Page 8 of Carnal

He looked toward the ocean. “My scar.”

I gritted my teeth. I’d seen the scar on Mitch’s crotch a thousand times, it wasn’t like our occupation offered much in the way of personal privacy. “Yeah. What about it? I thought you didn’t fuck her? How did she see it?”

“Relax, asshole. I already told you I didn’t. I pulled my dick out at the club and she freaked. She thought I raped her years ago.”

What the— “At that party? Why would she think that? We were in Yuma.”

“Because.” He raked his hands through his hair and took a deep breath. I wanted to wrap my hands around his throat and squeeze the information out of him. “I was there that night. I was the one who found her. Sorry, man, I never told you.”

My blood incinerated through my veins. “You fucking knew she was raped and never told me? Start talking, Mitch, start talking right fucking now.” I didn’t know when I had closed the distance between us, or when I had twisted my fist into the front of his shirt, but I had, and he smacked my hand away.

“You were being transferred to the hospital. April and I were fighting, which wasn’t anything out of the normal, and she was taunting me about some guy who wanted her at the party. I was so fucking pissed about her partying with some guy while our kids were with a sitter that I drove out there and went into the frat house to find April. When I opened one of the doors, I saw this girl passed out with some guy standing over her. He saw me and bolted, but I didn’t get a look at anything other than his freaking hood. I was going to run after his ass, but I wanted to make sure the girl was okay. That was when I realized it was Mia.”

I pointed my finger in his face. “Then why the fuck did she think you raped her? I swear to God if you touched her, I’m going to stuff your balls down your throat.”

“I swear to God I never touched her. When she woke up, I was the only one there. It was dark, I don’t think she could even see my face. She plunged her fucking heel into my groin.”

My hands shook. “Are you fucking kidding me? We’re brothers! How could you keep something like that from me?”

His voice cracked. “I never said nothing because you were all fucked up and recovering, and then you guys broke up anyway. So, I figured it didn’t matter.”

“Didn’t matter? It completely fucking mattered. Did you know that was why she left me? That she was pregnant and didn’t know who the father was? Did you fucking know!” I shouted at him.

“No, I didn’t know. Grant, if I had known, I would have helped you track her down myself. Come on, you know that.”

I did know that. Mitch may have been a dick most of the time, but he followed the damn code. I took a deep breath and tried to focus past my anger. “You don’t remember anything about the guy? Height, weight, build, anything?”

“Nah, man. I mean he was a bit taller than me, ran out fast as fuck covering his face. Probably an athlete. It was a fucking frat house.”

Who else was at the party? April? Dara? Someone had to have seen him.

“Did you find April? Did she see anything?”

“No, that’s the thing. She wasn’t there. She was home by the time I stumbled in after I had Shane clean me up back on base and give me stitches. She said some guy gave her a ride. I bet. Fucking Jody.”

“Some friend. She just left Mia there that night? Drugged? Did you even tell her what happened to Mia?”

“No, of course not. April and I were barely speaking, and I didn’t want her to think I’d raped Mia. It was just so fucked up. I wanted to tell you, but you would’ve killed me. I told Joaquín, and he agreed with me that I shouldn’t tell you.”

Joaquín knew? A raw gnawing feeling grew in my throat. Who else knew? “You fucking told Joaquín and not me? I was her man.”

“Yeah, her man who was laid up in a damn hospital bed almost dead. He is her brother; I figured he would take care of her while you couldn’t. Like I said, by the time I figured you should know, she was gone. I didn’t feel like shoving more salt in the wound.”

“You’re a fucking cocksucker.” I turned around and started my jog back toward base. I knew he had a point, but I couldn’t see past myself right now. I had to find April and Dara. Talk to them and find out who else was at the party. Maybe they saw someone and just didn’t tell Mitch.

Mitch caught up to me, refusing to shut the fuck up. “This is exactly why I didn’t tell you. It wasn’t my story to tell, and I didn’t know she was pregnant until the other night. I just thought she left you. Joaquín said—”

“Fuck Joaquín. This wasn’t about him. She’s his sister not his woman. She was mine! You saw me drinking myself into oblivion at The Pickled Frog night after night.”

“I’m not a damn mind reader, Grant. I did what I thought was best. How was I supposed to know it wasn’t the same old song and dance, huh? There is a reason SEALs have a ninety percent divorce rate. I finally accepted that and let April go. I’ll never see my kids. Some other man will raise them, and there is nothing I can fucking do about it. It fucking kills me. The Teams own us. We’re deployed nine months out of the year, and even when we’re home, we’re training. You were stupid enough back then to think you could have a wife and kids while on the Team, but that was never going to happen . . . it never happens.”

“Fuck you, man.” It was another fucking thing he was right about. Either Mitch was turning into the rational one of the group or I needed to pull my head out of my ass. After Mia had left me in the hospital, she cut off all contact with me. If I had known what happened . . . if she had told me the truth back then, I would have gone after her. I would have found out she was pregnant and married her, regardless of that whether that baby was mine. But what then? Would we have ended up just like Mitch and April or any one of the other countless couples that the SEALs drove apart? Maybe. In a twisted way, I understood why Mitch never told me. Joaquín should have said something, though, and that was unforgivable.

“What are you going to do about Mia?” Mitch asked, daring to break the pregnant silence between us. “I mean, I know we’ve stayed out of his case on orders of the command, but we owe it to her to at least try to figure out what the fuck happened to Tiffany.”

“I’m going to do what I can to find out what happened, but fuck her. She’s been using me and fucking around with you. Once this is all said and done, I’m done with her too.” I said the words, but I knew I didn’t believe them. I still hadn’t considered what the fuck was going on with Julián or what she knew about him. If she didn’t know her son could possibly be alive, and if that little boy was mine . . . the possibilities were endless.

“I don’t understand what she expects us to do. It’s not as if we are cops. We can’t just go walking into the station and demand to see the case files.”