Page 27 of Men of Fort Dale: The Complete Series

“Thirsty?” Ricardo asked, holding out a bottle of water.

Ricardo snorted. “Guess so.”

Ricardo glanced at Sean, sighing. “He’s...always been demanding. That’s how being a team leader goes sometimes.”

Ricardo frowned. “I wouldn’t take it personally.”

“Wasn’t planning on it.”

Which was a damned lie, but he wasn’t going to tell Ricardo the truth.

The rest of the team seemed to be tolerating his presence pretty well.

Nick didn’t say much, but Matt was friendly, and Ricardo was at least trying to be nice.

Sean, however, seemed to hold everything against Aidan and didn’t want to let up.

“You could try not goading him,” Ricardo said.

Aidan looked askance at him. “What, and treat him differently than I treat anyone else? I tease you guys too. It’s who I am.”

“He is the team leader.”

“And we’re supposed to be a team. Maybe if he wasn’t such an obstinate ass, looking to take offense at every little thing I did, I wouldn’t give him such a hard time. Instead, he’s being a complete dick, and you can’t stand there and tell me it’s all my fault for giving him a little sass.”

Ricardo looked away, shrugging. “He’s?—”

“An ass.”

The corner of Ricardo’s mouth twitched, but the smile never fully formed. “He can be, sometimes. I’ll be honest with you, Aidan, you seem to set something off in him, which is...weird. The past few months, he’s kept his temper in check, but I get the feeling he’s barely holding on.”

Aidan sighed. “Then maybe he should let it out, get that shit out of his system, and then we can all deal with it. I’m tired of waiting to see if he’s going to lose his mind or continue being an asshole forever.”

Sean turned around and motioned the two of them over with a curt gesture.

Ricardo looked at Aidan, giving another shrug and walking to meet the rest of the team.

Aidan closed his eyes for a moment, cursing himself for doing precisely what he said he wouldn’t.

Ricardo didn’t need to know that Aidan was just as frustrated as it seemed Sean was, and he didn’t need to hear Aidan bitching about their team leader either.

Sighing, Aidan followed Ricardo. “What’s up?”

Sean glanced his way, green eyes flicking over Aidan’s face before returning his attention to the rest of the team.

In moments like that, Aidan was left wondering what was going through Sean’s head.

When Sean wasn’t glaring at him, there was always a strange look in his eyes, some emotion that disappeared too quickly for Aidan to detect.

It drove him nuts, especially because it was so much easier to dislike the man when he was being a blatant asshole.

“We’ve been doing the Gauntlet enough for the past few days, so we’re going to use it differently this time,” Sean told them.

Ricardo glanced over. “Is that what the guns are for?”

Sean nodded. “This time, we’re going to drag equipment through, and targets are set up along the course.

Instead of everyone at once, we’re going to run through in pairs.

We share the burden in the field, so we’re going to share the equipment carrying between two people, and they’re going to work together to get through and take down the targets on the way. ”

Aidan raised a brow. “And how’s that going to work with five people?”

It probably meant someone would have to run the Gauntlet at least twice, and he suspected he knew who the prime candidate was.

Sean snorted, eyes flashing in Aidan’s direction. “I don’t have to know if the others can work well together; we’ve fought side by side several times. You, however, I need to know about, so you’re going to be the one to run through with everyone.”

Aidan bit back his immediate response. “Everyone?”

“Yes. Everyone. We need to know you can work with everyone, so you’ll run through first with Matt, then Nick, then Ricardo, and finally me.”

Matt scoffed. “So what, during the rest of that time, we all sit around with our thumbs up our asses?”

Sean eyed him. “You’re getting a free day after your run. Why are you complaining?”

Aidan clenched his jaw and said nothing. A glance at the rest of the team told him he wasn’t alone in thinking there was something wrong with Sean’s decision. Even Ricardo, who normally looked disinterested, seemed faintly troubled as he looked at Sean.

Aidan hadn’t expected anything less from Sean, however.

The team leader was hellbent on finding whatever he could to break Aidan.

It hadn’t happened, but after days of being run through the mill, Aidan’s temper was at risk of snapping.

His body and mind could withstand anything Sean threw at him, but he wasn’t sure how long he could keep his temper in check.

“Fine. Then let’s get started,” Aidan said, fighting to keep his voice even.

Sean smirked. “Fine, Matt, suit up, you’re with him first.

Aidan bent over, catching his breath as he and Ricardo reached the end of the Gauntlet together.

His body was straining, screaming at the exertion he’d put it through.

The few days of hard exercise had been enough to work him hard, but the addition of equipment strapped to his back and being forced to run through it all again three times like that was enough to put a considerable strain on his body.

“Tell me again, why I have to put up with this?” Aidan asked Ricardo through panted breaths.

To his credit, Ricardo looked pained, even as he chose to say nothing.

Aidan was grateful to the bigger man, who had chosen to take on a larger share of the equipment while Sean wasn’t looking.

It had meant less of an intensive run on Aidan’s part, but after the two before, the third, even with a lighter load, was not much easier on him.

And now he had one more to go.

Ricardo eyed Sean as the team leader appeared, muttering to Aidan, “Good luck.”

Aidan snorted. “Thanks.”

“You’re doing good,” Ricardo said as he walked off, eyeing Sean as they passed one another.

Aidan watched Ricardo as he walked toward the rest of the team, barely noticing Sean shuffled up beside him.

It was the first time he’d heard any of the team say something encouraging to him.

Not that they’d been dismissive or rude, but none of them had gone out of their way to show support.

Aidan had seen enough of the team dynamic to know that if Ricardo was showing support, even quietly, Aidan could probably count on the rest or hoped he could.

God, since when did getting accepted matter so much?

Sean kept his gaze on the course before them. “Ready?”

“Do you even care?” Aidan asked.

Sean glanced at him, a flicker of some unreadable emotion passing over his bright eyes. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

“Take it how you want,” Aidan said.

Sean glanced at him, brow furrowed, and Aidan hated himself when he realized how breathtaking the man’s gaze could be.

Filled with some unknown emotion, Sean’s eyes were bright and drew him in.

It filled Aidan with as much desire to know the man beneath it all as it did loathing for the person he was dealing with.

With a snort, he shoved the thoughts aside, focusing on the task at hand.

“You have one more run to go,” Sean said, drawing his weapon forward.

It was an odd statement, and Aidan couldn’t help but glance at the other man in wonder.

Was Sean trying to make him feel better, or was he trying to drive home his belief that Aidan should be able to continue?

To his growing frustration, Aidan couldn’t read what was going on in Sean’s mind and was left confused.

Sean looked at the stretch of barriers in front of them, eyes focused on the board that ticked down the time. “Get ready.”

It was oddly comforting having someone who, despite their earlier animosity, was prepared to look past it to ensure they were prepared for the challenges ahead.

Sean’s face showed none of the irritation and anger he normally reserved for looking at Aidan.

Instead, his eyes were focused on the clock above, his mind racing as he fought to think of what was to come, what they would need to go through together.

The buzzer sounded, and they were off, sprinting toward the first set of obstacles.

Aidan, already familiar with the course, threw himself down, avoiding the barbed wire.

Sean was right behind him, diving to the ground as they crawled through the mud.

Elbow over elbow, they pushed through the sticky mess, coming out on the other side at almost the same time.

“Pick it up,” Sean huffed as they approached the wall.

“Easy to say from the man sitting on the sidelines for the past two hours,” Aidan shot back.

They leaped toward the wall waiting for them, scrambling up the footholds.

Aidan’s movements were sloppy and frantic as he tried to keep up with Sean.

Near the top of the fifteen-foot wall, Sean scrabbled as he lost his footing, almost falling back to the bottom.

Annoyed, Aidan shot an arm out, barely holding himself with the other, and shoved the man up over the lip.

“Looks like you need to worry about yourself,” Aidan grunted, heaving himself over the top.

“Fuck you,” Sean growled.

“I like my men with a good personality,” Aidan said, catching himself before he plummeted to the ground on the other side.

“Surprised you have standards at all,” Sean grunted, lowering himself to the ground.

“Confusing me with yourself again? Not a good trait for a team leader.”

The words fell from his mouth far more easily than his breath.

The previous three runs through the course had worn his body down and made it hard to push through the hurt.

However, his will didn’t stop him from pushing onward, and he reached the next set of hurdles with a burning need to succeed searing his mind.

And then his knees buckled, and he fell forward.

“What the hell are you doing?” Sean barked.

Aidan groaned, his sides burning as he gasped for oxygen.

The air around him stopped stinking of salt and mud, and instead, all he could smell was sand and blood.

His vision wavered, hazy before his eyes.

The lack of sleep, the stress, the constant worry, and fighting were dragging his consciousness back to a place he thought he’d left behind.

He wasn’t where he thought he was, he wasn’t.

“Aidan!”

Sean’s angry shout brought Aidan’s head up, eyes wide as he tried to find the threat. Aidan could see the shooting target swing into view, the image wavering and shaking.

“Shoot the damn thing,” Sean snarled at him.

Aidan’s fingers fumbled with the gun clutched at his side, simultaneously shoving his feet against the ground that, in his mind, could still possibly be sand.

It was mud, and his brain screamed at the last second that he was moving wrong.

The warning was too late, however, and with a grunt, his foot slipped in the mud, his aim went wide, and he pulled the trigger.

Releasing a rubber bullet right into Sean.

Shock lit Sean’s face, his hand flying to his side with a grunt. Aidan immediately gave up trying to find his footing, dropping to one knee as he gaped at Sean.

“Oh shit,” Aidan whispered, unable to hold back his horror.

Sean wheezed, speaking through clenched teeth. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

Aidan shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut. “No, Sean?—”

He should have expected the blow, but the punch to his jaw sent him flying onto his back with a surprised grunt.

Opening his eyes, he only had a moment to fling his arms up in defense as Sean leaped at him.

Sean’s weight slammed into Aidan, pressing him into the mud even further as he swung again and again.

“Fucking quit!” Aidan barked, managing a few swings of his own.

“You shot me, you son of a bitch!” Sean bellowed.

Aidan had had enough and kicked Sean in the gut with a furious snarl. The one good thing he could say about the whole mess was, despite the new aches in his body from Sean’s blows and the screaming exhaustion still pulsing through him, he was at least no longer confused about where he was.

“Enough!” came a deep rumble, and he felt himself dragged back as Ricardo shoved his body between them.

Sean tried to get to his feet in an attempt to dive at Aidan again. “Move!”

Ricardo wrapped his thick arms around Sean and held him tight. “Like hell. You two are going to kill each other.”

“So fucking what,” Sean hissed, still trying to get free.

Ricardo narrowed his eyes, speaking a little more softly. “And I think we’ve had enough people die on our team.”

All the fight suddenly left Sean, his body sagging in Ricardo’s grip. His eyes were still furiously locked on Aidan, though, and Aidan knew this was far from over.

“Let’s get you to the medbay,” Ricardo said, releasing Sean.

“I don’t need an escort,” Sean muttered.

Ricardo raised a brow. “Yeah? Can I really trust you two to get there in one piece?”

Aidan wasn’t so sure about Sean, but he could control himself...mostly. So long as Sean didn’t continue more of his shit, Aidan could behave himself just fine. It wasn’t a problem for him to shrug before giving the larger man a nod.

Sean rolled his eyes. “Fine, Mom . I’ll play nice. Keep running the Gauntlet while I’m gone.”

With that, Sean turned away to stomp off.

He made it about three heavy steps before his hand gripped his side again, and he continued walking a little more carefully.

Aidan almost felt bad for the guy. It had been an accident, after all.

However, it was getting more and more difficult to give a shit when Sean seemed determined to hate him no matter what he said or did.