by KB Winters
I smiled as she started from the kitchen. It was nice to know that no matter how sideways things went, my parents would always support me. When she’d gone, I perched on the bar stool at the counter and reassessed my progress on the application. It was impossible not to think about Steven when considering a job in San Diego. We hadn’t talked much about his career, but I remembered he mentioned staying in San Diego when he was stateside. What would happen if I lived there too? Could we pick up where we’d left off the other night and maybe see if there was more there than just sex? Something more solid?
It seemed like a far-fetched idea, but the job was good and I convinced myself it was something I would have applied for even without knowing Steven was nearby.
I hummed away, my fingers flying across the keys as I completed the form before my mom came back downstairs.
It was worth a shot.
Chapter Nine
Steven
“You’re an asshole, Maxwell.”
I grinned at my immediate supervisor Chief Riggs. “Come on, Riggs, you’re just pissed it wasn’t you.”
Joe Riggs clenched his jaw. “I’m serious, Maxwell. This time I can’t bail you out. The hotel is threatening to sue and that’s the last fuckin’ thing we need right now. This unit is under enough pressure as it is right now. We got everyone watching so close I wouldn’t be surprised if they knew when we all brushed our teeth or took a shit.”
The smile I’d been hiding behind started to slip as Riggs spoke. I groaned and raked my hands through my hair. “All right, so what’s the bail out here?”
Riggs sat down in the opposite chair from mine. So far, we were the only two in the large conference room. Riggs had come in to warn me of the shit storm that was going to start raining down on me. Apparently, my antics at the golf course in Dubai hadn’t gone unnoticed and I was going to be the scapegoat to get the CIA out of hot water with the owners.
“They want your head, Maxwell.”
“Fan-fuckin-tastic.” My hands rested against the table, splayed out, as though ready to push up and run. Which, was exactly what I felt like doing. “Advice?” I asked, daring a glance up at my friend and sometime CO.
Riggs frowned. “Be polite. Apologize. Beg and grovel if needed.”
“Fuck.”
Riggs pushed up from his place at the table. “Sorry, man. If you play your cards right, you’ll at least get to keep your rank.”
A bubble of panic swelled up in my gut. I’d been in trouble on a handful of occasions before. It wasn’t a new thing for me. But to have my rank threatened? Or, even my job…that was some scary ass shit.
What would I do if I couldn’t be a SEAL anymore? It was who I was. My core. My DN-fucking-A.
In the split second between Riggs’ advice and the conference room door swinging open, Ruby Westin’s face materialized behind my eyes.
I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her since she’d climbed into my bedroom window. Like a complete dumbass, I didn’t get her number and hadn’t been able to call her since leaving so abruptly the morning after we’d hooked up. And shit if I was gonna call Rick and ask him for it. He’d do worse things to me than whatever the CIA liaison was about to do.
Telling my best friend—even thought he’d got weird on me—I was fucking his little sister would probably not go over well with him.
Three men in suits filed into the room. CIA. Then my commanding officers, and finally, the harpy herself, Harriet Jenners. And she looked colder than the waters off Alaska in the dead of winter.
Fuck.
I stood up at their entrance and saluted before being asked—told—to take my seat.
Harriet Jenners took focus as she cleared her throat. “Petty Officer Maxwell?”
“Yes, ma’am.” I forced my eyes to hers.
She folded her hands and set them on the table. I could feel Riggs’ eyes on me and wished I could glance over at him. He was my only ally in the room. “The situation in Dubai was a shit show of epic proportions. As you know by now, some nosy spectator has you on cell phone video. Not only was the golf course vandalized, but killing Moshe Al Saim was not what you went there to do. And especially not on video. You have embarrassed this country and—”
“—Ma’am, I—”
“Silence,” she hissed.
The temperature dropped another ten degrees.
I was fucked. There was no way I was getting out of this. And all for what? Three seconds of fun, ripping donuts in a golf cart and popping a cap in that guy’s ass? He was a known terrorist anyway? Fucking cell phone videos. Everyone had one.
Riggs was right. I’d be lucky to walk out of the conference room with my stripes still on my uniform.
“The CIA has settled with the resort, at great expense.” Harriet stopped, shooting a cold glance at Riggs. “As we are not in charge of you, there’s little we can do, other than make it plain that we will no longer take you on assignment and that we highly recommend you be held responsible for your poor choices.”
At that, she pushed up from her seat, the three suits following her lead, and then stalked from the room, her high heels clipping out her disgust as she went.
What the fuck was going on? That was it? I dared a glance at Riggs and realized he looked just as shocked.
“Maxwell…”
I flinched at the harsh tone of Captain Tucker. “Yes, sir?”
Captain Tucker commanded the attention of everyone remaining at the table. Riggs, two other officers, and myself. “Normally this is a discussion we would have in my office, but as this fiasco has spread like wildfire, we’re gonna handle it right here, right now. You may have thought that the assignment was bullshit, you might have been showing off, blowing off steam, whatever. I don’t need a reason and I don’t want a shit pile of excuses. Plain and simple. You were out of line. Our unit works with the CIA and if they won’t take you on assignment then it leaves me with two choices…”
I drew in a breath, steeling myself for his proclamation.
“I can put you on a ship, somewhere you’ll stay out of trouble, and have you run ops from behind a desk. Or, I can post you here, at the base, in an instructor’s position.”
Riggs smirked. “So he can teach his bullshit to others?”
Captain Tucker shot Riggs a cold look. “Riggs, what the hell are you even doing here?”
Riggs scrambled from his seat and left the conference room. I sighed when the door shut behind him. “Sir,” I started, flicking my attention back to the captain. “I have to admit, I’m a little confused. What would I be instructing?”
Tucker leaned back in his seat. “You’re a good SEAL, Maxwell. One of the best I’ve had under my command in a while, but I think you need a break from field work. I’m not stripping your rank. I’m offering you a teaching position. You’d be working with our new SEAL’s and getting them ready for whatever they’re going to face out in the field. It would be two years, to fulfill your contract, after that, we could reevaluate. You could come back to the field, or if you’d like, stay on as an instructor.”
The information settled heavily on my shoulders. I had to make the call. Something that I was grateful for, but it still seemed like an impossible choice to make.
“I need an answer, Maxwell.”
“Now?”
Tucker nodded. “Afraid so, son. To be straight, I’ve got the White House on my ass and I need to get this off my plate.”
I shifted in my seat, turning over each option, struggling to visualize how they might play out. Two years wasn’t a lifetime but it was longer than I’d spent in one place since I’d joined the Navy.
All at once, the answer hit me in the gut like an uppercut to the kidney.
Chapter Ten
Steven
“Maxwell, are you still with us?”
I looked up at Captain Tucker and cleared my throat. “Yes, Sir, I would be honored to serve as an instructor.”
Captain Tucker nodded his head in agreement and gav
e a quick glance around the room before he stood up. “This matter is closed gentlemen. Maxwell, we can discuss your teaching assignment once you return from your leave. Enjoy the rest of your holidays.” He gave a slight nod, turned and walked out of the room.
By the time I knew what had hit me, I was alone. The sound of their footsteps fading in the distance. I always knew something like this could happen, but when I was on an assignment, I didn’t think about those things, shit happened and we’d adapt and overcome, improvise for Christ’s sake. Being scolded for doing a donut on a putting green is one thing. Okay—my bad—so that wasn’t such a smooth move on my part. But being blamed for Jal Mante’s man being shot is another. I was saving John from getting his ass shot off, but somehow, I was the fall guy—the scapegoat.
Had we forgotten those men were evil mother fuckers and when the day was done, we’d got our guy? I shook my head as I looked around the room and wondered how many times something like this had gone down before. How many fall guys had gotten a boot in their ass right in this very room?
With a long sigh, I stood up and gave it one last glance before I left.
Politics.
As I headed outside to my truck, my thoughts went to Ruby and the way our magical night had ended so abruptly. By the time I’d finished the phone call, Ruby had got dressed, and I guessed, went out the same way she came in.
Damn! She was sexy sneaking into my window like that.
When I got in the truck, I realized I was in my dress blues and thought about doing a quick change of clothes before heading back to Los Angeles. A vision of Ruby slowly undoing the thirteen buttons on my pants brought not only a smile to my face but a slight throb in my shorts. She’d never seen me in uniform.
As I headed up The Strand and approached the downtown area of Coronado, it was impossible not to notice Christmas was in full swing. I’d already picked up most of the gifts for my family when overseas. All I needed was the perfect gift for a certain young lady.
What did I give the girl who climbed through my childhood bedroom window and fucked me like there was no tomorrow? As I pondered that thought, I caught a glimpse of a Santa Claus and a whole pack of elves in front of a small strip mall. When I got closer, I saw a bunch of young kids jumping up and down and running around—clearly this was some sort of holiday event.
I pulled over and sat there for a second, taking in the scene unfolding in front of me. I watched a little girl about four years old get a present from one of the elves, and the look on her face made me laugh and smile as she reacted just like she’d won the Lottery. I was about to pull out when I noticed a sign hanging in the window of a jewelry store that said, Military Discount to all Active Service members. I hopped out of my truck to make my way inside the small store, and I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself.
Certainly, the kind of girl that climbs through bedroom windows would love some jewelry, right?
When I walked inside, I was immediately hit with a good vibe. The store wasn’t a typical mall-type jewelry store. It was an old fashioned, small, family-run business. As I approached the display cases, I caught sight of an elderly man sitting at a desk, glued to one of the news channels. He looked up from the TV, smiled and gave me a salute only an old vet could give.
“What can I do for you today, young man,” he asked as he stood from his desk.
I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Just as I was about to ask him about the special, his attention went full board to the TV on the back wall.
“Have ya seen this yet? These covert types took down this terrorist guy and…well just watch.”
He grabbed the remote and turned up the volume. The news anchor was describing a covert CIA mission that was caught on a video after a brief shoot out, they cut to the video and I cringed as I watched John and myself dragging Jal Mante to the golf cart.
“Oh God,” I muttered and rubbed my hand across my face. There I was on breaking news. ‘abductors as they make their way to waiting van…’
Just as I thought the video was over, and felt certain nobody would be able to pick up that I was one of the two abductors, it happened. The news channel aired the donut of all donuts right on the eighteenth green.
We were coming straight toward the camera and in the last part of the skid—my dark glasses flew off just as I gave a fist pump in victory of such a sweet move.
I stood there, frozen in shock as the TV guy stopped the frame showing my fist pump for the whole world to see. It didn’t help matters that you could also see Jal Mante screaming in terror. My gut clenched—this was not good.
The old man standing behind the counter looked from me to the TV and then back at me with a grin on his face that would make the Cheshire cat jealous.
“Is that?”
“Unfortunately.” I smiled, waiting on his reaction.
He gave me the once over. “You are one bad sonofabitch, aren’t you?” He smiled and pointed to the trident and rows of ribbons on my dress blues.
“I have my moments.”
“Yeah, Sailor, I bet you do. So, what was it you were looking for?”
I took a deep breath and replied, “I’m looking for a unique gift for a special lady.”
“Wife? Mother? Girlfriend?”
I cleared my throat and replied, “Hoping for the girlfriend part. I’ve known her since we were kids, her older brother was my best friend all through school. I’ve been overseas for a while now, and we just saw each other for the first time in years a few days ago. There is something about her I can’t describe in words, but I really want to get her something that knocks her off her feet.”
The old man stood there for a second, sizing me up. “I did three tours in Nam from ‘66 to ‘72. It was a beautiful country. The only problem was that damn war was ugly. I watched a lot of my brothers fall over there, some of us made it home—some of us didn’t. He let out a long breath and looked me straight in the eye. “You know, son, you never really leave a place like that.”
He looked down and paused for a second, clearly in deep thought. He raised his head back up and said, “I was a gunner mate on a river patrol boat. It was a crazy in country.” He shook his head and continued, “You couldn’t tell the difference between the good guys and the bad guys, they all dressed alike, talked alike, and none of us knew their language. Anyway, after my third tour, I got stationed across the bay at 32nd street. Back in those days, I only had one day off—Sunday.
“One Sunday afternoon in March, I was out seeing the sights and I stopped at a Foster Freeze for some ice cream. While I was working my way through the best banana split I’d ever eaten, I met the love of my life. She was working the counter and I couldn’t take my eyes off her from the second I walked in the door. She must have noticed at some point and finally came out to my table and asked if there was something I needed. I gave her my best James Dean look and said, ‘I would love to take you out for dinner sometime.’ She laughed me off like I’m sure she did to all the Sailors who hit on her at work and quickly disappeared back inside the store. Just as I was leaving, she ran outside and said, ‘Hey, Sailor, I thought you wanted to take me to dinner sometime.’”
He smiled. It was easy to tell he was in love. His face was glowing as he told his story. When he finished, he walked over to a case and came back with the most beautiful diamond bracelet I’d ever seen. And probably way more than I could afford. I pulled out my credit card and laid it on the counter.
“Give this to your girl. I bet she’ll love it.” The owner of the jewelry store took a lot of care wrapping that beautiful bracelet. As I watched him work, it was clear he was some sort of master craftsman himself. I couldn’t help but let out a chuckle remembering him pegging me dead on in that video.
“What’s the damage?”
He grinned at me and handed me back the credit card. “A lot less than it’ll cost to repair that green you tore up, Showboat.”
I smiled and took the wrapped box and card from his hand. I thought
he’d forgotten all about the video. “Thanks, man. What’s your name?”
“Mike. Mike Austin. Merry Christmas, Sailor. Now, when you got your girl and you’re ready to make an honest man out of yourself, you come back and see me, okay?”
“Will do, Mike. Merry Christmas.” He turned toward the TV, flipped it back on and started watching it again.
* * * *
When I finally pulled into the Westin’s driveway, I took a few extra deep breaths to prepare myself for what may or may not happen next. The house was decked out with bright Christmas lights on the outside, and a beautiful tree that could be seen halfway down the block with the front curtains open.
I smiled as I caught sight of Ruby standing next to the tree with her new niece tucked into her arms. I sat there in my truck and watched her as she gently rocked back and forth pointing at different shiny ornaments hanging on the tree. I couldn’t help but wonder what she was thinking as she looked down at the baby in her arms. A warm surge swept over my insides as I wondered what it’d be like if someday I came home from work and found her standing next to our tree with our baby.
Slow down Max!
I looked down on the seat next to me and thought about what was inside the small red box, I hoped she’d like it. I couldn’t believe the old man gave it to me. He must’ve been in some serious Christmas spirit. I wondered where his wife was. The love of his life. I hoped she was at home cooking up some Christmas pies, but as old as he was, I didn’t want to ask. I figured she’d already passed.
Since I’d gathered up different gifts here and there along my travels, I had a couple of gifts for Rick and his parents—even a cool doll from Germany for his new daughter. I got out and loaded them in to an old sea bag I had in my truck. I wasn’t sure how the bracelet would go over and still a little iffy about this being the time or place to give it to Ruby since her brother and his family were there, so I tucked it into a little pocket, separate from the other gifts.