Chapter 15
Seb
Seb had done bad things all his life. He cursed, he told lies, he never, no matter what his girlfriend, mother or preacher suggested, stopped masturbating, but he’d never done anything as fundamentally dishonest or perverted as stealing a girl’s panties. He hadn’t planned to, not at all. He’d been taking out Daniel’s laundry and there they were, so soft and pretty, resting at the top of the basket on a folded up gray t-shirt like she’d put them there just for him. He knew she hadn’t but for one manic second he convinced himself she had and, compulsion surging over him like a wave, he’d pocketed them.
He glanced up at the monitors and saw she was still sitting on her beanbag flipping through American Gods like it was a picture book. The back of his neck burned with shame. What would she say if she knew what he’d done? Or worse, if she knew he didn’t regret what he’d done?
His phone buzzed twice in his pocket. Then twice again. Then twice again.
Colt shook a box cutter at him. “Rhodes, will you tell your girl to relax?”
They were kneeling on the floor of the surveillance quarters unpacking a huge crate of things Daniel had ordered. It should have been an easy, mildly entertaining job but Colt’s mood was bad and getting worse with every box they sliced open. Seb’s phone buzzed again and Colt made a loud exasperated noise through his nose. He jammed his hand into his jeans, trying to muffle the sound. “Maddie’s upset.” Funny how that statement was now on par with ‘Maddie breathes air.’
“About what?”
Seb yanked a medium sized box into his lap, delaying an answer. They hadn’t spoken much since Colt had busted him on the bunks. The memory of his friend’s disgusted expression still made Seb want to disappear into a dark hole and never emerge. Afterward he’d tried to explain himself to Colt but he had put him in a headlock and told him he never, ever wanted to talk or think about what happened ever again. Which was fair enough, neither did Seb, but things had been beyond uncomfortable ever since.
Seb’s phone buzzed angrily and Colt groaned. “Come on, kid, just fucking tell me. What’s wrong with her?”
Colt’s impatience and his own desire for them to talk comfortably pushed Seb to tell the truth. “I tried to break up with her yesterday.”
One of Colt’s eyebrows went up. “What do you mean ‘tried’?”
“We were on the phone for two and a half hours, going around and around. She says she won’t…” He gulped, feeling as though a ball of barbed wire had caught in his throat. “She said she won’t let me.”
“Right.” There was a strange look Colt’s face. Not angry but not sympathetic either. “You know you don’t need a chick’s permission to dump her. You just do it.”
“I know, it’s just we’ve been together—”
“Eight years. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it.” Colt opened up the long box pulling out a collapsed wooden easel. There was a long moment of silence and then, “If your old lady knew you waxed off with another girl’s panties she’d cut you loose, no questions asked.”
The derision in his tone stuck in Seb’s gut. “Thought you didn’t want to talk about that ever again?” he said coolly.
“I don’t, just pointing out a fact.” Colt paused. “You know I defended you? Told John you’re a do-gooder with a harmless crush. Then seconds later I’m watching you inhale stolen panties.”
Was that why Colt had been acting so cold? Seb wondered. Because he thought he’d betrayed his trust?
“I didn’t mean for anyone to see that.”
“I bet you didn’t. You’re lucky John wasn’t the one who caught you, he already thinks your little crush is going to compromise our contract.”
“I don’t have a little crush on Daniel.”
He didn’t. His crush was like a sheet of water spilling onto a stone, filling up all the little cracks and air bubbles, covering it completely. Daniel had lied to him, tricked him, made him culpable in her escape and she was still his first thought in the morning, his last at night. It was infatuation like addiction, fire in his blood and skull, burning up all rationality.
“Sure.” Colt’s sidelong grin was full of venom. “So you’re just an everyday, run-of-the-mill panty sniffer, are you?”
Seb exhaled willing himself not to lose his temper. “I put her underwear back in the laundry and I feel lower’n dirt for doing it in the first place. What more do you want from me, man?”
“Nothing,” Colt muttered. “I don’t want anything from you or John or Daniel. I just wanna get this job done and go to bed.”
“Fine by me.” Seb forced his attention back to the box on his lap, determined to work as quickly as possible. Slitting the clear tape, he saw it was a package of CDs. The top one was Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.
“That Harry Potter?” Colt asked.
“Yeah.”
Colt’s expression softened.
“What?” Seb asked, curious.
“Never mind,” Colt said turned away from him.
Shaking his head, Seb selected another package this one small and square. He slit the tape then dropped the box on the floor. “Goddamn, what is that?” he yelped.
He knew what it was, it was just that the item inside was so realistic it looked like someone had actually amputated their genitals and sent it to Daniel, the way Van Gogh mailed a woman his ear. It was big and pink and lined with veins and aside from its bloodlessness it looked disturbingly real.
Colt moved over to the clear plastic box and picked it up. He held the clear plastic packaging up to the light and began to read. “The Outlaw is a seven-and-a-half-inch highly realistic silicone dildo, specially designed to stimulate the g-spot in a—”
“Okay, okay, I get it.” Seb’s cheeks felt like they were going to melt off his skull. He couldn’t believe Daniel had managed to write that on an order form. He’d have died of shame first.
Colt scanned the box with his metal detecting wand and threw the box aside without further comment.
Seb started at him, pangs of genuine worry twanging at his brain. A week ago Colt would have ripped the Outlaw out of the package and chased him around the room with it, guaranteed. And as glad as he was that it wasn’t happening, it didn’t make any sense.
“So Daniel actually ordered that, huh?” he said, stupidly choosing the dildo as a point of reference for a conversation.
“Yup, guess she did,” Colt replied dully.
Seb was so embarrassed he glanced up at the monitors, feigning interest in the way Daniel was reading.
Of course, once he was actually looking all he could think about was the toy, and how it would look pressing its way inside her body. It seemed too big to fit inside her, she’d need to get herself ready first. Stroking her fingers through her sensitive areas until they were gleaming with wetness.
If she wanted me to I could get her ready…
Seb heated all over as he remembered the way her panties smelt, warm and musky and painfully fucking exciting. How would it be to lick that smell right from its source? Press his mouth between her legs and lap until it was all over his face? He’d never gone down on a girl before but he thought about it all the time, the way it must feel to have a wet excited woman pressing herself against your face. Feeling her build and build until Daniel was rubbing herself across his lips and tongue, moaning for him to keep going and—
“I could take a picture of the way you look at her if you want?”
Colt’s voice snapped Seb clean out of his stupor. “Huh?”
That venomous smile flashed out at him again. “I could take a picture of the way you look at Daniel. For your girl. If she saw it she’d probably dump you.”
Seb’s goodwill toward Colt vanished. “We’re s’posed to look at her,” he said stiffly. “That’s our job.”
“Is it also our job to rummage through her unwashed laundry and jerk off?”
“Goddamit, that’s enough.” Seb set the box of CD’s aside and stood up. “Do you have somethin’ you wanna say to me?”
“I might,” Colt said with what Seb knew was forced calm.
“So tell me now and we’ll have it out. I’m sick of this high school bullshit.”
As always the curse words felt good and evil at once. A rush of pleasure with guilt gripping its tail. The same thing he felt when he had an orgasm.
Colt’s face hardened. “You trying to piss me off, Rhodes?”
“No, I wanna find out what’s wrong with you, and if a fight will make you treat me like you used to then come on. Let’s get it over with.”
Colt set the box of paintbrushes aside and got to his feet. Seb instinctively took a step back. Colt was huge, six four and three hundred pounds of muscle he worked hard to keep from turning to post-deployment fat. Seb wasn’t worried though, he was faster and fifteen years younger, when they scrapped they had an equal chance of coming out on top.
“C’mon,” he said walking towards the door and flinging it open. “Outside.”
But the fight seemed to have been sucked right out of Colt. His shoulders slumped and he looked utterly miserable. “I’m sorry,” he said, his head lowered. “I shouldn’t be taking this out on you.”
“What’s wrong?” Seb asked, anger dissolving.
Colt ran a hand through his messy hair, the gray streaks pronounced under the harsh fluorescent lights. “I’m worried about John and…” He cast a glance at the monitors. “Other shit.”
Before Seb could ask there was a loud buzzing noise. They both turned and via the monitors saw headlights waiting at the front gate.
“Fuck it’s the food delivery,” Colt said. “Forgot they were coming tonight.”
He turned to face him. “Why don’t you get it? Take it to the girl and sort it inside the house.”
Seb wondered if this was some kind of trap. They usually inspected the food in the surveillance quarters, trying to minimize the time they spent in direct contact with Daniel. “You mean it?”
“Yup.” Colt gave him a small smile, stiff but genuine. “Call it an apology. Go on, get moving.”
Still suspicious, but eager to see Daniel and keen to get away from Colt, Seb jogged out to the gate and collected the food she’d ordered, his body still thrumming with unspent adrenaline.
He carried the two large crates back to the house, juggled them until he was able to press a hand to the fingerprint pad then knocked. He knew she couldn’t answer but it just felt rude barreling into a woman’s house unannounced.
A patter of sock-covered feet came toward him. “Oh my god, finally.”
The door swung open and there was Daniel, beaming up at him, making his stomach feel lighter than air. She wore colorful leggings and a ruby red athletic top that made her gray eyes seem huge and even more gorgeous than usual. She wasn’t wearing a bra and her nipples were clearly visible through the spandex. “Hey, Seb, how are you?”
He loved the way she said his name. Like there was an ‘i’ in there somewhere. “Fine, thanks, ma’am.” He hoisted up the crates. “Can I take these to the kitchen?”
“Sure.” Daniel flattened herself against the wall to let him pass. “You’re looking extra blond these days.”
“It, uh, usually gets like this in summer.”
“It’s gorgeous, you look like Chris Hemsworth in the Home and Away years.”
Seb spared himself a response by heaving the boxes onto the breakfast bar and pretending he hadn’t heard what she’d said. “Is it okay if I look through these here?” he asked. “I brought them straight from the truck.”
“Sure, as long as I get the stuff I need for dinner first.” She grinned at him. “You’d be so proud of me Boy Scout. I’m making salmon with vegetables. Potentially.”
Seb’s silent wish for Daniel to forget about that dumb nickname had gone unanswered. Boy Scout. All the more infuriating as he could so easily see why she’d picked it. That’s what he was to her after all, some overgrown do-gooder, asexual and unthreatening. It also, though she couldn’t possibly know the truth, hinted at his sexual failures. She was wild and beautiful and smart and he was a boy, not a man and a scout. Seb forced a smile as he opened the first crate. “What do you need?”
“The salmon, leeks, dill, and some potatoes.”
“I’ll try and find them now.” Seb began pulling out heads of lettuce and bags of carrots. “We’ve got another delivery for you in the surveillance quarters.”
Daniel’s eyes widened. “Really? With my clothes and stuff?”
Seb tried very hard not to think about the dildo. “Yeah, there’s um, cookbooks and CD’s…”
“Harry Potter’s here?” Daniel asked excitedly.
“Yeah it is.”
“Excellent!” She eyed him up and down. “You’re my age-ish. Did you read them when you were a kid?”
The suggestion made him grin. “No, my mom thought they were satanic. She and her church group had it banned from my school. A few people burned copies.”
“Oh.” Daniel blinked at him and Seb remembered, for the millionth time in his life that not everyone grew up in a place where burning children books was considered acceptable human behavior.
“I saw one of the movies,” he said quickly, eager to prove he wasn’t a complete freak. “I liked it but I didn’t really get what was happenin’, it was one of the last ones. I don’t think Harry Potter is satanic.”
Daniel’s smile was equal parts amusement and understanding. “Don’t stress, Boy Scout. Although if you set my audiobooks on fire I will be pissed.”
He forced another smile and began pulling clumps of celery and bags of peaches out of the crate, happy for something to do with his hands. Daniel stood by his side, helping him.
“Holy Shit!” she said after a few minutes.
“What?”
She held up an enormous red and silver fish with a hooked lip. “Would you look at this fucking thing?”
“Is that…not what you ordered?”
“I ordered salmon!”
“That is a salmon.”
“No it’s a fucking dinosaur.” Daniel shook the fish so it appeared to be alive. “What am I supposed to do with this? It should be mounted on a wall singing songs and shi—Whoa!”
The fish jerked from her arms as though it had been reanimated. Seb dove forward and caught it. It felt like a big slippery football.
Daniel pressed a hand to her mouth. “Fuck that was fast! Nice reflexes.”
Seb dumped the fish into the sink, trying not to grin. “It was nothing.”
“No, it was incredible.” Daniel pressed her fingertips to her temples. “Hang on. Idea. Can you please help me turn this liopleurodon into fish strips?”
Seb glanced up at the cameras from which Colt was doubtlessly watching them. “I don’t think so.”
“Oh, come on, don’t they teach you how to cut shit up in the military?”
“Um, not really fish, no.”
“But you do know how to do it, don’t you?” Daniel asked eying him shrewdly. “You’re all handy and masculine and from the south. I bet you’ve had to deal with this kind of bullshit before.”
Seb had a sudden memory of himself and his father on the lake, him reeling in catfish, his old man pitching empty after empty into the still brown water.
“I might but…” His gaze flicked up at the camera and its red eye blinked accusingly at him. “I really shouldn’t be here. Not after…you know. With my lanyard.”
Daniel’s face fell. “I’m sorry for that, Seb, I never wanted to get you into trouble.”
The apology he’d wanted so badly felt completely unwarranted now that he’d stolen from Daniel. Stolen something much more damning than means to escape.
“I don’t mind,” he said uncomfortably. “Really I don’t. But I can’t stay here and talk with you. It just wouldn’t be right.”
Daniel nodded, pulling a huge boning knife from the stainless steel rack. “What do you think I should do with my huge un-cookable fish?”
“Here.” Seb pulled out a cutting board and loaded the fish onto it. “Hold it by the tail and run the knife down the spine toward the head. You should be able to use the backbone as a guide but don’t—”
The intercom clicked on. “Kid, help her out before she amputates her fucking arm.”
“Are you serious?” Seb asked as Daniel cheered.
“Yes.” Colt snapped. “Just hurry up.”
Daniel shot the camera a grateful smile. “Thanks, Tarzan.”
“You wanna thank me? Put down that pig sticker. Rhodes, make sure you’re back before they hour’s out.”
Seb had a sudden sense of foreboding. Colt sounded like his mom used to when she told him he could go to a party, if he really wanted to.
For a moment he considered heading back upstairs, then he caught sight of Daniel’s beautiful excited face. Screw it. Whatever was eating Colt would just have to gnaw at him for a bit longer. “Let’s do this.”
Twenty minutes later he and Daniel were washing their hands in the sink. The fish was sliced and baking in the oven, vegetables roasting underneath it. Seb had done most of the preparing. Daniel hacked at everything like she wanted to kill it a second time. Though she’d cut herself deliberately to steal his lanyard it wasn’t hard to see her doing it again out of sheer over-enthusiasm.
“Do you like a coke or juice or something?” she asked.
A beer would have gone down better but Seb knew she didn’t have any in the fridge. “Coke would be great, thanks.”
Daniel grabbed a can from the fridge and poured bright pink juice into a fancy wine glass.
“How come I never see you drink?” Seb blurted out. “I mean, from your bloodwork I kind of figured—”
She smirked at him. “That I’d be a massive alcoholic who blacks out by midafternoon?”
Seb’s neck and cheeks grew hot. “Forget I asked, that was rude. I think you should make a stock out of these bones. I’m gonna do that right now.”
He pulled a saucepan out of the cupboard and began heaping the discarded bones and vegetable scraps inside it.
“Seb…”
“Yeah?” he said, running cold water over the bones.
Daniel hoisted herself onto the kitchen counter so their faces were level. Seb’s heart kicked up about a hundred notches at the proximity of her body, the fresh rush of her cocoa smelling skin. “Since you helped me, would you like to know a shocking secret?”
No. “Yes.”
She leaned over and whispered directly into his ear. “I don’t drink. Ever. Alcohol’s a depressant. Because of my brain thing it fucks me up. Turns me into a zombie.”
Seb tried to process what Daniel had said but his whole body had gone numb when she touched her lips to his ear. “That’s uh…a shame.”
“I’ll never know what Long Island Iced Tea tastes like.”
“Bad,” Seb mumbled, sure Colt was studying their every move. “Real bad. You’re not missing much.”
“Yeah, I hear strawberry juice is an improvement.”
“I’ve, uh, never had any.”
“Here.”
Seb took it the glass she offered, hoping she wouldn’t notice his fingers shaking. Painfully conscious of the contours of his mouth he took a small swallow. The liquid was sweet, thick and tart. “It’s…nice. Thank you.”
He noticed Daniel smiling widely. “What?”
“I forgot you were touching fish.” She pointed to the wine glass, which was smeared with opaque white juice.
“Goddammit!”
“It’s okay.” Daniel took the glass back. “It’s been ages since I’ve had sashimi.”
She raised it to her mouth and Seb tried to take it back from her. “Seriously, lemme get you another o—”
His hand brushed her wrist and both of them stopped dead. Electricity, as real as what was powering the lights above them passed from her hand to his. They looked at one another, Daniel no longer laughing, him no longer protesting. Her mouth was swollen, tinted red with strawberry juice. He wanted to crush it against his own, taste that tart sweetness on her lips.
His phone buzzed deep in his pocket, disturbing as a car alarm ringing out late at night. Seb stumbled backward, banging his hip on the marble counter.
“Sorry!” he and Daniel said together.
“It’s okay,” they said again.
Daniel pressed her hand to her strawberry stained lips. “Seriously, it’s been way too long since I’ve had male company. I’m sorry Boy Scout.”
The use of the nickname stung like poison ivy but Seb knew it was for the best. He moved to the oven and turned on a burner beneath the stock. He needed to be careful now, very, very careful.
“Maybe we should just…Keep going like before?” Daniel suggested
“Good plan.” He walked back to the sink and began stacking everything so he could do the dishes and get out of here.
“He cooks and cleans,” Daniel said brightly “Your girlfriend must ride your head off twenty-four seven.”
Seb didn’t answer. He knew Daniel was trying to establish boundaries between them by bringing up Maddie, but talking about his failed relationship on top of everything else felt like cruel and unusual punishment.
“What’s she like?” Daniel pressed. “Your girlfriend?”
“I wouldn’t wanna bore you.”
“I’ve been trapped in a house for some time now. My concept of ‘boring’ is pretty minimal.”
Seb gritted his teeth. “Maddie’s really…She’s just…I want us to break up.”
The words exploded from him like a dam bursting his spigots. “We’re so unhappy together. I keep tryin’ to end things but every time I do…Jesus I just have no idea what to do.”
“Oh,” Daniel said, her expression strange.
Seb’s stomach tightened with self-loathing. “Sorry I shouldn’t be telling you this.”
Daniel did something strange, she bent forward and covered her face with her hands. “Don’t worry about it,” she said through her fingers. “I’m glad you can talk to me.”
“Ah, thanks.” Seb stared at her scalp. “What-what are you doing?”
“Oh sorry,” Daniel reemerged her face split into a broad toothy grin. “It’s a habit I got into when I was a kid. I can’t help smiling, especially when I know I shouldn’t. It pisses sad people off, especially my sister, so I used to hide my face. I don’t even realize I’m doing it now.”
Seb pictured Daniel as a little girl, struggling to conceal her smile. “That’s sad. Which I guess is ironic.”
She laughed. “It kind of is, but enough about me. I’m sorry things are so bad with your girlfriend. Or ex, I should say. You’re only a couple if you want to be together.”
Seb dug under the sink for dishwashing liquid and found a small dusty bottle. Daniel, who never ate off plates, had never used it. “I don’t think Maddie sees it that way.”
“Hmm, don’t take this the wrong way,” Daniel asked cautiously. “But is she kind of nuts?”
Walls of angry emojis marched across Seb’s vision like lemmings. “Yeah, kinda.”
“Well I’m not exactly well-versed in these matters but you’ve got every right to end a relationship.”
Daniel was still smiling but her eyes conveyed a seriousness that suggested to Seb she knew exactly how difficult his situation was. “You’re not responsible for her unhappiness or what she might do if you leave.”
“I am though, at least partially.”
“In what way?”
“I was her first,” he said to the sink. “She thinks I ruined her and if I leave no decent guy will ever wanna marry her.”
He glanced up, relieved to see thoughtfulness, not judgment on Daniel’s face.
“Personalish question,” she said tapping her chin. “You told me you’ve been together eight years, was she your first, too?”
Seb cranked up the hot water hoping it would explain his red cheeks. “Yeah she was.”
Daniel probably thought that was pathetic, he realized. And she didn’t even know the half of it. What would she think if she knew he’d only ever kissed three girls? That he’d been a virgin until he was twenty-one? Bottle-fed on hand jobs and heavy petting until he told Maddie he couldn’t take it anymore and they needed to break up. She’d slept with him, begrudgingly, under cover of darkness and they’d done it a full ten times since. Ten times in his twenty-five-year-old life.
“What can’t you tell Maddie she ruined you?” Daniel said suddenly. “You were a virgin and thanks to her you’re not. Republican Star-man Jesus hates you both.”
Seb shook his head. “She’ll say it’s different for men.”
“Hmm that is true.” Daniel tapped her chin again. “Is Maddie insanely jealous by any chance?”
Seb pictured the vast ocean of accusations he’d faced throughout their relationship, the real and imagined crushes, the tears and the trauma of it all. “Uh yeah.”
“Why don’t you tell her you met someone else?”
Seb almost bit off his own tongue. “Pardon?”
“Trust me,” Daniel said eagerly. “The instant you tell a crazy jealous person you met someone else they stop pretending to love you and jump straight into hating your guts. She’ll dump you, no questions asked. Say you’ve fallen for someone else.”
“I don’t…I’m an awful liar,” he lied.
“So do the interrogation tactic thing, build on something that’s true. Tell her you met a lovely young Jewess.” She gestured to herself. “And you didn’t mean for it to happen but you fell head over heels for her tracksuit pants and weird accent.”
Seb felt like his head was spinning. “Daniel…”
“Ooh, and we can take some pictures together and…Actually no, that would get you fired…Aha!” She pointed at him. “Tell her we’ve kissed. That’s just the right amount of betrayal to make someone hate you without burning all your shit on the front lawn. Not slept together, not fingered each other, just kissed.”
“Daniel…” Seb croaked. “We haven’t kissed.”
“That’s a good point.” She shuffled closer to him, almost getting her butt in the sink. “Come here.”
Seb’s heart felt like it was going to burst out of his chest. “Why?”
“Because you helped me with my giant dinosaur fish and now I’m gonna help you.”
Seb hesitated, his throat tight with anticipation.
“I promise I’m not going to do it on the mouth,” Daniel continued, grinning. “Just on the cheek like in an old Hollywood movie then you’ll be able to lie with some conviction. Come on let’s do it.”
Seb was barely aware of withdrawing his hands from the sink, wiping them on his jeans. He felt like his body was moving for him, drowning out his mind with confused buzzing.
He stood in front of Daniel, not quite between her legs but close. She looked up at him, her storm gray eyes crackling with electrical fire. “You ready for this, Boy Scout?”
A deep ache rose in Seb’s chest like a long forgotten sea wreck winched to the surface. “Daniel…”
She bent forward her hair catching on his stubble. She kissed him, Right on his cheek, a rose-petal soft stamp that made the breath catch. “I free you, Sebastian Rhodes.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
Daniel’s breath fluttered over his ear. “What did I say about calling me ma’am?”
Seb could hear the excitement in her voice, feel the heat coming from her skin, heat burst in his stomach burning everything away except desire. Desire and drive. He leaned closer “I apologize…”
“Don’t you dare,” Daniel whispered, her cool hands sliding across his shoulders.
But he did dare. “Ma’am.”
Then they were kissing. Properly, properly kissing. There was no build-up, no soft beginning, no awkward dance to figure out whose tongue went where, they were just kissing. His hands in her hair and on her jaw, everything electric. He kept his hips away from her though, made sure she couldn’t feel his cock swelling hot and hard against his belly.
Daniel pulled away running her tongue over her lips. She looked distant. Bemused. Seb felt a hot stab of panic. “I’m sorry, was that bad? I ain’t kissed that many girls…”
“You…” Daniel wrapped an arm around his neck and yanked him closer. “You are so fucking…argh!”
She kissed him again, a furious clash of mouths that almost felt like she was punishing him.
Confusion battled lust until Seb found himself pulling away. “Are you mad at me?”
Daniel’s lovely eyes were reduced to angry slits. “No.”
“Then what—
She grabbed one of his hands and pressed it right to her right breast, sucking all the air out of Seb’s lungs. She squeezed her hand over his forcing him to compress her warm ripe flesh. Seb grunted like a wounded animal. “Daniel. Darlin’…”
“You are so hot and sweet it drives me crazy,” she hissed. “If you don’t fucking do something I’m going to die.”
“Oh,” Seb said, dizzily realizing what she meant. “Okay.”
He kissed her again but this time he pressed the seat of his jeans right between her legs. She moaned, a little thrilling sound. Anything she wants, Seb thought, rocking his hips and exacting another, exhilarating cry. Anything under the sun he’d give it to her. He’d make her feel good until his body gave out.
Bang.
Seb felt as though someone had dumped an ice bucket over his head. He leapt backward, his body instantly cooling in the wake of its separation from Daniel’s.
Colt had dropped Daniel’s crate beside them on the counter and was now leaning against it, his face set like stone. “Evening, kids. Having fun?”
Daniel clutched her chest. “Fucking hell, Tarzan. Give a girl a heart attack, why don’t you?”
Colt didn’t reply, his lethal-looking gaze was locked on him. “Rhodes, last time I checked you had orders to help the girl make dinner not rub her off against your jeans.”
Seb’s cheeks burned but he didn’t apologize. Wouldn’t apologize.
“Nothin’ to say, huh?”
“It was my fault,” Daniel said, sliding off the counter. Knowing what he knew now Seb understood why she was smiling but the sight was a little unnerving. It looked like she was happy Colt had caught them. Satisfied in a mean, spiteful way.
Colt wouldn’t have known though, he was refusing to look at her. Instead, his gaze dropped to the front of Seb’s jeans where his hard-on was clearly visible. His lip curled. “Fix yourself up and come back inside kid.”
Then he left, striding away as fast as his long legs could carry him, heavy boots like cannon fire on the marble. Seb turned to Daniel, a million strains of panic eating away at his guts. “I should…”
“Go,” she said, shoving him lightly. “Good luck.”
Seb caught Colt just outside the surveillance quarters. He was standing on the dark emerald lawn looking up at the sky. “Hey! Wait up.”
Colt’s grin was every bit as unnatural as Daniels was. “If we get fired because you made me watch you stick your tongue down that girl’s throat…”
Anger flared in Seb’s chest hot as burning coal. “I wasn’t tryin’ to make you watch!”
Colt laughter was void of any amusement. “Sure you weren’t, kid.”
“I fuckin’ wasn’t,” Seb said hotly. “And even if I was, I know what you’ve done. Watchin’ Daniel get kissed can’t be worse than watchin’ John have sex with a woman while you’re havin’ sex with her at the same time.”
Colt rounded on him, his expression furious.
“Yeah, I know about you and John and all your fuckin’ three-ways,” Seb snarled before he could say anything. “So get off my fuckin’ neck. As much as you and John wanna see me as some kind of fuckin’ kid I ain’t one.”
“So this is about sowing wild oats, huh?” Colt said, his voice low and dangerous. “Tell you what, if you want a throwaway fuck rookie, you’d better get some practice first. I saw you slobbering all over that girl a fuckin’ virgin could have done better. That is, assuming you’re not one.”
Seb lunged and before Colt could react he clipped a fist across his jaw. His knuckles burned as the older man stumbled backward. “Are you crazy?”
“Nope,” Seb said, breathing hard and fast. “I can eat what you dish out, Colt, but I ain’t weak and I ain’t a fuckin’ virgin. You saw Daniel rubbin’ herself all over me and that girl loved what I had to give her, so don’t pretend this is about anythin’, anythin’ other than you bein’ jealous.”
Colt paused, only his outline visible in the darkness. For the second time that night Seb straightened his shoulders, preparing himself for pain, but it didn’t come.
“Fine,” Colt murmured. “I’m jealous of you, I’m jealous of a rubber dick, I’m jealous of all the guys in C squadron who met the girl of their dreams when they were twenty-fucking-four and have two kids and a house in the fucking suburbs.”
The pain in his voice caused Seb’s anger to blow out like a broken bulb. “Colt…”
“I’m jealous ‘cause you’re twenty-five with your whole life in front of you and I’m a week away from forty-one.”
“That ain’t old!” Seb said, unsure if he believed what he was saying.
Colt laughed bitterly. “It’s old enough. Fourteen years between Daniel and me. And I’m stupid enough to wonder why she kissed you and not me.”
“I’m sure that’s got nothin’ to do with it,” Seb said, acutely aware of how bizarre this situation was, reassuring a man who wanted the same woman he did, a man he’d just hit in the face.
“Yeah, well it doesn’t matter, does it?” Colt said. “Neither of us can have her, you know that, right?”
Seb’s throat was tight. “’Course I do.”
“You don’t. You’re pretending, just like I was but you will. C’mon, we’ve gotta go wake up John, tell him what happened.”
“You go ahead,” Seb said, pulling out his phone. “There’s something I need to do first.”
Colt nodded, a faint smile touching the corners of his mouth. “Good luck.”
“Thanks.”
As Colt disappeared into the darkness, Seb called Maddie’s number.