Page 34 of Keeping a Warrior

The guy glanced at Devon. “Yeah.”

“Did you say anything to her?”

“Nah.” The instructor shook his head. “She recovered each time, within a few seconds. She’s fine.”

“But we’re jumping combat loads today. She—”

The instructor slashed his hand impatiently. “She’s fine, Halloran. If you wanna look like you’re singling out the woman on the team for criticism, go right ahead. Not me.”

Aghast, Rhys could only stand there helplessly as the instructor strode away.

Singling out the woman for criticism? How about correcting a student who was doing something that could get her killed?

Rhys cast another troubled look over at Devon. The instructor was right, though. She’d always recovered within a few seconds, and her time under canopy and her landings were pitch-perfect. If he approached her with his concerns, would she think he was mansplaining to her, picking on her?

She’s just starting to trust me...

He smiled to himself at the memory of the night before. Their easy, relaxed silliness, their conversation. Even though he still felt stupid about the oversharing, he thought Devon had the potential to turn into a really good friend, and the last thing Rhys wanted to do was fuck that up.

He debated with himself for another minute. He’d seen with his own eyes that Devon could handle the jumps. Her body position was good overall, and a simple reminder to watch it on exit was probably all she needed anyway. Rhys would find a way to slip that reminder in while they were on the plane.

“Hey, Devon!” he called out to her. “You good?”

She shot him an enthusiastic, confident thumbs-up, her smile bright. “I’m great! See ya on the ground!”

Relieved, Rhys shoved the last of his misgivings away.

Oh, my God, this sucks.

Devon shuffled on board the C-130, bent almost double by the weight of the pack strapped to her front. She lowered herself awkwardly onto one of the webbed seats lining the cabin of the aircraft, her legs shaking from the effort.

Matt dropped down next to her, puffing a little himself. In addition to his own gear, as the FNG he was humping all the shit the more senior guys didn’t want to take—such as the sledgehammer and the collapsible ladder.

“You okay?” she murmured to him.

“I will be, as soon as the jump’s over and I can get this crap off me. How about you?”

In truth Devon was nervous. She felt really unstable in all the gear, and she was worried about her exit. During the static line jump the day before, she’d had a hard time stabilizing herself. She desperately wanted to ask someone about it, but she didn’t want the guys to think she was weak or incompetent.

And if it was a big deal, the instructor would’ve said something to me, right?

So she flashed Matt a smile and a cheery thumbs-up, dropping her hand to her lap when she realized he wasn’t even looking at her. Instead he was staring at Shane, who had his head tilted back against the hard steel wall of the plane, his eyes closed.

“Is he asleep?” Devon asked incredulously. It was stifling hot as they sat unmoving on the tarmac, and how could anyone carrying all this shit strapped to them even think about sleeping?

Matt shook his head. “No, he’s probably praying.”

“Praying...?” Not sure if Matt was fucking with her or not, Devon ventured, “Is he religious or something?”

“Nah, he’s scared out of his mind.” Matt wore a smirk on his face but his tone sounded worried. “Shane is afraid of heights.” He muttered something that sounded like, “Three-foot-world time, clown,” but just then the engines started revving up.

“Oh, shit, here we go.”

With the ramp door closed, the cabin was pitch dark except for some red lights lining the ceiling. As they lumbered down the runway, Devon fought back a wave of nausea.

You will not puke on your teammates’ boots. You will not puke on your teammates’ boots.

Her pack was digging into her breasts, flattening them painfully, so Devon hunched forward to try to rest some of the weight on her lap. All that accomplished was to put even more of a strain on her neck and shoulders, so she sat back and grit her teeth.