Page 42 of What I Should Have Done

“Your what?” I asked, furrowing my brows.

Mikey rolled his eyes as Ford shook his head. Bernie gave me his ever-charming grin. “Duncan and I pulled a prank last year on Halloween. I made these tiny, button-sized explosives. They pop like those bang snap things you get as fireworks, but you don’t have to throw them or stomp on them or anything. They’re remote controlled.”

“Cool,” I nonchalantly said as the smile immediately fell from Bernie’s face.

“I just realized we all have mail, except for you, and here I am complaining about no snacks. Sorry, Scottie.” Bernie grimaced in my direction. Ford and Duncan glanced suspiciously at me but made no move to question why I didn’t have anything as they tore into their stories from people who loved them back home.

Honestly, the lack of any sort of contact from home wasn’t surprising, seeing as no one had even sent a simple hello since I shipped off to basic. “All good,” I mumbled, inhaling deeply as Bernie eyed me suspiciously for a moment and then tore open his envelope. Much had changed since being with this team, but this life without roots I lived remained the same.

A chill ran down my spine, and I cautiously slid my gaze to the man brooding across from me.

Mikey had yet to touch the envelope on the table, his eyes swirling like the ocean before a storm remained trained on me. A mask covered whatever he was thinking, his face set in stone with every chiseled feature perfectly in line.

Damn, I hated to admit that he was handsome… Especially when he’d had that grin on his fucking face after ripping that dude’s ear off. Hold up, Scottie. Appalled with my own thoughts, my brows furrowed together as I snapped my gaze to the gun parts scattered in front of me. Why the hell would you find something like that attractive? Better question, who in their right mind sees something as gruesome as that and thinks, well now my panties are wet? Sighing, I resigned to the shameful admittance that I did.

I’d found his arrogant ass attractive at that moment.

And I’d screwed things up concerning whatever strange modicum of friendship we’d been developing.

“Not gonna touch it?” Ford asked, seated to the right of Mikey, and nodded at the envelope. Hesitantly raising my gaze from the gun to the man across from me, he shrugged his shoulders. Veiny hands worked a rag over one of my rifle pieces again, casually unaware of my stare on fingers that I wanted on my skin again. A fire roared low in my belly, and I uncomfortably shifted my already crossed legs.

“Oh, come on, you haven’t even picked it up to see who it’s from,” Duncan encouraged from my left.

“I already know who it’s from and so do the rest of you. Who the hell else would write to me?” Mikey calmly explained, placing the black barrel down, and rolled his shoulders.

“Griffin might?” Bernie answered.

Mikey chuckled. “About what? We haven’t been out here long enough for shit to go down at home, and other than two fucked up missions, things have been…”

“Slow?” Ford finished for him, and a round of chuckles bounced around us.

“Well, if you’re not gonna—” Bernie shot his hand across the table and snatched up the untouched envelope before Mikey had a chance to stop him.

“Come on asshole, give it back. Or go throw it in the trash.” Mikey stretched out a hand, wiggling his fingers to have it returned.

But all Bernie did was grin and tear it open. Prying apart the envelope, his jaw fell open and his eyes bugged out of his head. “Either you fucking lied to us, or this girl is desperate.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Mikey asked, leaning forward as Bernie had yet to pull anything out of the envelope.

“Well…” He cocked a red brow and tipped his head. “I didn’t know you were into a full bush, man. And fucking fire-crotch at that!”

“The fuck?” Mikey’s gaze narrowed, confused, as my mouth fell open.

“You got sent a nude!” I exclaimed.

Every pair of eyes snapped to me, jaws crashing to the desert floor. Time stopped. It seemed even the soldiers hanging near us ceased to speak.

I swallowed stiffly. “What?”

Bernie narrowed his gaze, accusingly. “Did you see into the envelope?”

Pursing my lips, the air slowly escaped my lungs. “I’m a woman, but I’m not an idiot.”

“Also not a virgin then, eh?” Bernie pried, arching a brow.

“How the hell does me knowing what a bush is equate to me having fucked someone before?”

“Damn, with a dirty mouth like that, I feel like it’s 50/50,” Bernie quipped in response.

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