Chapter Six

 

 

“You shoot me with that thing, you better be able to outrun me.”

Kai smirked at Freeman’s stark warning and stroked a hand over the barrel of his modified eight-chamber Nerf gun. She was fully loaded, and ready to play. Since their long day of conducting maritime operation training was done, Kai was ready to play too.

And his trigger finger was damn itchy.

“Why so serious, brah? Not butt hurt about being shown up in the water by a Marine, are you?”

The team point man stopped in the middle of peeling off his wetsuit to shoot him a hard look. “In your dreams, jarhead. I’m twice as fast as you on any given day. Everyone knows this except you.” Freeman was a former decorated SEAL. Whenever they assaulted a target, he was the first one through the door. Everybody on the team admired his skill as an operator and his steadiness under pressure, including Kai.

That didn’t mean he got a free pass on the smack talk Kai loved delivering to each and every one of his teammates, however.

Kai raised an eyebrow, anticipation spreading inside him. They had a long-standing friendly rivalry about this. Maybe it was time to settle this for good. “Oh, it’s like that, huh?”

“Yeah, it’s like that.”

He glanced at Prentiss and Khan, who were both getting out of their own wetsuits across the team room, and grinned. Of all the guys he was closest to them, but got along well with everyone on the team. “All right,” he said to Freeman. “Let’s put that to the test, so we can settle this once and for all. Like men.”

Freeman eyed him, a glint of interest in his dark brown eyes. “I’m listening.”

“You and me hit the beach outside right now. There’s a three-quarter-mile stretch between the officer’s housing and the northeast shore we used to swim all the time, back when I was stationed here in the Corps. First one to make it to the other side is king of the water. Rest of the team will stand witness. You game?”

Freeman stripped the wetsuit off his legs, leaving him in just a pair of swim trunks, his gaze locked on Kai. “Yeah, I’m game. Let’s go.” He twisted to the side to hang the wetsuit up to dry.

Kai seized upon the juicy opportunity, raising his weapon and squeezing the trigger. But instead of firing one foam dart, his personal modifications turned the single-shot weapon into a fully automatic one.

Freeman bellowed and threw up his hands as dart after dart pelted him in the back of the head. Laughing, Kai dropped his weapon, got up and ran barefoot out of the room while laughter and shouts of encouragement followed him out into the hall.

Hamilton stopped in the middle of the hallway when he saw Kai barreling toward him and stepped aside, raising his eyebrows. “What’d you do now, Maka?”

“Just gettin’ my boy motivated,” Kai called back as he streaked past his team leader, sprinting for the exit at the far end of the hall. A delighted laugh burst out of him when the team room door exploded open behind him, followed by pounding footsteps in the hall.

“You really did it this time, Maka,” Granger called out behind him, his voice full of glee. “Freeman’s riled up.”

“Good, he’s gonna need it if he wants a prayer at staving off total humiliation,” Kai called back. He glanced over his shoulder as he neared the door, hooted when he saw Freeman bearing down on him, his face a mask of raw determination, their seven other teammates hot on his heels.

Awesome.

He slammed down on the metal release bar and plunged outside into the warm, tropical sunshine. The salty scent of the ocean hit him, along with the muted roar of the waves curling against the beach up ahead.

His smile widened. God, he’d missed the islands. And in just a couple days he’d be home in Maui. Hopefully with Abby. He couldn’t stop thinking about her, about what they could have together if she was willing to put caution aside and step outside the friend zone with him.

Kai reached the edge of the beach. The feel of the hot sand under his feet was bliss, triggering a thousand memories of him and his cousin Hani spending time at the beach when they were kids. Bittersweet memories now. They were different people now than back then, because they had chosen two completely opposite paths.

“You’re getting’ slow, big man,” Freeman shouted. “You forget, I was a star wide receiver in college.”

The voice was way closer than Kai expected it to be. He risked a glance behind him, eyes widening when he saw Freeman fifteen yards away and closing. Kai was fast, but the bastard was faster, his smaller frame an advantage moving over the sand.

Kai ran into the water. Two steps into the surf, calf deep, a heavy weight hit him in the middle of the back and took him down. They hit the water with a huge splash, Freeman on top. Kai rolled, pushed free and surfaced with a laugh just as Freeman popped up too, his grin bright white against his deep brown skin. “Gotcha,” he taunted, giving Kai a smug grin.

“You’re fast, I’ll give you that. On land,” Kai added, wiping the water from his face. “But water’s what separates the boys from the men.”

Freeman nodded, dark brown eyes sparkling with glee. “True. Let’s do this.”

Enjoying himself immensely, Kai stood and walked back to the edge of the surf. Four of the guys were already there.

“Khan, Granger and Prentiss all headed over to the finish line,” Hamilton said, standing on the beach like he owned it, arms folded across his chest. Colebrook and Rodriguez stood on either side of him, both with their phones at the ready, waiting to record the race. Lockhart’s eyes were hidden beneath his shades, a big grin on the former sniper’s face.

Kai twisted around to see the other three running along the beach to get to the spot that marked the end of the race route. He used arm signals to move them into position, then gave them a raised fist to tell them to stop. “There,” he said to Freeman, lining up beside the other man on the strip of wet sand that marked the edge of the water. “From here to there’s three-quarters of a mile.”

Freeman’s gaze was fixed on the end point. “Less talking. More action.”

Kai smothered a laugh. “Okay. Cap, you count it down,” he said to Hamilton.

“All right. I want a nice, clean swim,” Hamilton instructed. “No choking or drowning your opponent. No wedgies or pantsing. And definitely no biting or hair pulling.” The others chuckled.

“Well that’s no fun,” Kai muttered under his breath. He leaned forward slightly, eyes on the finish line, his muscles tensed, ready to go. Before them lay a quarter mile of rolling ocean, and a bitch of a rip current that would try to pull them out to sea. It was one of the reasons his instructors had loved using this stretch, to tire them out.

“Three,” Hamilton called out in a deep, authoritative voice. “Two. One…Go.”

Kai took four running steps into the water, then dove headfirst into an oncoming wave.

The moment the water closed over his head, it was like coming home. The cool water surrounded him, hugged him as he knifed through it.

He kicked hard, feeling the pull of the rip against his body, and came up for air. Stretched out full length at the surface on his belly, he angled his head to take a breath, and began a punishing front crawl stroke. The water deepened, the sand changing to reef before it dropped away.

Waves broke over him. His muscles began to burn a couple minutes in. He savored it, pushed his body to go faster. Harder.

The next time he surfaced he glimpsed Freeman a few yards off to the right, trailing by a body length. The former SEAL was amazing in the water, but he hadn’t grown up in it like Kai had, and here, Kai’s large size wasn’t an impediment. He propelled himself through the water, shut his mind down and focused on the rhythm of his arms and legs.

Beneath him, the water shallowed as reef appeared again. The muscles in his shoulders and legs were burning like fire, his lungs laboring. But he was almost there, and damned if he would lose to a SEAL here in his element.

Using the last of his energy reserves, Kai shut out the physical discomfort and put on a final burst of speed. The coral gave way to sand. When the water was chest deep, he surged to his feet. Freeman was a few yards back, but it was gonna be close.

Panting, he forced his tired legs to push him the last few yards to the beach where all seven of his remaining teammates were waiting. They were all yelling, some cheering and some trash talking, several recording everything with their phones.

Kai splashed through the water and onto the wet sand, running for the line someone had drawn in it. Splashing footsteps signaled that Freeman was right behind him. And the former SEAL moved way faster here than Kai ever could.

With a final lunge, Kai crossed the line a full second before Freeman did.

Yes!

He doubled over, resting his palms on his thighs as he dragged in gulp after gulp of air.

“Just want you to know, my money was on you all along, big man,” Khan said, scrubbing a hand over Kai’s wet hair affectionately.

“He’s totally lying,” Prentiss said, tossing Kai a towel.

“Whatever, you owe me five bucks,” Khan shot back.

Kai snorted a laugh but couldn’t answer, too busy trying to get his breath back. Made him feel better to see Freeman sucking wind as well.

“That was epic,” Granger said, grinning as he looked at his phone. “Got it all right here on video, too.”

Kai swung his head around to look at Freeman. “For the record, nobody’s ever come that close to beating me.”

Freeman narrowed his deep brown eyes. “Don’t try to make me feel better.” He heaved a breath and straightened. “That rip was a bitch, man.”

Kai grinned. “She always is.” Crossing to Freeman, he clapped a friendly hand on his buddy’s back, then held it out. “Good race.”

Freeman clasped it. Hard. “Yeah. And for the record, I’ve never seen anyone your size as good as you in the water.”

“Oh, God,” Rodriguez moaned. “Now Maka thinks he’s the king of the ocean and lip-syncing.”

Everyone laughed, then Hamilton clapped him on the back. “Guess that means the beer’s on you tonight.”

Kai grinned, took the shirt Khan held out for him. “Yeah. Guess it does.”

“Here. Brought your phone, too,” his friend said. “I recorded it for you. And you got a text when you were about halfway across.”

“Thanks.” Kai took it, and when he saw Abby’s message, he smiled, excitement flooding him.

Guess who’s coming to Maui in three days?

He was thrilled at the prospect of getting to see her, spend time with her, but even more so that she’d reached out to tell him. He’d been worried that he’d scared her off, that he’d come on too strong, because after the other night, she’d pulled back. Or seemed to have. Only texting him back in response to something, rather than reaching out to him first. Texting instead of answering his calls.

He could never regret that kiss, though. So many times over the past week he’d replayed it over and over again in his mind, recalling every little detail. The look on her face when he’d picked her up and pinned her to the wall, the feel of him against her.

How soft her heavy-lidded eyes had been as she’d gazed up at him after, her porcelain cheeks flushed and her lips pink and shiny.

“Whatever you’re thinking about right now, I don’t wanna know,” Freeman muttered beside him.

“Hot date with your former neighbor?” Khan asked, a knowing glint in his eye. Both he and Prentiss knew how bad things had been with Shelley.

“Nah,” Kai said, downplaying her importance and his eagerness. He wasn’t even sure if this was going anywhere yet. He didn’t want the guys to know just how amped up he was about it, in case it didn’t happen. His relationship with Abby was something to be cherished, and protected.

Looking forward to showing you paradise, he typed back to Abby. In whatever capacity she’d let him.

He couldn’t wait to see her. Couldn’t wait to show her all the places he loved, introduce her to his grandma. He had all kinds of seduction ideas too, but all that would have to wait until she was ready. Until then he would spend as much time as he could with her, prove to her that it was worth giving them a shot.

“I don’t know about you guys, but I’m freaking starving,” Colebrook announced as they started back up the beach toward the building they’d vacated earlier.

“I’m more thirsty than anything else,” Freeman answered, shooting Kai an evil grin. “After that swim, I figure I can put away a dozen beers, easy.”

Kai mentally winced at the damage that was about to be done to his credit card, but smiled. As the others went on ahead, he dialed his grandmother’s number and brought the phone to his ear.

“Hey, Tutu, it’s me,” he said in Hawaiian. “Just calling to let you know I’ll be there in time for dinner on Tuesday. And I’m thinking of bringing a friend over on Wednesday night, too.”

Except he hoped Abby would be far more than that by the end of their time on Maui together. Which meant he had just over a week to change her mind and make her his.

 

****

 

Shown up in front of the whole team by a damn jarhead.

Malcolm Freeman mentally shook his head at himself as he reached for his first beer from Maka. “Thanks.” Man, he must be getting old. It was the only explanation. When he’d been in the Teams, no one could touch him in the water.

His teammate pulled the beer out of range, raised a black eyebrow. “No hard feelings?”

“Not if you gimme the damn beer.”

“Cool.” Maka handed it over and sat his huge frame down on the stool next to Mal’s, helping himself to a mouthful of peanuts from a dish on the bar. Guy had a monster appetite, seemed to always be stuffing his face with something, and it usually wasn’t all that nutritious. “Did you train in the islands much when you were in the Teams?”

“Not as often as we would have liked.” He took a sip, the cold, crisp brew sliding down his throat. “You must miss being here. Pretty great place to call home.”

“Yeah. Funny how I didn’t appreciate it until after I left.”

“That’s how it goes.” People never appreciated what they had until it was gone. He knew that better than some.

Maka nodded, opened his mouth to say something else then paused as his phone chimed. He checked the screen, grinned, and began typing back a response.

Maka had a fish on the line. And Mal was pretty sure he knew what kind. “So who’s this girl? Your old neighbor, the blonde?”

“Abby. It’s no big deal. She’s coming to Maui for a work conference this week. She’s a pharmaceutical rep.”

No big deal, huh? Mal had known him for a long while now, and couldn’t remember seeing his teammate so amped up about seeing a woman before. Mal had met Abby once, when he’d gone to help Maka move last month. She seemed nice and was a hard worker, ready to help without any expectation of something in return. And sure as hell, Maka deserved someone nice after the shit show he’d stuck through with Shelley for so long.

“I liked her,” he said. Not that his opinion mattered, but he wanted Maka to know.

“She’s awesome. Been a really great friend to me.”

Seemed like Maka was way more into her than he was letting on. Mal hoped it worked out for them. Their job as FAST operators took a toll on them and the people they were close to. And it was a damn lonely life when you had no one special to share it with and continually came back to an empty house when the team was back in Virginia.

Leaving his teammate to his texting, Mal turned his attention to the TV above the bar showing a baseball game back on the mainland, except now his thoughts were on something else entirely. A beautiful face from his past that still haunted his dreams.

Hamilton slid onto the stool on Mal’s right, wearing one of his Captain America T-shirts that had earned him the nickname Cap. The rest of the team settled around them, taking up two sides of the bar. “You two friends again, or what?” the team leader asked.

“For now,” Mal said with a wry grin. But if Maka shot any more Nerf darts at him, the truce was off.

“Is there still food available, or did Maka empty the kitchen already?”

“You’re safe,” Maka answered. “Haven’t placed my order yet.”

“Thank God for that,” Hamilton muttered, perusing the menu. “I need to get mine in before you do.”

Mal ordered a steak sandwich with fries. Maka ordered two double cheeseburgers with a salad on the side. As if that meager serving of veggies was gonna do anything to save his colon.

Hamilton gave the waitress his order, then took a phone call. A few seconds later, he groaned and sat up straighter. “It’s only been a few weeks. She’s been through hell, it’s no wonder she’s refusing to testify against those bastards right now. She needs more time.”

Mal hid a wince and tried not to listen in, but it was hard not to with Hamilton sounding so frustrated and borderline angry. Their team leader was as steady and levelheaded as they came. Whatever had him upset must be pretty big.

Hamilton hung up a few minutes later and let out a harsh sigh. “They’re pressuring Victoria Gomez to testify against Ruiz and his crew,” he said.

The investigative reporter who had been held captive by the former Veneno lieutenant Carlos Ruiz. Hamilton and two others had found her in the woods the night they’d gone in to rescue her. Naked, beaten and bleeding, after being held and abused in every possible way for weeks. In the nick of time to save her from being sold into a human trafficking ring.

Hamilton had spent quite a bit of time with her in the past few weeks, sitting in on interviews and other debriefings she was involved with. “They know her testimony would bury them,” Mal said.

Hamilton nodded. “She knows it too. But Jesus Christ, give her a minute. She’s not even healed up yet.”

Physically, he meant. Mentally and emotionally, Miss Gomez would never be the same. God, it made Mal sick to think of a woman being treated that way. The Venenos were freaking rabid animals, not men. And they needed to be exterminated, because that was the only way to stop it. Otherwise they would just keep doing the same damn fucked-up shit over and over.

Hamilton straightened and turned toward him slightly. “Hey, don’t you know someone who works for the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s office?”

Mal’s fingers froze around the beer bottle and he looked away from those steel gray eyes. Hamilton’s timing on the subject was damn spooky. “Used to.”

“So you’re not in touch anymore?”

“No. Not for a few years now.” Not by his choice. But it was what it was, so he’d respected her wishes and stayed away from her. He still thought about her all the time, though.

“Do they still work there?”

“Yes.” She was an Assistant U.S. Attorney now. On track to follow in her hallowed father’s footsteps and become the U.S. Attorney.

Suddenly the beer tasted sickeningly bitter in his mouth. Mal set the bottle down in front of him.

Hamilton turned back to face the bar. “Might need to have you introduce us so I can get a meeting. They need to back off with Victoria. She’s a fighter, and she’s motivated. When she’s ready, she’ll take the stand and nail those assholes to the wall for what they did to her and the others. But if they keep pushing her like this…” He shook his head, jaw set.

“Sure,” Mal answered, even as dread coiled like a snake in the pit of his stomach. Even after all this time, reaching out to Rowan would be like ripping the bandages off the half-healed wound in his heart. She probably didn’t even think about him anymore. He wished he could say the same about her.

Some things, a man just didn’t get over. Like finally working up the courage to risk his heart on a woman who was way out of his league, only to have her slam the door in his face.