“Fuck.”
“Yeah.”
“So, if I contacted him, he’d recommend you?”
I snorted. “I wouldn’t be calling if not.”
“When’s your enlistment up?”
That was another sore subject. “In a couple of months. This is the first time I’ve ever had problems re-signing and handing the forms straight back in. I dunno, I’ve still got it in me, but… something’s missing, I guess.”
“Everyone reaches that point at some stage in their career. That’s why I started Cole Security. It’s similar and feeds the beast that gets hungry every now and then.”
“Sounds perfect, if you ask me.”
Jackson chuckled. “Let me know when you can make it down to SoCal and we’ll tee it up.”
My pulse spiked. “Gimme a few days, and then I’ll be in contact.”
“I’ll expect your call.”
With that, we signed off. I sat numbly holding my phone, asking myself what the fuck I was doing and if I really had it in me to leave everything I’d ever lived for.
All it took was Ward’s face rising in my memory, smirking and leering. Taunting me. Bragging about getting off crimes he should have been imprisoned for.
* * *
I strode into work the next day and pushed into my commander’s office.
“Sir, do you have a minute?”
His steely eyes hit mine. “Of course. What can I do for you, Sergeant?”
“You can sign this,” I said, sliding my release papers across his desk, then standing at ease before him.
He did a quick scan of the document and pursed his lips. “Is this a joke?”
“No joke, sir.”
“I think you’re making a big mistake, Bateman.”
“And I thinkyouare by keeping Ward on the unit. I can’t stand by and be okay with serving with him, so if he won’t go, I will.”
My commander looked pissed. “I’m going to give you until the end of the day to withdraw these,” he snapped, savagely pointing at the papers.
“Now that they’re in, I won’t be withdrawing them.”
Snapping my heels together and briefly standing to attention, I then nodded and took my leave from his office. My heart pounded so damn hard I had to fight for every damn breath. The day I never thought possible had come: I was deserting my team all because of one bad egg.
I detoured past the locker room and removed my shirt. Pressing my bare back against the cold steel of the lockers helped extinguish the fire burning in the pit of my stomach. I stayed there until the embers were doused, then redressed. Heading to the break room where my teammates would be gathered, sipping their first coffees of the day and shooting the shit, I took a deep inhale and pushed through the door.
Forrest was the first to turn my way, and his grin instantly slipped from place. “Tell me you didn’t!”
“It’s done,” I murmured, voice unrecognizable and void of emotion.
“Bullshit!”
“Guys, what’s going on?” Doughboy asked.