“Everyone is here,” the boss man says. “We’re on record. I apologize that this resembles a principal’s meeting with naughty children, but we need to take this seriously. Maverick and Liam, thank you for being available so quickly. I was watching the security cameras and knew this was something you’d want to be involved in.”
My dad talks first. “I’ll let you do your job first before I lay into my son.”
“Same,” Liam adds. “Into my daughter.”
My heart is pounding as I fidget with my hands in my lap. Risking my sanity, I look up at Aarabelle. She’s not looking at me, she’s mouthing apologies to her dad. It’s painful to watch her fight away the disapproval she feels. All her realities turning into one big nightmare.
“I loved him. It wasn’t a fling. If I knew he alone held the potential to ruin my life’s dream, my life’s purpose, and goal, I never would have looked at him. I didn’t know it would be like this.” Her words sting with rhetoric truth. “We were friends first, sirs.” She clears her throat and smooths back her hair. “Recent circumstances have arisen that ensure we will only ever be friends…if even that. Please, let this be a warning and let this be finished. It’s finished.”
“Finished?” I sling. “You’re calling this finished without my permission?”
She doesn’t meet my eyes so I call her name. Her first name. The nickname.
“Be professional, Hart. This isn’t the time.”
“It is the time.” Standing from my chair, I face the screen with side-by-side reflections of Liam and Maverick. “I knew it was wrong to fall for her, my circumstances be damned if this is finished. It’s not. SEALs always find a way. If there’s not a way, we make a way. I spent seventy-two hours total reading over all of the literature about introducing women to the Teams. I scoured it with a fine-toothed comb. Every rule, every guideline, every goddamn thing.”
“Watch your mouth, son,” Chief says.
I hold out my hands. “Sorry. I’m fired up.”
“We see that,” Liam says, folding his thick arms across his chest. “What came of your research then. I read everything as well.”
“There’s a loophole,” I deadpan.
Turning to Aara, I see her staring at me, eyebrows raised. “There’s a loophole,” I repeat, firmer this time. “Do you trust me?” Her eyes widen.
My chief groans. “Now is not the time for loopholes, Hart. It’s where you explain yourself so you don’t get a dishonorable discharge. Did you force yourself on Aarabelle Dempsey?”
“No,” Aara yells. “No. It was never like that.”
While she’s riled up, I hit my knees once more. “Marry me. Marry me, Aarabelle Dempsey. They can’t touch us if we’re married. Say yes. Please. You’re everything I want in my life. Everything I need. We’ll figure the rest out another day.”
“What in the ever-loving fuck is going on over there?” Liam growls. “Is this a soap opera or a behavioral meeting?”
“You sure about that, son?” Maverick asks me, bellowing. My mom appears beside him. Dad doesn’t make a move to tell her to leave their home office. “This the hill you want to die on, Luke?”
“My daughter is not a hill, Mav,” Liam barks. “Watch your mouth.” Testosterone and alpha males collide.
Maverick clears his throat. “No, no, of course not. I meant that marriage is forever and sometimes flings aren’t forever. You understand that.”
Liam agrees, then says. “Aarabelle. Honey, please think about this. You might get a mark on your record and have to deal with some red tape for a while but this will go away. You don’t need a husband to make this go away. Especially a man who only wants to marry you to save his ass.”
“Look at me,” I tell Aara. “Look me in the eye.”
She does, and it confuses me even more. I have no idea what she’s thinking. “I love you. I don’t care about my ass. I want you forever. That’s the only thing I care about right now.”
Her silence is deafening. Maverick and Liam are arguing, though it’s not aggressive. More of a volleying of ways to fix what we’ve done. “You’re having a baby with someone else.” That’s her reply. “I might love you, but I’m not ready for that, Luke.”
“What the fuck!” Maverick roars, hearing Aara’s reply. My mom screeches into the webcam. “Who is it? A baby? I cannot be a grandma right now.” My chief gets the meeting under control and directs them back to the matter at hand.
I close my eyes and grab Aara’s wrist. I slide a black Cartier band on her left hand. “I wanted to find someone to die for. Love is a meaningless currency unless you can back it with something. I back my love for you with my entire existence. With all I possess. I’ve had physical attachments before and mistakes were made, but this is what happens when you bottle up love for your entire life, waiting for the right person.” I release a hopeful breath. “From the moment I laid eyes on you, I knew no one could love you better.”
She sets a hand on my cheek. It’s cold in this hot as fuck office. She says my name and I know what her reply is going to be.
An unmistakable sound fills the air. Gunshots. The whistling and popping can be heard from our position adjacent to the captain’s quarters.
“Plan B, the pirates are getting unruly!” Chief calls out, slamming his palm on the button by the door. It’s the panic alarm and tells everyone to get to stations.
My dad’s eyes grow large and worried when I turn to face him. “Love you, son,” he whispers right before the screen garbles, then cuts off.
When I glance over my shoulder, Aarabelle is gone. The crutches are on the floor next to her chair.
