Marked Man

MARCO

Watts is telling the others some story about me when I make it back to the table. I slow down to give her time to finish it because it was an epic moment in our early acquaintance. She’d bet me I couldn’t disarm an IED, offering herself as collateral. I remember the challenge like it was yesterday, including her words: “All clear, Sasquatch. You got this. Make me proud and I might make you lucky.”

Of course, once I did the job, she grinned and said, “I lied. I’m gay.” I was a little preoccupied trying to keep my breakfast down—and failing—for the information to register. To this day she gives me shit about how I was so distraught about the loss of access to her snatch that it made me puke my guts out.

Everyone breaks out laughing when she gets to the end. Then they see me, and she turns. Her eyes are bright, showing almost no sign of all the liquor she’s imbibed. But the effects are apparent in another way—her short, dark hair is a spiky mess like she used too much product and it’s taken on a life of its own. It’s cute as fuck, but the blood hasn’t sufficiently returned to my brain for me to make a crack about it.

“Sasquatch! Looks like you survived with everything intact, huh? Here, have another shot.” She pours another round and passes them out.

I sit and take my shot, raising it in a toast. “To new beginnings.”

She narrows her eyes at me when she lifts her shot glass to her mouth. “I hope I don’t need to kick your ass again,” she says, smacking her lips after spitting out the lime wedge. She has a wary look, no doubt her gears turning over what Katrina and I got up to. I don’t intend to illuminate her, but she seems to have drawn her own conclusions, and they aren’t that far off.

She seems to come to a decision then, rising and clinking the shot glass against the neck of the tequila bottle to get everyone’s attention. “I have an announcement to make. Since we’re all going our separate ways after tonight, I’ve decided to finalize my transfer. January’s announcement was a sign, and I just got the call.”

Macy’s eyes light up. “No fucking way, Sadie! You got invited to SOAS?”

“Shit, Rocket,” Jones says. “You’re wasting your time if you think they’re going to let you transfer. There aren’t enough EOD techs to go around. You think they’re going to spend all this money training us just to let it walk out the door?”

Macy rolls her eyes. “She wouldn’t be leaving the Navy, dick. I think it’d be badass if she became the first woman SEAL, don’t you? Sadie, if anyone can do it, you can. You’re my hero.”

“You’re my hero,” Jones parrots in a mocking tone, earning himself a solid, hard punch to the tit. Macy might be dolled up for the celebration, but she’s as tough as any of us.

Watts’ eyebrows shoot up. “Did I hero myself into your pants, Mace?”

Macy bats her eyelashes. “If you earn that trident, I might just do it. I’ve always wanted to fuck a SEAL.”

Hearn snickers, and Brett and Jones both perk up, looking between Macy and Watts expectantly. “You’d be my hero if you’d do it in front of us,” Brett says. When he catches my glare, he raises his hands. “Sorry, forget I said that. I guess Saint Marco over there is living up to his name as usual.”

Watts tosses a lime rind at him and it hits him on the nose. “You’re an idiot. What we’d do wouldn’t be for your entertainment. I wouldn’t ask you and Jones to make out for mine.” She stops and thinks about it. “Actually, that could be pretty hot. You guys go first.”

The two men shift away from one another, their chairs scraping across the floor. Sadie turns to look at me and Hearn. “What about you two? You game? C’mon, after kicking Santos’ ass at arm wrestling, I’m itching for another wager. I bet you two would enjoy kissing each other as much as I’d enjoy kissing Macy.”

“I’ve got a wager for you, Watts,” I say, sitting forward and ignoring her ploy for entertainment. “I bet if you make it through SOAS, you’ll wash out of BUD/S and come crawling back to EOD.”

“Oh, now that’s just mean,” Macy says, but Sadie smiles.

“You know I’m going to destroy that training. I’d kick all your asses if any of you were there with me.”

“Want to put money on it?” I challenge. I’m not usually the impulsive type, so I get a rush from the decision—this is how I can keep my promise to Katrina, because there’s no way Watts can say no to a wager.

“Okay,” she says, laughing. “I’ll bite. If you can make it to Coronado, it’s a bet, but I don’t want money.”

“What do you want?”

She gives me a wicked grin. “I want to watch you and Hearn make out.”

“I’d have to be there too for that to happen,” Hearn says. I toss him a glare for encouraging this insanity.

Watts crosses her arms. “Then let’s make it a double challenge. You guys were planning to transfer somewhere new anyway. Both of you apply. Wager starts if and when I see you in Coronado.”

***

We say our farewells in the parking lot a little later. Watts actually hugs me, which tops off a night of strange events.

“You act like this is the last time we’re going to see each other,” I say, giving her a squeeze. Her head barely reaches my chin, but she’s five feet of muscle powered by spit and vinegar. “I meant it when I made that bet. Not sure what the hell Jake’s thinking, though.”

“Are you guys really going to transfer? This isn’t really the kind of thing you do on a bet. It’s my life-long dream, but you’ve got a good thing going here. I’d understand if you want to back out.”

“You’re not the only one of us who dreamed of becoming a SEAL, Watts,” I tell her. “I guess I just needed a kick in the pants to give it a shot.”

“Well, I hope this isn’t the last time I see you,” she says, looking up at me. She steps back and shoves her hands in her pockets, giving me a once-over like she’s committing what she sees to memory. “Never change, Saint Marco.” Then she turns on her heel with a salute and heads back inside where Katrina’s waiting for her.

Jake’s waiting with his arms draped on the roof of his Jeep. He has a place in Destin, so I’m crashing with him tonight before hopping on a plane to fly home to LA tomorrow. Everyone else has already dispersed. It’s bittersweet saying goodbye, but also not a coincidence that we all felt ready to make career changes at the same time. The unspoken reason was on everyone’s minds tonight. Our CO is retiring, and his likely replacement isn’t someone we can stomach taking orders from. The new guy has a reputation for hot-headed recklessness. Life is too short, and we didn’t want to make ours any shorter or more complicated. Our current CO agreed that he’d hold all our transfer paperwork until we made our decisions on where we wanted to go.

“So is this shit actually happening?” Jake asks when I reach the Jeep.

“It’s now or never. I think Rocket was right when she said she was done just getting called to support the SEALs on ops. I want to be part of the Teams as much as she does.” He lifts an eyebrow, and I chuckle. “Well, maybe not as much as she does. Nobody wants it more than her.”

“We calling Franklin to give him the news tomorrow?”

“I take it this means you’re in?”

“Hell yeah. You know I’m not about to let you two have all the fun,” Jake says with a smirk.

I climb in and fasten my seatbelt as he starts the engine. “You know she’s going to make it, right? Which means she’ll call in her bet.”

Jake shrugs. “If the prospect of seeing us make out keeps her going, I’m good with that. She’ll have earned it. I do think it calls her sexuality into question if she gets off on it, though.”

“You’re not worried about yours?”

“Nah. I mean, you’re good-looking and all, and you have good dental hygiene. The way I see it, it’s for a good cause. If we enjoy it more than we expect? Well, I guess we’ll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it.” He gives me a wicked grin, suggesting he’d enjoy the mind-fuck more than anything.

“Jesus, between you and Watts, I’m not sure how I’ve stayed sane these past five years.”

“She’s only been with us for three,” he reminds me.

I shake my head, grabbing his oh-shit handle as he takes a corner at a less than safe speed. If I didn’t know he was sober, I’d worry, but he’s just a crazy-ass driver.

“Shit, you’re right. Sometimes it’s easy to forget she hasn’t been with us the entire time.”

“And we must be gluttons for punishment if we’re willingly following her down this path. I mean, we survived five fucking years in EOD. What sane person submits to another eighteen goddamn months of hellish training to become a SEAL after that?”

He has a point, but after everything our team has been through, I can’t bring myself to break us up entirely, and I get the feeling Jake’s on the same page.

I just hope we don’t come to regret this decision.