Faded Cotton (Erotic Romance) (23 page)

“Shannon, look at me, tell me what the hell
is going on. I’ve
never
seen you try to rip someone apart!”
Laurel shook her head. This was not like Shannon at all, Laurel
thought. Her normally sweet-natured, nurturing, happy-go-lucky
daughter obviously wanted to rip out her opponent’s eyes. Over
what, she wasn’t sure.

“You wanna know what the slut is up to? She’s
trying to fuck them both! She’s been making out with Adam on the
beach and with Jess at the lagoon! What the fuck?! Who does she
think she is?”

“You know this for sure?” Laurel asked for
confirmation. “Sit down; let’s talk about this, okay?” Shannon
slammed down in the sand in a huff. She drew her knees to her
chest. Her wet sundress was covered with sand and stuck to her,
despite her attempts to pluck it off her skin. Tears stung her
eyes, but she refused to let them go.

Jen joined them, plopping down on the wet
sand on the other side of Laurel.

“What the hell do you want?” Shannon spat at
her. “You are the last person I want to talk to,” she sniffed.
Laurel wasn’t sure she wanted to be sitting between them.

Jen leaned forward to talk to Shannon.
“Shannon, I need to tell you something, please give me a minute to
explain. Your feelings for Jess are obvious. I’m not interested in
him the way you think. Yes, we did go to the lagoon. But nothing
important happened. I’ve seen the dirty looks you have given me all
evening. Honestly, you have nothing to worry about.”

Shannon learned forward past Laurel and
narrowed her red puffy eyes at Jen. “Oh, really?” She drug out
sarcastically, gritting her teeth.

“Yes, really. I can’t say that I don’t find
Jess attractive. He is very good looking and you should know, a
gentleman, and he takes his job seriously—all very admirable
qualities. But—.”

“There is always a butt!” Ellia giggled
sipping her Sex on the Beach that she had managed to retrieve,
unharmed, out of the sand. Shannon was spitting out grit.

“But, I’m just a distraction for his
thoughts, I can tell. That boy is in pain. I watched him tonight
with you. He’s in love with you. Like crazy-mad, head over heels,
bonkers, berserk.”

The girls all chuckled at that. Shannon
wasn’t sold, though. The tide was soaking them more by the minute.
Shannon shook her head in disbelief.

“Adam has told me the story. How you and Jess
grew up down the road from each other, used to sit by each other on
the school bus when you started kindergarten. How Jess broke the
nose of an older kid when you were ten, because it made you mad
when the kid called you “scrawny”, how he ran off all of your
would-be dates in high school and took you to prom because he
wanted to protect you.” The ladies were all giggling at that point
and Shannon blushed.

Jen continued, “Adam said you and Jess have
been pretty much inseparable since high school, but never really
dated. Shannon—your brother and I—I don’t know. A lot of
relationships that start under wild circumstances like this don’t
make it. I think we like each other, sorta. But Jess...I don’t
think you’re his
maybe
, I think you’re his
it.
”

“Uh, hum.” Laurel agreed.

“I won’t hurt Adam, I promise. If we were to
ever have any kind of relationship, I want you on my side. I know
how important to you these two men are, and you are important to
them. Adam is your big brother, Jess your best friend, and unless I
miss my guess, the love of your life.” The girls all nodded and
chimed in agreement.

Rachel was waving off the men. They had been
keeping a safe distance up the hill. The fracas had come to an end
and everyone was back to breathing. Having the subjects of the
upset join the group would not be a good move, Rachel decided.

Laurel was shaking her head in agreement with
Jen.

“You think so too, huh?” Shannon turned to
Laurel and suddenly felt a glimmer of hope. The whole group was
nodding and giggling in agreement. If all these women could see it,
maybe Jess would eventually see it.

“So how do I make him see me as anything else
other than little Shannon, Adam’s baby sister?” Shannon wasn’t
ready to throw herself at him, but she hadn’t checked it off the
list either. “How can he be interested in me and never show it?
We’ve never talked about anything other than baseball and the Navy
the last couple of years. The only thing he ever calls me is “a
tease”. Shannon was now red faced and mad instead of crying.

“Well that ought to tell you something.”
Ellia giggled.

“Shannon, honey, you’re just gonna have to
look for your opportunity and take it.” Laurel knew what everyone
else did. She hated seeing her daughter in pain. This needed to be
decided sooner than later. “What is the worst that can happen?”

“Easy for you to say, Mom,” Shannon was
giving Laurel a sneer. “They seem to be falling at your feet!” The
retort garnered lots of laughter.

“I can just see Jake on one knee!” Jen gave
the thought life. The group was reduced to rolling in laughter,
everyone sprawled in the sand.

“Does everyone have a bra and panties on?”
Shannon smirked. With no disagreement, she started to strip off the
soaked sundress and the rest of the group followed suit. Half-drunk
and giggling like schoolgirls, they ran into the water. Strapless,
see-thru, and thongs didn’t stop them. Everyone wanted to cool off
and enjoy a moment of freedom.

Shannon stopped to face Jen and held out a
sandy right hand. Uncharacteristically, Jen pulled her into a
strong hug. Shannon was shocked, but hugged her back, feeling a new
connection with the stranger. “I need you in my corner, Shannon.
I’m in yours.” Jen pulled back to look at her, Shannon nodded and
hugged her again. Laurel shook her head as she smiled at the girls.
Drunk chick fight aside, somehow, she knew she was seeing the
beginning of a special bond.

The water glimmering by torch light, they
played, laughing and splashing like children. It was a wet
substitute for a pillow fight, and they took full advantage of
it.

__________________________

The male part of the group had retreated to
the edge of the lanai to drink and smoke, the women barely in
sight. “For once I’m glad one of these girls is not mine. Shit,
every last one of them is a handful!” Brian Tanner chuckled.

“Ha! Yours is coming Bri’! You just wait
buddy! One of these days she’s just gonna walk right in and bowl
you over, dude. And you are gonna be lost like you were at boot
camp!” Adam was quick to jab playfully back at his friend.

Before anyone could move, Brian had Adam in a
playful headlock and the two had taken the verbal jabs as an
invitation to wrestle. The others egged them on, laughing and
throwing down fake bets.

“Hundred on Brian! He doesn’t have a gal to
zap his strength!” Lieutenant Morrison had jumped into the
commentary from the edge of the group. That sent the men over the
edge laughing and pounding tabletops. Brian and Adam called truce,
backslapping, shuffling clothing back in place, and laughing
heartily.

“Captain?” A guard in night fatigues and
paint appeared suddenly.

“Yes?” Jake acknowledged him without
formalities.

“The women are all in the water, sir.”

“Aha! Oh, okay, this should be fun.” Jake
stood.

“Seth, can you have the staff bring beach
towels, we need to get them out of there.” Seth nodded to Jake and
the towels appeared shortly.

“Watch this, boys!” Jake was about to have a
little fun, SEAL-style. “Tanner, commence Operation Scream. Let’s
get those frog hogs outta there!”

“Whoa ho ho!” Rolling laughter ensued at the
not-so-nice connotation.

Brian chuckled, “Yes sir!” He fired off
instructions speaking into an invisible headset. Shirt buttons were
handy these days, as was the nearly imperceptible earpiece he had
in his ear. “Commence Operation Scream.”

Drinks in hand, the men gathered at the edge
of the dune to watch, remaining unnoticed by the women in the water
who were still splashing in horseplay.

Suddenly, the commotion started. Shannon
noticed dark figures rising out of the shadowed water looking like
monsters out of the latest horror movie she’d seen. Freaked, she
screamed and took off out of the water for the beach. The rest of
the girls followed suit, screaming at the top of their lungs.
Running in the sand had each one holding their top half, to keep
from jiggling out of their respective containment.

Shannon stopped as she spotted Jess, bent
over, holding a towel to his stomach, red-faced in laughter. She
turned around to see a group of darkly clad, wet suited SEALs
removing snorkels and laughing heartily. The rest of the women
figured out the ruse shortly thereafter, and eventually, everyone
was laughing, as the offending group offered towels in apologetic
truce.

Shannon couldn’t help but laugh at the clever
dupe. “Jess did you know about this?” She giggled.

“No, but I have to agree it was well worth
the effort. You looked so cute. The look on your face was sooo
funny!” For a minute, the two lost the awkwardness between them as
he draped the big beach towel around her shoulders. “Come on; let’s
go find the rest of your clothes.”

The party went well into the night. A lot of
drunken hugs, flirting, and booty dancing, were preceded by mild
intoxication as the drinks flowed. Saturday was going to be for
recovery. Jake’s plans were successful as always.

“
Why?” A rough voice posed to the man on
the other end of the call.

“
You don’t ask ME, why, you asshole. You
won’t have a clear shot. I guarantee it. There is enough firepower
there to make you and your boys dust in the wind. You’ll do as
ordered. Fuck it up and I’ll take you out myself! They’ll be
stateside about eighteen hundred hours Sunday. Proceed as
planned.”

Click.

__________________________

“You catch all that, Captain?” Brian wanted
to make sure Jake knew exactly what was coming down the pike.

“Asshole,” he slid under his breath. “Yeah. I
knew it was just a matter of time until they would catch up with
us. It’s going as planned. Brian, I need you on this detail. You
know once we go stateside, it gets personal too. I can get everyone
cleared, after than we are on our own. Are you still in?”

“Yes sir. I’m not going to leave those lovely
ladies to the wolves.”

“Glad to have you on board.” Jake hated the
thought every time he had to put men in harm’s way. Well-planned
missions had kept him from losing anyone. He never took anything
for granted in his planning.

“Double-check arrangements for everyone,
Laurel and Jen, Shannon and Jess and Adam, Ben and Ellia, you,
Morrison, Seth and Rachel.” Jake was agitated. “I want a fucking
armory and a helicopter at that farm and all the surveillance we
can muster. We are putting down not too far away. I’ll give you
coordinates. Double-check the transportation, supplies, and
firepower. Get Morrison down here to go over the flight plans. I
want any remaining details wrapped up quickly. We’ll reconvene at
nineteen-hundred hours.”

“Yes, sir. Sir, should I recruit more men to
assist?”

“Part of this is personal, Brian. Anyone
would need to know that going in. I can’t ask these men to put
their lives on the line for a personal firefight. Each one of the
women is a good hand with a gun. Laurel and Shannon are sharp
shooters, Ellia is CID, Jen is police, and Rachel is a hunter. I
think it will be resolved before they catch up with us anyway. I’m
just hoping the son of a bitch doesn’t send an entire platoon!”

“Yes, sir.”

The Gulfstream C-20 was mostly silent, except
for mild banter between Morrison, his co-pilot, and air traffic
control. Not knowing what lay ahead of them, no one felt like they
had been on vacation. The controlled atmosphere of the island was
looking better by the minute.

Captain LeGrande had split up the group. He,
Brian, and Adam together with some volunteers that Tanner had
garnered after sharing a brief version of the problem with trusted
platoon members. Jess would lead the other group as they split
between planes. Jake’s group took off a couple of hours prior for a
stop in the Gulf for supplies.

The two planes would land on a private
airstrip in the middle of the state and divide into specially
equipped Suburbans. They would proceed to the farm and set up camp
in the dark of night. The farm personnel would have the area
secured and ready to process everything for those joining them.

The back-forty cabin would serve as a rear
position. A Seahawk would rest over the ridge, camouflaged into the
green. The area’s caves had been mapped out, Jon boats with fast
inboard-jet motors, ready to slip over the river shallows at high
speed, were tethered in a slew to hide them from prying fishermen.
Jake figured the provisions had been complete overkill, but he was
going to have all the bases covered.

He’d given the Navy a lot of time, made a lot
of friends, a lot of connections, called in a lot of markers, and
promised several favors. He stared out the window of the plane into
the fading blue, deep in thought.

Jake hoped this would be his last stand. This
fight had come too close to home and he didn’t like having his work
in his back yard. It scared him—an emotion he wasn’t used to
entertaining. Everything he had left in the world was in
danger—Laurel, Jess, Adam and their extended family. He knew they
were bait, but they were together, and that would make it easier
for him to control the situation.

The plans went like clockwork and soon a
weary group was settling in at Siddy Creek. The girls stayed in
Laurel’s room. All the windows and doors had been braced or
covered. The guys divvied up the upstairs. Sleep shifts would start
with those coming in sleeping late to rid themselves of jet lag.
Guard assignments were planned in advance. The house filled up
under the guise of a family gathering.