Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

“Are you seriously going to Hawaii on your own?” Safe asked.

Vincent “Kevlar” Hill smiled. “Hell yeah, I am.”

Smiley held up a hand and waited for Kevlar to give him a high-five.

“Good for you,” Preacher said.

“Ballsy,” MacGyver added.

“It’ll be easier to get some without the ol’ ball and chain at your side,” Howler said with a smirk.

Flash smacked him on the back of his head. “Rude, man!” he exclaimed.

Kevlar didn’t get upset by his friends’ razzing. These were men he’d die for, and who would die for him in return. As Navy SEALs, they’d been through hell and back together and come out mostly unscathed on the other side.

They were currently sitting in Aces Bar and Grill, a bar near the Naval base where they were stationed. In the past, the bar had been the place for men and women who were looking for a no-strings sexual interlude. But ever since changing ownership several years ago, with Jessyka Sawyer taking over, it had morphed into a laid-back hangout spot for Naval men and women and not so much a pick-up joint.

Which suited Kevlar just fine. At thirty-five, he’d gone through a phase of enjoying meaningless sex with hot women who just wanted to sleep with a Navy SEAL, but that kind of lifestyle had quickly lost its luster. Maybe it was all the missions he’d been on where he’d been inches from death, highlighting what was really important in life. Maybe it was seeing the repercussions of those kinds of liaisons through other SEALs he knew—everything from unexpected pregnancies to sexually transmitted diseases.

But more likely, it was seeing the relationships his mentors had with their wives and children.

His friend Wolf Steel—and all of the man’s former teammates—had stayed in the Riverton area after retiring from the Navy to help with training and mentoring SEALs as they rotated in and out of the base. From the first time Kevlar had met the man, he’d felt a connection with him and his team. They were legendary in SEAL circles; everyone knew their stats, how many missions they’d been on and the things they’d done.

But for Kevlar, what was most impressive was the closeness they had with their families and with each other. The men were teammates on the battlefield, but also in life. It was something that was extremely rare. Kevlar knew it, as did Wolf and the others. Anyone who messed with any of their wives or children found themselves face-to-face with seven pissed-off former Navy SEALs who wouldn’t hesitate to do whatever it took to mitigate any threat to their families.

Looking around the table at Aces Bar and Grill, Kevlar felt the same bond with the men on his team. He was team leader, a position he didn’t take lightly. He felt responsible for each and every one of the guys. Both when they were on missions and when they were at home. He’d always had what some would call an inflated sense of responsibility toward others.

Only one of his teammates had been in his BUD/S class. Brandon “Howler” Starrett was younger than him, as Kevlar had decided to go into the Navy only after failing out of college, then floundering for a few years, trying to figure out what he wanted to do. Howler had known since he was a kid that he wanted to be a SEAL. They’d kept each other going during Hell Week and beyond. Whenever they’d wanted to ring the bell, to just quit, they’d convinced each other to stick it out one more day.

And here they were. Serving on the same SEAL team together. Kevlar was proud of both himself and Howler for how far they’d come. It was an honor to be on the same team as his friend.

But the other men were just as important to Kevlar. Bo “Safe” Cyders, Jude “Smiley” Stark, Shawn “Preacher” Franklin, Ricardo “MacGyver” Douglas, and Wade “Flash” Gordon were more than mere teammates. They were family. And being family, that meant they rubbed each other the wrong way sometimes. It meant they picked on each other and never let a chance go by to pry into each other’s business.

Meeting up for drinks at Aces, he’d just told them about his decision not to cancel his trip to Hawaii, which he’d planned with his ex. They all knew about his break-up with his girlfriend of the last year, Bertie. They’d been supportive of his decision, but that wasn’t a surprise, since Kevlar was well aware none of his teammates really liked his ex. The relief he’d felt when she’d been the one to make the break made him realize just how wrong their relationship had been. He’d been holding on for reasons even he wasn’t really sure about. He should’ve had the balls to be the one to break up with her, but however it came about, it was a relief.

“I decided since I paid for the entire vacation, and the plane ticket is nonrefundable, I might as well go,” Kevlar told his friends.

“I think that’s awesome,” Flash told him.

“Me too. But what does Bertie think about it?” Preacher asked.

Kevlar gave him a look. “She’s not a fan.”

The other men all chuckled.

“You mean she pitched a royal fit,” MacGyver corrected.

“Pretty much,” Kevlar agreed.

“She was the one to break up with you, though,” Safe said. “So what does she have to bitch about?”

“I guess she thought I was going to be a gentleman or something and let her go with one of her girlfriends,” Kevlar said with a shrug.

“As if,” Smiley said under his breath.

“I mean, you could’ve let her,” Howler said nonchalantly as he took a swig of his beer. “We could’ve gone on that mission to Syria if you weren’t leaving.”

Kevlar wasn’t going to feel guilty about that. He’d been approved well in advance to take a week’s leave, so another SEAL team was being sent overseas on that mission. He was aware that Howler had really wanted to go, but he refused to feel bad about taking some downtime. It had been ages since he’d taken any kind of break. Hell, since any of them had taken leave. Their work/life balance was out of whack—a fact brought home to him even more after Bertie broke up with him because he was always gone.

It wasn’t a surprise. Kevlar had known of Bertie’s unhappiness with how often he was away and how little of his time she got. But she knew what she’d signed up for when she started dating a SEAL. And it hadn’t taken her long to move on, anyway. From what he’d heard through the gossip grapevine, she was already dating someone else. The accountant who did her taxes. He wouldn’t be surprised if she’d been cheating on him before they’d officially broken up.

He wasn’t upset over the idea. To say they’d grown apart was an understatement. The last four months had been anything but healthy. They fought all the time, and it hadn’t taken her long to show a part of her personality she’d kept hidden during the honeymoon phase of their relationship. Bertie hated it when she didn’t get her way. And not being able to go to Hawaii on the trip she’d planned—without any input from him, even though he’d been willing and eager to sit down and discuss what they should do while there—had royally pissed her off.

“Lay off the Syrian mission already, Howler,” Safe said. “Enjoy the break. Lord knows we deserve it.”

“Whatever, man,” Howler said.

“I know you’re not going to follow the itinerary Bertie set though, right?” MacGyver asked. “Last you mentioned, it involved lots of shopping and bus tours.”

Kevlar winced. “Yeah, no. Not my idea of a good time. Canceled nearly all of that crap. I’m mostly going to wing it. I’ll take the rental car and cruise around the island. Find some good hole-in-the-wall restaurants, go on some hikes, shit like that. But I’m definitely keeping that private scuba trip on the agenda. It was the only thing I was really looking forward to.”

“Right, because it’s the only input you had on the entire trip,” Preacher said with a scowl.

Kevlar nodded. It was true the dive was his only contribution to the planning. But he hadn’t told his friends about yet another fight it caused between him and Bertie. She didn’t want to book the semi-private tour. Said it would be boring, and she didn’t know how to scuba. He’d argued that she could snorkel while he went diving, but she still wasn’t happy. She’d stormed out of his apartment and hadn’t spoken to him for two days when he wouldn’t back down, insisting on doing just one thing he wanted to do while they were on vacation.

She’d finally given in and booked the outing, but Kevlar had the impression when it came time to get on the boat, she probably would’ve found something else to do, or claimed she was sick that day or something. Which didn’t bother him as much as it should have. It was just one more indication that their relationship didn’t work.

But he knew why he didn’t end it first—he was just as stubborn when it came to trying to keep a relationship going as he was with mission planning. Because the truth was, Kevlar wanted what Wolf and his other mentors had. A woman who loved him with every fiber of her being, and who he loved the same way. Some people would scoff and think he was being unrealistic. That as a Navy SEAL, he should know better than to crave a normal relationship. But he did.

“You still staying at that fancy-ass hotel she picked out?” Smiley asked.

Kevlar shook his head. “Naw. Downgraded. Don’t care much about where I stay as long as the sheets are clean. I’d rather spend my money on other things.”

Safe leaned forward, his elbows on the table and his brow furrowed. “She gonna continue to give you a hard time about this?”

That was what Kevlar liked about his friends. They could be annoying assholes, all up in his business, but when push came to shove, they cared.

His first inclination was to shake his head. To blow off Safe’s concerns, but he couldn’t. “Maybe.”

“What does that mean?” Howler asked. “Do we need to head to her place and make sure she knows to leave you the fuck alone?”

Kevlar looked at his friend, surprised to find he was serious. “No. First, I’d never threaten a woman, no matter how much of a bitch she was. And second, I can handle Bertie.”

“What’s she done so far?” Flash asked.

“Mostly just been annoying,” Kevlar admitted.

“Which means what?” Preacher asked. “Come on, man, if we’re gonna have your back, we need intel.”

“It just means she’s going to spend every minute before I actually board that plane to Hawaii trying to convince me to let her go instead. She doesn’t care that I paid for it; she thinks that since she planned everything, she should be the one to go.”

“Stay strong, dude,” Smiley told him.

“Planning on it.”

“Good.”

“So…what are you guys going to do on our week off?” Kevlar asked.

He wasn’t really surprised when no one had any concrete plans. MacGyver was going to visit his family up in Los Angeles over the weekend, but no one else had anything planned.

“I’ll probably hang out at The Golden Oyster,” Howler said.

“That bar’s a dive,” Flash said as he wrinkled his nose in disgust.

“Yeah, but they’ve got plenty of women looking to bag a SEAL.”

It was times like this when Kevlar felt as if he was decades older than his friend, instead of only seven years.

“You aren’t sick of that shit yet?” Preacher asked.

“Says the man with the nickname ‘Preacher’,” Howler teased.

“Seriously, that place is gross,” Smiley said.

But Howler merely shrugged. “If we can’t go kick some ass in Syria, might as well have some fun while we’re forced to take leave.”

Kevlar hated that his friend felt that way.

“Well, I, for one, am happy to sit on my ass,” Flash told them.

“Same,” Safe agreed.

“Me too,” Smiley said with a nod.

“Fuddy-duddies. You guys act like you’re seventy instead of in the prime of your lives,” Howler complained.

“I’m just sick of the meat market,” Safe said. “I’m not going to find the love of my life in a bar.”

“You don’t know that. Plenty of people have found their significant others in a bar,” Howler countered. “Hell, even Jess, the chick who owns this place, found her man here.”

“That’s different,” Safe argued.

“Is it?” Howler asked.

Kevlar couldn’t really argue with his friend. They all knew the story of how Jessyka was a waitress in this very bar when she’d befriended Benny and his friends, and the rest was history.

The bell over the front door tinkled and, as one, the seven men at the table turned their heads to see who’d just entered. It was built into their DNA. To be cautious, to know everything about their surroundings, just in case.

“He’s here again,” Howler said to no one in particular.

“He” was Blink Davis. A fellow SEAL who was on another team. Word on base said he was on convalescent leave—not by his own choice—after an especially gnarly mission had gone sideways. Three of his teammates had been killed, two others were still in the hospital with career-ending injuries. Blink had been the only one to come out of the clusterfuck of a mission unscathed physically.

Mentally, it was another story. Whatever happened on that mission had fucked with Blink’s head, and his commander decided he wasn’t yet fit to go back on active duty. Had forced him to take a mental health leave to get his head back in the game.

From what Kevlar could tell, Blink spent most of that leave time at Aces. He sat at the bar for hours on end, not talking to anyone, nursing a beer and staring straight ahead.

“Pathetic,” Howler muttered.

Kevlar shot him a glare. “Not cool,” he growled.

“He’s done, man. No way will he ever be able to get back on the teams. You can’t tell me that you’d want him on a team you were leading. Not with his mental state.”

“You don’t know what his mental state is,” Smiley countered. “You don’t know anything about him.”

“I know what I’ve heard. That when the shit hit the fan, he ran away from the bullets instead of toward them.”

“Who’d you hear that from?” Kevlar asked in a low voice. “Because that’s not what I heard at all. And I got my intel from his commander, not some little-girl gossip group in the bathrooms.”

“Whatever,” Howler said. He chugged the rest of his beer and slammed the glass on the table. Then he pushed back his chair and stood. “I’m going to The Golden Oyster. Anyone want to stop sitting around like an old man and come with me?”

When no one spoke, Howler rolled his eyes and headed for the door.

“I’m not paying for his beer,” Smiley said after a moment.

“Not it!” Flash agreed.

“I’ve got it,” Kevlar told his friends.

“He’s such an asshole sometimes,” Safe said with a shake of his head.

Kevlar didn’t disagree. But then again, they all had their asshole moments, and he didn’t hold it against Howler. He was a damn good SEAL and an asset to their team. He might not be the most tolerant of men, but when shit went down, he was a great person to have at their backs.

Kevlar watched as Blink settled himself at the bar. Jessyka headed over with a beer in her hand, setting it in front of him before leaning on the bar and speaking to him for a few seconds, then heading away to make a drink for another patron.

“When do you leave for Hawaii?” Smiley asked, turning Kevlar’s attention away from the lone SEAL at the bar.

“This weekend. Bertie bought business-class seats, so at least I can get some sleep on the plane.”

“Sweet. Good for you. I hope you have a great time. You deserve it, Kevlar,” Flash told him.

“Yeah, you work damn hard, and this is gonna be a great break for you,” Safe agreed.

“I hope so.”

“Just go with the flow and you’ll be fine. This isn’t a life-or-death mission, so enjoy it,” Smiley offered.

“You gonna try to see Baker while you’re there?” MacGyver asked.

“Yeah. Although now that he’s got himself a woman, not sure what kind of time he’ll have for me,” Kevlar said with a shrug.

“Knowing Baker, he’ll make time,” Preacher said.

Baker was a former SEAL who’d made his home on the North Shore of Oahu. He was older, but still highly involved with SEAL missions. Kevlar didn’t know all the details behind what he did for the government, but since he and his team had benefited more than once from the intel Baker provided, Kevlar didn’t care. Baker was almost as much a legend as Tex…another former SEAL who’d made it his life’s work to protect military men and women of all branches.

“Thank Baker for us,” Smiley said. “For Nigeria.”

Kevlar knew exactly what Smiley meant. That mission would’ve gone on twice as long as it had, if it wasn’t for the info Baker had provided. “Will do.”

“Well, this old man is going to call it a night,” MacGyver said.

“Same here,” Preacher agreed.

“I’ll call Howler later, make sure he made it home all right,” Safe said. “It’s my turn, and I’m sure you’ve got things to do to get ready for your trip, Kevlar.”

He did, and for once, Kevlar didn’t feel an ounce of guilt for not wanting to check on his friend after yet another night at the seedy pick-up bar. “Thanks, man.”

“No need to thank me,” Safe replied. “Howler’s an ass sometimes, but he’s still family.”

Warmth spread through Kevlar’s chest. He’d wanted a close-knit team like this from the first day he’d gotten his Budweiser pin, and was so grateful he had one.

“If Bertie gives you too much shit, let us know,” Flash said.

“And you’ll do what?” Kevlar questioned.

“Don’t know. But female or not, no one fucks with one of our own.”

That warm feeling grew. “Thanks. But I can handle her. She’s harmless.” Kevlar actually wasn’t certain of that last part, but his friends didn’t need to know that. With every day closer to his trip, his ex seemed to come more unglued. He didn’t know what her problem was; she broke up with him, after all. But she seemed excessively upset that he was going to Hawaii instead of giving her the tickets. The sooner he left, the better off he’d be. With her chances of going on this vacation officially dead, she’d stop her bitching and leave him alone. He hoped.

Everyone reached for their wallets and threw some bills on the table to cover their drinks, then headed for the door, waving at Jessyka on their way out.

Kevlar looked back before he exited the bar and his gaze landed on Blink. He was staring down into his glass as if it was the most fascinating thing he’d ever seen. He’d tried to talk to the other SEAL a few times in the last three weeks, but Blink always shut him down. Kevlar wouldn’t give up on him though; he was a damn good SEAL.

A bar wasn’t the time or place to try again, but soon, Kevlar was going to sit Blink down and have a chat, whether the man wanted to talk or not. Kevlar didn’t have it in him to let a fellow soldier suffer, so he was determined to make more of an effort.

Giving Jessyka a chin lift, Kevlar headed for the door. He needed to pack. For the first time since Bertie broke up with him, he was actually looking forward to the trip. It would be a good rest before he had to eventually head out on another mission.

Kevlar wasn’t expecting anything life-changing to happen in Hawaii. He was simply going on vacation. He’d get some sun, play in the water a little, eat some good food, then come home re-energized and ready to get back to his life.

No matter how much he might want to find someone like his mentor’s wife, he knew the odds of that happening were low as long as he was a SEAL. Too many nights away from home, too much danger and uncertainty. The sooner he came to terms with that, the better he’d feel.