PG13 Excerpt, Private Pirouette, Lila Munro...

“Hey, Piper, you’ve got a stalker at nine o’clock,” Cam said, preparing a Creamsicle for another customer seated two stools down. “He’s a good looking one though.”

“Yes, I’ve noticed,” Piper mumbled, jotting down a notable quote on her notepad. “I have also noticed he’s a Marine and not worth my time.”

“Piper, I don’t know how you can maintain that attitude and do what you do for a living,” Cam said, topping the drink off with a shot of whipped cream and a cherry.

“Easy, I just keep in mind they are all mindless, bumbling, cheats. Not to mention careless idiots. That helps me maintain my distance. Then I smile and they tip me. Besides, it’s just a job.” She looked up and shot Cam a wicked grin. Somehow knowing she was using the very body of asses which had ruined her childhood somehow made Piper feel better about it all.

After spending most of her childhood bouncing back and forth between her active duty mother’s home and her active duty father’s house, Piper long ago decided if she ever married it wouldn’t be to a Marine.  She’d definitely never put her children through the ‘here you take her, no you can have her’ war.  Her situation was unique in that both her parents were enlisted and both had wandered away from the confines of marital vows thus ending their marriage when she was only a year old. 

Piper had no happy memories of a family life which included Mom and Dad, no pictures of happy holidays past, no recollections of her parents ever being married.  All she knew of them was what little time she’d ever spent in their separate respective homes when they weren’t deployed.  When they were away, she was tended to by one step-parent or the other, neither of which was happy being taxed with the task.  She didn’t fit in her own family and had no desire to walk that path with any military man, let alone a Marine.  They were cheats and careless idiots.  As if her dysfunctional family wasn’t enough reason to steer clear of them, she would never forget the reason her best friend had given her. No, she would never forget Kayla, and she would never forget what happened to her. 

As soon as she finished her degree, she was out of here. Goodbye Jacksonville and goodbye USMC.