AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What do you mean, someone like me?”
Austin took a bite of his omelet, letting my question hang in the air. His face was more relaxed than before. “It’s an intensely demanding training regiment and takes a lot of time. I used to compete before the Navy.”
I nodded. I knew all that.
“But why would you do all that at, what, forty-eight? Seems extreme.”
“Not really,” I lied. “It’s a great way to burn off stress, and that was a particularly challenging phase of my life. I’d just started a new franchised professional football team and my family needed me to,” I trailed off, hoping he’d let it go. He had his own issues with his own family.
But when his eyes focused on me, and the scowl returned, I knew another difficult question was on the tip of his tongue. And I had an idea of what it was going to be.
“Tell me about your wife.”
No question.
A statement.
And one that seemed to be as painful for him to ask as it was for me to answer. If he’d punched me in the stomach, it would have hurt less.
“Why do you want to know about that?” I asked timidly. I stirred my berries into the yogurt, my appetite suddenly vanishing.
“It seems like something I’d know about as your boyfriend.” He lifted his fingers to put air quotes around the word boyfriend. “That seems like the logical place to start. You weren’t married when we were in Chicago. Seems you waited what, six months after I left for the Navy? You want us to be prepared, right?”
He put his fork down and stared into my eyes. Was I ready to tell him everything?
My gaze fell to the table as I picked up my orange juice. I drank it slowly, hoping to buy some time. I wasn’t ashamed of my marriage. I was ashamed of what happened while I was married.
“Greer,” Austin called. “Tell me about your wife.”
CHAPTER 8
AUSTIN
Something was wrong with me. I couldn’t believe I’d asked him about his marriage. Not once, but twice.
As we ate in silence, I struggled with my lack of self-control where Greer was concerned. One minute I told him I didn’t want to discuss our past, then I turned around and demanded he tell me everything I asked.
My blinding rage back then had been hard to contain when Carter told me Greer had gotten married. The ache that ran through me had almost gutted me to my core. I’d never punched the bag so hard or ran as much as I did. And when BUDs training opened up, I went for it. I channeled every bit of hurt, embarrassment, and rage into becoming the best mother-fucking SEAL ever to serve.
I’d exhausted myself to that extent, so I didn’t have it in me to think about Greer. Pushing thoughts of him away became my focus. It became the religion I practiced. And if I hadn’t met GQ, Dreamboat, and Phantom, I might have lost my mind. Or worse.
If there was a dangerous mission, I wanted it. I was the first one out the door. But that little bit of the unhinged part of my personality kept me from being promoted to captain of my team.
And for good reason.
GQ was more levelheaded, even though he had his own secrets. We bonded over those secrets we held and confided almost everything in one another. And when his boyfriend Nate died in his arms on a mission, Phantom and Dreamboat held the four of us together until we could leave the military.
Losing a teammate made it even more difficult to heal from losing Greer too. Not that I’d ever had him. His rejection hurt me more after Nate’s death than it had before. It finally sank in that I hadn’t been worth the trouble to him.
And now I sat here on this plane with no escape, waiting for him to tell me about the woman he chose over me.
“This is not the time to tell you about Sabrina.”
I shook my head. “Why is that?”
He ran a hand over his beard as he looked out the window. “Trust works both ways, Austin. I’m not telling you about that until you allow me to apologize. You don’t know everything that went on.”
“Here’s the thing. What happened between us has no bearing on any ruse you may want to pull on your sister. But me knowing about your past would.”
