Page 52 of Trust No One

“Married?” Dev asked. “Kids?”

“Nah,” Johnson said. A shadow crossed his face. “Too busy to get involved with anyone. Didn’t want to be tied down, anyway. I lived for the action. The high of an operation. The frog hogs. Got plenty of action from them. I didn’t need a wife cramping my style.”

The frog hogs had never held any appeal for Dev. He had no interest in a woman who wanted a SEAL as a notch on her bed.

But he’d been doing the same thing as Johnson. Just with a different kind of woman.

Uncomfortable with his realization, Dev picked up his glass and took a long drink. “This seems like a good place to hang out,” he said to Johnson, hoping to steer the conversation away from life choices he didn’t want to think about.

‘Yeah. I’m here pretty much every night. I have a few beers, pick up some carryout and go home. Fall asleep drinking beer and watching TV.”

Johnson took another sip of his beer, a flash of sadness crossing his face.

“Really?” Dev said, sad for his old friend at the smallness of his life. “That’s all you want to do with your life?”

“It’s all I know, man.” Johnson shrugged. “I’m too old to change my ways. And I’m used to being alone.” In spite of his words, loneliness etched grooves on either side of his old friend’s mouth. “I got no one to nag me. No one telling me to do shit. I take out the garbage when I feel like taking it out. Eat when I want to eat and where I want to eat.”

“So you’re happy?” Dev asked.

Johnson shrugged one shoulder. “I’m… content. I like the peace and quiet.”

“Isn’t living by yourself too quiet, after being a SEAL?” Thank God Dev’d had Blackhawk Security to keep him busy. Engaged.

What was he going to do now?

“Nah,” Johnson said. “It’s… restful, you know? No one shooting at me. No one shouting orders at me.” But Dev could see the lie in his eyes. Being alone all the time was soul-eating.

If Dev were being honest, going back to the compound by himself every night had been hell, knowing Mel was there but completely off limits.

“You’re not looking for someone in your life? Someone to, you know, share things with?”

Johnson hunched over his beer. “Nah. Got used to it on the teams. Not so different now.” He swiveled to study Dev. “What about you? Still in the SEALs?”

“Nope. I got out several years ago.”

Johnson took a long drink of his beer. Set the empty glass on the bar, and Dev motioned for the bartender.

“Put it on my tab,” he said. “I’m in that snug.”

The bartender raised one eyebrow. “With that gorgeous woman?”

“Yep.”

Johnson craned his head to see into the snug, but he had the wrong angle. Then he turned back to Dev. “So what do you do now that you’re out of the SEALs?”

Skipping over his stint in the CIA’s SpecOps program, Dev said, “I run a security company with Mel Melbourne. You ever meet her?”

“Yeah, met her in Afghanistan. She’s scary smart. And hot as hell.” He nudged Dev’s shoulder. “You banging her?”

Was that howhe’dthought of women? As someone to bang? Is that how he’d thought of Mel? Shame washed over him and closed his pharynx. That’s exactly how he’d thought of women, other than Mel. He cleared his throat. “Mel and I are strictly business.”

“You gotta rethink your priorities, man,” Johnson said, elbowing him. “Me? I’d be all over her.”

But she wouldn’t be interested in you. Mel wasn’t interested in one night stands. And she deserved better than someone like Johnson.

But wasn’thejust like the other former SEAL? He’d been acting like it at The Trail’s End in Helena.

Had he treated Mel that way?

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