“I couldn’t find an icepack, so I grabbed a beer,” he explained.
“Way to improvise, man, I like it.” Bodhi fist-bumped the guy, then handed me the can. “Put this on that gnarly knot.”
I placed it against my head. The coolness felt good, but after last night I was steering clear of beer. The bandage fell. My foot was red, but didn’t appear swollen.
“Yes,” he said.
“Yes, what?”
“Yes, someone put antibiotic cream on it,” he said with a grin and winked.
The heat traveled south as I remained quiet. Things couldn’t get any more embarrassing.
“Why the bloody hell are you examining her foot? She hit her head.” The British voice startled me.
I jumped as I pulled my foot away. I didn’t bother turning around. I couldn’t bring myself to have him look past me again.
“I’m just being thorough. I was about to start the breast exam when you decided to cock block me, dude.”
My eyes widened and I wasn’t sure if I should laugh or kick him in the groin. Maybe both. My prior bedmate roared in laughter before I could decide. Locke’s laugh made me want to growl and possibly hit him in the head again with a bottle, only harder this time.
“Duke Sinclair.” Bodhi stood and to my shock, they man-hugged. “Dude, I haven’t seen you since that night in Australia when we got inked.”
“I’m still trying to forget that night and so is my ankle. I can’t believe I let you talk me into getting a tattoo,” he said and his accent irritated me.
Bodhi chuckled. “At least yours has significance. I ended up with a…” he trailed off and glanced at me. “Never mind. How’ve you been, dude?” He returned his attention to Locke.
“I’m good, man. It’s great to be here.”
I rolled my eyes.
“When did you get in?” Bodhi continued as he sat on the desk.
“Just a couple of days ago. I signed in at the base, found a house and went straight to work.”
He didn’t go straight to work. Not so admirable now was he? They continued their exchange. I sat unacknowledged with a can of beer on my head.
“Ahem,” I said and cleared my throat.
Bodhi glanced back at me.
“Dude, you need to stop abusing your students. The lieutenant is pretty banged up,” he said.
I choked causing my eyes to water. Bodhi shot me a sideways glance.
“Are you okay?” He asked as he patted me on the back.
I nodded and wiped my eyes with the back of my hand.
“Is she off flight status?” Locke’s voice went cold.
His use of pronouns when referring to me torqued me. Apparently referring to me as Lieutenant Pinkerton was too hard. I ignored Locke and instead, stared with pleading eyes at the doc.
“No, she’s good. Nothing a dose of ibuprofen won’t fix. And a prescription to stay away from you,” Bodhi teased as he flicked his gaze between us. There was a dark undertone to his voice that caused my gut to tighten.
“At least she can fly,” he said.
I glanced in Locke’s direction. He was looking at me, but his eyes were cold and distant as if the Locke from last night no longer existed. I now knew that our perfect first night was definitely our last.
“Dude, she almost got a concussion in your class, first day even. You need better control of your students,” Bodhi said and hit Locke in the arm, breaking our trance.
Locke looked away before he answered. “I have to get back. I only wanted a report on her status as the incident occurred under my watch.”
Another pronoun. And now I was an incident. Sounded about right. My throat thickened as I tried to swallow.
“Sure, man, she’s good. I’ll package her up and send her back to you in just a bit.” He reached up and slapped hands with Locke. “Good to see you.”
“You too. When you’re done, send her to lunch. We start back at 1400, Lieutenant.”
Without another look in my direction, Locke walked out. If the doc hadn’t been sitting there I would have flipped him the bird. Last night, he really was too good to be true, and my so-called perfect man turned out to be a more perfect asshat.
Thank God we were inside and I didn’t have to salute him.
Bodhi picked up my foot and reached into his medical bag. He cleaned off my wound, put on fresh ointment, and redressed it.
“There you go. I can bandage you up way better than any red coat.”
A string of curses shot through my mind. My Starbucks coffee churned in my stomach…he was referring to Locke. How could he know?
Bodhi scribbled something on a pad, ripped off the paper and handed it to me along with a wink and a smile. He patted me on the shoulder then strolled from the room.
“See ya around, Pinkerton.”
I stared at the notepad. The prescription was short and direct: “Cleared for flight status. Good luck.”
Chapter 6
With the way today was going, I was certain Karma and Lady Luck had teamed up to destroy me.
I wanted to kick myself. Who was I last night? I never had a one-night stand, but secretly I hoped it wasn’t going to be just one night. But that was no longer an option. We could both destroy our careers.
I kept my head down and when he appeared in class or in the hallway, we acted as if we were complete strangers, which is what we had once again become.
I needed to forget it and forget him. There was no room in this program to be unfocused. I was about to get my ass handed to me in the Joint Strike Fighter. Conquering this beast needed to be my sole focus. Nothing else. No distractions.
I tossed a binder into my backpack as Mojo, one of the guys who had tied my lace stepped in front of me. And if short, dark and handsome assholes with hazel green eyes were your type, then Mojo would be your man.
“How’s your head?” Mojo asked as if he really cared. He was only a few inches taller than me and held his arms like he was ready to push over a house.
I walked around him.
“Listen, I’m trying to apologize,” he said as he followed.
I kept walking.
“Come on, I didn’t mean for you to get hurt. It was a joke. An initiation.”
I stopped and turned back, getting into his face. “Would you have done it to one of the other guys?”
“Yeah.”
“What would you have done when he cracked his head on the ground?”
“Laughed my ass off,” he said with a smirk.
My mood lifted a hair knowing he would’ve done it to one of the guys too.
“Good, then laugh your ass off, dickhead.” Shoving him, I headed toward the door.
“Pinkerton?”
“What?” I stopped and glanced over my shoulder.
“Let’s go, we’re meeting at The Debrief Bar.” Mojo smiled. He would almost be handsome if he weren’t such an ass. I hesitated and considered his offer for a truce.
The shoelaces