Bull just laughed at Ashley’s raised voice, so Todd laughed, too, as Clark and Kenneth hovered anxiously nearby, and that was it. Something in her snapped.
“Okay!” she clapped her hands together. “That’s it. We’re good. I got it—I know how we’re doing this.” She forced herself to sound cheerful, rather than enraged—because enragedneverworked with men like Bull and Todd.
Jim headed toward them, his phone finally back in his pocket, his face and eyes lit with interest as he looked from Ashley to Bull and back.
“Yougot it?” Bull asked, belligerence in his voice. “Yeah, sorry, it’s not up toyou. Todd and I have the most experience.”
“What’s your strategy?” Jim asked.
Bull turned to look at the SEAL. “Move as fast as we can while we drag the chick and the hipsters over the fuh—”
Jim spoke loudly over him. “Team Leader, what’s your strategy?” He was looking at her, because, yes,shewas the TL.
Bull protested. “Brah, the team-leader thing is only an honorary title—”
Jim glared at Bull with ice in his eyes. “It’sLieutenantorLTorSirwhen you address me, andTeam Leader DeWittorTLorMa’amwhen you address your team leader.”
“No, I mean,yes, LT—” Bull, of course, chose the least formal way of addressing the SEAL instructor “—but you’re new so, you probably don’t realize that the TL is random, you know, just someone with administrative skills to act as a go-between for the team and the camp.”
“Incorrect, Mr. Edison,” Jim shot back. “Your SEAL instructor, which last time I checked wasme, has the discretion to decide specifically what the team leader’s duties will entail. I could see how you might’ve missed it. It’s in the fine print in the TL’s packet.”
Ashley sighed and shook her head, because that wasn’t even close to true, but then Jim turned to aim his next words at her.
“You’ll be getting a revised team leader packet,” he informed her, “with that change included.” He pulled out his phone and held it up as ifExhibit A. “I just wrote it and got Dunk to sign off on it,” he added. “So please do tell us, TL, what isyourstrategy for the O-course.”
This time Bull and Todd remained silent—they both respected his status as a SEAL officer, and took the military-like structure of the team seriously. But the look in their eyes saidYou don’t seriously expectherto have arealstrategy,andWe wouldn’tneeda strategy if we weren’t on a team with a bunch of losers.
Ashley worked to make her voice sound even. Pleasant. Not as if she’d just fended off a sexual assault from an idiot. “Let Bull and Todd go first, so we’re not in their way, while Kenneth, Clark, and I help each other.”
Bull and Todd immediately started making noise about that, but Jim held up one hand, and somewhat miraculously, they shut up.
“That’s smart,” Jim said. “Pairing Bull and Todd up—letting the team members otherwise get out of each others’ way. Five—orsix—people going over an obstacle like the wall or the cargo net at the exact same time isn’t easy or even possible, at least not on this smaller course.”
He widened his eyes at her, and in a sudden flash, she realized that she’d completely forgotten about the fact that because they were a team of five, they were allowed to ask their instructor to participate in team events. Which this was. Completely. Which made them a team of six, which meant…
Suddenly, she remembered him holding up six fingers, in that silent message he’d tried sending her across the mess hall. Dear God, she was so tired, she wasn’t thinking clearly…
“Bull’s with Todd, and Kenneth’s with Clark,” Jim prompted her now, “leaving…”
“You with me,” she finished. Thank God. Oh, please, God, don’t let Jim be a groper, too. But then she realized this team configuration only worked in theory. “What about your knees?”
“What about ’em?”
“Can you even… I mean… I don’t want you to…”
“Hell, yeah. Onthiscourse…? I’ll be fine.” He winced. “I know I say that a lot, but really. I got this, TL.”
Ashley gazed into his blue eyes.Please, don’t be lying about your knees, and please, for the love of all that is holy, don’t also be a douchebag and use this as an excuse to put your hands all over me…
He smiled wryly, almost as if he’d read her mind. And after glancing over at Bull, who’d moved off a bit to mutter privately to Todd, he lowered his voice to say, “I thought you were finally gonna…” He shook his head almost regretfully, and repeated what he’d told her before. “It’s okay to get angry,” but then added, “I promise I won’t let you kill him.”
She laughed her surprise at that. “Then, it doesn’t matter, because without killing him, nothing would change.”
“Hmmm. You actually believe that, don’t you?”
“I believe it, because it’s true,” she told him.
Jim nodded. “It’s not, because it’s not only about him—you’re part of this, too, but okay. We don’t have time to discuss that now, because we’re waiting on your command.”
