Page 1 of Ex-SEAL Bad Boy

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ETHAN

A shrill shriek pierces the lazy afternoon calm.

It’s not that uncommon; a lot of kids and teens horse around on this beach. The second time it’s more insistent, filled with terror.

Squinting my eyes against the glare, I scan the water and quickly spot the source. About 50 yards from the shoreline is a young girl struggling in the surf. The pattern of the waves paired with the appearance of the outflowing current tell me she’s caught in a rip current. Not that uncommon on this stretch of the coast.

As a former Navy SEAL, my instincts immediately kick in, and I plunge into the water. It’s colder than I anticipate, butinvigorating as I swim out toward where the girl is struggling to stay afloat.

As I get nearer, I see that she isn’t as young as I first thought, maybe early to mid-20s. Something looks familiar about her, but in a small college town, all these girls tend to look the same.

“It’s OK, I’ve got you,” I reassure her as I grasp her in the rescue position, passing my right arm beneath her armpit and wrapping it across her lower chest while using my left to paddle perpendicular to the shore to get out of the rip current.

The powerful muscles in my shoulders and upper arms ripple with the effort.

This is always the risky part. Sometimes, even the most capable lifeguards drown when the person they’re saving panics and fights back.

Fortunately, she’s not struggling, and I manage to pull her into shallow water. By this point, the gaggle of young women who were apparently her friends come running out into the surf in an attempt to help.

I order them to make a path and drag her to a spot where I can examine her.

She’s alert but obviously exhausted. Her pupils are responsive, and she seems to be breathing OK. When I’m in rescue mode, I rarely look for anything other than consciousness and vital signs, but I can’t help but notice her long, toned legs and slender physique, clad in a revealing salmon-colored bikini.

Confident that she’s going to be OK, I help her into a sitting position.

She coughs before speaking. “Oh my God, thank you so much, I … I don’t know what happened, I was just swimming and didn’t think I was too far out, and then, just … I don’t know.”

That voice! It hit me like an avalanche.

“Sophia?”

She looks at me for a few seconds before recognition dawns in her eyes.

“Ethan,” she spits, her emerald eyes flashing with barely concealed disdain.

Yes, we have a history.

“How’s your brother?” I ask.

“Better since you left,” she says, struggling to her feet.

Liam Delgado has been my best friend since childhood, and his sister Sophia, the girl who I had just saved from drowning, is his little sister.

Four years Liam’s junior, Sophia was what some people refer to as an “oops baby.” Even though she was unplanned, Liam loved her. It gave him a chance to be the big brother he had always wanted to be. I didn’t understand that at all. I had been an only child, and I liked it that way. I always got all of the attention. Italso meant that when my parents died, I would inherit the family business, and quite a profitable business it was.

I can’t say I blame Sophia for being angry. She never liked me and thought I was a bad influence on her brother. It’s probably true, at least in part.

My family’s business interests, which are considerable, are not always completely on the legal side. As a matter of fact, we keep a sizable retinue of attorneys on retainer to ensure that everything appears to be above board.

Even as a child, Sophia learned from her friends at school that the Blackwoods were a “bad” family and she should never trust them.

The funny thing was that my own family considers me something of a “black sheep.” I joined the Navy just out of high school with the intention of becoming a member of the elite Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) team.

I was already physically fit, having played football and wrestled in high school. I was also a certified scuba diver, so entry into the program was a cinch.

For me, it was never about serving my country, it was all about being the best of the best, both physically and mentally. Of course, being the son of a very socially prominent and wealthy East Coast family, my decision to enlist in the Navy – as an enlisted man no less – was something of an embarrassment to them.

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