“I have bad sea legs,” Abe said instead—not quite answering either man, but making it clear he wasn’t interested in getting recruited by the Navy.
“And an attitude problem,” Captain O’Reilly said, making it sound like a compliment. “But a bet’s a bet.” He gestured for his men to head on out the door. “Thirty minutes.”
“Aye,” was Aberlour’s only reply.
O’Reilly led his team out the door and Team Specter waited until the door closed behind them before Carlos jumped on Aberlour, his excitement expressed in rapid fire Spanish.
“Holy shit!” JD shouted, always the loudest guy in the room. “My boy’s got moves!”
“Did you see his fucking face?” Oliver yelled, smiling from ear to ear.
“Yeah, O’Reilly looked legit impressed,” Marcus said, sharing his amazement as he pounded Aberlour’s back enthusiastically.
“No, I meant Lieutenant Clarence, the fucker that serves as second-in-command,” Oliver said, scowling like saying the bastard’s name left a bad taste in his mouth.
“Jeez, Darling, did he piss in your Cheerios or something?” Marcus laughed as he took a few knives from Ghost, who’d pulled them out of the board.
“He accosted Oli outside the bathroom,” Carlos said, taking the remaining knives from Ghost and lining up to throw them. Out of all of them, Carlos was the worst shot. The knife spun a couple of times and bounced right off the target when the dull edge hit at an angle. Ghost quickly stepped to the side to avoid getting hit, cursing softly and shooting Carlos a dark look.
“Careful, Chichi, I still want my nuts,” Ghost muttered.
“You already got one kid,” Carlos pointed out. “Sure you don’t want a free vasectomy?”
Ghost replied but Aberlour couldn’t hear.
“What does he mean he accosted you?” Aberlour asked Oliver while Marcus stood next to him with his arms crossed, as they waited for Oli to answer.
“It’s nothing,” Oli replied, waving it off. “Just Navy assholes being Navy assholes. Nothing we haven’t seen before,” he assured them.
Aberlour didn’t believe a single word.
“Chichi, spill!” Aberlour barked suddenly, startling Carlos as he was about to throw again. The knife arced downward and slipped out of his hand, which sent it sailing to the floor to land mere inches from Ghost’s feet.
“Jesus!” Ghost exclaimed as he jumped to avoid getting stabbed.
Carlos ignored him.
“Fuck off, Abe, I told you it was fine,” Oliver protested, casting a speaking look at Carlos warning him to keep his trap shut.
Carlos shrugged apologetically at Oliver and proceeded to report what happened.
“Clarence was standing outside the bathroom, just—waiting? I was heading in to take a leak and saw him just waiting there. When Oli came out, he grabbed his arm and pushed him against the wall. Don’t know what he said to Darling, but it didn’t look like he was saying hello, if you catch my drift.”
Everyone turned to Oliver, who turned bright scarlet under their scrutiny. He was pissed, that much was obvious. Aberlour just wasn’t sure what or who was the source.
Aberlour, on the other hand, was beyond furious.
He’d known from the start that there was a strong possibility this would turn into a real shit show. Special Forces teams rarely got along. Too much testosterone, everyone living in tight quarters. But they hadn’t done anything to provoke the SEAL guys yet. They’d just sat in a meeting. Where did the asshole get off threatening Oli?
“What did he say?” Aberlour asked, taking a step in Oliver’s direction, eyes narrowed, tone unyielding. He did his best to maintain his composure even though all he could see was red.
Oliver swallowed, and shook his head, as if he couldn’t believe this bullshit. His jaw clenched tightly, he straightenedhis shoulders, and faced Aberlour like he was preparing for an inspection—or a fight.
“That’s a fucking order, Staff Sergeant Darling!” Aberlour rarely had to pull rank on his guys. So that meant that when he did, they were more inclined to respond to his orders.
“Lieutenant Clarence told me the ship was—” he hesitated for a split second, jaw ticking with annoyance, “ —was a little small forpretty boysto be walking around unsupervised, Staff Sergeant Aberlour, sir.”
Aberlour wasn’t sure what he’d expected, but that wasn’t it.
