by RC Boldt
Laney laughed and looped her arm through her fiancé’s. “You never fail to surprise me, Mayson.”
“Well, we’ve got to run. The bell’s about to ring. Love you,” Raine said, giving her hand a squeeze before she turned to leave with Mac.
“Thanks, guys,” Tate told them, even though it seemed pitiful since she was unable to put into words just how thankful she was for all that they did for her.
“Later, sweets.” Laney winked at her as she walked out with the rest of them, leaving only Pearce behind. He was watching her in that unnerving manner he sometimes did.
“You’d better not make me cry.”
He shot her a look. “As if I’d ever make my BFF cry.” There was a beat of silence before he spoke again. “Keep your chin up, Donnelly. You never know what’s to come.”
And, with those cryptic words, Pearce turned and left her classroom, leaving her standing there, wondering just what exactly he meant.
* * *
“Hey.”
Miller turned to face Noelle. They had been working quietly, each on their own tasks, in the silent office while the others were on-site at various locations. He knew he’d been closed off for much of the week … okay, for all of it.
“You okay?” Foster’s office manager posed the question gently, so unlike her usual demeanor which was aggressively taunting whenever Foster was around.
Eyeing her apprehensively, he replied, drawing out the word, “Yeah.”
The pretty blonde stared at him for a moment before one perfectly arched eyebrow raised in challenge. “Really? Is that why you’ve been staring at the same paragraph on the computer for the last twenty minutes?”
Shit. He shoved himself away from his desk with a sigh, the wheels spinning on the bottom of his chair as he faced Noelle, crossing his arms, leveling his gaze on her.
“Go ahead.” He waited for her to say what was clearly on her mind. What he didn’t expect was for her expression to turn pensive. And he sure as shit didn’t expect what came out of her mouth next.
“I know you’re this tough Navy SEAL and all, but everyone has feelings. We’ve all been through heartache. So,” she tipped her head to the side, offering a sympathetic smile, “just remember that you’re not alone in it.”
He felt thrown off by Noelle’s uncharacteristically heartfelt words. “I, uh, appreciate that.”
She threw her head back in a laugh. “Oh, Vaughn.” Her eyes crinkled with amusement. “I’ve made you feel uncomfortable, huh?”
“Pretty much.”
“Well, get over it. And while you’re at it, hurry up and get your girl back so you’re not acting all maudlin around here.”
He shot her a dirty look, but when she winked at him, he shook his head, turning back to his desk.
“Need any help with that?”
He glanced back at her in question. “With this?” he questioned, and gestured to his computer screen.
With a dismissive noise, she said, “No. With getting the girl back.”
“No, I think we’ve got it covered.” He paused. “But thanks.”
“She’s a good one, Vaughn. Anyone can tell that within seconds of meeting her.” Noelle’s face turned wistful. “All of them are, actually. Well,” she wrinkled her nose, “aside from bossman, of course.”
He chuckled. “Of course.”
She flashed him an encouraging smile. “I have a feeling things will work out.”
If only he felt as confident. Because when Miller Vaughn fucked up, he clearly fucked up six ways ’til Sunday.
He could only hope that he had the odds stacked in his favor with the guys helping him out.
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” TATE watched as Raine and Laney raided her closet, rummaging through the hanging clothes, going back and forth before they pulled out two dresses.
“Which one? And, no, these are your only choices.” Laney looked at her pointedly.
“Why do I have to wear either one of those?”
Raine’s eyebrows rose. “Because going naked is probably not wise,” she stated, her words drawn out as if Tate were slow.
“Fine.” Tate eyed the two dresses each of her friends were holding up before pointing at her choice. “That one.”
“Sweet! Hurry up and put it on with this nicer zip-up hoodie.” Raine grinned and thrust the dress at her along with her new gray hoodie. The weather had been milder lately, which was pure bliss for the month of January. That particular day had been overcast with a temperature hovering in the low seventies.
“We’ll wait out in the living room. You have approximately twenty minutes before we—” Her friend broke off suddenly, clamping her lips shut.
Peering at Raine with a narrowed gaze, Tate asked suspiciously, “Before we what?”
“Before we go out for our girls’ dinner,” Laney supplied quickly, not too discreetly knocking her shoulder into Raine’s.
Yeah. Her friends officially reeked of suspicious behavior.
“What’s going on?” She leveled her gaze on Raine. “Tell me the truth.”
Raine’s expression was troubled and she raised her hands in surrender. “Oh, no. No. Uh-uh. I’m not falling for that one. I’ll be waiting in the living room.” Their friend all but ran from the bedroom, leaving Tate and Laney to stare after her, dumfounded.
“Huh. Impressive.” Laney turned back to face her, lying her hands on her shoulders, and softly said, “Trust us, Tate. I promise, you won’t regret it.”
Nodding slowly, she gave a quiet, “Okay.”
Laney winked and turned to leave the room.
It had been nearly a week since the fallout between her and Miller. She’d been trying to keep her chin up as best she could. It was tough, but she was making due with her friends by her side.
Oh, who was she kidding? She was a freaking mess and, more times than not, she felt like she was barely hanging on.
Taking a deep breath, she changed clothes, pulling on the pale yellow ankle-length dress before sliding her arms into the hoodie. She smoothed the fabric and ran a brush through her hair, applying some lip tint and then walking out to the living room to join her friends.
Laney and Raine were standing, both on their cell phones, fingers flying rapidly across the keypads. Tate heard mumblings of “Amazon two-day shipping” and “He was a pain about getting the right wig”.
Weeeiirrrrrd. Then again, these were her friends.
“I’m ready for dinner.”
Their heads jerked up and they both held their phones to their chests. Which was suspicious as hell. Something was definitely going on.
“Right. Let’s head out.” Raine and Laney started down the hallway to the front of the house, with Laney picking up a bag sitting by the door.
“What’s in the ba— Wait a minute. That’s the bag of cheese puffs I just opened.” She pointed accusingly.
“Time to go.” Raine shoved her out the front door. “We figured we’d bring along a snack because Friday nights are super busy at Island Kabuki. You’ll get hungry and need sustenance.”
When she opened her mouth to argue, Laney cut her off, pointing her index finger at her and—whoa—pulled out her ‘teacher voice’. “No more. No. More. You will get into the car right now with no arguments. We’re not going to hog tie you and leave you in an abandoned warehouse or field, Donnelly. But, we’re also not telling you what we are going to do. You will trust us. Got it?”
“Yes, ma’am,” came her meek reply.
That was the first time Tate could honestly say she got into a vehicle with her friends and didn’t have any knowledge of their destination. It was also the most eerily quiet car ride the three of them had ever taken.
With the way her two friends were acting, she wasn’t too certain she wouldn’t end up in an abandoned field somewhere. Maybe she should watch fewer of those made-for-TV movies about women turning on one another. But, just in case, she texted Pearce and let him know who she was with. Bec
ause you could never be too careful, right?
Mere seconds after she had sent off the text, her phone vibrated to signal an incoming text message.
Pearce: LOL. Quit watching crap TV. You’ll be fine. Relax.
Well, okay then. With a mental shrug, Tate grabbed the bag of cheese puffs and leaned her head against the backseat, eyes closed.
Because if this was going to be her last meal, she was sure as hell going to enjoy every last bit of that cheesy puff goodness.
* * *
“She thinks they’re going to murder her.”
Miller could tell Pearce was barely restraining a smile as he told them about the text message exchange between himself and Tate.
Lawson’s head was thrown back, laughter erupting. “Someone needs to lay off the Lifetime movies.”
“Anyway, they’ll be here in about five minutes,” Pearce added, then looked down at his phone when it chimed with another incoming text. “Oh, and apparently Tate’s eating her final meal of cheese puffs so Laney said be prepared for cheesy breath.”
“That’s if it goes well,” he muttered under his breath.
Foster slapped him on the back, looking at him sternly. “None of that talk. You’ve got this in the bag. Mission will be completed.”
“Aye, aye, sir!” Zach and Lawson spoke in unison, sharply saluting Foster before dissolving into laughter.
Without even a backward glance, Foster flipped them the bird and continued. “Get out of your own head, man.”
Miller nodded. “Roger that.”
Mac stepped out onto the deck, closing the sliding glass door behind him, joining them. “They just pulled in the driveway.”
Suddenly, there was a flurry of activity, everyone gathering their necessary supplies and props, hurrying down the wooden walkway leading from the back of Mac’s house to the beach. As they ensured the placement of the chairs they had set on the packed sand minutes earlier, they waited for the women to join them.
And Miller could honestly say that he had never before been as scared shitless as he was right then.
Tate,
It was a fucked up day. Some young kid fired an RPG toward a bunch of marines who were in the process of raiding a building which supposedly housed some big-wig Taliban leader. That shit never gets easier to hear or deal with.
I’ve got to get some rest. I’ve decided the next letter I write will be the last. I’ve got to get my shit together. Got to get over you somehow. Doesn’t stop me from wishing I’d hear from you. That a letter would come from you.
I thought about looking you up but I can’t. I just can’t. I don’t want to know if you’re married or have kids. That would fucking destroy me, T. Destroy me.
I dream about you, still. Especially out here in this damn desert. I swear you haunt me.
When will you stop? And when will I stop loving you?
M.
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
“YOU REALIZE THE WHOLE BLINDFOLD thing is totally cliché, right? You’re going to bludgeon me anyway, so why does it matter if I see where we’re going?” Tate grumbled just as her flip flop snagged on a shell within the sand. “Great, you’re planning on dumping my body in the ocean. Just great.”
“Jesus, woman! Would you quit already?” Laney complained. “You’re making the idea tempting at this point.”
“Laney,” Raine scolded their friend as they each held one of Tate’s arms, leading her along the sand to where she would be sitting. “Sit.”
Tate bent her legs and cautiously lowered herself into what felt like a beach chair. “Do I get to take the blindfold off yet?” she asked.
“Not yet.”
Wait a minute. She recognized that voice.
“Pearce?”
“One moment … okay, now you can take it off.” Tate fumbled for the blindfold, pulling it from her eyes, uncaring about mussing her hair in the process. Nothing, however, could have prepared her for the sight before her.
Staring with a slackened jaw, she managed to get out the words, “Laws? Why are you wearing a blonde wig?”
* * *
He was going to be violently ill at any moment. He could feel his stomach churning, roiling. A large hand clamped down on his shoulder as he stood hidden on the other side of the sand dune, watching Tate like a creeper.
“Dude.” Mac’s low voice made him turn. His friend’s infamous dimple was evident as he grinned at him. “You feeling sick, huh?”
“Yep.” He was past the point of even giving a shit about playing it cool.
“Well, stop that damn shit.” His friend grabbed him by the shoulders, giving him a firm shake. “Get it together. You know we SEALs have some powerful slogans. ‘All in, all the time’ and ‘The only easy day was yesterday’. Use those as your mantra right now and you’ll be good to go.”
Those sayings had been drummed into their heads all throughout their training as SEALs. It didn’t mean that mental strategy actually worked when it came to Tate Elaine Donnelly, however.
A hard slap on his ass made his head whip around, only to see Lawson standing there, grinning like a fool. “You ready, loverboy?”
Miller watched with amusement as his friend tipped his head to the side, stroking and twirling the long blonde locks of his wig flirtatiously around his index finger.
“Laws,” Mac laughed, “you are undoubtedly the most dedicated actor in this whole thing.”
Batting his eyes, Lawson replied, “Why, thank you, you big stud.”
“Oh, sweet baby Jesus.” They turned to see Foster, who had been descending the steps of the walkway with Zach, stopping dead in his tracks at the sight of their friend. “Dude. There are some days when I really wonder about you.” He walked up to Lawson, laying a hand on his shoulder. “This would be one of those days.”
Zach appeared nonplussed by the entire display. “You kind of get used to it after a while.”
“All right. Let’s get this party started, boys!” Lawson’s voice was high-pitched in his attempt to sound feminine.
Miller gave a curt nod to the guys, letting them know he was ready. Ready to give it his all. Because there was a blonde sitting out there on the beach who thought she wasn’t worth being with, wasn’t worth fighting his fear for.
Now, it was up to him to convince her that she was the only thing worth fighting for.
* * *
Tate sat in her chair, nervously strumming her fingers on the arm rests, waiting for whatever was about to take place.
Glancing over at Raine, she asked, “If it were you, would you sit here and wait for whatever was about to happen?”
Raine held Tate’s gaze, nodding. “I would.”
She turned to Laney who was sitting on the other side of her. “What about you?”
Laney gave her a reassuring smile. “Knowing what this is all about? Absolutely.”
Well, then. If her best friends weren’t concerned for whatever was going to take place before them, then she should probably calm down. And, besides, Lawson wearing a blonde wig wasn’t the most bizarre thing she’d witnessed the man do. That much was for certain.
Suddenly, both of her friends looked down at their phones in their laps before glancing toward her, saying in unison, “It’s time.”
Tate leaned back in her chair, watching with avid curiosity as Pearce walked from behind the large sand dunes beside the steps of the walkway leading to Mac and Raine’s home. He was holding a large, six by nine-inch notecard with—wait, was that the Navy SEAL golden Trident printed on the back?
Pearce cleared his throat before announcing, “Back in high school. Starring: Tate Donnelly and Miller Vaughn.”
What’s going on? Tate wondered. She watched with avid interest as her friend returned to a spot behind the sand dune. However, nothing could have prepared her to see Miller walk out onto the beach—er, stage. His eyes ever so quickly darted to her before returning to Lawson, who had donned an ankle-length sundress with a godawful floral pattern that was just … all
sorts of hideous. And, sweet baby Jesus, the man even had on lipstick and blush.
“Well, if it isn’t Mr. Hottie himself.” Lawson twirled his blonde hair around one finger while his other hand rested on his hip. “Have you come to study Anatomy with me?”
“Biology,” Miller corrected.
“Riiiiight.” Lawson gave an exaggerated wink. “If that’s what you want to call it, big boy.”
“I, uh, just wanted to ask you if you wanted to go to Homecoming with me.”
Tate watched with wonder, knowing that she had never before witnessed Miller Vaughn like he was just then.
Miller Vaughn was … nervous. Like, really nervous.
Lawson let out a melodramatic sigh. “Well, that depends.”
“Stay on script. Stay. On. Script!” someone hissed loudly from the other side of the sand dune.
“This is like a train wreck. I just can’t look away,” Raine murmured.
She could see Miller’s jaw clench with impatience. “Depends on what, Tate.”
Lawson’s eyes went wide. “Depends on whether or not you’re planning on putting out later.”
Instantly, she heard responses from the other side of the dune.
“Oh, for the—”
“Cut! Cut!”
Apparently, Miller decided to run with it, his tone sounding a bit exasperated. “Sure. I’ll put out. Will you go with me to the Homecoming dance, now?
Lawson preened. “Why, I’d be honored.”
Zach walked out with a notecard and stood before them, reading, “Later that night, after the dance, as Miller was dropping Tate off at her house.”
He quickly exited the “stage”, leaving Miller and Lawson to take their seats in the already placed chairs beside one another. Miller draped his arm across the back of Lawson’s chair and leaned in.
“I had a great time, Tate. You looked absolutely stunning.”
Lawson batted his eyelashes. “Oh, Miller. You’re so sweet.” He leaned in closer to Miller and they both froze in place.