Page 49 of Eight Years (The Trident Trilogy 1)

Chapter Twenty-Four

Outer Banks, North Carolina

2010

Mack listened to Millie’s voicemail as soon as he got back from training. She was mainly crying, but he had been able to make out something about the Rob kid she was dating, and that she had broken up with him. It was the last part of the message that made him head directly to his car to drive down to the Outer Banks. Millie said the boy wouldn’t leave her alone, and that he was stalking her. Mack had learned as Millie got deeper into her teen years that she was getting more dramatic with her language. But the sound of her crying, combined with using the word “stalker,” lit a fire in Mack that he knew couldn’t be subdued until he had a talk with this boy.

“You’re going to North Carolina? You know we only have a couple days before deployment,” Chase said, walking quickly behind Mack through the parking lot.

“Yeah, Millie left me a voicemail. Some boy’s been harassing her. I’m gonna work that out before we leave,” Mack said.

“Work it out? Yeah, how about I come down there with you, and monitor how this gets worked out before I have to pull your ass out of jail,” Chase said, grabbing Mack’s shoulder to stop him.

“No, man, I’m good. I’m good. Just need to have a little talk with him,” Mack said, shrugging off Chase’s hand.

Chase saw the gun outline under Mack’s T-shirt. “Why don’t you leave the weapons here then? I’ll hold on to your gun for you.”

Chase held out his hand. Mack begrudgingly handed him the gun.

“Maybe give me the knife, too,” Chase said, knowing there was at least one knife somewhere on Mack’s body.

“Ah, brother, I’m not going without my knife. You never know when you’re going to need to cut a bagel or something,” Mack said, getting into his truck .

“We need you on this deployment, dumb-ass. Try not to kill anyone,” Chase said, sighing as he turned back toward his own car.

As Mack started the drive down to the Outer Banks, he was thinking about the last couple times he had spent time with Millie. Even grown-ass men were stopping in their tracks to admire her. It made Mack want to have a talk with all of them individually, but for now, a talk with this Rob kid would do. Millie had been dating Rob for about six months, although Mack hadn’t met him yet. Rob was suspiciously unavailable every time Mack was in town. He’d thought for a while that Millie was making the boyfriend up. He was hoping it, actually. He still thought Millie was too young to be dating. But, his friend Carol had confirmed that Rob existed, and that he and Millie were an item. She told Mack that Rob was a nice young man from a good family, but Mack had always had his doubts, and this was confirming it.

Mack drove into town around noon. It was lunch-time at the school. The kids were eating at the tables outside when he arrived. He grabbed a kid who was walking through the parking lot, and gave him twenty dollars to point out which one Rob was. The kid gladly gave up the information. Mack had a feeling no one really liked this Rob kid.

Mack watched Rob from his truck. The kid was pretending to talk to his friends, but his head kept turning around to look at Millie’s table. I see you, kid. Just keep looking at her, and we’ll see what happens, Mack thought. Rob made his way over to Millie’s table. He snuck up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. Millie tried to shake his hands off, but Rob kept them firmly planted. Mack knew that Millie could take the kid down, and he wondered why she didn’t.

“Leave me alone!” Millie finally screamed as she stood up, and walked away. Mack hadn’t heard that tone in her voice before. She sounded scared, and that made every hair on his body stand on end.

He watched as Rob smiled at her and walked away. He knew he didn’t have the slightest intention of leaving her alone. Mack snuck in the school through the side entrance, just in time to see Rob entering the bathroom. He followed him in, locked the door, and used the door stop to barricade them in.

As he was standing at the urinal, Rob heard the door lock. He looked over and saw it was closed, but didn’t see anyone. He returned to his business. He was unzipping when he felt something on his neck. He whipped around, still exposed, to see Mack standing in front of him. He gasped at the sight of him. Rob hadn’t heard him approaching, and now this wild-looking man was standing six inches from his face.

“Sorry, man, I didn’t see you,” Rob said quickly, his voice cracking.

Rob tried to step around him. Mack almost imperceptibly moved his leg to block Rob’s exit. Mack didn’t say anything, just staring at Rob, breathing on him. Rob moved quickly backward, almost falling into the urinal. Mack smiled and pulled an apple out of his pocket. He started peeling it with the knife he had pulled out of his waist-band. He peeled the apple so precisely that the thin scraps were slowly floating to the ground like little red kites.

Without looking up from the apple, Mack said quietly, “Millie is off-limits to you from this moment on. You don’t look at her. You don’t talk to her. You don’t get near her. You understand that?”

Mack looked up, his eyes almost searing a hole into Rob’s forehead who stood as still as a statue, stunned in to silence. Rob’s eyes started to water and sweat began to drip from his forehead. He nodded vigorously, still not able to speak. Mack reached over and wiped both sides of his knife clean on Rob’s shirt. As Mack walked slowly away, Rob’s bladder emptied involuntarily on to the bathroom floor.

Mack headed to the school office. The school secretary hesitated when he said he’d like to take Millie out of school for the afternoon. He didn’t blame her. He knew he didn’t look much like the other dads. She hesitantly called for Millie over the PA.

“Dad, what are you doing here?” Millie came flying into the office, and jumped into Mack’s arms. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, sweetie, I’m fine. I just wanted to see you one more time before I left on deployment,” Mack said. “I have a few hours. Do you want to go down to the beach?”

“Like instead of being in school?” Millie asked. “Umm, of course!”

Mack signed her out with the still-dubious secretary, and they headed down to the beach with Millie jabbering all the way.

“Dad, did you get the message I left you? I broke up with Rob, and he was being an idiot, like following me around, and stuff. But, it’s weird. Like just ten minutes ago, I passed him in the hall when I was coming to the office to see you, and he wouldn’t even look at me. Like, he literally ran into a locker to get away from me. Isn’t that weird?”

“Yeah, that’s weird,” Mack said, smiling. “Maybe he figured out what a badass you are, and he doesn’t want to mess with you anymore.”

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