Page 5 of Body Shot

Marco chokes on his beer.

“Wrap your whacker before you attack her,” I add with a grin.

Cade nods. “You can’t go wrong if you shield your dong.”

“Enough.” Marco holds up a hand. “I still think you’re overcompensating a little.”

The air immediately goes static around us. Cade’s face darkens and his eyes narrow at Marco. “Shut the fuck up.”

“Look, I don’t mean anything by that. I’m just saying . . . you don’t have to prove your masculinity. You’re fine.”

“I am now.” Cade’s jaw sets. “And I’m not trying to prove anything.”

Marco and I exchange looks. Yeah, we totally don’t buy that bullshit. But Cade refuses to talk about this.

“You never give Mr. Smooth here a hard time.” Cade’s annoyed gaze lands on me and he lifts his chin. “You do as many chicks as I do.”

I laugh. “Not possible.”

Yeah, I like women. Ilovewomen. And they like me too. I’m not being cocky, it’s a fact. I enjoy being free and single. Who wouldn’t?

“You two are disgusting,” Marco says.

“You’re just jealous.”

“Fah.”

“What did you just say? Fah?”

“I was about to tell you to fuck off.”

Inevitably talk turns to business.

“So Saturday’s our first tequila tasting evening,” Marco reminds us. “This should bring in some business.”

“Let’s hope so.” Cade sighs. “We need to pick things up.”

“We’re doing fine,” I say.

Cade slants me a frown. “Says the guy money doesn’t matter to.”

“It matters to me.”

“Only because you have so much of it.”

I swallow a sigh. I thought we were past the fact that I’m loaded.

We’ve been together for the most part of the years we were SEALs. The intense, fast-paced training along with practical jokes, good-natured ribbing and roughhousing during off time, as well as the intense focus and danger while on ops banded platoons together like brothers, but Cade, Marco, and I found a special bond. We all made the decision to leave the Navy around the same time and had to figure out what we wanted to do with the rest of our lives. When Marco made a joke about opening a tequila bar because we drank so much of the stuff (his nickname had been Jose) we all laughed. Then I revealed that I had a trust fund tucked away that would allow us to make that a reality. They knew who my family was, and how wealthy they were. They also knew I hated my family and didn’t have much to do with them, but they had no idea that I personally inherited a whack of money from my grandfather, which I’d never touched.

They were kind of pissed I’d never told them that.

What the fuck. I don’t care about the money. Money means shit to me. But I have to admit it had felt good to be able to step up and offer it so we could finance our business. What started as a joke has developed into so much more, although it’s different for each of us.

For me, I don’t care if we make money . . . I thought a tequila bar sounded fun. But dammit, I want to be successful, and the money is validation that we’re doing a good job. Cade is driven to succeed too, but for different reasons. He grew up in a totally different socioeconomic environment than I did, and for him the money is power and security he never had as a kid. For Marco, succeeding is a way of proving himself worthy. The business is also a constant in his life, like the Navy was. None of us ever had the support of our real family, so we became family for each other.

Even though the money doesn’t matter to me, it matters to Cade and Marco. We all shared the same drive to be the best when we met in BUD/S training, and I won’t let my buddies down. We all make our own contribution and, for me anyway, it’s fun, and also . . . a good way to meet hot chicks.

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