I nodded. “Yeah, I’m cool. I hope playing golf will give me the anger release that I need.”
He chuckled. “Well, I have something in my trunk that I think will work. When we get back, I’ll show you.”
We didn’t stay out too long. I wasn’t feeling the course today, and everyone else seemed otherwise occupied and not really paying attention to the game we were playing. When we got back to the hotel, my brother told me to change into some workout gear and meet him in the lobby.
When I made my way back into the lobby, my brother was there already in shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt that was similar to what I was wearing. He threw a pair of boxing gloves at me, and I swear that the biggest smile grew on my face.
“You think your slow ass is up for it?” He asked me.
“Do you think you can handle me?” I responded, grinning with anticipation.
“Well, there’s one way to find out.”
He grinned too, and I followed him outside and toward the beach.
When I tell you that every muscle in my body is screaming at me, believe me, they are. Even though I’m still somewhat in shape, I feel like I haven’t worked out in years. I have to stop drinking as much. My brother and I were exhausted, but we tried not to show the fatigue our bodies felt. We made our way back to the hotel and stopped when we saw Diane and Marie laying out poolside.
I quickly pulled off my shirt and tore off my shoes and socks and dove into the pool. Damn this water feels amazing. I did a few laps before I pulled myself out of the pool and headed over to Diane. She threw me a towel, and I put it over my head.
I sat down and leaned back, reminding myself to give Roland a call. He was looking into verifying that the South American cartel responsible for Max’s kidnapping was on the government watch list.
When I removed the towel, Maxine was standing right in front of me. I think we both surprised each other, but I was more blown away by the sight of her body. My eyes traveled the length of her and stopped at her side.
Holy shit. My eyes were big, I knew. That’s because I was shocked as hell. Maxine had a tattoo on her beautiful skin, and it was sexy as shit. It started on her side but traveled a little down toward her stomach. She tried to move away so I wouldn’t see it, but I reached for her hips without hesitation and pulled her closer to me. I gasped. One look at her tattoo made me feel like someone kicked me in my chest with a steel-toed boot.
“When did you get this?” I asked her softly, while rubbing her skin with my fingers.
I heard her say, “Three weeks after you left.”
She had the anchor to represent the Navy, which mirrored the tattoo I had on my chest over my heart. She made hers unique, though. That’s what impressed me and also produced the proverbial lump in my throat. Where ours were different is that she had dog tags circling the anchor where I had rope. Of course, I had the Navy SEAL symbol on mine carrying the anchor. But hers had the anchor going through a heart. She then had two dog tags hanging from the anchors. I touched the dog tag with Alex’s name on it and the initials NFNF. I had the initials spelled out on my forearms “Never Forget, Never Forgive,” and I hadn’t had it when we were together.
I then looked at the second dog tag. The chain wrapped around the heart, and it seemed to be squeezing it a little. The tag said “the reaper” in all caps. I looked up in her eyes and saw all the hurt and pain I caused. Before I’d seen the pain in her eyes, and now I saw it expressed on her side for all to see.
“Nice tattoo,” I managed to force out.
Then I stood and removed myself from her presence. I knew I had hurt her. But to see it displayed in front of me, to see how she expressed her pain, has me fucked up.
See? Fate fucking hates me.
Chapter 19
Maxine
My skin was on fire where he touched me. I couldn’t breathe as he caressed my skin. I felt his breath on me, and I fought the urge to run my hands through his hair. When he looked in my eyes, I saw sadness, pain and remorse. I wasn’t sure if what I was seeing in his eyes was true, but I wanted to believe it was. But when he walked away, those hopes were shattered.
“Hey, I didn’t even know you had a tattoo,” I heard Cory exclaim.
Tiffany met my eyes, and she smiled.
I didn’t expect to see Mason by the pool. They were supposed to be playing golf, and the last time they were gone for hours. Tiffany and I decided to do some shopping for dinner tonight. She told me she wanted lobster tail and salmon, salad, my grandmother’s famous Lou and cheese, rice, steamed broccoli, and a birthday cake. So we had to drive inland a little to go shopping. We got everything we needed and found out there was a Zumba class starting. So we put everything in my suite, grabbed Diane and Marie, and made it back in time for the class, which was held outside.