Aberlour’s plan for them to avoid trouble was going well. The two Special Forces teams were running different missions, so they weren’t required to attend the same meetings, which meant their paths hadn’t crossed over the past day and a half. The night before they were due to depart the ship, Team Specter was having dinner in the mess hall. The SEALs sat together on the opposite side of the room, apparently adopting the same plan of keeping their distance.
Of course, it couldn’t last. It was merely the calm before the storm, as it turned out.
“Man, I miss my mom’s mashed potatoes,” JD complained, as the white glob on his fork dropped back to his plate, sending drops of gravy flying.
“Don’t let the mess duty guys hear you say that, or they’ll put rat poison in your porridge,” Marcus warned, nodding towards the Navy cooks serving sailors. Aberlour snorted as he shoved a spoonful of mashed potatoes in his mouth. They had all the flavor of wallpaper paste, but Aberlour didn’t much care. His food was warm, and he hadn’t had to cook anything, so that was good enough for him.
“I can’t wait for Christmas,” JD sighed as he scooped up the potatoes and took a bite. He grimaced but swallowed it down.
“Dude, it’s barely September,” Oliver snickered, shaking his head.
“Your point?” JD replied. Oliver waved him off.
Whether to piss Oli off, or offended he’d been mocked, JD reached out and stabbed the remaining meatball on Oliver’s plate, shoving it in his mouth so it couldn’t be stolen back.
“What the fuck!” Oliver exclaimed indignantly as Marcus dissolved into a fit of laughter. Carlos, who’d been wolfing down his own chow, grinned like an idiot with his mouth full. Ghost merely shook his head like he couldn’t believe he was stuck sitting next to this group of idiots. Aberlour seconded that feeling.
“Dude! Seriously,” Oliver said, shaking his head. He grabbed his platter and stood up, heading for the food line, probably to get more meatballs.
“Think you pissed off Darling big time.” Marcus shook his head and chuckled.
“Everyone pisses him off—except Abe,” JD pointed out.
“You jealous?” Abe baited, amused.
“Oh, piss off. You boys can stroke each other’s cocks all you want—all I’m saying is, Oliver’s an uptight, momma’s little rich boy. Comes with the trust fund, dude.”
“And you like setting him off,” Marcus observed with a snort.
“It’s exposure therapy—I’ll get him to unclench his asshole one of these days,” JD replied with a devilish grin.
“Is that the day you stop being one?” Carlos asked around another mouthful.
JD threw a green bean at him, which Carlos quickly dodged.
“I’m confused, though. Thought you said you guys only did Chinese food at Christmas, and that all the good shit was at Thanksgiving.” Carlos sounded as cocky and arrogant as he looked. He was the smallest one on Team Specter by a significant margin, but what he lacked in size, he made up for in spirit. He was the very definition of firecracker.
“Well, yeah, but—”
Marcus barked out another laugh and shook his head. “You’re such a dickhead!”
JD shrugged like he had no grounds for disputing that accusation.
Aberlour shook his head as well and started to dive back into his dinner but was interrupted when Ghost’s elbow nudged him.
Aberlour looked over at him inquiringly. With a tilt of his head, Ghost gestured towards the food line and Aberlour noticed immediately that Oliver wasn’t there.
“Where’d he go?” he asked Ghost, confused. He’d seen Oli standing in line in his peripheral vision just a few seconds ago. How could he have disappeared so quickly?
But before Ghost could reply, Aberlour spotted Oli. He looked as if he was headed back to their table, but Lieutenant Clarence was blocking him. Of course, Oli wasn’t about to let that happen. He stood his ground, glaring at the SEAL.
“Fucker,” Aberlour said, jumping to his feet.
“Wait!” Marcus yelled at Aberlour. “They might just be talking, so—” But Marcus never had a chance to finish his sentence before all hell broke loose.
Oliver lifted up his tray and slammed Lieutenant Clarence right in the face. The plateful of mashed potatoes and gravy stuck to his face for a second, before sliding down the front of his BDUs, and then, because Oliver didn’t know when to quit, he spat in the guy’s face.
Aberlour was on Oli before Lieutenant Clarence could react, pulling Oli behind him and stepping between them. But Lieutenant Clarence was determined to get his hands on his quarry. He tried to shove Aberlour sideways to reach for Oliver. Aberlour stood his ground and gave Clarence a hard shove. Clarence growled and swiftly punched Aberlour in the gut.Aberlour, bent over in pain, still managed to kick the SEAL’s legs out from under him, sending him sprawling. But Clarence rolled and popped back up in a fighting stance. Fortunately, Captain O’Reilly appeared on the scene and stepped in between them, barking at him to stand down.
