Page 65 of Salute, To Bravery
“What about an MC?” I suggested, and Maelstrom’s eyebrows shot up.
“A biker gang?” he asked.
“No.” I scowled and shoved the last of my sandwich in. I chewed and swallowed quickly. “A club, not a gang. We all love riding, we’re going to stick together, why not build a club? How about we open a couple of businesses and use the club to recruit former armed force members? We can do charity rides and shit.”
Maelstrom thought it over.
It was a good idea; I just hoped he’d accept it. To him, MCs meant drugs, gun running and so on. His father had joined one before killing himself, drugged up to the eyeballs on an illegal drug run. It was karma at her best.
“We could make that work,” he finally replied.
“We’ll tell the others together. Get them to figure out what type of business we want. We can pool our savings, and we’d have plenty. DiMarco has that land his grandfather left him in South Dakota. We’ll head there and set up. It’s close to Box Elder, which has an Airforce base near it, I think.”
“Not sure,” Maelstrom said.
“There’s some sort of base there. Maybe we can open a bar to catch the service personnel. They’d be more likely to visit one run by brothers than not,” I stated.
“Good idea.”
“Guess it’s down to me to tell the rest? Where are they?” I asked.
Maelstrom broke into a grin. “Where do you think?”
I groaned. The camp provided a space for us to relax. We played soccer on it or basketball, anything really that gave us some exercise. And Kaitlin, with her competitiveness, was a nightmare. The base knew not to challenge her, but inevitably, they ended up facing her on the field. I shook my head and hoped she’d not pissed too many off.
Denning
I sat and listened to Anders and Maelstrom and wondered what I thought about becoming a civilian again. Surprisingly, it didn’t bother me as much as I thought. I’d certainly not experienced Maelstrom’s concerns, but I was bored, but not by the army. The way we lived wasn’t for everyone, that was certain. A lot of soldiers suffered homesickness and depression. We always watched over those who didn’t receive mail or letters from home. We deemed them a higher risk of depression as they felt so isolated.
But I’d had enough of the sand, the harsh hot wind, the cold nights, and going without. The others teased me, but I loved my bubble baths and bath bombs. I adored beautifully scented shower gels. But that wouldn’t be enough compensation for giving this up. This was all we knew; how would we cope? That worried me. It wouldn’t be easy to slip back into mainstream life. We all had signs of PTSD; they may not be full-blown, but they were there. Even on base, we slept with our weapons at our sides and one eye open. How would that translate into living like normal people?
The camp suggestion interested me. We’d not have to deal with idiots who could trigger one of us. As everything was about comfort and easy access back home, we could easily have what we needed delivered and stay away from people. The othersmight talk about opening a bar, but that wasn’t a great idea for me. Truthfully, I hated people. I was sure I’d find something to do, but being around pricks who’d no idea what the army entailed made me want to rip their heads off. Self-entitled jerks meant nothing to me except target practice.
Curious about what the others were thinking, I glanced across to Foster and saw the hope on her face, although she was trying to hide it. Nobody had seen the relationship between her and Rogers coming. We all knew how choosey she was, and being a virgin at twenty-seven had bothered her. So, picking Rogers and then building something with him had surprised everyone.
Theirs had been a slow burn, but they were stronger for it.
At first, Rogers had kept trying to protect her, which led to Foster kicking his ass. Now he was back to respecting her skills and recognising she wasn’t the little woman who needed protecting; they were fine.
Sure, I’d had a few flings, but I ensured the men involved knew I was scratching an itch and nothing else. The guys had done similar, but Foster was different. That was because of what had awaited her if we hadn’t joined. And that girl had guarded her virginity like it was the gold in Fort Knox.
Was Foster dreaming of her and Rogers settling down together? I glanced across at Rogers and saw his gaze was firmly focused on Foster. There was a strange look in his eyes. I recognised it, but not in one of us. Rogers was thinking of the future and the white picket fence.
Shock hit me hard because I’d not seen it coming. I wasn’t jealous, and overall, after studying my feelings, I was happy for them. But becoming Mr and Mrs Civilian had never crossed my mind, but it clearly had for Rogers. Wow!
I caught Maelstrom’s eyes, as he looked away from Foster and Rogers. He held mine for a few seconds before he glancedaway. And again, I was shocked. There was pain and jealousy in his. Damn, I’d never seen that coming; Maelstrom had feelings for Foster, but was keeping them silent.
Respect rose inside me. Burying his emotions would hurt Maelstrom, but he was doing so out of love for Rogers. My sympathy went out to him.
Despite his reputation, he was more than that. Maelstrom had always felt deeply, and I didn’t doubt that some of those women he’d slept with he’d cared for. But he was pigeonholed into the man whore role, and nobody took him seriously. Shit, I even knew one woman who’d asked him if he bought his bed buddies dinner. Maelstrom was more than his dick. The bitch had needed a real slap, but Maelstrom had stopped me.
“What do you think, Denning?” Anders inquired, and I glanced up.
“Whatever the majority votes on, Anders. I don’t have an opinion about this one way or another,” I replied.
Anders held my gaze, and I let him see that this didn’t really bother me. All that mattered was staying together. Finally, he nodded.
“Okay, Denning,” he drawled before turning to DiMarco.
