Page 39 of Protecting Maggie
Kevlar, Safe, and Blink grinned, having obviously heard about the prank already from their women, but the other three men’s mouths dropped open.
“Seriously?”
“Holy crap, I think I love her.”
Smiley lived up to his nickname and grinned maniacally. “Knew I liked that girl.”
“It sounds like they all had a good time,” Blink said.
“Any word about her ex?” Safe asked.
Preacher sighed. “No. But she’s getting closer to talking. I can tell.”
“So…she told you he was a high-ranking Navy member…Any chance this mysterious asshole could’ve had something to do with all of us sitting on our asses, twiddling our thumbs on this ship, while our women are back home missing us?” Kevlar asked quietly.
“There’s no way,” Preacher said. But the question made him uneasy all the same.
“That would be impossible, right?” Safe questioned.
“No clue. If her ex is someone high enough in the chain of command, maybe,” Flash said.
“He would have to be a captain or higher,” Smiley said.
“Most likely an admiral,” MacGyver agreed.
“But would an admiral really be involved in selling drugs and tormenting an ex? Would he really go to the lengths Maggie’s ex did to get her put in prison? And for what? Why would he do something like that?” Flash asked.
Preacher had the same questions.
“No clue,” Kevlar said. “But either some huge glitch happened to get us here, or we have to at least consider maybe Maggie’s ex has way more clout than we expected. Unless someone knows something about an imminent declaration of war that we don’t know about yet, which is unlikely.”
Talk turned to the unstable conditions of many of the countries in the area. Preacher let his friends’ words go in one ear and out the other. He couldn’t stop thinking about who might’ve messed up enough to get their SEAL team sent to this ship on such short notice. Or the fact that maybe it wasn’t a mistake at all. And if it wasn’t…what were the odds it was actually connected to Maggie? Did her ex really havethatmuch power in the Navy?
If he did, they could both be in danger.
It was a crazy idea. As far as he knew, her ex didn’t even know about him. Shouldn’t even know he and Maggie were seeing each other. Hell, what they’d been doing could barely even be called dating.
But as soon as he had the thought, Preacher knew he was lying to himself.
The kisses, the phone calls, the dinners, holding hands.They were definitely dating. And if her ex found out, why would he even care?
He had too many questions and no answers…and it was maddening. And now that Kevlar had brought up the possibility of Maggie’s ex being involved in this fuck-up of a mission they didn’t even need to be sent on, Preacher couldn’t stop thinking about it. The thought made him more anxious to get back to Southern California. To Maggie.
Maggie’s phone rang around ten at night a few days after the sleepover, and for one moment, she had the thought that maybe it was Shawn. Maybe he was back. She missed him terribly. In a way she hadn’t missed anything in her life before now. Even when she was in prison and was missing Del Taco, or having spices on her food, that wasnothinglike the pit in her stomach from missing Shawn.
But when she looked at her phone, her muscles clenched with anxiety at seeing the dreaded word—unknown.
“Hello?” she said tentatively as she answered.
“Hi, Mags. How are you?”
She closed her eyes. She’d honestly thought Roman had given up. That he’d finally moved on. But of course she’d been wrong.
“Don’t hang up,” he ordered, right when she was about to do just that. “I’m calling to let you know that if youdon’t want your boyfriend sent to worse places than a ship in the middle of the ocean, you’ll continue to keep your mouth shut.”
Her worst fear had just been realized.
“Why…?” she whispered.
