“What do you want, John?” Evan shifted in the saddle, trying to alleviate the pressure to his crotch. “Aren’t you supposed to be busy?”
“Aren’t you busy? Why are you still talking to me if you have a woman with you?”
Evan rolled his eyes. John couldn’t see him, but he would hear the gesture when he pitched his voice low to say, “I’m riding a horse, dumbass. Majesty’s full of spunk today.”
Speaking of which, Evan made another clicking sound with his tongue and urged Majesty into an easy walk. He’d raced the four-year-old ball of energy around the exercise track until they were both sweaty. They could use a cool down.
John groaned. “It’s so early. How can you function at this hour?”
Evan gazed up at the sky. Early? It had to be close to nine a.m.. “I’m a Navy SEAL. I can function at any hour.”
“Doesn’t the Navy give you Sunday’s off?”
Evan shifted Majesty’s direction and pointed them both toward the barn.
“Sometimes.” Not today, though. He had to log some time in at the shooting range before the end of the day. He was headed there next. “Why? You need something?”
“Just another item for your wedding to-do list.”
Great. “What is it?”
He maneuvered Majesty into the paddock. Evan swung his leg over, slid to the ground, then immediately started removing her tack.
“I talked to the tuxedo rental company, and they can’t accommodate our new date. I need you to call around and see if you can find a place where we can get them. Nothing fancy. Basic black and white. No bow ties. I want a standard straight tie.”
“So, a black suit.” They’d had this discussion before. Evan didn’t see the point in renting clothes John already had in his closet. Weddings made people crazy.
“A black tuxedo. There is a difference.”
Evan didn’t think so, but he wasn’t the one getting married. “All right. I’ll find a place, and then the groomsmen can take it from there.” Evan would wear his dress uniform, so there was no need for him to be involved beyond setting the ball in motion.
“Great. Thanks, man. By the way, how are things with Presley?”
Evan’s pulse jumped at the sound of Presley’s name. He’d managed to go a whole ten minutes without thinking about her.
Evan grunted as he lifted the saddle from Majesty’s back and dropped it onto a nearby rail. The saddle blanket followed. “She came out to look at the barn the other day.”
“Did she approve?”
“She did.” Now, he just had to get permission from his dad. It was a conversation he couldn’t avoid much longer.
John was quiet for a minute, then, “That’s it?”
Evan knew what his friend was fishing for, but he wasn’t taking the bait. Even if he knew how to verbalize what was going on in his head, he wasn’t prepared to discuss Presley with anyone. Not even his best friend. Not yet.
Time for a redirect.
“That’s it, unless you want to fill me in about the project you’re working on.”
There was some shuffling on John’s end of the line. “All I can tell you right now is that it could be a game changer. If the show is as big a success as the network believes it will be, Chloe can quit her job. She can retire completely if she wants, or take her time figuring out what she wants to do next. Hell, man. We might even go crazy and have a baby!”
Jesus. A baby?
Evan led Majesty to the water trough. He brushed a hand over her mane as she bent her head to drink. “How about we get you married first. Then you can start talking about knocking Chloe up.” He didn’t want to rain on John’s parade, but someone needed to keep the guy’s feet on the ground. Otherwise, he’d float away.
“You and Presley are in charge of that. Hey, I have another call coming in. I gotta run.”
“Later,” Evan said, though he knew his friend was already gone.
Evan hoped John knew and appreciated how lucky he was to have found a woman willing to put up with all of his idiosyncrasies.
Presley was right. What John and Chloe had was special. Not only because they’d been together for so long, but because out of the billions of people in the world, they’d managed to find the one person who was the perfect complement to themselves.
I want that.
The thought surprised him. His job made dating a challenge. Sure, he’d used his work cred in to get laid a time or two, but from the woman’s perspective, the novelty had always worn off. At some point, the orgasm’s faded, and the reality of his job took hold. The girl he was fucking would realize he couldn’t, wouldn’t be at her beck-and-call. Sometimes, there were tears. Most of the time, there was anger. Every time, he broke things off. Since he hated the entire process, he hadn’t had a steady girl in years. Just a string of one or two-night stands to take the edge off his sexual needs.
Why am I even thinking about this?
As if he’d spoken out loud, Majesty swung her big head around. Her velvet lips quivered as she ducked and nudged him with her muzzle.
“You’re right,” he told the filly. “I’m being ridiculous. It’s all this wedding nonsense.”
Evan grabbed the hose and turned on the water. He let the water run over his hand to check the temperature before he raised the nozzle and let the water flow over Majesty’s back and hind quarters.
Like an idiot, he kept talking. “My two best friends are tying the knot. They’re growing, making plans, and moving forward. It makes sense I’d question my own life in the face of their success, right?”
Or his envy made him the biggest jealous asshole on the planet. The jury was still out.
Evan finished cooling Majesty down with the hose and led her into the barn. That particular barn housed the animals owned by Evan’s family. The floor was dirt, but it was raked and swept regularly to keep it smooth and free from debris. There were twenty stalls, ten on each side, and a high vaulted roof overhead. The stalls were made of polished yellow pine slats with hunter green grills on the front and back.
The Lancaster private stock of horses were mainly used for recreation—trail and beach rides—but Majesty wasn’t quite ready to have strangers on her back. She was a rescue Josh had saved during Evan’s last deployment. By the time Evan had returned home a few months later, Majesty still hadn’t let anyone touch her.
Evan didn’t know why she’d chosen him.
“In you go, girl.” He opened her stall door and gave her rump an affectionate pat. Moving around to the other side of the stall, he opened the grill to the outside so, if she wanted, she could put her head out into the sunshine. As he reached for her brush, she nipped his ribs.
“Hey!” He pressed his palm to the top of her muzzle, lowering her head to make eye contact. “Is that how you repay me for taking care of you?”
Majesty pulled away and chuffed, puffing hot air across his collarbone.
Amused, Evan ran the brush down her glittering chestnut hide. Of all the horses he could’ve bonded with, of course it would be the most stubborn, willful animal ever born.
“I don’t think she likes you.”
At the sound of his dad’s voice, Evan lost his stroke. The brush rolled in his hand and bounced to the ground. They reached for it at the same time. His dad got there first.
Robert Lancaster cut an opposing figure, even at his age. He was tall and muscular from years of working the ranch. His hair was dark brown, like Evan’s, but the last couple of years had peppered it with gray.
“She likes me just fine.” As if to prove her loyalty, Majesty draped her head over Evan’s shoulder. He rubbed his cheek against hers in solidarity.
His dad’s gaze narrowed slightly. “You cool that horse down properly?”
Evan stepped forward and snatched the brush out of his dad’s hand. “I know what I’m doing.”
“Always did know better than anyone else.”
Evan pressed his lips together. Was that a compliment or a dig? Since Ev
an wasn’t jonesing for a fight, he ignored the comment and got back to work.
“Where’s Josh?” his dad asked.
“Having breakfast with his girl. I told him I’d take care of the chores.”
“We have people who can pick up the slack.”
“I’m sure you do, but Josh asked me to help, and I told him I would.”
“He shouldn’t have done that.”
Evan tossed the brush aside and pushed past his dad. Out from within the four walls of the stall, he felt like he could breathe again. “You should take that up with him.”
“I’m taking it up with you. You have enough to do without taking on a job you never wanted to begin with.”
Okay, Evan hadn’t seen that coming. “I don’t mind helping out when I can.”
“All the same, if you’re going to do the work, you should be paid. Turn your time into your mother, and she’ll write you a check.”
Evan considered whether or not he should be offended. He’d helped out before without so much as a hint of compensation. His dad offering to pay him now felt like a trap.
“I don’t need your money.” The Navy paid him well enough. Evan helped around the ranch because it gave him something to do while stateside. He helped because he enjoyed the challenge and the physicality of the work. He helped because, doing so, made him feel like he was an actual member of the fucking family.
Jesus Christ.
Evan needed a drink, and it wasn’t even close to noon.
“Believe me,” his dad said, “you’ve made it clear you don’t need anything from me.”
There were so many ways Evan could play that little comment. He chose the route that would actually turn this a productive conversation. “Actually, I do need something.”
His dad stood quiet for a minute, studying him with hard green eyes, much like his own. “What is it?”
“I need to use the round barn.”
His dad’s brows drew tightly together. “What for?”
“John and Chloe’s wedding. They’ve had to postpone for a few weeks, and finding a venue last minute is a challenge. John mentioned using the barn.”
“Why would he want to have it there?” his father asked, almost tentatively. “He’s your best friend. With everything that happened…”
“John doesn’t know,” Evan blurted. He ran a hand over his head and blew out a breath. “No one knows.”
That wasn’t entirely true. His mom knew. He was pretty sure his brother and sister had a vague idea, although they’d never discussed the subject outright. And, of course, his Navy recruiter knew, since showing up in Chicago with two cracked ribs meant Evan had had to delay his attendance at boot camp.
Evan swallowed the bitterness bubbling up in his throat. “I’d like to keep it that way. John thinks Chloe would love to be married in the barn. They don’t have a lot of options. If it’ll make them happy, I’m willing to set aside any feelings I might have about the place.”
“You’re still so angry.” His father’s words were barely audible.
That got Evan’s goat. He took a step in his dad’s direction, letting the man know he wasn’t intimidated. Not anymore.
“You don’t think I have a right?”
“What about my rights?” His father glared back at him. “I wasn’t the only one there that night, Evan.”
The words felt like a punch in the gut, sucking the air out of his lungs and causing pain to radiate through him.
His dad was right. He hadn’t been alone. To this day, Evan wasn’t sure who’d thrown the first punch.
Shit.
“Do you think I enjoy the animosity between us?”
“I don’t know, dad. How would I, since we can’t seem to be in the vicinity of each other without getting into a fight?”
“It’s been twelve years, Evan. How many times do I have to apologize?”
Was he serious?
“Once,” Evan yelled, his temper flaring hot and sharp. “Once would suffice.”
His dad stumbled back a step. “What are you talking about? I’ve apologized.”
“No, dad. You haven’t. Not to me. Not once.” Evan held up a palm. He was done. “Forget it. I’ll find another place for the—”
“No,” his dad said, his face suddenly pale and drawn. “You can use the barn.”
“Great. Thanks.” He needed to get out of there before he said something to make his father regret the agreement.
Evan nodded a goodbye and spun on his heel. He was so fucking tired. Tired of fighting with his dad. Tired of being angry. Tired of letting the past rule the present.
“I am sorry for what happened that night,” his dad called as Evan stepped out into the sun. “You have to believe me. I’m truly sorry for what I did.” His dad’s voice cracked. “I thought I…it doesn’t matter. I’m sorry, Evan,” he said again.
Evan closed his eyes at the words he’d waited twelve years to hear. The words didn’t cause a visceral sense of forgiveness to wash over him, no immediate desire to brush the past off as water under the bridge.
He drew in a deep breath. His chest felt lighter. It was a start.
And then it dawned on him. Evan had never said the words either. He’d been so wrapped up in his own anger and resentment for what he’d lost, he hadn’t stopped to consider his dad might’ve been waiting for his own apology.
Slowly, he turned toward his father. “I’m sorry, too,” he said softly, meaning the words he wished he would’ve said sooner.
“If we could go back—”
“We can’t,” Evan said firmly and raised his face to the sky. As the sunshine warmed his face, he thought about Presley. “But maybe we could go forward.”
6
“You’re all a bunch of fucking girls.” Evan reclined back in his chair. He folded his arms over his chest as he glared at the guys around the table. “I thought we were having lunch, not a hen party.”
McP’s Pub was a notorious hangout for Navy SEALs. Today was no exception. Evan had come to the pub to grab lunch and a beer with C-Note. However, they were quickly joined by Rooster and Tucker “Tuck” Lawler. Tuck was a former teammate who’d recently gotten out of the Navy. And before the waitress could slip C-Note her phone number, Evan’s buddies Asher “Knots” Dillon and Aiden “Rocket” Stone—SEALs from different teams—had joined their not-so-little group.
The phone number thing would happen, though. The only question was how long it would take. Evan and Rooster had a bet going.
Asher sat forward. “You started it by asking where I rented the tuxedos for my wedding. You can’t say shit like that and expect us to ignore it.”
Aiden picked up his phone. “We got ours from a place…” His eyebrows lowered as he thought. “I can’t remember the name. Gentlemen’s Club or…” Aiden moved his fingers over the screen.
“Sounds like a strip joint,” Tuck noted.
“A strip wedding. Now, there’s an idea I could get behind,” C-Note said, his gaze elsewhere. “Instead of tossing the garter to the single guys at the reception, the bridesmaids could toss their dresses, and then dance on poles.”
“Dance on your pole, you mean,” Rooster joked.
“I’m not throwing a strip wedding.” Evan turned to see what had captured C-Note’s attention. A blonde model-type with huge tits, a tiny waist, and long legs sat at the bar.
Of course. He should’ve known.
The woman was chewing on the end of a stir stick in a way that almost made Evan feel sorry for C-Note’s dick, because there were definite I’ll suck you off in the bathroom vibes coming from the chick.
“The Tux Club,” Aiden blurted and slapped his palm against the table. “I knew it had club in the name. I just sent you a text with the info.”
A second later, Evan’s phone dinged.
“I’ll be back in a minute.” C-Note stood up. “Order me a beer, will you?”
Since they’d finished training for the day, the group saw no reason not to have a
few drinks. None of them were expected back on base until tomorrow.
Evan watched his chances of winning his bet with Rooster die as C-Note made a jerking motion with his head, and then sauntered toward the bathrooms. Not subtle in the least, the woman hopped off her stool and followed, that fucking straw still between her lips.
“You owe me fifty bucks.” Rooster beamed.
Evan cursed and reached for his wallet. He pulled out the money and handed it over. “I would’ve won if the waitress had been a little faster.”
“Cut her some slack,” Tuck defended. “For a weekday lunch hour, this place is hopping.”
Smarting from the loss of cash, Evan tossed out another idea. “My fifty bucks back says he doesn’t return unscathed.”
Rooster’s expression turned suspicious. “What do you mean?”
“Didn’t you see the way she was gnawing on that straw-thing?” Evan asked. “Chick’s a biter. Guaranteed.”
“That little thing? No way.” Rooster scoffed and stuck out his hand. “You’re on.”
As they shook, Asher turned to Tuck. “How’s things with you? Everything at the bar good?”
The last year hadn’t been easy for Tuck. He’d gotten out of the Navy in order to care for his sick mom full-time. Her care was expensive, so Tuck took a job on a ridiculous reality show. At the same time, he’d accepted another job—one more suited to Tuck’s talents. Bridgman’s Bar hired him to uncover a drug dealer who had been dealing out of the bar.
The reality show had turned out to be an absolute fiasco. Shocker. And sadly, Tuck’s mom passed away. But during his time at Bridgman’s Bar, Tuck had found the love of his life—Jodi Bridgman, who co-owned the bar with her dad.
And another one falls.
Damn. Evan was starting to feel like the odd man out. Asher and Aiden were married with kids, both completely in love with their respective spouses and children. Rooster was crazy about his Casey. Now, Tuck had Jodi.
One day soon, Evan wouldn’t have any single friends left. Well, except C-Note. When it came to being single, that dude was a lifer.
Hot SEAL, Best Man (SEALs in Paradise) Page 5
