Chapter 12
Link woke early and checked the weather, seeing that the storms headed their way weren’t set to arrive for another few hours. After grabbing coffee and a breakfast sandwich from the freezer, he called Bean and asked if he wanted to go for a run.
Bean grunted. “You’re up early.”
“Couldn’t sleep. Do you want to run?”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll send a text. East Bragg?”
“Sounds good.”
Link saw the text go through, and the meeting time was thirty minutes from now. He had time to drink another cup of coffee.
Stanley was the last to arrive, but the first to be done with his stretching.
“Let’s go,” Stanley said as he bounced on his feet.
Link chuckled. “Just because you’re young and limber doesn’t mean you don’t need to stretch more.”
Stanley waved him off. “I’m fine.”
Mick snorted. “You say that now, when you’re my age, you’ll regret it.”
Stanley moved to Mick and grabbed his shoulders, giving them a squeeze. "I'm fine, old man."
“Oh God,” Link rolled his eyes. “Don’t start with that old man bullshit.”
Mick groaned as Stanley squeezed his shoulders again. “I am feeling a little old. Maybe I need a massage and a hot tub.”
Link laughed. Mick was the oldest and Stanley the youngest of them.
They all had their strengths, allowing them to operate on a high level when they worked together.
Other guys worked with them, but for the most part, the seven of them liked to do missions together.
Ray had retired recently, and that had left a hole in their team, but they weren’t itching to fill it right away.
They took off running, meeting a group of men and women who all looked very young. They waved and said hello as they moved past.
Link thought back to when he’d been a recruit and how he’d been so wrong about everything. Maybe not everything, but most stuff in life had been a mystery to him. Back then, he’d been a little too na?ve to really understand everything going on around him.
“You look serious,” Chase said as he jogged up beside him.
“Just thinking about life.”
“You ever get back in contact with that Marine?”
He smiled and nodded at the thought of Ansley. “Yeah. I talked to her last night.”
“How is she doing?” Chase asked.
“Good. She’s coming to visit in a few weeks.”
"Whoa, Link, picking up women on missions. Way to go!" Bean shouted.
Link let go of a sigh. "You guys have to behave when she's here, if I let her see you all."
Mick snorted. “You’re going to let her see us. You know you will.”
Mick was right. He would set up a time for them to get together. They were his best friends, and he relied on them to keep him alive. It only made sense for him to get together with his friends while she was here.
“We’ll be good,” Stanley said.
“Damn straight,” Keel said. “We’re not idiots. She’ll be around for a while.”
“What do you mean?” Link narrowed his gaze as he stared at Keel.
Keel met his gaze, then rolled his eyes. "This woman coming out here to see you means something. You have never let us meet someone you were seeing. You're telling us about her. That's different."
“I haven’t dated anyone in a long time,” Link said.
Chase snorted. “That’s the thing. You don’t let women know who you really are or where you live. You’re inviting this woman to stay with you. That’s a huge step.”
Chase was right. This was a huge step. He would never have let anyone else come to his house or sleep in his bed.
He hadn't actually slept in the same bed as another woman in about ten years.
If he had sex with someone, he always left before he fell asleep.
Getting comfortable after sex led to getting comfortable outside of the bedroom, and he didn't want the pressure. Or he hadn't wanted the pressure.
“What’s different about her?” Scott asked.
“I don’t know.” He didn’t. He couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was that intrigued him.
But he wanted to get to know her better, and that meant spending time with her.
She wasn’t the most gorgeous woman he’d been with, and she wasn’t the most feminine either, but she had something that intrigued him.
If he went based on who social media and gurus thought he should date, it wouldn’t be the badass he’d met on his last mission.
Ansley had “it” but asking him to define the “it” she had was impossible.
“There is something about her. It’s not something I can explain. ”
"So it's more than your dick getting hard?" Stanley asked.
“Good God, dude! You’ve got to learn to behave before she gets here,” Chase said.
Stanley shrugged. “What? We talk this way all the time.”
Chase paused, and they all stopped and started stretching. “If Link gets with this woman, things are going to change.”
Stanley rolled his eyes. “I know. I was just pulling his leg.” Stanley moved closer to Link and patted him on the back. “I’m just giving you a hard time. Do you really think you’re going to make it a long-term thing with her?”
Link shrugged. "Maybe. I don't know. She gets out of the Marines in a few weeks, and she's coming here. I'll spend time with her. If it doesn't work out, then she'll move on. But if it does, I guess she'll stick around."
Keel gave him a fist bump. "I hope it sticks. It would be nice for one of us to find someone who makes us happy."
Link nodded, knowing that Keel was speaking from experience. He'd been married before, but that woman had cheated on him and treated him like crap. Keel didn't talk about it, but Link knew that woman had done a number on him.
After they finished working out, they stopped in at a diner for breakfast. He got home close to noon and showered, then turned on a game, planning on napping with the game on.
After grabbing something to snack on, he dropped into the recliner, his favorite place to sit, and leaned back. His phone buzzed with a text, and he pulled it out, hoping it was Ansley.
A friend dropped by. Look how cute he is.
Link waited for a photo to come through, worry creeping up on him. Who was this friend? Was it someone she’d dated before?
He wiped his hand over his face. Thoughts of Keel’s wife cheating on him played through his mind, but he wasn’t in a relationship with Ansley yet. If she was with someone, that was her business.
He gives the best kisses.
He stared at the phone, trying to come up with a reply when he saw the text bubbles show up again.
Sorry, the photo didn't attach.
Then the photo popped up, and he swore to himself.