Hudson swung around, fired three rounds center mass. The target went down.
"Got it."
"You seem distracted,hermano."
"I'm fine. Keep moving."
When they finished thirty seconds after Shaw and Pine, Hudson caught Shaw turning back to Pine and say something that made her laugh.
Jealousy shot through him. Hudson Hale, jealous of a laugh. This was new.
She was one of three women here, tall and lean, with the kind of confidence that made her look like she ownedwhatever room she walked into. Beautiful too. Hudson had to remind himself that Shaw was gay, and Pine wasn’t competition. At least not in that sense.
In the afternoon they had equipment maintenance. Cleaning weapons, checking gear, all the tedious shit that came with being in the military. Hudson was halfway through disassembling his rifle when Reed dropped onto the bench beside him.
"Fernandez talk your ear off out there?" he asked, grinning.
"Every single second." Hudson set down his bolt carrier. "I thought about shooting him just to make it stop."
Reed laughed. "Novak spent the entire time explaining cryptocurrency. I still have no fucking idea what he was talking about."
“At least Novak can shoot straight while he's talking.”
Reed picked up a rag and started cleaning his already spotless rifle. “Feels like yesterday we were freezing our asses off on night watch."
"And now we’re six days away from scattering all over. Hell of a program." Hudson set down his rifle and reached for the oil.
Reed went quiet. "I'm gonna miss you, man."
It took Hudson by surprise. Reed wasn't usually the sentimental type. "Yeah. Me too," he said genuinely.
"North Carolina's notthatfar from Washington. You should visit sometime. Check out Fort Liberty."
"How about you come to Washington instead? Mountains, rain, rugged coastline. All the good stuff."
“No Shaw in Washington though.”
Hudson shot him a look. “Subtle."
"Come on. You two are obviously still…” His mouth curved up. “And that's fine. But six days, man. Then what?"
"Then nothing."
"Okay." His tone shifted slightly, less teasing. "But what if?—"
"No." Hudson threw down his rag harder than necessary. "It ends when Selection ends. That was always the deal."
"Right." Reed nodded slowly. "Just seems like maybe the deal changed somewhere along the way."
"It didn't."
Hudson knew how this worked. You checked in, you told yourself it was casual, and then one day you realized you’d been waiting for someone who had a whole life that didn’t have room for you in it. He’d watched his mom do that for years, making excuses for a man who’d walked out on a Tuesday morning and never looked back. Hudson wasn’t doing that. He wasn’t waiting on anyone.
"You could keep in touch, though. That wouldn't be weird," Reed said.
"What’s the point?" Hudson pressed his tongue to the roof of his mouth. "He's going east. I'm going west. That's it."
Hudson could feel the weight of whatever Reed wasn't saying.
