Coming Together: In the Trenches

By Lady Grey

Coming Together: In the Trenches is a military-themed collection of erotica and erotic romance edited by Lady Grey. All proceeds will benefit Protect Our Defenders.

http://www.eroticanthology.com/inthetrenches.htm

CONTENTS: Once upon a Thursday (Robert Buckley); Half a Day from the Front (Skilja Peregrinarius); This is Me Holding You (Annabeth Leong); When He Comes Home (Di Topaz); Report on the Heart (Yvette Hines); A Problem with Authority (Lucy Felthouse); Comando Especial (Kimber Vale); Dutch & Lobo (Aliyah Burke)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Coming Together
• Release date: Nov 10, 2013
• ISBN: 9781311969095

Book preview

Coming Together: In the Trenches

Lady Grey, editor

Coming Together: In the Trenches

© 2013 by Lady Grey, editor

This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Cover art © 2013 by Alessia Brio

A Coming Together Publication

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Table of Contents

Introduction

Tie a Yellow Ribbon

(Historical)

Once Upon a Thursday

© Robert Buckley

During the American Civil War a squad of Union soldiers get lost in the woods of northern Virginia. They find their way to a forlorn tobacco shed wherein dwell an enigmatic woman and a group of elderly men who have no sense of time.

Half a Day from the Front

© Skilja Peregrinarius

Claire works in an inn close enough to the front lines to hear the guns in the night. She can't fight, so she does what she can to support those who do.

On the Home Front

(Contemporary/Romantic)

This is Me Holding You

© Annabeth Leong

As Carin's life as a soldier again calls her away from her family, her husband Jun searches for a way to bind her to him. In the final hours of her leave, he gifts her with ropes he made himself, twisted from milkweed he gathered while thinking of her. (Originally appeared in Bondage Erotica 2013 from Cleis Press.)

When He Comes Home

© Di Topaz

Natalie catches Vance's eye at the beginning of her college career. After a four-year game of cat and mouse, she finally admits her feelings for him. Their newfound romance is interrupted when Vance decides to join the Army.

Report on the Heart

© Yvette Hines

After a career as an Air Force public affairs sergeant, Maria Locket has separated from the military and moved close to her hometown, where the biggest story she figures will be the local society events. Her plans for a smooth future are interrupted by the unexpected appearance of someone she thought was gone forever.

Get to the Chopper!

(Modern Adventure)

A Problem with Authority

© Lucy Felthouse

Corporal Roxanne Grey has bawled Private Jesse Bagnall out one too many times during drill instruction. Jesse complains to his friends about the Corporal's mistreatment, loudly enough that she overhears his rant. Commanding him into the guardroom, Roxanne divulges some information which makes it very easy for the two of them to get back on an even keel.

Comando Especial

© Kimber Vale

Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Rojas commands Navy SEAL-trained soldiers in a special anti-narcotics division of the Colombian military, facing deadly enemies on a regular basis. But when Alex's ex-girlfriend is kidnapped by a ruthless drug lord, the usual high-octane mission becomes personal. If Alex and Luz get out of the dangerous situation alive, Alex doesn't plan to let Luz walk away a second time.

Dutch & Lobo

© Aliyah Burke

A Marine finds passion in the jungle, enlisting the help of his lover to save a fellow Marine. Will Dutch ever see her again or will his memories be all he's allowed of the mercenary Lobo?

About the Editor

About Coming Together

Introduction

When people imagine what it might be like to be a soldier—or a sailor or an airman or a Marine—what often comes to mind is the picture of a highly-trained, self-sufficient, aggressive Type-A personality machine. This image, fed by Hollywood and shaped by years of headlines with foreign datelines, is only half the picture.

There is another side to the military man or woman. That is the side that wakes up in the morning missing someone. That is the side that pauses in the moment you put on your helmet, to let your gaze linger on the picture stashed within. That is the side that waits days, months, years to be with someone. That is the side that makes the soldier whole.

The stories in this anthology show that side of the soldier. First, we take a trip back in time to an ill-lit path in the woods, wherein lies a secret respite from the world, in Robert Buckley's Once Upon a Thursday. Skilja Peregrinarius continues this theme with his Half a Day From the Front, in which a young woman gives comfort to those she can, and is in return comforted and protected.

Romance—bittersweet, hot romance—comes to the fore in Annabeth Leong's story of a soldier leaving her husband and daughter behind as she returns to the combat zone in This is Me Holding You. Themes of love and reconnection, and the special challenges military relationships entail, are highlighted in Di Topaz' When He Comes Home, and Yvette Hines' Report on the Heart.

And yet, we shouldn't forget that there is something about the warrior's heart that places him or her outside the everyday. In Lucy Felthouse's A Problem With Authority, two soldiers cross a few lines of military discipline to be with each other. Kimber Vale takes us deep into the South American jungle in Comando Especial, in which a dangerous mission becomes deadly personal. And in our final offering, Dutch & Lobo by Aliyah Burke, two warriors take on all comers—and each other—to save the life of Dutch's fellow Marine.

Each of these stories presents a different facet of the military; each presents a different interpretation of the theme. These authors have come together to donate their stories to a cause that benefits yet another, often hidden, side of the military. A salute to them in thanks for their time and effort.

And last but not least, I want to raise a glass to our veterans, past, present, and future. Wherever you are serving tonight, I hope you wake up soon with the people who complete your picture.

~ Lady Grey

ONCE UPON A THURSDAY

© Robert Buckley

Virginia – November 1863

Whaaa... didja hear that? How far away was it? God damn these woods. Those were pistol shots for sure. C'mon, Sarge, to hell with the wagon; we're nothing but a fat goose waiting for the fox to pounce. It ain't even regular soldier's grub.

Grainey was a whiner. If he were lying under silk sheets between two buxom whores, and had a basket full of greenbacks, he'd still find something to complain about.

But he was right about one thing. They were just like a goose waiting to be plucked. Sergeant Baylor had hoped to catch up to the other wagons. But the repair to the wheel was haphazard. Only a proper wheelwright with a forge could set it right.

Grainey stiffened and aimed his rifle down the lane toward a clattering that grew steadily louder.

Hold your fire, Grainey. The sergeant peered into the mist and spied two blue-clad figures making ungainly bounds toward them.

Culley and Jones, Grainey said.

The two infantrymen halted beside the horses, bent over and sucked in great lungfuls of breath, their exhalations creating clouds of steam that swirled about their faces.

The sergeant gave them a moment to regain their wind.

What happened?

Raiders. They come at us from all sides. Couldn't even see them. Culley stopped and took another gulp of air. Everybody ran. Jones and me skedaddled back up the trail. Don't know who else got to where.

Lieutenant Easty?

Captured, I think.

You think?

He just about tossed his sword at them. Waving his arms and all.

Mosby's mob?

I reckon.

What are we going to do, Sergeant? Grainey asked, both a plea and a demand.

Baylor pressed his fingers against his forehead above his nose. He closed his eyes and sighed.

I say...

Shut up, Grainey. You don't say anything.

The rest of the men, their eyes pleading, expectant, waited for his decision. Baylor looked them over. Culley and Jones were both old enough to be his father, Jones maybe even his grandfather. Grainey he thought slightly younger than himself. Foster and Graham likely about his age. Then there was Mullen. They said he was 18, but he hardly looked twelve. Mullen just trembled; he always trembled.

All right. We keep following the trail.

What? Straight into the same trap?

Grainey, I said shut up!

The sergeant fixed them all with a glare. Now look, they probably think they captured the whole train. They have no idea we're even here. We proceed slowly... hell, just like we've been doing. Give them a chance to get ahead of us. Sooner or later we'll break out of these woods, find the river.

But...

Yeah, Grainey?

Why not abandon the wagon? Hell, they got everything else anyway, what's one more? It ain't even regular soldier's provisions we're carrying. I smelled those smoked hams. There's lots of fancy jellies and sweets, and rich man's liquors. That's all on its way to some officers' feast. No hardtack and salt beef in a tin for them. We just tell them they picked us off too.

We bring the wagon. Now, let's get rolling. Graham, keep an eye on that wheel.

Grainey pouted and fumed, but fell into line.

* * * *

The gray gloom of day gave way to murky night. Baylor had no idea how far they'd penetrated the woods or in which direction they were headed. Moss completely covered each tree trunk giving no hint of where north lay. An overcast sky denied them the sight of the stars.

They moved without any light to guide them, lest they attract the wrong kind of attention from civilian or raider. Baylor knew they would not be able to carry on much longer in the darkness.

Were they even still on the trail? The wagon groaned as the horses strained to pull it over exposed roots. Baylor began to regret not abandoning the wagon.

Sergeant, I can't see shit-all no more, Culley called back from the point.

Halt! Baylor ordered. He strode past the horses and peered ahead. He could barely make out Culley, who stood like a shade a few yards away. But something else caught his eye, not quite a light, more like a smudge against the darkness.

What's that yonder?

Don't see nothin', Sarge, Culley replied.

Off to the left. Like light reflected from a fire somewhere.

His eyes strained, refocused. There, Baylor said again. All right, Culley, Grainey, Graham, come with me and keep up.

Baylor held the smudge in his sight, even though the men grumbled they couldn't see anything. But it intensified as they got closer. When they reached the ramshackle house they could see the glow emanating through greased brown paper covering a window.

Baylor signaled for them to approach. A flash and a gunshot sent them scurrying for cover.

No! It was a woman's scream. She bolted from the house, silhouetted in flickering firelight from inside. She ran to another figure standing in shadow, this one holding a long-barreled firearm.

Grainey stood and took aim.

No! The woman screamed again. He's addled; he doesn't know what he's doing.

Grainey! Hold your fire.

The woman scolded the figure wavering in the shadow.

Tell him to drop the weapon or I'll order my men to fire! Baylor warned.

Fool! the woman chided. That was our last measure of powder. We'll starve for sure now.

The soldiers closed in on the two figures as the woman took the rifle from the other and tossed it on the ground at Baylor's feet.

It was a flintlock. Baylor figured it had to be at least a century old.

He raised his gaze from the rifle to the woman. She was loosely clad in a nightdress; open to the cold it exposed her chest between her breasts and most of her belly. She made no attempt to cover herself. He thought her skin glowed, pale white, milky in the mists that surrounded them. Her hair was a dark shawl that covered her shoulders.

She stepped away from the other figure, revealing him to be an elderly man. At least, Baylor took him to be elderly. His face had collapsed from lack of teeth and his eyes were wide with wonder. Yes, he appeared to be addled.

Are there any other people here? Baylor asked.

Yes.

How many, ma'am?

She hesitated to reply.

Please?

Six others... old men.

Baylor stepped past her and entered the house. Six elderly men sat at a long table; beyond it a fire blazed in a hearth. Plates before the men held meager bits of meat. Baylor guessed it was squirrel, or rabbit.

Are there any Confederate forces nearby?

She shrugged and for an instant Baylor caught sight of a dark nipple. He gulped.

No one comes here, she said finally.

Well, I'm afraid we'll have to put in here until morning. Please, we don't want any conflict. We're just trying to get back to our lines.

Well, don't expect us to feed you. We barely have enough to eat ourselves.

Baylor nodded. He turned