Protecting Ellis (Loved by the SEAL #1)

Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX

Trip tapped his pen on the table, frustration sliding through him. “What do you mean that our informant is gone?”

The last time he’d deployed, his team had worked with a guy and received excellent information from him. Now, this lieutenant was saying the dude was dead. Trip had promised the guy that the US government would take care of him. Of course, it was difficult to get informants out of war zones and over to the USA, but promises had been made.

The lieutenant giving the briefing continued. “He was discovered and killed. They took out his family, too.”

Trip wanted to break some bones or something else to get his anger out. He drew in a slow breath, trying to keep his cool. They all knew their informants were at risk, but after spending so many hours with them, he felt he knew the informants. It was disturbing when they were killed.

No one said anything, and the lieutenant continued speaking. “We’ll need to find someone we can work with. Our teams over there will start developing a new informant.”

Trip drew in a slow breath to force himself to keep quiet. Later, once they were free to do as they wished, he would scream and curse. His team was set to head out on a run after this meeting, which would help him calm down. The anger was evident on Q’s face, who was sitting right across from him. He didn’t dare glance at the rest of the guys. There were times to go off, but this wasn’t it.

The lieutenant ended the meeting, and they were dismissed. He made his way to the building with the lockers and stripped down before pulling on his shorts and t-shirt. As he was lacing up his shoes, Bud stepped in and let loose a loud scream.

Zip glanced over at Trip and shook his head. They were all feeling it, but Bud had been the one to recruit the guy who’d been killed. Trip had worked closely with Bud, but it had been Bud’s decision to bring the guy on.

Rider stood and moved to the door to leave. “Let’s head out in five minutes.”

They all mumbled their agreement as they finished getting ready to go. Trip headed outside to stretch, anger still bubbling up.

Hop followed him out. “This is fucking bullshit.”

“Totally.”

“Is that all you have?” Hop asked.

“Man, what do you want me to say? That it’s unfair. It’s our fault that man and his family lost their lives. They would probably be dead anyway, based on the fighting over there. It’s hell, and too many innocent people find out the hard way. They have nothing. Meanwhile, selfish pricks over here make decisions based on how much money they can stuff into their pockets. It’s all unfair.”

The rest of the guys filed out, none of them smiling. There was little to smile about. Not only had they lost a resource, but someone they’d encouraged to help them was dead.

Rider led them in a few stretches before they took off for their run. Rider set the pace like usual. At least Rider was a good guy. Trip hated this part of their jobs, not the run, the reality. There was nothing simple about the geo-political hellscape that happened when dictators started dictating. Lives were ruined, and families destroyed in desperate times. Sadly, there would always be a portion of the world where strife ruled. Luckily for him and his buddies, they hadn’t been born into war.

He shoved away the depressing thoughts and started thinking about Ellis. A few days had passed since he’d seen her. They hadn’t texted much, either. Maybe she had changed her mind about him. He hoped not.

They’d run for a little over an hour when Rider called for them to halt. They’d run out and back, so they were close to a building with water. After grabbing a drink, they headed over to the weights and started lifting. It was evident frustration sat heavy amongst everyone.

Q was busy setting up a barbell for deadlifts and Trip walked over. “Are you doing a specific workout or just messing around?”

“Just doing deadlifts.”

“Mind if I join?”

“Sure. The more the merrier.”

He set up his barbell, and they did a warmup set. Before they started, Q’s lips twisted up.

“How about we add in pushups between sets? “So set of three lifts, then fifteen pushups.”

“Sure.”

They started their workout, doing twenty rounds. Getting exhausted felt good. After the workout, he dropped to the ground and sat, trying to catch his breath.

Bud came over and tapped his foot. “Hey, Trip, can I take over your bar?”

He glanced up, nodding. “Sure. It’s yours.”

“Are we getting together this weekend?” Hop asked as Kevlar and his team jogged into the area.

Kevlar stopped by Rider, his lips in a broad smile. “Hey, do you all want to do burgers this weekend? I think you still owe us beer.”

Rider chuckled. “Sure, sounds good. Is everyone else in?”

Everyone was free on Sunday, so they made plans to meet at noon. Trip wondered if Ellis would want to join them. He hoped so. He worried about her jerk ex doing something horrible. He hoped the police could find answers and stop the man from harassing her.

Rider came over. “What’s that look for?”

Trip shook his head. “Nothing.”

“That didn’t look like nothing.”

He wiped the sweat off his forehead and grabbed a cup of water. “The woman who lives above me is having issues with her ex.”

“And you’re getting involved.”

He shrugged and didn’t answer.

“You sure this is what you want?”

The question made him think. Was Ellis what he really wanted? They hadn’t spent that much time together, but she was taking up a large portion of his thoughts.

“I think so. I want to get to know her better.”

Rider sat on one of the blocks they used for jumps. “How well do you know her?”

“We went hiking on Saturday and spent time together on Sunday.”

Rider shook his head. “That’s not enough time.”

Kevlar had moved behind them and snorted. “It took me just a few hours to decide about the woman I’m with.”

“Yeah, but that was different,” Rider said.

Kevlar raised his eyebrows. “Maybe Trip knows what he wants.”

Trip shrugged. “I don’t know, but I feel something. I want to spend more time with her and get to know her better.”

Rider wiped his hand over his face and rolled his eyes. “Just be careful.”

“I will be.” And he would, but he wanted a chance to explore what could happen with Ellis.

“What’s her name?” Kevlar asked.

“Ellis.”

“Well, I hope you and Ellis figure it out.”

Q stepped close and waggled his eyebrows. “Is it her tits? I bet it’s her tits.”

Annoyance flashed through Trip. “Jesus, Q. Stop being a jerk. Seriously, it’s more than her body. There’s just something about her that I like.”

Kevlar squeezed his shoulder. “I get it. Remi was it for me, and I knew it fast.”

Zip snorted. “Yeah, didn’t you bone her like twenty minutes after you met her?”

Kevlar rolled his eyes. “It was more than twenty minutes, and no, we didn’t bone in the water.”

Zip shook his head. “I can’t believe you’ve tied yourself to a woman. I’m a free agent. Never get tied down is my motto.”

They all chuckled, and Q reached out and held onto Zip’s shoulder. “That’s going to come back to bite you in the ass.”

Zip brushed off Q’s hold. “No way.”

Trip had heard Kevlar’s story a few times. It was sickening how some twisted fuck had almost killed Kevlar just so he could lead a team. All the jerk had to do was ask, and he would have eventually been put into a position of leadership.

Trip was thankful everyone on his team was solid. They weren’t into settling down or having long-term girlfriends, but they were professionals who would never stab each other in the back. There were a few guys out of the nearly four thousand SEALs who couldn’t be trusted, but the numbers were very low.

After another hour of lifting weights, his team headed in to shower. Rider had received notice that their team needed to meet for another briefing in about thirty minutes. Hopefully, this wasn’t anything bad like the last meeting.

Once he was dressed, he headed toward the conference room. He thought about sending a message to Ellis but put away his phone, then grabbed it back out and sent Ellis a quick text, telling her he was thinking about her.

The briefing wasn’t simple or good. The news would totally ruin their plans for the weekend get-together with Kevlar’s team. The unrest they’d been watching in Mali had exploded, and a group of terrorists had crossed borders and were heading toward Nigeria. Their goal was to take over multiple countries and destabilize the region.

Niger and Nigeria had both asked for help. They needed to do more than just bomb the area. They needed a precision strike to take out the head. They were leaving in an hour. He would just have to take the go-bag he kept here on base.

Once they were done with the meeting, he grabbed his phone from the shelf and saw that Ellis had returned his text. He hated that he would have to leave without seeing her. They’d just begun their relationship, and his leaving might end it. Nothing like a test to see if the spark he’d felt grew or fizzled out with him gone.