Page 10 of California Wild

She stared at it.

Felt too much and nothing all at once.

Then—

“Who’s that?” Caiden asked casually, reaching for his guitar.

Hayley locked her phone instantly.

“No one.”

Caiden’s eyebrow twitched, but he let it go.

For now.

But she could feel it—the weight of Jesse’s words sitting heavy in her hands.

The first real apology he’d ever given her.

And she had no idea what to do with it.

Chapter 3

Naval Base Health Center – Tuesday

Jesse wasn’t expecting a response. It had been twenty-four hours since he sent the message. Two days since he stood in the back of The Black Coast and let Hayley’s voice crack something in him all over again.

But the silence still sat heavy.

Not that it mattered. He had other shit to focus on. Right now, that meant physio.

He stretched out his right leg, easing into the motion, testing for tightness. It had been bothering him since their last deployment—a bad landing during a training jump, nothing major, just enough to be annoying.

The base health center was mostly empty, mid-morning light filtering through the high windows. San Diego sun, clear blue sky. Seemed unfair for the day to be this damn nice.

Jesse pulled against the resistance band, rolling his shoulder, muscles stretching tight. His body was a machine, and maintenance was part of the job.

The time between deployments was just keeping their bodies in top condition. If they weren’t in the field, they were working out, doing range drills, sitting through tactical refreshers., running team scenarios—and, his personal favourite, endless fucking paperwork.

The Navy didn’t like idle SEALs.

“Thought I might find you in here.”

Jesse exhaled hard, dropping the band as Heath Carrington stepped into the room.

Tall, clean-cut, too put-together for a guy who spent years stitching people up in war zones. Brown hair just starting to gray at the edges, reddish beard trimmed short. A sharp contrast to Jesse’s golden-blond mess of waves and ink-covered skin.

Jesse wiped the sweat from his forehead. “Yeah? What gave it away?”

Heath smirked. “You mean besides the fact that I know every injury in this platoon like the back of my damn hand?”

Jesse snorted, grabbing his water bottle. “That obvious, huh?”

“Just a little.” Heath folded his arms, watching him like he was assessing damage. Jesse was used to that look—it wasn’t scrutiny, not like his LPO, Colson Shaw, and his constant, waiting-for-him-to-fuck-up stare. Heath saw through bullshit, but he didn’t push unless he had to.

Jesse ran a hand over his face. “You here to babysit or what?”

“Nah,” Heath said, easy. “Just wanted to talk.”

---