Page 27 of SEAL Mates

I pointed at him, thinking that Derek had a point. He was on the right track. “Of course, it could be a memoir. She moves in and we get to know her and see how things go from there. There’s no denying that we’re all attracted to her in one way or another.”

No one denied it, but it was obvious. We never all spoke about the same topic, but since Paula has been in town. Since we saw her that day, and Blake met up with her, well we have had more in common in one week then we had in a lifetime.

It was perfect and nuts at the same time. I couldn’t remember the last time I did anything on the spur of the moment but ever since this idea of being with a woman, sharing her not only in our home but in our lives I must admit I've felt like an excited kid.

“She’s got kids!” Blake spat out.

“We’re not telling her to move in for life. We’re just making her as some sort of experiment. We’re all grown men. We know what we want and we sort of agreed to share a woman. Maybe sharing her will let us know if it is the right thing to do. Maybe the better option is for us to go our own way.”

Blake nodded in agreement. “I must admit, living here lately has been a little depressing. You guys are great and I love you bro’ but fuck me, there must be more to life. It’s just we either eat together, sleep in the same house and then it’s work. Nothing more. It’s a bit of a shit show.”

I hated to admit that Blake and I didn’t agree on much but there was no denying the reasons why we moved in as one was dead in the water. Blake and I were long lost brothers living together to reconnect and Derek was my best friend. It seemed logical after we were dismissed, but then now it didn’t seem to be a good enough reason to stay together in this house.

“We talked to her about it. Put it to the test and see what she says.”

Blake shrugged, “What just like that?”

I nodded, and Derek agreed. A couple more shots of whiskey and we would be in her hotel room asking her to move in with us.

* * *

Three ex-SEALs slightly tipsy, desperately needing something to eat, but knowing if they did that then they would back out of the mission they had at hand.

We walked down the street, because we couldn’t drive here. We’d been drinking whisky and who knows if we were over the level, but we didn’t want to risk it. So, we decided to walk. Besides, when you lived in the big freeze, you were used to walking around in it.

“Do you know if anyone else is signing up to be interviewed?”Blake asked me. He loved to tease me about being a local sheriff, because he claimed I was more of a local therapist. Like Frank most people talked to me, to offload and tell me their problems rather than about official calls of duty.

“No one’s signing up.”

Derek said, “Not surprised.”

For a second it was as if we both remembered he was walking with us. Both Blake and I were side-by-side and he was behind us. There was enough space for him to walk in line with us, but it was as if he decided to be behind and wanted his own space, the same way I did before the pair of them turned up and started drinking my Tamnavulin Double Cask.

“I mean who the fuck wants to talk about when they served? The reason most of us don’t go to a therapist isn’t because we don’t need to go, but because we just don’t fucking want to talk about the past we want to move on.”

Blake chuckled, but said nothing and we both waited for him to say what was on his mind, but when it was clear he was too busy laughing and not wanting to share, Derek and I continued walking leaving his sorry laughing ass behind. We didn’t care as he kept on laughing until we couldn’t hear him anymore.

It was as if we walked even slower the nearer to the hotel we got, cars were dying down on the road, not so much because of the time, but more because of the drop in temperature.

“Maybe, walking wasn’t a good idea.”

“Yeah.”

Derek offered as an agreement. I couldn’t see his face, we had hats, masks, coats and boots on, we were wrapped up tight, and realistically we shouldn’t have been trying to speak but using all our energy to get there in one piece.

“Here goes nothing, the light is still on and we’re here.”

“Yeah.”

Derek was probably either nervous or drunk, and as he attempted to get up the stairs to the hotel, I realized it was the latter.

My brother was somewhere on the street laughing his head off, and Derek was slightly intoxicated. I could tell this wasn’t going to go down well.

Not at all.

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