Chapter 1
January, 1973
Sergeant James Graham
Atlanta, Georgia
James Graham had been stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia for the past year. His parents and grandparents lived in the panhandle of Florida, and he had some family in Atlanta, so Fort Benning seemed like a good fit.
A while back, a guy by the name of Daniel King came to teach at the base, and the two of them, Daniel and James, became instant friends. Sometimes that was just how it went—people formed a connection right away. That was the case with James and Daniel. They were different, but a lot alike, too. Daniel was fun-loving but he had a serious side. The same was true for James, though his serious side rarely showed. James was voted class clown in high school. He had mellowed out in recent years, but he was still the life-of-the-party type.
He was a master at handling cards, and he liked to deal them and perform tricks, and because of this, the action and conversation often centered around him. James had no problem making friends, but he only had a small circle of people he kept close, and Daniel King immediately became one of them. Daniel had a sharp, dry sense of humor, and it complemented James's personality perfectly. The friendship between them was instant and comfortable.
That was why it was a no-brainer that James would make this trip with his friend. It was a big weekend for Daniel King. His best friend from back home in Texas was a boxer by the name of Billy Castro. Billy had made it to the big time. This weekend, he would fight for a belt that would crown him as the welterweight champion of the world. Daniel would be ringside with the coaches during the match tomorrow night.
As if this wasn't enough excitement for the weekend, Daniel and his girlfriend (now wife), Abby, surprised their families by tying the knot in an old chapel in the woods during a pit stop while they were all traveling to Atlanta for Billy's boxing match. This happened last night, and tomorrow night would be the big match. It was a weekend full of surprises.
He had gone to the small wedding ceremony, and had planned on going to the match as well, but Billy threw another proposition out there, and suddenly they got even busier.
Teddy Thomas was a boxing promoter and self-proclaimed "wild man" and he had invited them all to his house for a party. He was an Atlanta resident who threw these types of parties several times a year. He told Billy to bring as many guests as he wanted, so Billy mentioned it to everyone who was at the wedding. James had been there to support Daniel, and he had just met Billy, but he wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to go to a party at Teddy Thomas's house. James had an aunt in Atlanta, so he made plans for himself and a couple of friends from the base to spend two nights at her house.
Learning to handle and deal cards was the best decision James had ever made. Whether he was doing a trick or dealing for a game, handling cards put him in the center of the action, and that was where he loved to be.
He was dealing a hand at the moment.
The whole group met at the hotel in Atlanta where Billy and the rest of his coaches and teammates were staying. It was near the venue where the match would take place. James and the others who had traveled from Fort Benning all met up in Daniel's hotel room in preparation to go to Teddy's party. James dealt a few hands while they were waiting for the women to get dressed. Everybody was in good spirits. Daniel was all excited about getting married, and the rest of them were pumped about the party and Billy's fight.
They went through several hands of blackjack, laughing and cutting up the whole time. The game broke up not long after Daniel's new wife, Abby, and her sister, Tess, came in. Tess was the one who was married to Easy Billy Castro, so it was a big weekend for everyone involved.
Daniel's little sister came into the room right before they headed out. Laney was her name. Daniel had talked about her a lot in the time that James had been getting to know him. James knew that Laney had been dating a guy named Michael for a long time and that the two of them would be coming to this event together. He had met them both at the wedding last night.
James was taken aback when he met Laney. Daniel's description hadn't done her justice. He wasn't expecting her to be beautiful. Daniel had talked about his sister, but he never mentioned that she was so lovely. Judging by the way he spoke about her as his little sister, James expected her to be more of a teenager. He knew she had a long-time boyfriend but he thought of her as a kid for some reason. Daniel hadn't done a good job of conveying that Laney was a grown woman or that she was breathtakingly gorgeous.
James couldn't let himself look at her. She was with someone else, and apparently it was serious. Michael Elliott was the guy's name. His family owned a seafood restaurant in Galveston.
From the start, Michael did his best to become friends with James. He was always up for a good time, and he could see that James was at the center of it, so he was drawn to him. James was annoyed by him, honestly. It wasn't that he had Laney King—it was that he didn't even care—he treated her like she was an afterthought. He didn't know how special she was. Maybe it was that they had been together for so long that Michael was numb to Laney's worth. Regardless, he treated her nonchalantly, and that annoyed James.
James talked to Laney alone several times during the evening, and he always had a good time with her, but his interactions were forced when it was both of them. Michael desperately wanted to earn James's approval, and James pretended to give it to him just to be nice and maintain the positive vibe of the evening.
James was at Teddy's late into the evening, and he rubbed elbows with a lot of different people, but none of them stood out to him like Laney King. She was a flower in the midst of a bunch of rocks. James wanted to protect her—to surround her. He wanted to shield her from her own boyfriend. That guy didn't deserve her.
But these were all feelings that would go undiscussed.
The two of them had been together for long enough that Laney knew what she was dealing with by now. No one was forcing her to stay with him.
James chose to treat them both like he was indifferent about their relationship. He should be indifferent about it. He was indifferent about it.
But it was too much to handle when he saw Michael Elliot talking to another girl the next evening. It happened twice at Teddy's party, and James didn't say anything then. James had talked to Laney quite a bit. He liked her and respected her as a person, and it irritated him that Michael didn't love her enough to avoid other girls.
James and Michael were downstairs at the hotel restaurant on the night of the fight when it happened yet again. They had gone down after the match to pick up food for a small celebration in Billy's honor. Room service was taking forever, and the two of them went to check on it.
Michael went off to speak with the girl working the front desk. It was obvious that he wasn't just on hotel business, and James felt like he had ignored it long enough. It took him a minute to wrap up downstairs, and James had to pry Michael away from the receptionist before they could make their way to the elevator. He knew he was going to say something. The thing was, the receptionist had nothing on Laney. It made James so mad that Michael couldn't see how special she was.
The two of them ended up riding in the elevator with the hotel employee who was taking the room service cart up to their room. It was filled with trays of food. Michael talked to the guy. He was in a good mood, and he was making conversation about Billy's match. James told himself to leave it alone, but he had seen too much to keep quiet.