.

He began pushing further into her. He had to close his eyes and curl his toes because she was so tight. Really fucking tight. He felt her tiny hands push against his chest, but he couldn’t think of anything short of an earthquake/hurricane/tsunami tag team that could make him stop right now.

Sienna knew it would hurt. She had heard her girlfriends talk about it. ‘Yeah girl, it burns a little’ is what they would say. Fuck that, she thought! This isn’t burning, this is ripping! She couldn’t even catch her breath. He was so big and hard on top of her. Immovable.

She tried to whisper for him to give her a second, but she was pretty sure the words got stuck in her throat. And even if they hadn’t, the look in his eyes told her that it would fall on deaf ears anyway. So she tried her best to ignore the pain and wrap her arms around his neck and hold on.

As soon as Brandon bottomed out in her, he had to give himself just a moment. She felt so damn good. Better than anything he’d ever felt in his life. His dick felt like it was in a warm tight glove made especially for him. He opened his eyes and saw her staring up at him. She had a single tear that had rolled down the left side of her face and into her hair. He leaned over and kissed the trail where the tear had fallen and then kissed her lips again.

But he needed more now. He began to slowly pull out and push back in. Her arms tensed around his neck. She closed her eyes. But it still wasn’t enough for him. He began to piston in and out of her. This is what he needed. This is what would make him feel better. That’s all he wanted…was just to feel fucking better.

Sienna couldn’t breathe. She tried to hold onto him as much as she could, but the pain was throbbing in her pussy. She would never admit this to him, but at one point she started to feel sick. To take her mind off of the pain she started to count the number of times his dog tags jingled over her. The cool metal felt good against her skin.

Brandon unwrapped her arms from his neck and pushed them to the floor above her head. He held them there with one hand and roughly massaged her full soft tits with the other hand. He was getting close. With her hands above her head and him fucking her as hard as he was, her tits jiggled up and down turning him on even more.

He could feel it coming, that tingling sensation that started in his head and traveled to his other head. Or vice versa, he never could tell which started first, but it didn’t matter. He began fucking her so hard that he knew his knees would pay the price from carpet burn.

Her mouth began to open like she was about to say something, but then she closed it back.

They could both hear the hum from the lawn mower across the street and a few cars passing by. And the noises floating around in his living room were his grunts and the wet sounds of his dick pumping in and out of her moist pussy.

Sweat was trickling down his back and over the sides onto her. His hair was soaked and dripping into her hair. His balls began to tighten and he fucked her even harder, as impossible as that seemed.

“Aah..fuck!!!” Brandon yelled while he began to pour his come into her tight pussy. He kept pumping and coming, feeling as though it would never stop. “Jesus,” he moaned to himself as his lower half still moved in and out of her in a slow steady rhythm.

When he finally felt like every drop had been delivered, he collapsed on top of her. He knew he was heavy, but his arms felt like Jello right now. He couldn’t move.

When he finally let go of Sienna’s hands, she wrapped them back around his neck. Her whole body was aching. He was lying still on top of her now. She could only feel his solid chest rising up and down and he was breathing loudly by her ear.

After a few minutes he rolled off of her and onto his back. She glanced over at him. He was staring at the ceiling in deep thought. And whatever thought it was, it wasn’t good.

Brandon started to get this sick feeling rising up in the pit of his stomach again. The Commander was still sick in the hospital and here he was fucking his daughter. Something he had promised himself he would never do.

He leaned up and began looking for his clothing. He had to get out of here. He couldn’t be around her any longer. He searched around the floor for his boxers and jeans. With the blinds closed, it was dark and he couldn’t find his shirt, so he walked to his bedroom and pulled on a gray cotton one.

Sienna couldn’t believe he had just left her on the floor like that. He hadn’t said a word to her, just started putting on his clothes.

When he emerged from the back, she had to ask, “Did I do something wrong?” She was lying on the floor with her knees pulled up and her arms resting over her breast again.

He wouldn’t look at her, but instead was searching around for something.

“Um, no. I..uh, fuck where are my keys?” was the only response she received from him.

Sienna pulled her white tank top on minus the bra and slid her short jean skirt back up minus the panties. Oh, just getting to her feet hurt. Truthfully, she wanted to go to the bathroom and double over from the pain in her stomach and pussy.

Brandon was still searching around his house for his keys. He could feel her eyes on him, but he needed air. Space. Something. He just needed to leave before he fully processed what he had just done.

“You know, we didn’t do anything wrong. I’m 18 and this is exactly what I wanted,” Sienna stated. She was now sitting on the couch, arms folded across her chest. In her mind it had been what she wanted, but maybe not exactly, now that the pain was still aching through her body.

He grabbed his keys from on top of the TV and turned to her. “This shouldn’t have happened.”

“Well I’m glad it did happen,” she said. She stood up and walked over to him and put her arms around his waist. He didn’t move. ‘Well, that’s a start’ she thought to herself.

She looked up into his eyes. He looked down at her. At that moment, she knew this was who she wanted to be with forever. She loved him. And felt that he should know that.

“Brandon…I love you. And I know you’ll think it’s just–” was all that she got out before he began pushing her away.

“No, no, no, no, no….don’t…don’t do that. Just–don’t fucking do that,” he said and walked away from her to stand by the door.

“We need to go. I’ll take you home or back to the hospital,” he said.

“I’m not leaving until we talk,” she said.

“What, what the fuck do you want to talk about?” he asked irritated.

“I–,” Sienna tried to explain before he stopped her.

“Are you on the pill?” Brandon asked, interrupting her. His mind was racing.

All the women in his life he’d had sex with and he had NEVER forgotten a fucking rubber. And actually he hadn’t forgotten this time, but he knew he couldn’t stop to put one on anyway.

Sienna stared at him for a few moments and then down at her feet. She shook her head no.

“Shit, what the fuck am I doing?!!” he screamed and threw his hands up. He flung open the door and walked out.

Sienna was so confused. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. This isn’t how she had expected any of this to happen.

She walked to the door, locked it and walked out.

**********************

Back at the hospital Brandon and Sienna sat three chairs apart until the nurse said they could go see Jackson.

Brandon followed behind Sienna. When he walked in the room, the Commander was sitting up reading a newspaper. He pulled his glasses off and smiled.

“Weren’t you two just here about an hour ago?” Jackson asked.

“Yeah, but want to make sure they are treating you okay,” Brandon answered. “Because if they weren’t, I’d fuck them up sir. With all due respect.”

That made Jackson laugh. “But really, I don’t want you two worrying. I am completely fine. Actually I’m bored as hell, so hopefully I can go first thing tomorrow morning.”

Brandon just shook his head and Sienna stared at the IV her dad was hooked up to. Neither one would look at the other.

Jackson Branson wasn’t a rocket scientist but he wasn’t a dumb man either. He had run several missions in countries that had no easy way in or out. He had pulled last minute escape plans out of his ass to save his life and the lives of his men. And he was extremely good at reading people. Something was amiss with Brandon and Sienna.

He looked back and forth between the two. Sienna wouldn’t look at him and Brandon was trying very hard to act like nothing was wrong. He was really good at it because he was trained to be, but Jackson was better.

“Sienna, could you please get me some ice?” Jackson asked.

She nodded her head yes and walked out of the room.

Brandon finally smiled at him.

“So Commander, any of the nurses hot?” he smirked at him.

“Is everything okay?” Jackson asked, ignoring Brandon’s question.

“Yes sir,” Brandon answered. “We were just thrown for a loop with what happened to you. But I’m fine. And Sienna will be too.”

Jackson unintentionally narrowed his eyes. “She seemed fine when she first came to see me.”

Brandon and the Commander stared at each other for a moment before Sienna entered the room again and broke the brief awkward moment between the two of them.