Romance: The Bad Boy Affair: A Second Chance Romance

by Veronica Cross

  Bradley wanted to fill the time with something besides just banal memories. He wanted to really make something of himself. That meant seeing the world, and growing up. For Bradley there had been no better way than joining the military, and no better thing to be in the military than a Navy SEAL.

  Of course, being a SEAL had its down sides. First and foremost, the thing that impacted Bradley on the daily, was the fact that he'd been stationed out at Twenty-Nine Palms in Southern California. It was a military base notorious for how terrible the conditions were. When airmen were located at the base they received extra pay. But not the Marines, the branch the base actually belonged to. No, the Marines had to endure the hardship with no extra pay.

  And it was a hardship; Bradley knew this to be certain. He'd learned it over his time spent at the base, which had been boring. The hardship had been made more so because of this. Had Bradley had something to do, some kind entertainment, maybe it wouldn't have been so bad. But the stumps, as the base was called in reference to the palm trees in its name, didn't have much going on. The small community that had sprouted outside of the gates seemed to be made mostly of riffraff and other rabble. There were fights, lots of those, but Bradley wasn't the kind of guy to look forward to a bar fight where he might be stabbed or shot by a crackhead. Tattoo parlors were everywhere, and of course massage parlors that offered the stereotypical happy ending. The little spit of humanity on the other side of the base's gates wasn't something that Bradley relished even traveling through, feeling like he was a fish swimming in a scummy part of a river eddy. There was just something terrible about the way humanity chose to crawl in the shadow of the Marine's fort, but, of course, the Marines didn't care. Most of them were so hungry for any action or play they could get, that they would fight a cactus and try to mount a desert rabbit if enough alcohol was involved.

  And that's why Bradley was in especially good spirits today. He'd just found out that he'd be leaving the base and moving somewhere else, far away. He wasn't sure yet, he'd been out on the town, at the only burger joint he could stand, when one of his buddies had texted him the news. Bradley was anxious to find out what his future would hold as he rode in a taxi back to the gates of the base.

  The landscape around him was bleak, as the taxi cruised down one of the roads that connected the base to the small amount of humanity at its front. The desert crags of the local mountains seemed just close enough that he could reach out and touch them. The sun rays streaked across a sky the color of blush tinged with a soft orange hue. Bradley felt like the first day he'd come to the base, so many years ago. It was a feeling that made his feet feel a little lighter, put a spring in his step, and a smile on his face.

  Bradley was told he was a more handsome man when he smiled, but he wasn't so sure about that. He figured it was just something people said because they didn't know what else to say. This was one of those times he just couldn't stop smiling, and the woman driving his taxi kept looking back at him with a twinkle in her eye.

  “What's the good news?” she asked.

  Bradley couldn't help but blush. He wasn't used to having women hit on him. The base, belonging to Marines, wasn't integrated according to gender. Instead it was segregated with men and female barracks, and very few women anyway considering that the base was an infantry installation, and so few of the women who had made a go at the infantry made it so far. Bradley wasn't sure of the exact numbers, but however many had been able to make it through the Marines' grueling training hadn't been stationed on the base.

  “It's going to be good to serve in a place where there are women,” Bradley said. “I can't believe how long I've gone here, never seeing a woman. Well, it seemed like it, anyway. I guess there were women around, had to be.”

  “You know,” the woman driving said. “Nearly every person who gets out of this taxi says that.”

  Bradley chuckled and starred out the window, falling silent. There wasn't much need to speak. He was going to leave all of this place behind, never see the driver again. Never have to worry about the stupid base or any of its shortcomings. He was glad that soon, on his days off, he’d be able to go somewhere exciting instead of this small settlement.

  One of the worst parts of the stumps was that it was so far from anywhere. There just wasn't anything else around. Sure, Vegas wasn't that far away, but that didn't mean that it was easily accessible. It was hours away, and that meant renting a car.

  “I know you'll be glad to be gone,” the woman said.

  She was good looking, Bradley thought, the way that she had so many curves. She had short brown hair and a bright smile. Unlike the rest of the people who inhabited the bleak landscape, this one hadn't lost the part of themselves people lose when things are bad around them.

  “I'll sure as hell be glad to put all of this behind me,” Bradley said. “I guess I'm sorry we never ran into each other before. Leaving the base was never high on my priority list.”

  The driver chuckled, and Bradley realized she was much better looking than he had previously imagined. It made him feel strange to know that someone he might have been interested in could have been hiding under his noes the whole time.

  When they pulled up to the base, Bradley got out and paid the woman sheepishly.

  “Well, sailor,” the woman said. “I hope whatever port you end up in is better than this one.”

  Bradley smiled and turned to walk away without looking back. He heard the cab drive out of the parking lot, the woman turned on some soft jazz music and rolled down the windows.

  As Bradley walked into the small room he shared with another SEAL, he was tackled from behind.

  “You'll never believe where they're sending your sorry ass.”

  It was TJ, his roommate. TJ liked to wrestle Bradley out of nowhere. It was something that military people did to pass the time, and although Bradley had grown used to it, he still struggled with not actually losing his temper when it happened to him.

  “What the fuck, TJ,” Bradley said as he tossed him against the wall with a thud. “I know I've told you not to jump on me like that. I don't know what the fuck your deal is with having to have the jump on me to get anywhere in a wrestling match.”

  “You fucker!” TJ responded. “You always have to use brute strength!”

  TJ sat against the wall, panting; Bradley had knocked the breath out of him when he'd flung him against the wall.

  “So,” Bradley asked. “Where am I going?”

  “Hawaii,” TJ said.

  Bradley let out a whoop and jumped high into the air. TJ laughed and they both pulled a bottle of booze out of their wall lockers and started drinking. It was always good to celebrate with friends when things started to go better.

  “So where are you going,” Bradley asked. “Anywhere good?”

  TJ shrugged.

  “Just back to the coast. San Diego. Nothing big. You, my friend, are going out to the island of skirts and beaches. Can you imagine all of the fun you're going to have out there?”

  Bradley tried to shrug, like TJ had, but TJ wouldn't let him.

  “It's a big deal!” TJ said. “I know that you like to be a modest guy, but it's a big deal!”

  Bradley supposed it was a big deal. He didn't particularly like TJ, although TJ wasn't a bad guy. It was the stumps that had turned his attitude bad. He needed a change of pace, a change of place. There was more to life than just sitting around the desert.

  “We should head down to the enlisted bar and get a drink,” TJ said.

  Bradley shook his head in agreement.

  “I haven't been to that place since the first day I got to this terrible base. I guess it wouldn't hurt to go out like I came in, with a well-watered down whiskey served by a sour faced bartender.”

  TJ laughed. The on base bar was notorious for having less than friendly service. Something about serving disgruntled Marines beer all day and night turned their temperament less than friendly.

  When they got down to the local canteen Br
adley regretted coming, and so did TJ. The bar was full of depressed looking Marines who, undoubtedly, just wanted to get the fuck out of the stumps to another duty station that wasn't in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by nothing but predatory businesses and terrible people on the other side of the base's gate. TJ and Bradley had a few drinks, and then decided to head back to the barracks.

  “You know,” TJ said. “I know I won't miss this place at all. But at the same time, I also know that I'll have a hard time describing what it was, and what went on here. People think they know what life is when it's bleak, but they don't. Not like here.”

  Bradley was quiet. TJ had operated in and around the Middle East for several years, so his perspective on life was very different from the average person’s.

  “I know what you mean,” Bradley said. “But who cares, man. We'll get the hell out of here and never look back. Unlike all of the people who are more or less stuck here. I mean, who the fuck would want to live in this place?”

  TJ chuckled. They talked about how people got stuck living outside of the gates after they got out of the military, almost as if they needed someone to tell them how to live or they just couldn't manage it on their own; so instead of getting away from the base, they clung to it like a life raft. It made Bradley depressed to think about, but he was feeling better by the time they climbed the barracks winding stairs to their room.

  They didn't have long now until it would be time go and that was something that Bradley needed to have happen. It felt like another day in the God forsaken desert would smother him.

  Chapter 2

  The flight to Hawaii wasn't long. Bradley had a few drinks at the airport, then boarded the plane. Before he knew it he was waking up as the aircraft touched down. Bradley's head spun as he walked down the stairs to the tarmac. Everything around him was green, and birds were everywhere. It was a far cry from southern California. There were people everywhere, too, people that smiled and nodded at him. It wasn't like the stumps at all, where people had acted like everyone was garbage, or out to get them—which largely had been true.

  “Excuse me sir,” a young man said. “I think you're Bradley. I'm here to take you to the base.”

  Bradley nodded and followed the young man. Often times the SEALs would have a special operative sent out to chauffeur a new member to their unit; it was easier than dealing with people getting lost, or drunk at the bar. On the way to the base Bradley was quiet. He didn't want to bother the guy driving him around—Bradley didn't know if the driver had volunteered and was happy to be away from the base, or if it was one of those things where he'd drawn the shortest straw.

  “How are you doing back there?”

  It took Bradley a moment to register that the driver had spoken to him. Bradley was taken in by all the green around him, all the birds in the air, and there were what seemed to be small lizards running up and down the trunks of some of the trees. Life here was going to be very different than things at the stumps, and Bradley was grateful for that. It took Bradley a moment to rouse himself from thought to be able to respond.

  “Oh, I'm doing all right,” Bradley said. “It's just that this place is so different from my last base.”

  “Where are you coming from?” the driver asked. “By the way, my name is James.”

  “Hey, James,” Bradley said. “Nice to meet you. I'm coming from the stumps. It's a place--”

  James cut him off.

  “I was stationed there for a few years so I know all about it,” James said. “And yes, this place really is way, way better than that dump of a place. Here, although you're on an island, at least there is so much to do you'll never run out of things. Well, I guess you can get pretty close to doing everything, or so some of the people who have been here awhile tell me. But I'm not so sure I believe it.”

  The base right in front of them now, and Bradley was anxious to see how the accommodations were. James, as if reading Bradley's mind, piped up with exactly the information Bradley wanted to know.

  “The barracks aren't bad,” James said. “Nothing like what you're used to at the stumps. Everything in them works, and all the troops here are on the same page. It isn't like back at the stumps where half of the personnel have given up on life.”

  Bradley nodded, and felt a little more put at ease.

  “What do you do, James?” Bradley asked.

  “Not a whole lot,” James said. “I used to be large and in charge, but then I took shrapnel to the knee during an oil hop and haven't been the same since. Now I'm just waiting to process out—medical separation.”

  Bradley had heard similar stories, where people who had been legitimately injured had to wait forever to process out of the army because the military took so long to do anything.

  “What's an oil hop?” Bradley asked.

  James chuckled.

  “Friend, you'll get to know all about those,” he said. “But I'll clue you in a little in advance if you promise not to go around telling everyone I spilled the beans. Oil hops are actually all classified information, so this talk needs to stay super-secret, just between us as professionals.”

  Bradley nodded in agreement, and James continued.

  “Well, it's pretty much seizing an oil rig. It seems simple enough, but there are a bunch of things that can go wrong. And what can go wrong, usually does. So the opposition forces you'll face—mostly pirates and their ilk—will light fire to the structures and take hostages before you get there. All kinds of craziness. And then when you get there you'll have to wait around on standby, seeing if they'll actually use you or not. A lot of the time the negotiators that they bring in will end the whole thing without a shot fired. Other times, though, they'll send in the SEALs to take care of business. And that's about the only time I've been given clearance to shoot anyone I wanted. Of course, you'll want to avoid any collateral damage as it leaves a bad taste in the mouths of the locals. Although I've heard that, as of late, the local people have given a whole lot less of a fuck what happens on the oil rigs.”

  “Do you think they'll just start blowing them up and starting over?” Bradley asked. “I was reading about this the other night, about how it's really expensive to run these operations all the time, and how it's sometimes cheaper for a company to do the whole thing in and start over.”

  James laughed from his seat behind the wheel without looking back at Bradley. It was evident that he wasn't trying to have a chuckle at Bradley's expense, but just couldn't help himself.

  “No, that's all just propaganda to make people think twice about seizing an oil rig, and I guess it has aided in the decline of such things. But to answer your question, the rigs are just too damn expensive to give up like that. As much as the oil people would love to blow them up when the pirates take them, they can't. There is a bunch of data a rig collects as it drills, and also as it pumps up the oil. This data is even more valuable to the companies than the crude. So no, they'll still need SEALs, at least for the foreseeable future.”

  As they made their way through the base's security checkpoint Bradley saw one of the most beautiful looking women he'd ever seen walking down the base's main strip with what must have been her father. Her father was obviously the General in charge of the base.

  “Who is that?” Bradley asked.

  James chuckled.

  “Her name is Jasmine,” James said. “And let me tell you something, if you go after her and don't have the best intentions, the people around you will know, and the old man will be made aware of this in no time flat.”

  Bradley was listening, but he wasn't really hearing James and James knew it.

  “Hey, Bradley,” James said. “I know that we SEALs like to have hard heads, and even harder hard-ons, but you've got to listen to me right now. Jasmine is kind of off limits. I don't mean to tell you what to do, and hell, if you really want to find out for yourself, then maybe you should. I'm just saying, though, that Jasmine has cost several good SEALs I know a promotion, and a few of them have even l
ost rank over it. There is something to be said for tact, if you do think you need to find out for yourself what's going on with the General's daughter.”

  “Jasmine,” Bradley said. “That's a hell of a name.”

  James just chuckled and shook his head as they pulled up to the barracks.

  “You'll be bunking with me for now,” James said. “At least until I get out of here, then you'll have the room to yourself. The SEALs here don't have to share rooms usually, but you might end up with a roommate after me, just as well, because you are the new kid on the block here. Let me know if you need anything.”

  Bradley came back to the real world, his mind being pulled away from Jasmine for the first time since he saw her with her long black hair and hourglass shaped figure.

  “So, should I check in with the people in charge?” Bradley asked James.

  “I would,” James replied. “They'll most likely give you some kind of lame brief about the island and how under every rock there is a semi poisonous creature waiting to strike. I'm not sure how much I'd buy into all of that. I mean, I've been all over the island, doing all kinds of crazy things, and I think I got poison ivy one time—but that was it.”

  Bradley thanked James for the ride and, after depositing his gear and personal effects in his room, made his way to the duty station where he would need to check into the unit. When he got there no one was home. Bradley sat around the lobby a little bit until he realized it was Friday around five, and that meant the people who were supposed to be here had either taken off early and forgotten to lock up, or that they were hiding somewhere until the last minutes ticked by and they were finally released to go about their weekend.

  “Hey there!”

  A voice came from the back of the duty station. It was an old Sergeant, apparently ready to be off for the weekend. Bradley stood and shook his hand, not wanting to drag out the introduction any longer than the Sergeant wanted. The Sergeant looked him up and down, and then spoke.