Ethan
ETHAN
He had faced the possibility of death more times than he could count. Gunfire had been part of his life when trying to defend a point or take one. Maiming and death were just aspects of his life that were as accepted as breathing and eating.
Yet nothing gave him more nerves than facing a date.
Oh sure, at the age of twenty-six, had been on his fair share of dates. All of them without his brother’s knowledge, of course, or rather, the exact details of those dates. even had a couple of boyfriends and several friends with benefits. Yet even that was not enough to take the edge off the nerves that ate away at him whenever the day of a date loomed.
Asking Matt out had been an impulse, a surge of courage and hope that had held tight to and ridden out. He’d been surprised, delighted, encouraged by how quickly Matt had been into it, even if he had been sort of dazed. thought that might be enough, right up until Thursday afternoon arrived.
His brother looked at him, frowning. “Just how long are you going to scrub the same spot?”
looked down at the floor of the garage bay he’d been brushing. “Uh, just making sure.”
“You good?” Keith asked, raising a brow.
There was no way in hell was going to tell Keith what had him so distracted. His brother was not ready for the truth, and wasn’t ready to give it to him. For all the military had trained him to face certain death, he still couldn’t summon the courage to tell his brother that he was one of those people.
“I’m anally retentive,” told him.
“Yeah, noticing that.”
“Leave me alone, and lemme be fussy then.”
Keith rolled his eyes. “It’s almost five, man, just...get out of here and go do something.”
’s head jerked toward the clock. “It’s what time? Shit.”
Leaving the brush behind, he hopped over the wet spot and grabbed his phone off the nearby table.
Keith snorted. “Jesus, man, got a hot date or something?”
“I do,” answered honestly before he could stop himself. “And I’m not being late. I’m taking your truck, by the way.”
Keith’s eyes widened. “No shit? Damn, man, yok fast. What’s her name?”
“Gotta go,” told him, snatching the keys from his brother’s back pocket and making for the door.
“Oh sure, just take my shit whenever you want, you little shit,” Keith called to his back.
“Love you too!” yelled over his shoulder.
He didn’t know exactly what Keith muttered under his breath, but he didn’t think it was all that important. hopped into the truck and sped out of the parking lot. Thankfully, Keith didn’t live that far from the station, and fifteen minutes later hurried into their apartment. He knew it would take about thirty minutes to get to Matt’s place, and he showered and dressed as quickly as he could.
“At least there isn’t much to do with this,” he muttered into the mirror, running a hand over his short-cropped hair.
With that out of the way, he grabbed his things and hurried back to the truck. There was no way in hell he was going to let himself be late picking Matt up. was still surprised Matt had even agreed. The thought had been tickling the back of ’s mind for a while before it finally slipped out.
There was plenty working against him, mainly being Keith’s brother. If he’d been in Matt’s position, would have wondered if some cruel trick was planned. Hell, as soon as the words left his mouth, expected Matt to recoil and politely decline because that was the sort of person Matt seemed to be and avoid speaking to again.
He was pleased as he pulled up to the address Matt had given him, finding he was a few minutes early. Out of politeness, he texted Matt rather than going to the door. While he waited, he peered at the house and around the neighborhood. It was quiet, close to the line between city and suburbia. The grass was cut short, and the small bushes lining the front of the house were a little messy but not wild. Planters hung from the porch’s beams, holding leafy plants, some dangling down in vines, others in clumps.
Another car pulled up beside his truck, and a young woman slid out of the driver’s seat. She glanced at him, a look of mild curiosity on her face, but she didn’t stop as she grabbed a bag from the back seat and made her way to the front porch. As she ascended the steps, Matt emerged from the house. The two talked for a moment, with the woman smiling gently at something Matt said, laying a hand on his arm briefly and walking into the house.
watched as Matt stood on the porch for a moment longer, staring at the front door, his back to . For a second, could have sworn he saw Matt’s shoulders slump and then pull back, straightening before he turned around. His face gave away nothing when he faced , coming down the front steps to the truck.
“Are big trucks a big guy thing?” Matt asked as he managed to climb up.
“It’s not my truck,” admitted.
Matt snorted softly. “I guess I should have recognized Keith’s truck.”
Matt was dressed simply, but that didn’t stop from looking him over with what he hoped was a subtle sweep of his eyes. He had gone with a pair of jeans that fit more snuggly than any pair he’d worn to the fire station. Matt had donned a light blue shirt with a low collar, and while liked the soft color on him, he found himself distracted by the man’s collarbones. There didn’t seem to be a mark on the man, not a scar or the slightest trace of ink and he wondered if the rest of him was unblemished.
cleared his throat. “Friend of yours?”
Matt blinked. “Who? Oh, Kelly? No, she’s one of the on-call workers that stay in the house whenever I’m out.”
“Oh,” said, unsure if he should ask.
Matt shot him a smile. “Just someone to keep an eye on my father.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For your father.”
Matt shook his head. “He’s not dying. Apparently, he’ll be around for a good long while. Anyway, just listen to the nice lady telling you how to get where we’re going.”
chuckled as Matt set his phone between them, with the robotic female voice piping up that he would have to travel another three hundred feet before turning right. “I guess she gets to be the captain of this ship, but then I get to take over.”
“Do Marines even captain ships? I thought that was the Navy,” Matt asked as they backed out of the driveway.
snorted. “You’re being literal.”
“Ah, and I’ve ruined the joke,” Matt said in a light, unbothered tone.
smirked at him. “Eh, it was a bad joke anyway. And for the record, there is the rank of Captain, but I never made it. But the Marines work closely with the Navy, and some teams have Navy Corpsmen, sometimes for a whole platoon.”
“I imagine you Marine boys probably need someone around to keep you in one piece,” Matt said, looking over.
chuckled. “That we do. Though I like to think I wasn’t keen on running into the fire unless it was absolutely necessary.”
“I might know something about that.”
“And there’s the literal thing again.”
Matt chuckled. “And I’m sure you managed to get out without a single mark on you.”
snorted. “Yeah, right. The one on my hip is just one of many.”
Once more, Matt looked at him appraisingly. “Is that the one that, uh…”
raised a brow. “Cost me my job?”
“Was it a job?”
“No, not really. And yes, that’s the one. Or the scar was just a souvenir to take with me.”
“I think that’s the point of souvenirs, isn’t it?” Matt asked, looking out the passenger window. “Would it be in bad taste to ask what happened?”
shook his head. “Don’t worry. It’s not some story that involves me losing anything more than a good chunk of blood. It’s not getting half-blown up that bothers me, it’s losing everything I thought I’d have forever that gets to me.”
Matt laughed softly. “Nearly being killed doesn’t bother you?”
glanced at him as they stopped at an intersection. “The man who faces death every time he goes out to stop a fire asks me that?”
Matt paused, then nodded. “That’s fair.”
sighed. “It was a bombing raid. Not as common as they used to be, but we always knew they could come at any minute. I don’t know if it was planned when we were moving munitions, but one of the shells hit a stack. The blast was enough to knock me on my ass and enough to pepper me with a few of those souvenirs we talked about.”
It wasn’t the first time he’d been caught in a blast or the first time he’d had a piece of metal shoved into his body, either. Stabbed twice, shot three times, and who knew how many grazes, burns, and other injuries.
He’d laid on the hard-packed desert ground, staring at the sky in shocked wonder. Smoke from the munitions blast was billowing into the air, marring the beauty of the clear blue with its thick black cloud. His shoulder had burned, his back aching something fierce, and he could feel blood trickling down his thigh. But it was his hip, which felt like someone had shoved a jagged piece of flaming glass into it.
Turned out it was a jagged piece of metal instead.
“Concussion, fragments of metal in my shoulder, leg, and hip,” listed off. “It was the one in my hip that did me in, though. I don’t even remember all the terms they threw at me. Muscle damage, broken hip, chipped bones, and on and on. It all amounted to the fact that I’m never going to have a hip that works right, and apparently, if I make it that long, a hell of a lot of hip problems when I’m older.”
Matt winced. “Sorry I asked.”
“Don’t be,” assured him. “If I do things right tonight, it was bound to come up eventually, so I might as well get it out of the way, right?”
“If you do things right,” Matt repeated with amusement.
“Yeah,” said. “You know, manage to impress you with my stunning personality and manly scars.”
Matt let out a laugh. “Manly scars. Do you think I don’t have a few of those myself?”
glanced at him. “Don’t see any.”
Matt looked away to glance out the window. “I’m also wearing clothes.”
A silence that didn’t feel awkward fell between them at that comment. was torn between asking what scars there were and where they were hidden. Then again, he supposed that if he did his job right tonight and in the following days, he might have the chance to see for himself.
cleared his throat, turning his thoughts away before he delved too deep. “So, where exactly are we going?”
“Well,” Matt said, voice still sounding amused. “I wasn’t sure what kind of food you were into. So the spot we’re going is along the beach, but it’s got a nice selection for about half a mile.”
glanced at him. “And just what were you hoping to eat tonight?”
Matt chuckled. “I’m unoriginal.”
“How’s that?”
“I’m a guy born and raised in a seaside city, and I love seafood above any other.”
grinned. “Well, good news, I love seafood.”
“Well, aren’t I lucky?” Matt asked with a chuckle. “Especially because I happen to know where the best seafood in the city is.”
“Is that you being lucky, or me?”
“Both?”
“I can accept that.”
noticed a sense of reserve about Matt that wasn’t normally there. Or rather, Matt was more reserved than usual. There always seemed to be something Matt held back, though could never quite say what it was. Sitting in the truck, though, Matt seemed even more restrained.
seriously hoped it wasn’t because he was rethinking what they were doing and that it was just first-date jitters. He could deal with nerves, especially since he had plenty of his own. The former, however, well, he could guess where that might come from, and he wasn’t sure he could help.
“The best seafood in town it is, then,” proclaimed as they drove closer to the boardwalk.