Bound & SEAL'D: A Bad Boy Navy SEAL Romance (8 page)

“I can explain,” I say to him. “She's drunk. She doesn't know what she's talking about.”

“Are you talking to him again?” he asks me.

“No!” I yell. “Fuck no. Honestly.”

He’s not listening and I'm devastated. Things were starting to go so well for us. Now, he hates my guts. At least, it seems like he does. He simply gets up from his chair and walks away. Before he shuts the door to his room, he says “Fuck it. Feel free to stay as long as you want. You, Julie, and Elijah can have all the fun you want. I'm going to go to sleep. Talk to you later, good friend.” The malice in his voice is palpable and I have no choice but to fall. A weight plummets in my stomach.

“Come on, sis. Let's get out of here,” Julie slurs her words at me. She stands up and stumbles onto the floor. “We don't need him.” Her mouth is pressed against the floor.

Sure, we don't need him. We don't need anyone. We can just waste away in the house I pay for.
Sure, Julie. Anything my sister wants, she gets.

But as I am dragging my sister out of his cabin, I see him open the door to his room. He gives me a look of deep longing, like he wants to say something but won't let himself. I put up my hand and wave goodbye. He walks back inside, shaking his head.

I can’t last like this. Not without him.
Shit.
There it is. The admission. I like Colt and it's becoming a
serious
problem.

F
riends
?
Is she fucking kidding me? After everything? After I bail on my plans with Bowen to help her out? After I eat her senseless, we’re
just friends?
Fine. She can call it what she wants. It doesn't mean I'm going to stick around to hear it.

“I wouldn't worry about it, hon. She’ll come around sooner or later,” Bowen’s wife, Arianna, says. She sets down a plate of chips and we dig into our dinner.

“I don't give a damn,” I lie, dipping a chip into a big glob of salsa. “I'm just glad you all still invite me over to dinner.”

“Yeah, well. It's especially nice with the kids gone at summer camp, you know?” Bowen adds.

“Tell me about it,” Arianna laughs. “Before they left, the kids were bouncing off the walls. I thought I was going out of my head.” It suddenly gets very quiet and the sound of our forks hitting our plates resound throughout the kitchen.

Arianna lifts her head and I just know what she's going to say. The words are practically written all over her face. “Spill it,” I say without even looking up.

“What? I've got nothing to spill,” she says, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. Even Bowen knows that's not true.

“Come on, Arianna. I know you've got something to say. Say what you need to say,” I laugh and put down my fork. “I'm waiting.”

Her cheeks turn flush and she takes a deep breath. Then the words come spilling out “
You need a woman!”
She bows her head in embarrassment when Bowen gives her a sharp glance. “I mean, to take care of you and to have a family someday. Don't you want that?”

I make a grimace as I dig into my pork. “I think you guys are family enough,” I say. “Besides, it's not up to me. If you were to ask me if I wanted her back, I'd say of course I do. But you can't force a girl to come back to you. Shit, we weren't even technically together.”

Her expression turns wild as I say this and I can't help but smile at her intensity. “Oh, boy.” Bowen shakes his head and walks to the fridge to grab a few beers for everyone.

“No, I'm serious, honey!” She goes on “I love you, Colt. But you don't know anything about how women operate. She
wants
you to chase after her. She wants you to give her flowers, to take her to the movies, and to tell her she's beautiful even though she's gained ten pounds and is feeling self-conscious.” I glance at Bowen who just shrugs.

“She said we were friends. Ain't nothing worse than giving it your all, only to find out you're just their best friend. I'd rather be alone forever than get stuck with friend duty.” I eat my last bit of food and crack open my beer. “It's like I said. I can't force her into this.”

Arianna isn't giving up. She grabs our plates and walks to the kitchen. She's silent, but the way she's looking down with her lips pursed together, tells me she's about to lay it all on the table and say what's on her mind.

“Force her,” she blurts out. I nearly spit out my beer. Never in my life did I think I'd hear her say those words. Even Bowen looks surprised. “Baby, you can’t force a woman into being with you. Do you know how wrong that sounds?”

“She
wants
you to fight for her! She wants you to take control. Women are complicated. Sometimes we mean what we say and other times we mean the exact opposite. I'm telling you, Colt. As a woman, I know for a fact she wants you to be there still. Take control. Be a man!”

This was total projection. I knew just how much Bowen and her had been together lately and it wasn't much. Still, she was probably right. “I guess I was little quick to get mad about everything.”

“There you go. Now what're you going to do to get her back?” She eyes me intensely. A slight crease forms against her lips.

“I'm going to buy her flowers?” I say it more as a question than an answer because at this point I don't know what the hell in supposed to do at all.

Her head nods slowly. “…and?”

“I'm going to tell her how I feel?” I ask her. She nods again.

“And?” Damn, this woman was really laying it on me.

“I don't know, Arianna. I'm going to cook her a nice, expensive dinner?” I look at Bowen for support, but he's just leaning back in his chair, smiling to himself. Apparently he was getting a lot of enjoyment out of this.

Underneath the table, I text her.

I'm sorry for flipping out. How about I make it up to you? Dinner tomorrow?

She doesn't respond.
She's probably asleep,
I reason, even though it's only about eight o’clock. Arianna slams her palm down on the table and quickly stands up. “You're going to tell her you love her!”

Whatever expression I once had, has now turned into a frown. “
Love?”
I ask. Wasn't it a little soon to be thinking about the L word? I mean, I liked the woman, but I wasn’t thinking about marriage and settling down just yet.

Bowen, the asshole that he is, bursts out laughing. Arianna looks at him angrily and he immediately shuts up. “I'm serious! You love her don't you?”

“I don't know. We haven't exactly been on a date yet.” I sigh. “We had that night at the Memorial Day Festival. I guess that's something.”

“
See?
That’s so romantic! You don't know how much I would kill to have something like that.” She's glaring at her husband who is now glaring at me.
Uh oh, I've stumbled into enemy territory. Abort, abort!

“What're you talking about? We both went to the festival together,” Bowen says, shaking his head at me. I mouth the word “sorry” and take a quick sip of beer.

“Oh, that's right. You left me with the kids so you could go get drunk with your Navy brothers. I'm so sorry for not remembering clearly.” She slams the plates down into the sink and storms off toward her room. “
Men never listen.
Goodnight, Colt.”

“What was that about?” I whisper, glancing at the hallway.

“Man, you got me in the God damn doghouse. Why'd you have to bring up that woman? I didn't think she was that big a deal to you.” He gets up from his chair and opens the front door to his porch. He motions for me to come outside with him.

Outside, the smell of cedar and smoked pork fills the air. It's a beautiful night sky, complete with a full moon and set of shining constellations. The sound of crickets cuts through the foresty suburbs and the whole town is at peace. Somewhere, Lena is out there, probably pissed as hell at me.

Here I am, feeling sorry for myself. Maybe I overreacted the other day. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so harsh. I just felt like we had something more than friendship. I mean, I didn’t think we were necessarily at that next step, but I was really starting to let go with her.

“She's a big deal,” I say to him. “I didn't think she would be, you know? I didn't plan for it. But, I won’t deny it. She's a big deal.”

Bowen takes another sip of beer and exhales as the carbonation hits the back of his palate. “Well, old friend. My wife’s right. If she's a big deal to you, go get her back. It won't be difficult. Trust me, the woman likes you a hell of a lot. I can tell.”

I appreciate words, but I didn't exactly come to talk about women tonight. “Look, man. There's some shit I have to tell you about. Better brace yourself.”

“Is she pregnant?” he asks me, eyebrows arched and strained.

“What? No. I mean, not that I know of. Jesus, man.” I can't help but laugh.

He sets his beer down and faces me. “Then what is it? Something worse than that?”

“You know, for a father of two, you don't exactly sound like you love kids,” I say.

“I love mine.” He shrugs. “But all the rest of them are annoying as hell. You couldn't even imagine what birthday party sleepovers are like.”

“Well, I think this is a little worse than that,” I admit.

He just smiles and says “Lay it on me, brother.”

I breathe in the cool air and tell it to him straight. “Somebody broke into my cabin the other day.”

A thousand questions fire off at once. “What? When? For real? Is everything okay? Man, if they took anything, I'll kill ‘em.”

“Nah, it's not like that. It's worse. They didn't take anything. They just kind of trashed the place. You know, they flipped over my furniture. Real creepy shit,” I tell him.

He's listening intently now and I can tell he's ready to change his locks. “Some kids or something? People fucking with you because you're the scary old man with the cabin and mechanical leg?”

I frown. “No. They left a note on my fridge. It was typed out and neat. Said ‘I know what happened in Afghanistan.’ Real basic and shit, but definitely unsettling.”

He stopped drinking completely when he heard this. “You think they really know?”

I rub my eyes, feeling the stress creep in my body. “Who fucking knows? All I know is they’re fucked up enough to break in and tape something like that to my fridge. I can only begin to guess who it is.”

Bowen gulped loudly and his breathing quickened. “What happened over there … It's classified. We’re the only ones left in this town who know about the mission. It has to be a prank. It has to be.” He’s starting to get frantic, which in turn makes me feel anxious.

“That's why I told you, man. I'm not sure what the deal is, but we should be careful. Who knows what this person is capable of? Maybe he found Akron and reached out to him. Who the hell knows? All I'm saying is, lay low for a while and be careful of who you talk to.”

“I'll keep an eye out,” he says to me, with this heavy look of fear in his eyes. “Way to make a vet scared stiff. I'm going to be up all night now.”

I chuckle softly, even though the reality of the situation isn't that funny. “Yeah, well. Don't put your finger on the trigger, Bowen.”

We sit in silence and think about everything. I've said all I need to say, which is about two hours too much. Of course, he can't stop wondering who did it.

“You don't think…” he whispers to himself.

“What?” I ask him. Clearly he has something on his mind.

He shakes off the thought and waves his hand in the air. “I don't know. I'm probably wrong.”

“Come on, man. Spill it. You clearly got something important to say.” I know what he’s going to say. I knew it from the get go. It's part of the reason why I didn't mention it to him earlier.

“I'm just saying, man. What if it's her? That Lena chick? Or, shit, what if it's her sister? She's kind of crazy, right? It's not that weird to think it could've been her.”

Is he serious? Lena was just as surprised as I was when she saw the damn note. It couldn't have been her. “It's not her.”

“How do you know? Like,
really
know? The woman’s a journalist, right? I'm just saying, man. It wouldn't be that out of the ordinary for a journalist to swindle a Navy boy.” He’s acting as if he is really onto something, pounding his fist into his knee.

“Settle down. You'll wake your wife,” I say. I don't even want to entertain his ideas. They're too dangerous to my mental state right now. “I know who it is. It’s Elijah. Her ex-boyfriend.”

“Elijah? Who?” he asks, losing me in the process.

“The guy I almost knocked out at the fair. Remember?” My beer is empty so I toss it loudly into the trashcan. The night’s almost over. I can feel it. But it’s not wasted.

“That scrawny little guy? Him? He doesn’t know shit,” he says. But he doesn’t know what kind of shit a “scrawny” guy can be capable of. The way he looked in my eyes that night at the fair. It wasn’t fear that shined back. It was determination and revenge. Now I was on his hit list and I wasn’t going to get off that easy. It was time to fight.

“He works for the local paper. Soon enough, he’ll get promoted, take a job at the Washington Post, and the story will go far and wide. As long as he wants Lena to suffer, we’ll suffer with him.”

Right at the moment, my phone vibrates against my leg and when I pull it out, Lena’s texted me back.
Finally, dammit.
Except, all she replies back with is

I’m busy.

I write back.
Cancel your plans, baby. I’ve got something I need to tell you.

She doesn’t text back quickly. She takes her sweet ass time. But I can see those three dots working overtime, letting me know that she’s typing something. Bowen tosses his empty beer and gets up from the chair. “I have to go to bed, brother. I got my wife to take care of. Call me tomorrow though. We have to take care of this shit now. If we don’t, it’s our asses that get thrown in the fire.”

“Yeah. Talk to you tomorrow,” I say. He gently closes the door and I get up to walk on back.

Soon enough, my feet are crunching in the woods and I’m half-drunk stumbling home. My cabin, my peace in the center of the lawless jungle, is now threatened by outside forces. By some punk named Elijah. I laugh to myself, and fall against a tree to take a piss. My phone vibrates.

Fine. But no dinner. I’m not about to be wined and dined. We’ll finish up that interview.

Fine by me, I think.
From what I remember, our last interview was hot as hell. Her body, up against my bookshelf, the way she curled up against me, pushing me deep inside her. It’s all I want now, all I can dream about.

Deal. See you around seven. I’ll be dreaming of that pretty face of yours.

Of course, there’s no response and I don’t expect any either. She’s playing that hard to get shit. That, or she’s really over me. That’s something I don’t even want to think about.

I’m just about to unzip my pants when I hear someone walking behind me. No one walks through these woods at night. No one but…
Elijah?
Sure enough, he’s standing right behind me. And he seems to be a million times more plastered than I am. His eyes are practically closed with drunkenness.

“What do you want?” I ask him. “You come here to fight? To claim your territory? I’ve got news for you, you sick fuck. Lena isn’t anybody’s property. She’s free to reject and choose anyone she damn well pleases. Got it?” I don’t have any weapons on me. All I have are my fists. Believe me, I’m ready to use them if he tries anything stupid.

“Don’t worry, Macho-man. I didn’t come here to fight or do anything rash,” he stumbles a little, but quickly regains his balance. “I came here to warn you. Stay away from her.”