After a speech by the Commanding Officer of the base, she remained in her seat, the graduates’ families flocked around their loved ones who now belonged to Uncle Sam as bonafide United States Navy SEALs. She was no longer part of Pat’s life, but this morning, she couldn’t think of anywhere else she should be. It was time for her to go. As she rose, Patrick’s head turned sharply, and he looked straight at her. Everything around her dissolved into a blur. Tears filled her eyes. She straightened her shoulders and nodded at him.
Walking away, a warm hand gently gripped her arm and she turned to gaze into the eyes she’d dreamt about for many nights.
“Congratulations,” she whispered.
Patrick’s jaw tightened, his silver eyes sharp and bright. “I didn’t know you were coming.” He swallowed.
“I didn’t know either.”
“Are—are you well?”
She nodded. “Yeah. I—I have a shoot this afternoon. I should go.”
He nodded, his gaze flashing to the ground and then back up at her. “Marg, Mom told me how much you helped her while I was gone. I just wanted to say thank you.” He bowed his head and stepped back.
“Today was an important day for her. She wanted to be here for you.” She paused. “So did I.” Marg’s heart raced and then clutched tight. “Take care of yourself, even if it isn’t in your job description.”
Tears poured down Marg’s cheeks as she climbed into her car, and then she covered her face with her hands and cried for Patrick. He, too, had changed. She saw it as if there was something etched beneath his skin. The young guy from City Heights had achieved his goals, but in exchange he had become a man who, for as long as he would be a Navy SEAL, would bear the burden of protecting his country and his country’s secrets.
Chapter Thirty
Marg ignored Pat as she ran up the sidewalk toward the Redding’s home. It had been two months since Patrick and Thane graduated. She knew exactly how many missions he’d been on because whenever Red was away, it meant they were, too. Patrick’s gaze burned her skin with every step. She should be running into his arms, but instead, she ran past as if he didn’t exist. His choice.
The gang milled in Red’s driveway. Motorcycles and cars loaded down with camping equipment lined the narrow street in front of the lieutenant of Team One’s home. In the house, six children were being herded into order by Lydia while Red backed the minivan up to the trailer. After hours of debate, Red and Lydia decided Big Bear resort could accommodate a crowd like theirs.
Lydia had invited her to join the gang for five days of camping. Team guys and their wives and girlfriends were amassing outside.
Marg wanted to camp ever since she was a little girl, but her parents were not the outdoorsy type. Vacations were spent in Hawaii, Mexico and the Riviera, but never in the forests of the USA, although she did remember the ranch house in the hills of San Diego that Grams owned. She used it for corporate getaways. There were no marshmallow roasts, it was all upscale country living where the rich could feel like they were roughing it. Marg had only been there a couple times, but remembered it fondly.
With a one person pop tent the guy in the outfitter’s store showed Marg how to put together, and a few pots and pans stuffed into her backpack, she was going camping whether Pat wanted her there or not. Acting like a child and pretending she didn’t exist was fine by her. She could pretend, too…maybe.
Reaching the living room of the humble home, Marg found her friend. “Lydia, can I help? You look like your hands are full,” she asked, seeing Lydia pointing a motherly finger at Sandra to change her revealing shorts and shirt.
Lydia threw her hands in the air. “God, Marg, yes.” She stopped and turned to acknowledge Sandra’s complaint. “Young lady, you will change those shorts and shirt.”
“Mom, there’s nothing wrong with my clothes. Tell her, Marg.”
Marg chuckled, knowing she had a huge fifteen-year-old crush on Thane. As Red and Lydia’s oldest daughter and being a teenager, the poor girl had rampaging hormones and right now they were directed at Thane. No girl’s heart was safe from him, but it wasn’t open to anyone in particular, especially not one of Red’s daughters. “Sandra, maybe a compromise. Change the shorts.”
“What’s the difference? Once we get to Big Bear, I’ll be in my bathing suit. That’s even more revealing.”
Marg offered Lydia an apologetic look.
“Is Marg wearing revealing clothes? No! So get your little butt into your room and change. Now!” Lydia ordered.
The motherly ‘Now’ was enough for Sandra to realize she’d lost the battle. “Fine,” she spit out.
Marg understood her pain. “Sandra?”
She turned to give her a peed off look. A motorcycle rumbled to a stop in the front of the house and Sandra sprang to the couch. “Thane is here. Maybe he’ll let me ride with him to Big Bear.”
Lydia shook her head. “Not a chance. You’re coming in the van with us.”
“Moooom.”
“Go,” Lydia ordered. The rest of the kids hung around the living room, ignoring the banter. Or pretending to.
Dana, the second oldest sister by one year, flipped a look at Sandra. “Thane is not interested in a teeny bopper, Sandra. Give it up.”
“Shut up, Dana.”
“Stop,” Lydia barked. “Everyone! Outside, now. Grab your gear and go.” Sounding like a SEAL Lieutenant herself, Lydia shooed them away and then plopped in the chair, looking rather frazzled. “I started preparing a week ago and it’s still a flurry of crazy around here.”
“You love it.”
Lydia brushed her blond bob and nodded. “Anytime with Red is good time. He’s not home often enough or long enough to enjoy being with the kids. His daughters want daddy time.” She sighed.
“I can imagine.” Marg stared out the window at Pat and Thane talking, both leaned against their bikes with their thick arms crossed. “Those men are one of a kind.”
“You and Pat talk yet?”
She shook her head. “No. He’s got it in his head that we won’t work because of the difference in our parents’ bank accounts. I’ve moved on. I’m sure he has, too.”
“I know you haven’t, hun. He’ll figure it out eventually.”
Marg wished she were right, but it was doubtful. Patrick Cobbs was a stubborn man and when he set his mind, little would change it. She cranked her head to see Thane and Patrick heading toward the house.
As the men entered the living room, all the air seemed to leave.
“Morning, ladies, we ready to go? Red wants to head out. Convoy style,” Thane said, giving his award winning grin.
“Oh my God, what happened?” Sandra came into the room, lured by Thane’s voice like a kid to a swimming pool on a hot day.
Thane’s scar was very prominent, but it somehow made him look even more rugged. His blue eyes seemed bluer and his carved jaw more pronounced.
“Hiya, little lady,” Thane said, making Sandra swoon with his attention. “It’s just a reminder not to be a cocky jerk. Your dad saved my as…bacon.”
“Daddy saved you?” Sandra looked confused, as if the totem pole she’d set Thane on had shortened.
“He did.”
Since the attention span of teenage girls was quicker than the speed of light, Sandra said, “Thane, can I ride with you on your bike?”
“No,” Lydia answered a millisecond later.
Thane appeared a little relieved. “Mom has spoken.”
“Get your stuff and get in the van,” Lydia ordered.
Sandra rolled her eyes. Marg didn’t comprehend much of the conversation. Pat stood infused in his domineering silence, his broad shoulder leaning against the wall.
“Morning, Marg,” Patrick greeted, his silver gaze burrowing into her.
“Patrick.” The man rendered her speechless when he stared at her like that.
The team had been home for five days. With every second that passed, she hoped he would call her. He’d left her eigh
t months ago in her parent’s driveway with his words crushing her heart. Those words had made her cry, made her angry, and dared her to date someone else she had no feelings for, nor ever would.
She blinked from the memory and realized the living room had emptied. Where had everyone gone? The cacophony from the driveway answered the question as Pat continued to watch her. From under one slash of eyebrow, he seemed concerned. Intense as always, but concerned.
“You’re coming camping?”
She straightened her shoulders. “Yes, Lydia invited me. I’ve never camped before.”
Patrick pushed himself off the wall he’d been leaning against. “Driving by yourself?”
Thane appeared from down the hall. He cast a glance at both of them. “You’re not driving that girly car into the wilderness, are you?”
She threw him a ‘what of it’ look. “It has four wheels. I’m sure I can go wherever a minivan goes.”
“Back of my bike is empty. Why don’t you throw your stuff in Red’s trailer and ride with me,” Thane offered.
Patrick’s temper snapped, his normal lazy-but-sexy expression catching fire. Instead of disagreeing, he left the room.
Thane scratched his neck. “That kind of backfired.”
“What are you doing, Thane?”
“What do ya think? Besides killing bad guys, he moped like a puppy the entire time we were on the mission. He thought for sure you’d hooked up with someone while we were gone. Then he could get mad about it and forget you.”
She blinked, not knowing if she should be honest. If she was, Thane would probably share it with Patrick. She had to think like a warrior. “I tried,” she answered honestly. “And failed miserably, but if you tell him, I’ll never speak to you again.”
Thane’s smile quirked to one side. “We can push the envelope.”
“As in?”
Thane shrugged and took a cursory look over his shoulder. “He’ll crack. The guy thinks he’s being noble by letting you go.”
Marg rolled her eyes. “That’s not the only place he’s been noble.”
“That guy has restraint. I’ll give him that.”
“So, are you saying he didn’t partake in extracurricular activities while you’ve been away?”
Thane laughed, his broad shoulders jerking. “Extracurricular activities, ah, ya mean screwing other women?” A cool look followed. “You really want me to answer that?”
She swallowed and stayed her heart from growing claws. If she knew the truth, would it smother her feelings for Pat?
“Austen!”
Patrick rounded the corner. He jerked his head for Thane to leave, and he did. They passed each other and she saw them share a look. Patrick kept coming toward her, and she held ground until he stood in front of her. So close, she wanted to throw her arms around his neck and tackle him to the ground.
A tremble in her heart told her she’d be hurt if he had been with someone, but she wanted the truth. “You’ve been with somebody else, haven’t you?”
Patrick didn’t touch her but he stood a whisper’s distance away. Looking into his eyes, because looking anywhere else was inconceivable, she waited, breath held. An uncomfortable distance stood between them, and she wanted to make it disappear. She craved his nerve shattering smile when he looked at her. So rare, but so desired.
Patrick’s gaze swept away from hers and with it a swarm of deep hurt hit her. She stepped back, placing physical distance between them. Gathering her wits and driving two and half hours would give her time to settle her churning heart.
She bowed her head, headed for the stairs. “I should have guessed.”
“Marg!”
“Don’t, Patrick, unless you’re going to say, ‘I’m sorry and I didn’t mean what I said.’” She snapped a Teflon coating over her emotions. “You’re a fool, Patrick Edward Cobbs. Our blood bleeds red. Both of us. One day you’ll understand that, but I guess by then you’ll love a woman in the demographic you think you deserve.”
Angry? Oh yeah, she was angry and strode past him—her back model straight, shoulders catwalk square—and headed down the stairs. At the bottom, she turned and looked up at him.
“Margaret, I thought you’d move on.”
“Move on to what, SEAL? A banking executive? Movie studio CEO? You’re just like my father. I’m not a side of beef to be sold off.”
Pat’s brow wrinkled. “That’s not…”
“Yes, it is. For a different reason, but it’s the same ending, married to someone for all the wrong reasons.”
Pat’s jaw sharpened to a hard edge. “Your father wants the best for his daughter. I would, too.”
“Then I pray you have sons, so they never have to feel like mail order brides.” She threw open the front door and lost her composure to a steadfast stomp across the driveway.
The bitch patrol had shown up. Betty stood on the front lawn in her ass revealing shorts with her Frog Hogs huddled around her, ready to hand out blow jobs and open their thighs in a fucking festival.
Marg reached her car and yanked open the door, but Thane was there to stop her.
“Cool down, Marg.”
“Shut up, Thane.”
His voice lowered to a growl. “Woman, take a breath. You don’t know how bad it is for Pat. He’s trying to protect you.”
“From what?”
Thane pulled the door open and gestured for her to sit, then closed it with a gentle push when she climbed in. “I can’t tell you.”
She shook her head. “Something about a mission?”
“He’s been struggling, and that’s all I’m going to say.”
Marg started the car. “Struggling with what?”
“Hey!” Thane pawed her shoulder. “You’re on the damn cover of American Sweetheart. You’re famous. And yes—something that happened on a mission.”
“He hated the cover, didn’t he?”
He nodded. “One of the team guys had a bunch mailed to him. Pat rounded them all up as if he was protecting your virtue.”
The words punctured her anger. “That’s stupid. It’s a picture. I haven’t saved anyone’s life. I don’t put myself in danger.” She swallowed deeply, seeing Pat emerge from the house and stare at them.
“No, but he understands poverty.”
She sucked in her breath seeing Betty’s head crank around, setting her slutty gaze on Pat.
“Who was she?” Marg asked in a quiet voice, referring to the woman Patrick had been with while they’d been away.
He shook his head. “No one, Marg. Nobody that counts.”
“He did it to get even, didn’t he? Because of us. I wanted to be honest with him. I couldn’t live with that secret even though it was before I met him.”
“He knows that, and it wasn’t to get even. Pat’s not like that.”
She shot a determined look toward Thane. “I’m going camping. He can ignore me if he wants to.”
“That would be pretty impossible for any guy to do.” She raised a brow at him. “Marg, I’m not making a play. I’m being honest. I don’t want a wife or kids. It isn’t in the cards for me. I like coming home to something new in my bed, but if I wanted the picket fence…” He gave her a heated look. “I wouldn’t have introduced you to Pat, but it doesn’t mean I didn’t feel something between us.” He offered up a true smile, almost boyish in its innocence. “I felt a lot, and I wanted to keep feeling, but I’m going to serve until I’m six feet under. That’s not what you want.”
“Thane, you’re just as stupid as he is. I don’t know who she’ll be, but I know I’ll like her because the woman you’re gonna fall for is going to teach you a hard lesson.”
Thane grinned and nodded his head. “Doubt that, but whatever.” He tapped the top of the door. “Be careful driving. I’ll stay behind you.”
“See ya in the great outdoors.”
She glanced once more at Pat and then backed out into the street, waiting for Red to straighten out the trailer on the road. SEALs weren�
�t the only ones with missions. She could have one, too. Her HVT High Value Target was Pat, and he needed a lesson in life, and she intended on being his teacher.
The bikes rumbled to life and Marg growled like a she-wolf seeing Betty run up to Pat, talking animatedly to him, no doubt telling him a big fat lie. He shrugged and Betty swept the extra helmet off the bike and threw her long leg across the saddle, snuggling up to him.
Marg’s hands white-knuckled the steering wheel. “That harpy, sleazebag, cheap, slutty bitch,” she muttered under her breath.
Chapter Thirty-One
The convoy of cars stayed together. They’d gotten an early start on an empty highway. With the warm wind filtering his angst, Patrick’s nerves settled out. Nearing Barton Flats and only a few miles to the Big Bear mountain resort, he checked his watch: Four minutes after eight. They’d made good time. After setting up, they’d be settled by noon for sure.
No matter how unnerved she made him, Pat couldn’t keep the smile from curving his lips knowing Marg would be camping with them. With the soft top down on her car, he saw her glance over her shoulder. He’d noticed two coolers in her backseat, and could imagine her thinking—diet be damned.
Patrick gripped the handlebars tightly when the road shifted beneath him. Marg’s tires skidded, and she slowed down.
What the hell?
The dry pines on the hill began to whip their limbs from side to side. A grassy slope rose on their left and a curving guardrail protected them on the right. An earthquake! A big one.
Motion caught his eye, and he looked up with a start. An enormous boulder tumbled down the hillside. Red’s trailer rushed ahead. He heard himself yelling when he realized Marg couldn’t outrun the enormous rock. Taller than the trailer and as wide as a car, it rolled toward her on an intercept course.
Code Name: Forever & Ever (A Warrior's Challenge series Book 5) Page 34