The Navy's Ghost (Bad Boys of Beta Squad) (7 page)

Where are they?
She wanted to fight for them before she lost them, but damn, she was so tired.

“I love you, Jim,
and I love you, Todd. I don’t want to be without either of you. You’re the two halves of my heart.”

Blackness converged on her and she succumbed
to it, too strung out to fight.

Chapter Five

Magic stared thoughtfully at Chris’s features as she slipped under the edge of exhaustion, tears still soaking her hair.
Did she mean what I think she meant?
Her words had been slurred with exhaustion and her eyes only half open. She’d repeated her declaration of love, though, and she hadn’t stumbled over the delivery. She genuinely loved both of them.

The question became, c
ould he share her with Jim? He tried to picture Jim fucking her, driving his shaft into her sweet center while she sucked down his own cock. Said anatomy hardened in his jeans.
Guess it doesn’t creep me out to slide my dick into her pussy tightened by Jim’s cock snug in her ass.

While Todd
had no interest in fucking Jim, the idea of sharing Chris intimately with his best buddy made him shiver with arousal. God, could he really be considering something so personal with another member of Beta Squad?

Without a word,
they kissed Chris lightly on opposite cheeks and left the room so she could rest. They paused outside the door and stared at each other. Magic couldn’t read Retro’s expression, but his body language screamed unease.

“Wanna get some coffee?”

Retro snorted, but it didn’t sound humorous. “I think I’d rather get a drink.”

Magic shook his head. “Too far to walk and I don’t want to be gone too long in case she wakes up again.”

Retro lapsed into silence, shaking his head. “Do you think she meant it?”

“What? That she loves us?” Retro nodded and Magic
answered the same. “Yeah.”

“Shit.”

Magic grunted.

“I dunno, man. Can you
—”

“Hey, come on. Let’s get a cup of coffee and talk about it. But not here. Too many ears.”

Retro hunched a shoulder and led the way out of the Coronado Medical Center. Neither man spoke until they exited the hospital entrance and headed down the street to the Double Shot coffee shop. The bright sunshine reflecting off the duck pond and the quiet conversations of family’s visiting barely registered on Todd’s awareness. He suspected Retro struggled with the idea of Ghost loving two men. Magic had certainly never considered sharing his woman.

He followed Retro through the glass door and tried to smile at the coffee shop cashier, but it came out more of a grimace. She didn’t say anything, just filled their orders and handed them their caffeine shots. Retro, usually quite the ladies man, didn’t even smile. They retreated to a booth far from the door where they could see anyone coming. Magic sat with his back to the entrance, knowing Retro would warn him.

Silence stretched once more and the sounds of the coffee shop filled the space. Jim’s thoughts churned in his eyes, but his face showed nothing and Todd hoped the lieutenant wouldn’t shut down. Chris’s confession rocked the strict, militarily precise world they’d lived in, and Todd found he liked the upset.
Hell yeah
. He hoped she wanted them both in bed, too.
Probably. She doesn’t do half-measures.

“You ever
considered sharing a woman?” Jim asked at last.

“Before Chris said anything? No.”

“You really love her?”

“More than life, man.”

“Yeah, me too.” Jim grimaced as if his coffee had soured.

“How long?”

“Since SERE. The damn
Kookaburra
song sucked me right in.”

Todd chuckled and sipped his coffee, thinking back to their time at SERE training. “Yeah, that was damn funny. I
sang the song in my head for weeks after.”

Retro snorted, a little more humor in his expression, but he
sobered quickly. “The thing is I’ve never met anyone like Chris. The only women I went for were soft, feminine, cuddly. You know, like a kitten or a puppy.” He scraped a blunt nail on the tabletop. “But Chris blew it right out of the water. She’s kick-ass and strong and so damn beautiful, I get hard just thinking of her taking down the enemy, slamming the butt of her rifle in their faces, and still managing to extract the targets.” He met Todd’s gaze. “She kept up with us in training. Hell, she
led
us through a lot of it. I figured she’d slow us down, make us worry over her welfare and abilities. Boy, did she kick the shit out of that idea.”

Jim’s hands encircled his coffee cup, but he didn’t pick it up. He seemed to be picking his words instead. “She won me over at SERE and only backed up my respect and admiration over the years we’ve worked with her. It just about killed me when she went down in that miserable dump
. If you hadn’t been there…” He swallowed hard.

“God, she looked so small and so beaten then. It was all I could do to keep from beating the contact into a bloody pulp. I just labeled it as
further training in torture and made sure we got out safe. I’ve never been so scared in my life.”

He paused and turned his gaze to
the window. “Until now.”

Todd ag
reed. Chris had terrified him when he’d clamped her femoral artery closed, grateful to whichever God watching out for her he’d been able to grab it before she bled out. He’d definitely earned his nickname. But she’d survived and he renewed his gratitude every day. As for her confession of loving both him and their classmate Retro, it didn’t frighten Todd so much as shock him. A whole new set of parameters had risen up for him to consider.

He could hear Chris’
s voice egging him on.
Are you man enough to take it, boys?

“You’re
freaked out?” Todd focused in keeping his voice carefully bland.

“Well, yeah.
I mean, aren’t you?” Jim’s jaw tightened. “Happily-ever-after always meant the guy gets the girl of his dreams and they hook up. Done. I never heard it included
another guy
, much less one of his best friends. And I’m straight, man. Straighter than a flagpole. I have no interest in ‘entering at rear’.” He shuddered dramatically.

“Not even anal sex
with a woman? You’ve never even thought about it?”

Jim shut up and stared at Todd, his eyes suspicious.

“Are you really considering what she proposed?”

“Was it a proposal? I figure
she just told us what she felt.”

Retro growled. “Same difference
. Are you really okay with the idea of sharing her?”

Magic dropped his head and rubbed his fingers across the surface of the table, brushing away crumbs left from a previous customer.
Am I okay with sharing the woman I love with Jim?

The thing was
he loved Retro, too, loved him as a brother and a friend. But he wasn’t gay. Like Retro, he held no interest in sucking cock or getting rammed by a guy’s rod. But making love to Chris
with
Jim there, sharing in their love and the physical expression of it—Hell yeah, it turned Todd on more than just fucking Chris alone. They’d always been stronger as a team, including their private, intimate lives. Todd had never considered sharing before, but now the idea of fucking Chris with Jim intrigued him.

“Yeah, I am.”

Jim’s face solidified into white marble.

Todd hastened to explain.
“I love Chris. I have ever since she told me to get the fuck in gear and start haulin’ my weight in BUD/S training because she wouldn’t drag my ass out of the field if I chickened out. She said ‘put out or ring out.’” He laughed. “Damn, the woman pissed me off, but she kicked my ass six ways from breakfast. She shocked me so much I forgot she was a woman and treated her as another SEAL. She pulled her weight and made me look good as her swim buddy.” He rubbed his paper coffee cup.

“SEALs ar
e tight, man. We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses.” He shrugged with one shoulder. “The only difference with us is we’ll know how to pleasure the most amazin’ woman on earth, together. Sharin’ her with you…well, the idea turns me on. Not the idea of screwin’ you, but screwin’ her
with you
there, helpin’ to give her the most pleasure she could ever experience.”

Magic
sat back, leaning against the booth’s backrest. “I don’t want to fuck up our friendship, Jim, and I don’t want to give up Chris.”

“I don’t
, either.”

Todd
grunted with approval. “So the question becomes, can
you
share her with me? Can you see the possibility that a threesome could be just as perfect as a twosome if we all treat each other with respect?”

Todd stared at Jim
, gray eyes meeting brown, for a long time in silence. Magic’s confidence underlay hope for the first in days. Sharing Chris with Retro was exactly the answer he’d been looking for. He loved Chris and he loved the idea of making love to her. Knowing Retro loved her as much as he did tarnished the special feeling of being with her alone. How could he steal her away from his best buddy? But Chris had presented the perfect solution.

“
Do you think we can? Do you think we can do this without someone getting hurt?” Retro tightened his hands on his cup. “Without jealousy, backstabbing, deceit? I don’t want to lose Chris. She’s gotten under my skin. Deeper than anyone ever has before. But I don’t want to lose you, either. You’re my best friend. Can we stay best friends while sharing the same woman?”

“I can. Can you?”

“I don’t know.” Retro chugged the rest of his coffee and threw the cup into the nearest trash bin. “I gotta think about this.” He rose to his feet and paused, his hands in fists at his sides. “I’ll catch you later. Tell Ghost I’ll check in on her in a few hours.”

“Roger that.”

Jim strode out the door into the sunlight. Todd swore softly. He bet a case of good Irish whiskey Jim warred with his love for Chris, his sense of honor, and the common aversion to sex with another man. Todd hoped his friend would come around, though. For Chris’s sake, and for his own.

Magic finished h
is coffee and threw out the cup then returned to the Medical Center. Clouds rolled in from the west, obscuring the sun and increasing the humidity. Damn, why was it so damp in early March? The air hung heavy and still, the calm before the storm, and Todd’s neck prickled. Something was wrong. He sniffed the air and scanned the street around him, but nothing set off any internal alarms.

The doors of the Medical Center swished open in front of him and he strode for the elevators, his sight filled with four large men waiting for the elevator.
The rest of Beta Squad had arrived to check on Ghost.

“What’s up, guys?”

The men turned and each gave him a solemn nod.

“Have you seen her
, Chief?” Chief Petty Officer Kevin Stanton showed uncharacteristic concern. Magic sympathized.

“Yeah
, Rimshot, I’ve seen her.”

“How is she?”
Senior Chief John Andrews grimaced as if he regretted the question as soon as he said it.

Magic shrugged. “Good, all things considered
, Bronco.” He didn’t mention her declaration.

The elevator doors dinged and they stepped aside to allow a patient in a wheelchair and his visiting family to disembark.

“When do you think she’ll be back in condition?”

No one said a word to Seaman
Eugene Rubenovich’s question and Magic thanked the saints the man stood behind him so he couldn’t see his face. The doors hissed shut.

“She’s not goin
g to be back in the Teams, Deli.” Petty Officer First Class Greg Killian slapped the younger man on the back of the head.

“Fuck.”

Magic wasn’t sure who muttered the curse into the thick silence, but he shared the sentiment.

“Brickman’s got some good news, though,”
Todd said as the doors slid open again. “I’m sure she’ll tell you all about it when you see her.”

At least, he hoped she would. Another chill rippled down his back and his sense of unease ramped up
at the tight expressions on the nurses hurrying down the hallway toward Ghost’s room.
What the hell is going on?

The place still smelled like antiseptic and resignation, but now fear snaked down the hall, tensing Magic’s
shoulders. Someone murmured, “fuck” again and the squad followed the hurrying nurses toward room fifteen. Magic reached the door first, but got shoved out of the way as another nurse barreled past him, making for Ghost’s bed.

He could barely
see her between the nurses and the doctor leaning over her. They worked on her leg, but he couldn’t tell what they were doing from the door. An unaccustomed sensation of fear raked through his raw heart and he swallowed hard against the urge to vomit up the coffee he’d drunk with Retro.

“What the hell is going on?” Rimshot demanded, but Magic just shook his head.

“B/P’s ninety-five over sixty,” someone stated and the doctor barked, “Give her five hundred milliliters of five percent Albumin.”

“Temperature’s
one-oh-four.”