Page 27 of Wild Like Us
He can offer her more than I can.
All I have is love to give, and seeing as how Akaracangive that if he gets his head out of his ass, I’m going to come up short in the horse race.
I know that.
I know that.
Taking a deeper breath, I try to be okay with the state of things.Semper Gumby.Always flexible. I go where the wind blows me. Where I’m needed most.
Today it’s in an REI.
Akara and I stand at the end of a shopping aisle. Both our eyes are planted on Sulli as she searches through a bin of plastic camping plates. Out of earshot of our client, Akara whispers to me, “Why were you flirting with her in the Jeep?” If we weren’t friends, he’d have skewered me by now. And I’m not all innocent. I do enjoy busting Akara’s balls now and again.
“Better question is whyyouwere flirting with her in the Jeep.”
He adjusts his earpiece. “I wasn’t.”
“That’s horseshit,” I whisper back, our eyes never leaving Sulli. “You threw a dirty sock at her.”
“You insinuated she was hot enough to fake-drown for.”
“Sheis,” I say. “Tell me fourteen-year-old Akara wouldn’t fake-flail in the deep-end hoping she’d dive down and rescue your ass?”
“I wouldn’t. Because when I was fourteen, she waseight.”
I grimace. “Alright, alright, that’snotwhere I was going, man. She’stwenty-onenow.”
He whisper-hisses, “And I’ve known her since she wassixteen, Banks. She’s like a sister. I’ve told you that. It’s different for you—it’ll always be different.”
Yeah, I haven’t been her bodyguard for years. I’m not the one she really wants.I joined security right after the Marine Corps and became a bodyguard to Xander Hale. I’veseenSulli since I was twenty-two, but I didn’t know her. Didn’t spend time with her. Not like Akara.
I scratch the back of my head, frustrated, and I lean an arm against a shelf of tin can pots. “Maybe you should go find a mirror and reflect.”
His eyes flit to me. “Maybe you should go find some cotton swabs and clean your ears out so I don’t have to repeat the same shit a billion times.”
I nod. “Who wants to tell her we’re making a detour to Bed, Bath, and Beyond after this?”
Akara smiles.
I smile back before our gazes return to Sulli.
“She’s Oscar Mike,” I say, telling him she’son the movein military lingo. She can’t hear us, but she’s tossing some plastic camping plates into a shopping cart and heading to the next aisle.
As we walk, a soft thump bangs against my temple. God, I could use a cigarette right now. A few minutes pass, and I’ve gone quiet next to a rack of sleeping bags.
“What are you doing?” Akara asks, more at my silence.
“The usual.” I put a toothpick between my teeth and bite down. “Waiting for my best friend to admit to his feelings.”
“Hey, while you’re waiting, you should go grab a canteen, some water, meal kits for a few dozen years—because it’s going to be a long fucking time.”
I lift my shoulder in a stiff shrug. “I have forever.”
He laughs into another smile. “Funny, so do I.”
My mouth curves up. “You’re almost as stubborn as my brother.”
“That’s not possible.”
