Page 23 of Uncharted

“Jerk,” I muttered, but I was smiling as he led me outside. Summer was here, but thankfully the night was the kind of cool that could be perfectly comfortable so long as you had a blanket on hand. “Making fun of me.”

“Only a little,” he said as he walked toward the path from the main building toward the science building. He stopped just before the trees covered the path and threw the comforter down, as well as his pillow. I tossed mine onto the blanket as well and joined him as he shifted and lay back, staring up at the sky. “I know you feel better under the open sky.”

To be known is to be loved, I had heard my mother tell me and my siblings on more than one occasion. I couldn’t remember ever telling Reno I liked being under the open sky, especially when I was upset. He had apparently figured that out on his own, something not even some of my former girlfriends had bothered to remember.

“What?” he asked, clearly reading something on my face.

I rolled over to face him and shook my head. “Nothin’, just thinkin’ a little…good things this time.”

He smiled and my stomach turned, not unpleasantly, even a little familiarly, if I was honest. “So…who are you still mad at?”

“I wasn’t mad at the guys,” I told him softly. “I just…didn’t and don’t get why none of that bothered them. They just…didn’t care. And I guess I shouldn’t care if they don’t, but…I feel like I should care for them. Which is fuckin’ arrogant, I know.”

“Not really,” Reno said with a shrug. “I mean, you should have a good idea of what it’s like to care about other people, even if they don’t. You’ve got siblings. I can’t tell you the number of times I was ready to fight tooth and nail because of something Mika was willing to let go. I’m sure you did the same.”

“Mmm, there’s a couple of ex-boyfriends Lauren had that needed to have a few dents put into their skulls,” I said with a wrinkle of my nose. “You, uh⁠—”

“Ever got into a fight because someone called my brother the same thing that fuck-ass bitch called me and you earlier?” Reno asked and nodded. “Definitely. Twice. Mika was so mad at me.”

“Why though? It’s such a fuckin’ ugly ass word,” I said with a shake of my head.

“Because in his mind, it wasn’t worth it,” he told me with a sigh. “I mean, I can’t explain it like Mika could, or probably Colin. But I understood. Mika said there are always going to be people like that; there’s always going to be people who hate you for stuff you can’t and shouldn’t have to control. No point in fighting them, you’d never run out.”

“I don’t mind fighting every one of them,” I grumbled.

Reno laid his head on his pillow and smiled at me. “It’s kind of weird…seeing you like this. I mean, I guess I’ve always known you’ve got a protective streak; you always kept an eye on our backs no matter what. It’s just weird seeing you so…pissed off.”

“I was in the Corps, and I know it’s kinda cheesy, but ya never stop bein’ a Marine. I’m still a fighter, Reno,” I told him softly. “I can’t get rid of that part of me.”

“And why the hell would you?” Reno asked, and I blinked. “What? I don’t give a fuck if you want to deck every idiot who says dumb shit. Maybe the others have their opinions on it, but I don’t mind. Hell, it’s nice knowing you’re there to watch our backs even if it means carrying us out of the woods.”

I snorted. “Your ankle was sprained so bad but you were convinced you were going to need a cast. Big baby.”

“Or beating someone’s ass because they don’t know how to keep their mouth shut,” he finished sternly, giving me a dirty look at the reminder of his first outing with us after he and his brother had first come to the outpost. “Like…are you worried that we’re going to be bothered because you’ve got a temper? Xander and Carter both do; we still care about them. Or that you’re actually kind of a badass and a warrior? I mean, shit, Colin clearly is, did you see him?”

I grinned. “Ya know corpsmen train with the Marines they serve with, right? A lot are meaner fighters than Marines. Sometimes they gotta be, because if they get seriously hurt or killed, then there’s no one to patch everyone else up. Still, cool to see Colin in action. Think we should ever describe it to Xander? I mean…after he’s done bein’ pissed at us all.”

“Not sure if that would piss him off all over again.”

“I dunno, Xander seems like the kinda guy who would love having a badass for a boyfriend.”

“Jake, we didn’t even know they were dating until a few weeks ago,” Reno reminded me with a laugh. “How the hell would you know what kind of boyfriend he’d like?”

“I mean.” I dropped my voice to a low whisper, even though the chances of Xander showing up and hearing us were next to zero. “We saw what his ex-wife was like. She was a raving bitch, but fuck, she was hard too.”

“I guess that’s one way of putting it,” Reno chuckled, looking over my face as if he was searching for something. “Maybe we should wait and see another time, because right now, we’re looking at untold days of punishment duty. Don’t think we want to add more to the mix.”

“True,” I said with a smirk. “I think he’s pretty pissed this time.”

“What gave you that idea? All the yelling? The promise of long hours of punishment duty? That Colin is sleeping in one of the bunks instead of in Xander’s cabin?” Reno asked dryly.

“I think it was the twitch in his cheek and the fact that Cait didn’t interfere,” I said with a wince. “He’s…yeah, we’re in the shit. All because I lost my temper.”

“No, Jake. If it was just because of you, the rest of us wouldn’t have jumped in to help.”

“You sayin’ y’all would’ve just let me get jumped?”

“Nope. We fought together because we’ve got your back and we’re in this shit with Xander because we all fought together. No one’s blaming you other than you, so quit that right now.”