True Navy Blue: SEAL Brotherhood, True Blue SEALs Series Premiere (3 page)

Weston Stark was a tall man, easily six-foot-five or so. He loomed over Zak and squeezed his hand like he was at an arm wrestling competition. The handshake hurt like hell.

“Congratulations, son.” He motioned for the two of them to take a seat in front of his desk. Zak resisted the urge to flex and unflex his fingers to determine if any of them were broken.

“For what?” Zak shrugged as he lowered himself to the chair. “For ruining my father’s car?” He could feel his cell buzzing from messages he’d not picked up.

“No. For enlisting in the Navy. Your mother is quite proud of you. I’m an old friend of hers from college years, you know.” Weston gave a feral smile at Zak’s mother while she stared down at her lap.

“Well, that must have been yesterday. I doubt today she’s very proud of me now,” Zack said, trying to get his mom’s attention.

“So what line of work are you going for?” Weston was wound up tight, sitting on the edge of his desk, still looming over both Zak and his mother. His suspenders held up expensive dark blue suit trousers. He wore cufflinks, something that wasn’t in Zak’s wardrobe either.

“I’m starting BUD/S training next week. Qualification to become a SEAL.”

“That right?” Stark let his eyebrows raise nearly to his hairline. “Wow. That’s admirable. Best of luck with that. A tough course.” He quickly glanced between the two of them, his mother still examining her fingers.

“Thanks.”

“What made you decide to become, or at least try out for the Teams?”

Zak remembered the day he’d read the article about the kid from Petaluma who had become a Navy SEAL. Ten years ago he and Zak played on the same soccer team for a bit. The boy went on to distinguish himself, and then was killed on his last deployment. Something in Zak’s DNA kicked in, and he realized it was time to go prove himself. Though living in Santa Cruz, he snuck up and attended the funeral, dodging local people who would recognize him. Their old coach was there, though. Coach Bardy gave Zak a heavy dose of reality.

“You’re a fuckin’ screw up, Zak. Had all the potential Joel had, and you just threw it all away.” The coach was legendary for his in-your-face sidelines soccer dress-downs, when they were skinny kids just trying not to cry in front of all their teammates. It was what ultimately pushed Zak to football from soccer.

Bardy went on talking about his friend, the homegrown hero, and how Zak didn’t have the balls to make it as an elite anything and would never measure up. As the man walked away, Zak was shaking in his shoes, fisting and unfisting his hands, tightening all the muscles in his upper torso. There and then, he decided, with the deepest conviction he’d ever had, that he’d live to make this man wrong.

Stark was still staring at him when Zak looked up. Even his mom was waiting for him to answer the question.

“Just something a man’s got to do, I guess. My rite of passage.” He carefully calmed his breathing, but his insides were boiling.

Stark crossed his arms over his flat abdomen and slowly nodded, like he expected a longer explanation. Zak had never told anyone about this decision, and wasn’t about to do so today.

“Mr. Stark, thanks for your time, but am I going to need a lawyer, sir?” He held his breath for his answer.

“Good question.” Stark said as he pointed his forefinger to Zak like a gun, winking his left eye. With surprising speed, he whipped around the desk to sit in his wine-colored leather chair. Zak sensed the man had been an athlete at one time. He methodically laced his fingers between each other as if it was an art form, resting his forearms on his leather blotter perfectly centered in the middle without any other adornment except for an old snowglobe of a Christmas scene. The globe was missing nearly a third of its liquid and seemed out of place in the office. When Zak focused on it, Stark picked it up and placed it on the credenza behind him like he’d left it out by mistake.

“You live under a lucky star, son.” Stark used a lot of big words and said several sentences before Zak realized the likelihood of charges being pressed were minimal. “They could still come after you, but I have it on good authority they’re not looking to cite you. I think holding you was just to shake you up a bit, to be perfectly honest.”

He felt every muscle in his body relax with the relief that the accident wouldn’t taint his chances for the SEAL training. That took the number three concern from Zak’s mind. Number two was still the well-being of Ginger. His biggest worry was the confrontation that would in all likelihood take place today with his father.

“Seems your blood alcohol came back clean.”

“I told them I wasn’t drinking.”

“The young woman you were with was way over the legal limit, poor thing.” Zak saw the feigned sadness in Stark’s face, like that of an undertaker.

“I’ll bet.” Zak also knew that was the only reason she’d agreed to go home with him. At first it had been so she wouldn’t have to go home with one of his buddies who were all shitfaced. But after she kissed him and perhaps misinterpreted his meaning, he decided to go right along with the little charade and let the drama unfold.

“I think the fact that you were a Navy guy garnered you some points, son.”

Thank God for a little break, at least.

“So like I said, your mother brought you in here to beg for me to represent you in what was looking like an ugly, ugly case.” He emphasized
ugly
like the preachers he saw on television. The more time Zak spent around Stark the less he thought of him. The word “beg” stuck in his craw.

“Well, that truly is good news, then.” Zak put his hand on his mother’s shoulder and squeezed, silently asking her to look back at him. He was rewarded with a tired gaze followed up with a smile. The big elephant in the room was that there was still no cause for celebration.

“We even have a good Samaritan who came forward and said she witnessed everything, said the melon truck driver hit
you
. She’s a security guard at the Junior College so she’s a credible witness.”

Stark leaned back in an arch, hands clasped behind his head, elbows out to the sides, looking as pleased as if he’d just told them they’d won the lottery and were millionaires.

Zak nodded. “Okay, then. All I have to do now is go see Dad. Might as well get this over with.” Zak stood up and his mother popped up right beside him. Stark came to his feet and leaned over the desk to present a card.

“You make sure your father calls me in case he has any trouble with the insurance company. I have all the information about the woman who was the eye witness, and I’d be happy to share it with him, if he likes.”

“Thank you,” his mom said as she turned. Zak could tell she was trying to be polite, but when she took his arm, her fingers clutching his forearm, he could tell she wanted to get out of Dodge quick.

Zak held up Stark’s card and waved goodbye. “Thanks for your time, sir,” he said as he ushered his mother safely out of the office.

He helped her down the brick steps nearing the parked car. Zak finally found his voice. He was always careful with his mother’s feelings. She was the only one in the family who supported and believed in him, but she was in a lonely crowd of one. “Geez, Mom, a friend from college? The guy’s a shark.”

“Was then too,” she answered. “Don’t ask.”

“I just can’t see—”

She stopped him before he could finish. “I said, don’t ask. He’s good at what he does and let’s just leave it at that.” She grabbed his arm and they continued to the car.

Zak started to chuckle. “Mom, you got a little bit of the bad boys in your blood, I see.”

“I said, shut up.”

But Zak could see the little quirk upward on her lips. She was about to smile and really didn’t want to.

They drove to the Chambers’ residence in silence. Just before they pulled up, Zak dialed Ginger’s cell and got her voicemail.

“Hey there, Ginger. This is Zak. Just callin’ to see if you’re okay and all. I’m so sorry about last night. They told me you were released today, and I just wanted to check in. Give me a call, if you could.”

He ignored the several other messages left by his friends. There would be time for that later on. He’d probably need their company soon, after his visit with his dad.

Zak saw a car door open across the street and noticed Amy Dobson walking toward him. He got out quickly, hearing his mother mumble something. She exited the car and proceeded up the walkway to their house ahead of him. Amy waved to her and got a brief return gesture as his mom continued to the house without even pausing.

His ex-girlfriend was looking attractive in a short black and white polka-dot dress with a neckline he usually liked, showing off her cleavage. He braced himself for an insult, but despite his internal alarm, his unit was reacting, just like every time he saw her. He sighed, but that didn’t ease the tension in his body. He’d just dodged a bullet with the accident, and now Amy’s presence threatened to drag him back into trouble. All his past poor decisions loomed. He didn’t need another one.

She looked up at his bandaged forehead and briefly scanned below to the rest of his body.

“Hey Amy. Today’s not a good day.” He heard the front door slam shut, which distracted him until he looked back into Amy’s eyes.

“I can see that, Zak. Glad to see you’re not too hurt.” She peered around him to examine the car. “Where’s your girlfriend?”

“I don’t have a girlfriend.”

Amy nodded and stared at her red toes peeking out from high heeled sandals. When her head rose, their eyes connected like they always did, flaming something in his gut that wasn’t healthy, like an itch he could never scratch. He gave up trying to analyze it. It was just chemistry.

He had the strength to step back. Zak knew it also wasn’t fair to her. Why start something he couldn’t finish? Besides, didn’t she deserve more respect than that? He just needed to keep that up a little longer, and she’d be gone forever. “I’m just here for the day, headed back down to San Diego before I finish my training, Amy. I’m not back in town.”

Her lip curled, and her left eye squinted. Zak looked away down the street trying to find something else to focus on.

“You have time to stop by my place later? I got a couple of things I wanted to discuss with you.”

“Nothing to discuss, Amy.” He was surprised his resolve was holding.

She rolled her head back, raising her eyebrows. “You never did like to talk much, Zak, but I kinda like it now.”

“Well, that’s a good thing then. Look, I’ve got to go. My folks are waiting. If I do anything tonight, it will be with Stan and Roger and the guys.”

“And the little girl you brought up from San Diego?”

“I doubt that very much.” He wasn’t going to tell her she was Roger’s little sister and had flown up to attend a family function.

“Love to see you in that uniform.” She stepped closer to him but didn’t touch. “Even better out of—”

He grabbed her wrists before she could lay her hands against his chest. “Amy, you got me all wrong. Those days are gone. I’m not that man anymore. I have a whole new life I’m going after, and I’m not interested in anything here. Anyone, either.”

He released her wrists and watched as she stood before him with her mouth open, those red kissable lips gaping like she’d just seen a ghost. Her hands went down to her sides. He walked past her and up the steps to the front porch of his parents’ house, never looking back.

‡

A
my raced back
to work, arriving a full half hour late from lunch. Her boss wasn’t back yet herself, so she was a bit relieved, but she’d stay the extra thirty minutes just in case anyone else was keeping score.

She knew where they would in all likelihood go tonight. Something told her that if she didn’t see him one more time before he went off to the Navy, she’d never see him again. Amy wasn’t sure why that was important. But it was.

In the two years since they’d graduated high school she had been restless. She should have gone away to college like so many of her friends had done. But she stayed behind and attended the Junior College, waiting.

For what?

With her mother gone, her father had wanted her to stay in the big house just so he wasn’t alone, and at first she agreed. He was lonely after the long battle with cancer her mother had gone through all during Amy’s high school, and she secretly hoped he’d start dating again. But his work seemed to occupy all of his time. He seemed to lose all interest in women, and began working such long hours she didn’t know when to expect him home anymore.

Being picked up and dropped off at the Chief of Police’s house was creating a major damper on her love life. But she didn’t want to confront him about it, especially to tell him that. The new recruits on the force were safe for her, because they dared not act out of turn for fear of their jobs. But she wondered how much of their attention was just brownnosing and how much was serious.

She had a stack of brochures from some technical schools on the peninsula in Silicon Valley and San Francisco. That was more to her liking rather than being stuck in Santa Rosa. She was in the process of applying to them when she found out about Zak.