Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
ELLIOT
Elliot peeled off his jacket the second he reached the barracks. Six hours. He had managed six hours of Hale's running commentary without losing his composure.
He deserved a fucking medal.
Elliot set his boots neatly by his bunk and unlaced them methodically. Then he headed straight for the showers.
The locker room was empty, the overhead strip light flickering at one end, the floor still damp from whoever had last used it. It smelled of mildew, industrial soap, and the staleness of a room that never fully dried out.
He stripped down.
The shower block was a row of four open heads along a tiled wall, no dividers. Privacy was a civilian concept.
He cranked the heat all the way up, stepped under the spray, and tipped his head forward, water hitting the back of his neck until his shoulders finally dropped.
His skin went from numb to oversensitive in the space of thirty seconds.
He adjusted the temperature up another degree and braced his forearms against the tile.
Elliot shut his eyes. He was suddenly uncomfortably aware of his body—of heat and sensation he usually kept under control.
He adjusted his stance, trying to shake it off, but it didn’t help.
Elliot had written Hale off as loud. Distracting.
A problem to manage. Somewhere around hour four that stopped being entirely true.
Hale was still fucking annoying. Talked too much.
Grinned like everything was a game. But he also moved clean, efficient, strong without showing off—and Elliot found himself watching longer than necessary.
Apparently just thinking about Hale was enough. Heat pooled low in his stomach.
Elliot swore under his breath and turned his face into the spray.
Merde.
It had been a long time since someone surprised him like this. He usually saw it coming. Shut it down early, filed it under not gonna happen and moved on. This felt less deliberate but a hell of a lot more inconvenient.
And worse—it was tangled up with things he didn’t like thinking about.
Elliot had expected the subject of his father to come up eventually, but he’d hoped to put it off a little longer.
He didn’t have the energy for it—the jokes, the assumptions, the look.
Usually people assumed he didn’t earn his place, or they kissed his ass to get on The General’s good side. He wanted neither.
Fucking Hale for sticking his nose in his business.
He straightened, breathing carefully through his nose.
This was stupid. This was exactly the kind of distraction he couldn't afford. Not here. Not with someone he had to work with every single day under constant scrutiny.
Elliot glanced down. His dick clearly hadn’t gotten the memo.
God damn it. Hale wasn’t even his type.
He turned the water colder and stayed there until the shock cut through the fog in his head. He should get out. Get dressed. Go back to the barracks and sleep, but he couldn’t move.
Instead his hand trailed down his body.
He'd sleep better if he just dealt with it, got it out of his system so he could think clearly. That was all it was.
He wrapped a hand around himself and closed his eyes. His mind went to Hale's voice, amused in the dark. His curious blue eyes. The sight of him leaning against the fence pole, shoulders loose, completely at ease in his own skin.
Then he thought about how Hale's mouth would feel on his body. Or even on his—
Ah.
Elliot came with his forehead pressed against the tile, teeth set, biting back the sound trying to escape. He remained there, water beating down on his shoulders, and tried to convince himself it had solved everything.
Shutting off the water and reaching for his towel, he avoided his reflection in the mirror.
By the time he made it back to the barracks, the lights were already off. Hale's bunk was down the aisle, too far to see in the dark, but Elliot felt his presence.
"Night," Hale said discreetly when Elliot passed.
Elliot's steps almost faltered. He hadn't realized Hale was still awake. "Night," he replied, voice neutral.
He lay down and stared at the bunk above him, listening to the sound of sleep closing in around him. His body was exhausted. His mind should have been too.
But Hale was ten feet away, awake in the dark, and Elliot had just gotten off thinking about him.
He had to solve this. Contain it the way he contained everything else, before it became something he couldn’t.