I noticed a few guys already in the bar when we entered, looking us over, but I didn’t pay them much attention.
“Yeah, you know, had to make a little show,” Maple replied. “Nice of you to keep up.”
“What the fuck ever,” Blake replied, laughing.
I drowned out much of the back and forth bantering. My heart wasn’t in it, even though I loved my squad. We were out to cut loose and relax after two weeks of being on base constantly, with few breaks in between. But my thoughts kept straying back to Harlington.
“What’s the long face about, Cannon?”
I peered across the circular wooden table at Will. “Nothing,” I said before chugging back the second half of my first beer.
“You’ve had a bug up your ass since we’ve been here,” Maple chimed in. “Don’t tell me Cannon is having women troubles.” He laughed.
“No, not Cannon,” Will added. “The man who never gets his panties twisted by a woman.”
“What’s the matter?” Maple asked. “The wife giving you grief?”
“Yeah, speaking of. Where the hell did this wife of yours come from?” Will asked. “We’ve been flying together for what, five years? And not once did you mention even dating this woman. What’s her name?” He turned and asked Maple.
“Savannah,” I said with a growl in my voice.
Will blinked his surprise at my tone.
“And keep her name out of your mouth.” I tightened my hold around the bottle in my hand.
Maple laughed. “Bingo.”
“I thought we were brothers,” Will said, looking offended.
I knew it was bullshit. Joking and pulling one another's chains was how we bonded as pilots.
“Anyway—"
“How you are fellas doing tonight?” A deep voice interrupted Blake.
I glanced up to see the group of guys I’d clocked when we first walked into the bar standing over us. The gleam in their eyes implied this wouldn’t be a friendly encounter.
Though I knew it wouldn’t be a good idea to get into an altercation with these motherfuckers, the pent-up frustration that’d been simmering inside of me since that argument with Savannah itched to get out.
“We’re great,” Maple said.
I sat silently, observing all three pansies that thought it was a good idea to intrude on our downtime.
“Air Force, right?” the leader of the pack questioned.
“Is it that obvious?” Will joked.
“The haircuts gave it away, didn’t they?” Maple stroked his bald head, trying to lower the tension that began building in the room.
“Yeah, they all look like your barber blindfolded himself before he started your haircut,” the one in the back said. He was a burly cornfed son of a bitch. But the bigger they are, the harder they fall, and all of that.
“You’ve been kind of quiet since we were so gracious to come over and talk to you,” the leader said as he looked down at me.
Slowly, I rose to my feet and looked him in the eye. “Did I forget to ask you to bend over so I could kiss your ass?” I wasn’t in the mood to play niceties or to try to defuse the situation.
A slow, unfriendly smile crossed over his face. “You're the mouthy one of the bunch, huh?”
I heard chairs scrape against the wooden floor, and I knew Maple and Will also rose.
