Pattrick followed Shane to her room and looked around. Her room was like his, minus the bunk beds the guys had. Shane had regular twin size beds in her room with a small loveseat sofa in a corner that sat opposite of the window. Each bed was against an opposite wall with a night stand next to each bed, dressers at the foot of the bed, and their desks next to each night stand. On the wall near the door was where the loveseat was, facing a small flat screen tv on a table with some videos splayed out. They had a small kitchenette in their room with a fridge and counter.

“Wow, your room is nicer than ours. We don’t have the kitchenette or breakfast nook. You’re lucky you got one of the renovated rooms. They are supposedly starting those during the summer when most of us are gone.” Pattrick said looking around the room. “Any plans for this summer after graduation?”

Pattrick watched as Shane froze, then relaxed just a little before sitting down. Not looking up at him, but keeping her eyes down on her hands, she shrugged at him. “No not really. I’m waiting to hear back from Quantico about the FBI Academy, if I don’t get that, then I’ll probably see about starting my Master’s program or finding a summer job until I can find something more permanent. What about you?” Shane asked quietly.

“I’m going into the Navy boot camp here in San Diego. Then after boot camp, I’ll go straight to SEAL training for another year. I’ll still be in San Diego for 6 months, then for MOS training either here or elsewhere. Then it depends on which team I get assigned to if I come back here or if I go to Virginia.”

“Cool. You’ll have a busy summer.” Shane said with a weak smile.

“This is probably an oddball question, you seem to stay in shape, but I never see you in the gym.” Pattrick said with a shrug.

Shane laughed a little as she nodded. “I don’t do the workouts like you do that’s for sure. But I have weights here in my room, under my bed that I use for simple exercises such as crunches, arms and squats. I also do Krav Maga workouts.”

“Oh, cool you do Krav Maga, also?” Pattrick asked excited.

“Yeah, I got into it about five years ago, been studying it ever since. Helps with my anxiety a lot, too, when I start doing the moves.” Shane said with some hesitation.

“Would you be interested in working out together on the moves? May help if you have a sparring partner or something. My dad had me studying Maga and Brazilian Ji Jitzu since I was a kid. My sister Tina does it now. Dad made mom take the classes when I was growing up so that we could defend ourselves in case he wasn’t home to protect us. He was very over-protective of my mom after some stuff she went through in high school. Kinda how I got here.” Pattrick said sheepishly on that last sentence.

“What do you mean how you got here?” Shane asked confused.

“My mom was sixteen when she got pregnant with me. My dad is the one who told me the story, so this is his version. My dad played football for high school. My mom was in the tenth grade and my dad was a senior. My mom was getting bullied by a couple of girls after one of the football players had asked her to a dance and she turned him down. My mom, according to my dad, was a real mouse. She didn’t draw attention to herself, didn’t participate in sports or in any clubs. She just went to school and then went home. What no one knew was that my grandmother, on my mom’s side, was sick with cancer. Her dad had abandoned them two years before grandma got sick, so my mother was the one who was there for her.

“Dad said there were days mom would show up to school in the same outfit as the day before, looked like she hadn’t slept or just looked really ragged. He said that the football player who had asked her out only did it because he wanted to see if she was easy, considering how she looked. Dad said it really exploded the day the football player asked her to the dance and my mom just told him “no, I’m not interested” and walked away. The asshole took offense because no one turned him down and walked away. So, he started making crap up, had two girls bully my mom for a solid week, destroying her locker, the things in it, throwing stuff at her and so forth.” Pattrick looked out the window trying to stamp down the anger that was building, just from telling the story.

“Mom didn’t come to school for almost a week after one of the girls came up behind her and literally cut her shirt in the back and set one of her pant legs on fire. Mom was burnt badly on the leg. My dad jumped in then, helped my mom get the fire out. He says he never saw someone look so defeated as my mom did that day. Even to this day he’s never seen someone with that look in their eyes. My dad made sure my mom got the medical help she needed. He had to bribe one of the office secretaries to get my mom’s address just to make sure she was okay since she wasn’t coming to school.” Pattrick leaned forward and placed his head in his hands.

“When he got to my mom’s house, he saw a white wreath on her door, the ones that funeral homes always put on the door to let people know that someone had passed away. When he knocked on the door several times, he tried the door knob and was worried when the knob turned opening the door. Dad said he went in and looked for my mom, found her in the bathtub, in the process of cutting her wrists with a razor blade. He and my mom fought until she collapsed in tears.” Pattrick heard Shane gasp, causing him to look up in worry.

“My dad called his mom and told her what was going on, so my grams and pop rushed over to the house to help him out. My grams had found out when she got there from looking at the house that her mom had passed away the day the girls set her pants leg on fire. It was the final tipping point for my mom. She felt alone going through all that. Her dad showed up the day they put her mom in the ground to tell her he was taking possession of the house and she needed to move out because his new girlfriend was going to be moving in, and they didn’t need the excess baggage. Grams had heard the rumors around town about him and the new girlfriend but never really thought much of it since they didn’t really know them.” Pattrick stood up taking a deep breath as he walked over to the windows.

“My mom, apparently, had planned to slit her wrists and let her dad and soon to be step-mom find her and hoped that the new woman in his life would refuse to live there since both she and her mother died there. My grams took my mom into her home and helped get my mom back on track with school. She and my dad really took my mom under their wings and were fierce in their protection of her. My dad had gone back to the school and literally told everyone on the football team that my mom was his and if one of them ever laid a finger on her, they would regret it for the rest of their lives. My mom had nightmares for several weeks after moving into my grams and pops house. My dad would wake up and run to the room that she was in and have to wake her up. He used to tell me that the only way she could fall back into a dreamless sleep was if he was in the bedroom with her.” Pattrick chuckled at a memory his dad had told him.

“My dad had a girlfriend, at the time, she was friends with the girls that had burned my mom’s leg. She had thrown a huge fit for weeks about my mother being in the house and would show up at odd hours, pissing my grams and pops off bad. Dad said they didn’t like the girl and felt she was a brainless twit. The night I was conceived, dad had been in a huge fight with his girlfriend about my mom and she had had a nasty nightmare. Dad said he went running into the room and curled up in the bed with my mom. He said mom blew him away by asking why he would come to her defense when his girlfriend was the one who told those two girls to burn her. Dad sat up and talked to her for hours that night, said he really got to know her and when he leaned down to give my mom a kiss on her cheek after telling her to rest, mom had moved her head not realizing what he was doing and they wound up lip to lip.

“Dad said it was like sparks were everywhere. He said he never felt that with anyone else before. He described it as seeing heaven for the first time, birds singing, oceans crashing, fireworks totally going off and he said he literally heard angels singing praises. He couldn’t stop himself and he and mom wound up going all the way. Threw my dad for a loop when he found out my mom had been a virgin. He broke up with his girlfriend the next morning. Grams said my dad’s alpha attitude got worse than my pops ever was, when it came to mom. Four months later my mom found out she was pregnant with me, my grams was so happy that my dad had gotten rid of the girlfriend she hated. When dad found out, he sat my mom, grams and pops down and told them exactly what his plans were, mom was to finish school and he was going into the Navy to get established in a career with the military and soon as mom graduated she was to join him. He requested that Grams sign paperwork to let them get married so that his military insurance would cover mom and the baby, a.k.a me. He asked Grams and Pops if they would help mom with the baby while she was in school. Grams said my dad was to the point and knew his plan. And well, the rest is history. Twenty-one years later, they are still very much in love, my dad is alpha as all hell and God help the asshole who tries to date my sister.” Pattrick laughed.

Shane chuckled shaking her head. Pattrick kept watching her, not sure what he was looking for. “Wow, your mom and dad definitely have history. It’s nice to know that there are some knights out there who go above and beyond for their princess.” Shane said quietly.

Pattrick’s phone rang before he could say anything. “Hello?”

“Hey Flash, we’re here with your food. Roommate says we can leave it at your room but wanted to make sure first.”

“No, don’t leave it there, for the love of God, don’t leave it there. I’m over in the Grout Building. Just don’t tell the fuck face or his girlfriend that shit. I’ll meet you guys outside.” Pattrick hung up and informed Shane that he would be back, that he was going to meet his uncles and grab their food.

Rushing outside, Pattrick found Wolf, Dude and Mozart walking toward him. “Hey Flash, what’s up? Everything okay?” Faulker “Dude” Cooper asked Pattrick.

Giving all three men man hugs and hard pats on the back, Pattrick chuckled at the slight scene they were causing with all the females on campus stopping to look at the four large men standing around talking.

“Yeah Dude, I’m okay. Roommate’s being an asshole, especially towards Shane, the girl that’s helping me with my cyber class assignments. Hey, do you guys have a few minutes? I kind of need some advice, with dad deployed and all, I wasn’t really sure who else to talk to other than you guys.”

“Yeah, sure, you know you can ask us anything. What’s on your mind?” Wolf asked kind of surprised.

“Well, I could use some manly advice. I did consider talking to mom about it, but she can only give me the girl version of what she thought.” Pattrick laughed. “God, I sound pathetic right now,” he sighed.

“Flash, what’s up? Why do you think you sound pathetic?” Wolf asked getting seriously worried.

Pattrick sighed deeply, “Okay, I’ve told you about the cyber professor assigning me to work with a girl, right?” Pattrick started, “Well we’ve been studying together pretty much every day since we met and really only need to meet once or twice a week. I don’t know what it is about this girl, but I really look forward to our time in the library together. Today has been the only day we really talked about the cyber class, other than the day the professor had put us together. The rest of the time we’ve just sat and worked on other assignments, not really talking to one another.”

“You guys have only met in the library? Not your room or her room?” Sam “Mozart” Reed asked curiously.

“That’s just it, guys. We’ve only hung out in the library, rarely talking. I don’t have her phone number, she has mine but doesn’t use it. She freaked out big time when I offered to walk her to the dorm building the first time we studied and it was late. Even when I told her you guys, as well as mom and dad would kick my ass, she was still skittish about me walking her to the dorm building door. She doesn’t flirt with me, she isn’t manipulative like these other females on campus are, and she doesn’t go out of her way to get my attention. In fact, it’s like she tries to avoid my attention, like she could care less what I do. She doesn’t even talk about herself. What throws me off even more is when I talked about my family and you guys, she smiles and says that sounds great or whatever, but when I ask about her family, her eyes becomes blank and she changes the subject.”

“Pattrick, it sounds like she’s just very careful what she shares with people, you just officially started talking this week. Have you ever noticed her before?” Wolf asked.

“Honestly? No, I was always surrounded by the team and the girls they screw around with.” Pattrick answered honestly. “Probably why she felt the way she did when Cynthia made the comments to her, that she did about Ken and Barbie.”

Mozart and Dude laughed, “Ken and Barbie? Let me guess you’ve traded GI Joe in for a Ken doll? Don’t let your dad find out, pudding.” Dude cracked.

“Bite me, old man. Hell, no, I haven’t. Cynthia is the one chick I regret sticking my dick in, drunk or not. I can’t get rid of her. She’s screwing my roommate right now thinking she’s making me jealous. She’s the one chick you and dad would both kick my ass over if I brought home. She has pure hatred for people like Shane.” Pattrick looked up at Shane’s building as he sighed. “Shane is different, she doesn’t have a hateful bone in her body. She has goals that she wants to accomplish. She wants to join the FBI and work for their cyber terrorism task force office either in Quantico or be stationed here in San Diego.” Pattrick laughed, “Tex would love to meet her and talk to her about her final project. You know she wants to help create a system that would literally help law enforcement officials and eventually Special Forces track victims of human trafficking better and make it easier to prosecute criminals in that same category, as terrorists to society, by freezing their funds as soon as they are identified. The system would literally go around firewalls that banks from foreign countries have on criminal’s bank accounts and freeze it making it look like the bank themselves did it.” Pattrick said impressed with what he read on her paper.”

“Holy shit, that would be awesome. Cookie would love this girl, that’s for sure. Just give her time, Flash. She’s probably one of those girls that it just takes time to trust a guy with who she is.” Dude said.

“That’s just it, guys, Shane’s been with her roommate for four years and even she doesn’t have Shane’s cell number. She said there were only seven people on the planet who have her number. She literally freaked out at the thought of me going to the door to her room the other day which confused me tonight, since she offered for me to come up with this storm that’s brewing outside instead of sending me back to my room. I really like her but I’m afraid of making the slightest wrong move and sending things backwards.”

“Just be you, Pattrick. If she really likes you, then things will progress. Just be patient. Some girls are just afraid of being hurt. She may have been hurt pretty bad in the past and does what she needs to protect herself, so she’s never hurt again. But Pattrick, if she’s who you truly want, don’t bring any other girls around, don’t mess with any other girls or screw around with any other girls because if you do, I can promise you that you’ll lose any chance you have with her.” Mozart warned. Dude and Wolf echoed their agreement.

Pattrick nodded, “No worries there with the other girls. Why do you think I spent more time at home than here on campus?”

“Wait, you mean it wasn’t our charming personalities?” Wolf asked in mock hurt.

“Wolf, these idiots think I’m banging Caroline just because she called me to ask me a question a couple of months ago. That only made these chicks worse wanting to get on the Flash’s dick. Not happening, man. I may be twenty-one but I’m not into banging everything and anything. I made that mistake one time with Cynthia and now I can’t get away from her. She’s only with him because he’s my roommate. They are both useless.” Pattrick said to Wolf.

“Yeah, I could tell she’s an airhead. Kind of reminds me of Cheyenne’s sister if you want the truth. Full of herself and a total bitch. If you’d brought her home, I’d kick your ass.” Dude said seriously.

“I’d stand there and let you kick my ass, Dude. That’s what makes Shane so opposite. She spent four years staying under the radar, no one really knew she was around. She doesn’t go out of her way for attention. She just wants to get her degree. And she loves movies. The girl made a Lord of the Rings crack at me.” Pattrick laughed, as he shook his head.

“Yeah he’s a goner.” Mozart said to Wolf and Dude as he laughed.

“Says the jackass who is a bigger pussy around his wife.” Pattrick teased Mozart. “All kidding aside guys, there’s just something about this girl. Maybe it’s the fact she’ll be homeless after we graduate or the fact that Cynthia and her goons are targeting her because I don’t pay them any mind at all, and I’ve spent all my time with Shane, I don’t know but I’m calmer, I’m at peace when I’m around her. I don’t have to pretend to be someone else with her. If that makes me a pussy with you guys, then I’ll gladly join the club.” Pattrick announced.

“Just take it slow, kid. Here’s your food. Don’t rush into it. If it’s meant to be, she’ll appreciate it more. Hopefully, one day we’ll get to meet her.” Dude said with a smile.

“I’m hoping I can get her to go to the game. She mentioned earlier while we were talking something about a friend named Laura or Red, I can’t remember which name, is coming with her fiancée Joe and his brother Marcus and someone named Lindsey, to the game next weekend.”

Wolf, Dude and Mozart all stood stock after hearing those names. “She mentioned Laura ‘Red’ Pratt?” Dude asked dead serious.

Pattrick shrugged confused. “Not sure the whole name, but I’ve heard the first two names why?”

“Son, if she’s associated with Laura, the same Laura we know, then definitely follow our advice and be careful with this girl. She’s definitely been hurt in the past and the women who watch over her will cut you in a heartbeat if you hurt her. We’ve met Laura and she’s the fiancé to a fellow SEAL named Joe. You’ve met him before, he goes by the nickname Highlander.” Wolf said just as serious as Dude.

“Okay…go extremely slow, don’t hurt her and beware of the women she’s associated with. Got it.” Pattrick said confused. “Let me get this food back upstairs so she doesn’t think I ran away from her. Thanks for bringing the food by. Tell mom and Tina hello for me, and give the girls a hug for me as well. Oh, and Wolf, give Caroline a pat on the rear for me?” Pattrick quipped as he ran away from Wolf’s swing, laughing.

“Ass wipe” Wolf mumbled under his breath as Dude and Mozart laughed.