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Marco typed his number in and handed the phone back with a smile. “I would. You didn’t strike me as a club person.”

Carter shrugged. “They’re alright. You do, though.”

“Not sure how to take that,” Marco admitted with a light laugh.

Which only made Carter scowl all over again. “Whatever. I’ll text you. Don’t know any places around here, but gotta make sure Sergeant Dickhead doesn’t try to lock me up in the fort over the weekend too.”

Marco chuckled. “Alright, let me know when you know.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“See you later, Carter.”

The man grunted and walked off, only glancing over his shoulder once when he was a few yards away. Marco beamed and thought it was a good sign that Carter didn’t scowl again.

He had no idea if he’d just been asked out on a date or if Carter thought he had to have a night out before he tried to sleepwith Marco. He also suspected that asking would have ruined the entire thing. Marco could live with whatever Carter had in mind. He knew how to enjoy things for however long they lasted.

Though, he wouldn’t have minded if it was, in fact, a date.

CARTER

To his surprise, he had actually followed through on inviting Marco out. Sergeant Reynoldshadbeen pretty pissed about the extra hour Carter had taken on Wednesday, but apparently, he had better things to do than lurk around Carter all weekend. By the time Friday rolled around, Reynolds had dismissed him, telling him he better not have another ‘fall’ when he saw him next, or he would make sure Carter never had another chance to have an accident again.

Carter had fought not to roll his eyes and barely succeeded.

He’d sent Marco a text about their plans before he headed back to the barracks to get cleaned up.

Dickhead kept me forever. I’m not gonna be there on time.

No worries ;) I can entertain myself for a while

Carter frowned at the screen. What the hell was that supposed to mean? Marco seriously wouldn’t ‘entertain’ himself at the club with someone else while he was waiting, right? It wasn’t like he and Carter were...anything, but that would be pretty fucked up.

Whatever. You better be there.

Lol. Don’t worry. Have a couple of friends here that I can talk to, no biggie.

Friends. Right. He supposed he could get over the friends, so long as they weren’t ‘friends.’

The thought brought him up short, and he shook his head with a snort. Was he really going to act like a dick because Marco wasn’t getting annoyed that he was going to be late? The guy wasn’t his...well, wasn’t his anything.

“You’re a fucking idiot,” he muttered to himself as he gathered his clothes for the night.

He’d had to take time the day before to go to where his things were stored to find the right clothes. Everything he had with him in the barracks wouldn’t have worked for his night with Marco.

And whatever they were doing, he didn’t have a title for it.

Didn’t want one either.

“What the fuck,”he muttered as he walked through the double doors of the club almost ninety minutes later.

Carter wasn’t exactly a stranger to clubs. He knew how bright and loud they could be. Marco had advised they go to Pulse, just one more bright and gaudy place, pumped full of flashing lights and overly loud music. It was also packed full of people, squeezing in as close as they could get as they danced, shouted at each other in an attempt to converse, and squeezed into small booths that lined a raised walkway behind the dancefloor.

And he had no idea where Marco could be.

There was a group of tables to his right, where people had to stand to reach the tabletops. Behind it was the bar, and Carter scanned each area to see if he could spot the man. A sea of faces swam before him, but not one of them stuck out as he squinted, annoyance flashing through him as he realized how bad a planit was to meetatthe club instead of outside or somewhere else first.

He pushed through the crowd, pulling out his phone, hoping maybe Marco had seen his text saying he was on the way. Stopping near the dancefloor when he saw a message waiting for him, he swiped it open and read the two words.