Page 54 of Crashing Waves

I snorted and shook my head with disbelief. “Wow.”

“Right? Fucking wild, man.”

We shared a sigh as Sid drummed his fingers against the table. The night was winding down, and the bottles were empty. Time was dwindling, and we were both still exhausted from traveling. I looked up at Sid to meet his weary gaze, and he nodded in response.

“Yeah,” he said, replying to a statement I hadn’t said aloud, sliding out of his side of the booth. “Time to head out.”

I followed suit, pulling my wallet out of my back pocket to throw a few bills on the table—a tip for the waitress—then turned to Sid.

“Get home safe,” I said, holding out my hand. “I’ll drop you a line soon.”

We shook, and he clapped his palm against my back. “You too, Serg. Thanks for hanging out tonight.”

We headed toward the door together, then parted ways once we were outside. When I reached my car, Iturned to find Sid only a few parking spots down from mine. He lifted his hand, I lifted mine, and then in synchronization, we climbed into our separate vehicles and left the restaurant.

I drove back to Ricky’s apartment complex in silence, thinking about how strange life was. How the guy who had tormented my buddies and me during basic training could somehow, later down the road, become one of my best buddies—one who, at least presently, answered to me in the professional sense. It wasn’t an unhappy turn of events, nor would I have changed things. It was just odd how things like that justhappened, a progression that was so slow and stretched over time that I hadn’t noticed it even happening until I was sitting there, at a local burger joint, drinking a couple of beers and enjoying his company more than that of my best friend since middle school.

I wondered how things might’ve been different if I’d been stationed with one of the other guys. Would Greg and I have fostered as close of a friendship … or would we have learned that, with so much time spent together, we didn’t like each other as much as we’d thought? What about Matt or Justin? These guys … I hadn’t seen them in years. My only correspondence with them since AIT had been whittled down to the quick phone call and occasional letter. Sid was the last person I’d have expected to bond with so closely out of the group, and yet … here we were, all these years later.

Funny how things work out.

And it was at that moment that I turned into the parking lot of Ricky’s apartment complex. I parked my rental car in the spot I’d parked in the past few times I washome, ever since he had started renting the place. Then I opened the car door, exhausted and ready to crash on his couch, only to look straight across and through the steamed-up windows of Ricky’s beat-up Toyota.

And there, through the fog, I watched my best friend make out with my little sister.

“What the fuck?!”

I hadn’t meant to shout, but I did, slamming the door with such force that the two of them stopped kissing long enough to turn and watch as I rounded to Ricky’s driver’s side. I pulled his door open, reached inside to grab his arm, and wrenched him away from Lucy until he was dragged onto the asphalt, blackened in the night.

He held up his hands, blocking his face. “Max, wait, listen—"

But I wouldn’t listen. Icouldn’t. Not to him or to my sister, who was now screaming from inside the car for me tostop, stop, stop, as I threw a quick punch to Ricky’s jaw. And the bastard didn’t even try to fight back. He just held his hand to his face and winced as I threw another at the opposite cheekbone, splitting the skin.

“Max! Stop it! Stop!” Lucy continued to scream as she hurried out of the car. “Please!”

And when I saw the blood trickling down Ricky’s cheek and into his beard, I did.

Chest heaving and blood boiling, I stared at him, seething with hot,hotrage. “Lucy, get in my car,” I ground out from between clenched teeth.

“No,” she fired back, hurrying to stand between us.

I tore my eyes away from Ricky’s to face her. I stood over her, looking down into her sad, angry eyes as I thrustmy finger in the direction of my rented Ford. “Get in the goddamn car!”

“You don’t tell me what to do, Max,” she warned, her tone low and sounding more adult now than ever. “You don’t givemeorders. I’m not one of yoursoldiers.”

I took a step closer to her, so mad that I could feel my skin radiating with heat and rage. I towered over her, leering in a way I knew was menacing—and I hoped to fucking God she agreed—and stared into her narrowed eyes.

“You will get in that fucking car right now, or I’ll pick you up and put you in it myself,” I said.

Ricky took a step forward, holding a hand out toward me. “Max, calm down—"

Lucy held up a staying hand, shushing him immediately. God, he listened to her, like a little dog given a command from his owner.

How long has this been going on?I wondered as murderous wrath continued to clear a path through my veins.

My sister shook her head, never breaking her continuous glare.“You know who you sound like right now?” she whispered, quirking her lips in a sneer. “You sound likeDad.”

In an instant, my temper cooled as realization barreled over me like a damn freight train. The tension in my face loosened as I looked from her to Ricky, and then I stumbled backward at the sight of the blood on his face, almost like I was now seeing it through fresh, clear eyes.

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