“You heard from Steff?” Fox asked as he ran beside him. His friend had called him the day after the party to check in and see if he was okay. Jag had given him a brief rundown of what had happened.
“No, not sure I will.” He kept his gaze on the horizon; he found that was the only way he could deal with running. It was his least favorite part of their PT workout. Others hated the beach exercises, but those were mind numbing for him.
“Why do you say that?”
Jag shrugged. “Would you want to be around a constant reminder of the worst part of your life? That’s what we represent. We’d seen her at her lowest point. I don’t think she blames Teresa for what happened, but they used to work together, and it was while she was on a job that she was taken.”
He wasn’t telling Fox anything his friend didn’t already know.
“Maybe.”
“What are you two gabbing about?” Deal ran backwards toward them. While he and Fox had been talking, the others had raced ahead of them.
“How ugly your face is,” Jag quipped.
“You wish you looked like me.” Deal flexed, and Jag kicked some sand in his direction.
“Are we having a party?” Hound had slowed down, so they were all running together.
“Nah, Jag and Fox were having a ‘girl’ talk.” Like Jag had done at Teresa’s place when talking about the cake, Deal used his fingers as quotation marks.
“Fuck off,” Fox said.
By now they’d reached their marker where they always stopped, and Jag bent over, resting his hands against his knees as he sucked in some air.
“Were you talking about Steff?” Hound touched his toes a couple of times.
Jag stiffened at his friend’s question. Was Hound interested in Steff? It wasn’t as though he had any claim over the woman, but the thought of Hound and Steff as an item had his stomach churning, and he was worried the bowl of muesli he’d eaten before hitting the beach was going to make a repeat performance. “Why do you want to know?” Jag managed to get the words out in a casual way, at least he hoped he had.
“You just answered my question.” Hound winked, and Jag saw the trap he’d fallen into. He hadn’t been as casual as he’d been hoping.
“You did spend most of the evening with her,” Deal said. “You followed her home, right?”
“I did. What of it?” Jag had an inkling of what his friend was getting at, but he’d learned to never make assumptions of what people were thinking.
“You know where she lives. I’m assuming you’ve got her number, why don’t you reach out to her? I mean, the worst she could do is turn you down, which, if she was smart, she should do.” Deal weaved back to avoid Jag’s swipe at him.
“Enough.” Fox used his team leader voice, which once would’ve had them all stop fooling around during PT, but because they were no longer in the Navy, they continued with their ribbing.
“I don’t know, Deal. If I was into guys, I’d date Jag, Fox, and then you,” Hound teased.
Deal clutched his chest. “You wound me, man. I thought you were my friend. I’d date you before Jag or Fox.”
“I wouldn’t date any of you,” Jag said.
They all laughed, and Jag was, once again, grateful that he was still able to work with three of his good friends. There were some of his fellow SEALs, who once they chaptered out, got a little lost and didn’t keep in touch with the guys who’d had their backs. The brotherhood was strong in some, but in others, it hurt too much because of the memories it brought back of the hard times. The times when one of them hadn’t come home.
He and the others had lost a fellow SEAL early in their careers. It had been the hardest thing they’d ever done, punching their trident pins into his coffin. But it had also steeled their resolve to always have each other’s backs and always come home together. It was their way of honoring their friend, whose last words were exactly that.
“Seriously though, when you were around Steff, she seemed calmer than she had been when she first arrived.” Deal looked him in the eye. “I think you calm her.”
Jag wanted to believe he did. Wanted to believe that he helped Steff, but he was still a little reluctant to pursue something with her. Not because he didn’t want to, but because of how they first met. “Yeah, maybe.”
“Call her,” Hound encouraged. “As Deal said, the worst outcome would be her saying no. The best outcome would be her saying yes. You won’t know unless you try.”
His friends were right. He had nothing to lose by picking up the phone. “I’ll call her later today. Or tonight when I get home.”
It looked as though Deal was about to tease him a bit more, but he snapped his mouth shut. No doubt one of the others had given him a look to tell him to be quiet.
