Don't Ask, Don't Tell

By Melissa Kendall

Sergeant Jason Holt and his boyfriend Sergeant Patrick Wentworth have been in a secret relationship for almost ten years. When the daily paper brings news of the repeal of the military’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy, they think their prayers have finally been answered. Yet things aren’t always as easy as they seem, with not everybody at work supportive of their lifestyle and even their parents skeptical. Will they finally be able to be out and proud?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Evernight Publishing
• Release date: Mar 23, 2013
• ISBN: 9781771303255

Melissa Kendall

Melissa Kendall is a technical writer living in the windswept Canadian prairies with her two cats, Ella and Portage. You can find her on Twitter as @MAKendallAuthor.

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Published by Evernight Publishing at Smashwords

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright© 2013 Melissa Kendall

ISBN: 978-1-77130-325-5

Cover Artist: Sour Cherry Designs

Editor: Marie Medina

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

DEDICATION

Thanks to everyone who has helped along the way and especially to the amazing Rom Critters you are all my saving grace.

DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL

Melissa Kendall

Copyright © 2013

Chapter One

While I was making my morning coffee, the slam of the front door caught my attention. Moments later, my boyfriend, Patrick, came jogging into the kitchen.

Did you see it? he asked, holding up the day’s paper.

Yeah, I saw it, I replied, not quite as enthused.

Well ... aren’t you excited?

Not really. I’d been expecting the day’s headline would eventually come. They’d been talking about it in one form or another for months.

But, it means we won’t have to hide anymore. Patrick looked so happy. I didn’t share his excitement. History had proven if something seemed too good to be true, it was. Reticent to voice my opinion I hesitated but then spoke anyway. He needed to know the change wasn’t a solution to our problems.

We will, I said. Do you honestly think when they find out we’re a couple they will let us continue to work together? That they won’t ship one of us off to God knows where.

The smile on his face disappeared as the realization set in.

Besides, I continued. They just passed the bill. I would think it is going to be at least another couple of months if not years before the army gets its act together.

My mind filled with images of when Patrick came into my life.

We met our first day at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. I was a Texan boy following in the footsteps of a long line of military men, Patrick a local New Yorker escaping a troubled life. Drawn to each other right away, it didn’t take long for us to become the best of friends. Only after we graduated from West Point did we both recognize our feelings were more than platonic.

Together, we shipped out to the 504th BFSB at Fort Hood. We bunked together for the first year, and everything was great, until one night about three months after we arrived, things changed.

I jumped in the shower while Patrick went to get takeout for dinner. When I finished getting clean, I headed