Page 5 of Loving a Warrior

Matt winced. Oh, crap.

“By the way, anyone ever tell you you look like a fuckin’ Ken doll?”

“No, Chief.” Shane’s voice rang out loud and clear. “Because I don’t look like a Ken doll.”

Matt looked down at the ground. Just shut up, idiot. Or you’re gonna catch it.

Toshi propped his hands on his hips. “So tell me, Ken, how’d you know ‘attention to detail’ was the answer I was looking for?”

“The Marines, Chief.” Shane drew in a deep breath. “Second Battalion, First Marines. Best unit on the planet.”

“Is that so?” Toshi made a big show of looking around, like he was surprised to see where they were. “Well, you know you ain’t a Marine anymore, right, son? You’re in the Navy now!”

For some reason the Village People’s song “In the Navy” popped into Matt’s head, and he dug his fingernails into his palms, trying not to break into nervous laughter.

“Once a Marine, always a Marine,” Shane shouted defiantly. “Semper Fi!”

At that, a murmur ran through the group. Although Marines were technically part of the Department of the Navy, the rivalry between the two branches was intense.

Toshi’s voice dropped to a growl. “Do you know what ‘Marine’ stands for, Ken?”

Wisely, no response from Shane.

“Let me tell you what it means: Muscles Are Required, Intelligence Not Essential.” Toshi paused, then said softly, “A fact which I think you’ve just demonstrated firsthand to all your classmates. Instructor Salazar!”

“Hooyah, Chief!”

“A little remediation for the smart-ass Marine here, please.”

Immediately Shane was hustled to the front of the group by two shouting instructors. “Get over here! Double-time! Move it out!”

Dead silence on the grinder as Shane was dropped for push-ups, sit-ups and leg lifts. They made him do bear crawls, combat crawls, jumping jacks, on and on and on, no breaks in between sets.

Eventually the instructors got bored watching him suffer and resumed the uniform inspection.

“That guy is an idiot,” the trainee next to Matt hissed under his breath. “Runnin’ his mouth instead of keeping his head down. Just look at him!”

Matt glanced over to see Shane on his hands and knees, vomiting, but then he went right into the next set of push-ups, carefully keeping his face out of the mess.

The guy on Matt’s other side snorted. “Seriously. That dude’s a poster boy for dumb blonds. Got any jokes?”

Everybody snickered, but Matt couldn’t keep his eyes off Shane. Damn, he’d really fucked up, talking back to an instructor like that. If he was that impulsive and quick to anger, those were not good qualities in a SEAL.

Well, you wanted him to wash out, right? Just didn’t think he’d do it in the first five minutes.

He snapped to attention as Toshi stopped in front of him with his clipboard. To his relief Matt passed his inspection with flying colors, and he was sent to stand against the wall with the few others who’d passed. The majority of the class, though, waited miserably on the other edge of the grinder for their own remediation to start.

The instructors gathered not far from where Matt was standing. “Hey, Sally, how’s our precious supermodel doing?” Toshi called out.

Salazar trotted over. “Puking again. Wanna get him up?”

“Yeah. Get him up, get him hydrated.” Toshi shook his head. “Gotta admire his grit.”

“He hasn’t complained once. I’m impressed.”

Shane was ordered to his feet, sweaty, disheveled, blood coating his abraded palms and dripping off the ends of his fingers. He swayed a little, although his face was calm, impassive, as if he’d just been awakened from a relaxing nap.

“Go hydrate.” Salazar pointed to a pallet of water bottles not far from where Matt was standing.