SEALED with a Kiss (Midnight Delta Book 4) Read online

  “Whatever makes you happy, makes me happy.”

  ****

  Billy Anderson

  He loved the days when Mason took him surfing. They had to be the best thing about having left the Bard’s and moving back in with his sister. He stopped short, his feet buried in the sand. Mason continued to run towards the surf. Billy couldn’t believe that thought had actually entered his head.

  Living with Sophia really was the dream come true, and Mason was the cherry on top. Billy remembered how it had been before Mason came into the picture. Sophia had been working her ass off to scrape together enough money for a place big enough for them. And it needed to meet the approval of DHS so she could regain custody of him. Then Mason came in to their lives, and it made the day he could move out of the Bards and in with Sophia happen much sooner. When he thought about all Sophia sacrificed on his behalf, no matter what kind of emotional shit he put her through, he knew he was blessed.

  “Hey Billy, you afraid of sharks?” Mason yelled.

  “They eat SEALs,” Billy quipped. Mason laughed.

  Billy trotted towards the water, and eyed the man who was going to marry his sister, and thought here was another blessing. He knew thinking in terms of blessings wasn’t typical for a fourteen year old boy, but it was for one who watched his dad desert his family. It was for one who watched his mother waste away from cancer. It was for one who lived on the streets at times. Billy had vowed never to take his good fortune for granted. Which was why he refused to take Rebecca for granted.

  “Billy, you listening to me?”

  “Huh?”

  “That’s what I thought. Let’s just sit and enjoy the sunrise, the waves will still be there. You can tell me what’s on your mind if you want. You know I won’t judge or tell anyone you don’t want me to tell.”

  “Even Sophia?”

  “Well it depends. If it concerns your health or safety, then yeah, I have to tell her., your safety comes first. If it is just something you need to confide in me, than no.”

  Billy considered what he said. He looked at Mason, and knew he could trust him. He realized it was probably why he made it to lieutenant in the SEAL team, he had good judgement and people could rely on him.

  “It’s about a girl. Her name is Rebecca Barnes. She’s my partner on a social studies project.” Billy rubbed the back of his neck, and then he gave a self-conscious laugh. He never used to do that, but it was exactly what Mason did when he was stressed.

  “Tell me about her.”

  “She’s nice to everyone even when they aren’t nice to her. Too nice. I can’t figure out if it’s because she wants people to like her, or if she’s wired that way. She needs to push back. But I think the fight’s been beaten out of her. I’m worried that might of literally happened, and it’s why she landed in foster care.”

  Billy stared off into the ocean. He’d thought about Rebecca for a long time. She reminded him of the abused golden retriever Lori Bard had brought home. Goldie had always flinched when someone raised their hand too fast, thinking they were going to hit her instead of pet her. At the same time she craved attention.

  “You worry about her.”

  “I do. But she has great instincts.” Billy grinned. He fished around in the sand and pulled out a stick.

  “Tell me,” Mason prompted.

  “She’s been asked out to the Valentine’s Day Dance by two of the worst players at school. I mean they’re slick. A lot of girls really want to go with them, and she turned them down flat. It was a thing of beauty.”

  Billy paused, and started digging in the sand with the stick.

  “What?” Mason prompted.

  “Actually the way she’d looked Eric from the top of his head to the tips of his toes and said, ‘No thank you,’ like he’d been something she needed to wipe off her shoe had been a little scary.”

  “You saw this happen, huh?”

  “Yeah, he came up to her in the library where we were studying. After he left she explained his reputation was known far and wide. Apparently, he had started a nasty rumor about one girl after they’d gone out. Then with another girl he had pushed too hard for intimacy and left her in tears.”

  “Is this Eric Jameson?”

  Shit, he was in for it now.

  “Yeah, it’s the same guy I had the unnecessary roughness foul with two weeks ago, when I got thrown out of the Lacrosse game.” Billy looked sideways at Mason, but the man’s expression didn’t change.

  “So you did it on purpose?”

  “Yes.”

  “Would you do it again?”

  “Yes.

  “Are you going to do it again?”

  “I won’t have to. I got my point across. He knows why it happened, and what will happen in the future if he doesn’t shape up.”

  “Okay then. So back to Rebecca. It sounds like, despite everything, she can handle herself.”

  “Maybe a little too well,” Billy mumbled.

  Mason chuckled. “So you want to ask her out, but you’re afraid of getting wiped off her shoe.”

  “Something like that.” Billy dug deeper into the sand, then finally threw the stick towards the ocean.

  “Would it help to know that no matter how old you are, and how many times you’ve asked for dates, you always worry about that?”

  “Did you worry about it with my sister?”

  “I kind of side-stepped the asking out part. She needed a ride to her car, so I just arranged to pick her up from the hospital. I kind of kept maneuvering things until she got used to me. Seems to me like you have the same opportunity with the homework project.”

  Billy grinned. “Trust me, I’ve never needed as much tutoring as I have had with this project.”

  “Good man.” Mason grinned in return. “So do you think she likes you?”

  “Definitely as a friend. But I still don’t know how she would feel about going out with me.”

  “Hmmm. Does she want to go to the dance?”

  “I honestly don’t know.”

  “I think you need to find out. Because if she does, going with a ‘friend’ would be pretty appealing.”

  Billy sighed.

  “I know, it will still suck if she shoots you down.” Mason bumped his shoulder with his.

  “I can only tell you, if she does, there will be pizza and video games waiting for you at home. I’ll even let you win.”

  “Hell, Mase, you never let me win. You’re old, you naturally lose.”

  “In that case we’re playing Call of Duty. You will lose on that one my man. I live that game.” Billy laughed. It was true, Mason always beat him at Call of Duty.

  Chapter Four

  Finn Crandall

  “Come on Mom, you have to admit it’s better living here than in Minnesota.” He grinned at the beautiful Scandinavian woman who was his mother.

  “I don’t have to do any such thing, Finnius.”

  Damn, apparently he was not scoring points if she was calling him Finnius. They were currently having lunch overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It was the end of January, and it was a beautiful sunny day.

  He raised his eyebrow.

  “I hated moving here and then having you gone for the first two months.”

  “I hated it too, Mom.”

  “Of course, you did arrange for Darius to babysit me. That was nice. You have nice friends. I’ve always liked your team mates.”

  “Is it the only thing you’ve liked about moving here? Being close to me and my friends?” he asked.

  “Fine, it is a little bit better than being buried in three feet of snow,” she admitted reluctantly.

  “Was that so hard?”

  “Yes,” she said sadly. “I left your dad and my dad there.”

  Finn reached over and grasped his mother’s hand, and she grabbed on tightly, tears in her eyes.

  “We’ll be visiting Gramps next month,” he promised.

  “Oh Finn, I don’t want you wasting your leave on that. It’s not l
ike he knows who either of us are.” She sounded so forlorn. He rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand.

  “He does on some level, Mom.”

  “No, he doesn’t. I’ve talked to the nurses. He’s deteriorated to the point that he doesn’t recognize anyone or anything.”

  Finn’s heart clenched as he thought of his once vibrant grandfather. “Even more reason to go and visit.”

  She gave him a watery smile. “Thanks, son.”

  “And we’ll go visit Dad’s grave. Brush off the snow.” He grinned. “Of course, he liked the snow,” Finn teased.

  “I remember you two going ice fishing, and him coaching your lacrosse team. I’m so happy you’re taking the time to coach lacrosse.”

  “I never know what my schedule is like so I just run some clinics now and again, and ref when they ask me too.”

  “You’re going to make a good father one day.” Finn carefully schooled his features, but his mother wasn’t fooled.

  “You will, and you’ll find the right girl. Look at Mason. Look at Clint.”

  “I’m not the same as Mason and Clint.”

  “No, you’re better.” Finn threw back his head and laughed, causing the seagulls to fly away from their perch on the deck posts.

  “You know, since that girl in college you have given up all hope of a happily ever after.” His mother leaned forward. “Ginger wasn’t worthy of shining your shoes, let alone shining anything else of yours.”

  Sweet tea spewed out of his mouth, as he looked at Evie goggle-eyed.

  “Good, I have your attention. Yes Finn, you were very focused in college. Yes, you’re very focused and committed to your career now. Well welcome to the world. So are a lot of people, and they juggle relationships and family just fine. You will too son. So you better start looking around, because I want grandbabies.”

  His mother’s words were reverberating throughout his head. She had not just said what he thought she had.

  “Finn, are you hearing me?”

  “Yes, Mom.”

  “Good, because I want to talk to you about your lack of dates.”

  “I go out on plenty of dates.”

  “I’m talking about women you respect and would consider a relationship with.”

  Fuck! Time to redirect.

  “If you want to talk about dating, I could really use your help.

  “Hallelujah. I thought you would never ask. Shoot.” His mom propped her chin on her hand, and looked at him with avid interest.

  “You remember Billy, Sophia’s younger brother? Well, Mase wants me to watch out for him in the upcoming game because he’s worried there might be some retaliation over an unnecessary roughness foul he did on a kid.”

  “Didn’t I meet Billy at Clint and Lydia’s engagement party? He doesn’t strike me as the overly aggressive type of teenage boy.”

  Score one for team redirect!

  “He’s not, apparently the other kid was an asshole, and had hurt one or two girls at school. Billy was making a point. Mase didn’t think Billy would do anything again, but he wanted me to keep an eye out for any retaliation.”

  “What does that have to do with dating?”

  “Mase told me this in confidence, so I’d understand the whole situation. Billy found out about this kid’s behavior from a girl Eric had asked out. This girl is a friend of Billy’s, and Billy wants to ask her out. Mason thinks Eric will realize how close Billy and the girl are, and will really be gunning for Billy.”

  “So tell me about the girl.”

  “Mase didn’t give me a lot of details. Like I said, it was in confidence, and wasn’t the real point of the story. Hell, even if he did, I wouldn’t remember much about a fourteen year old girl. To tell you the truth, I can’t even remember the first girl I asked for a date.”

  “That’s because you never did ask one out. They started calling you in sixth grade and never stopped. That’s why Ginger did such a number on you. Don’t you remember the seventh grade dance? Your problem was three girls kept calling the house, and you kept begging your dad and me not to answer the phone?”

  Finn thought back to Laurie. She’d been the one who had basically bullied him into going, and he had really wanted to go with Zoe. It wasn’t until he had been in ninth grade that he had learned how to say no to the girls he didn’t want to date.

  “I sure did have it easy when it came to girls.”

  “Yes you did,” his mom agreed. “But is it always easy for you now?”

  Finn stopped himself from immediately saying yes. Hell, it was easy, but it was because it hadn’t mattered. Evie eyed him.

  Damn, they were getting into dangerous waters. Time to redirect...again.

  Finn looked down at his watch and swore.

  He signaled to the waiter for the bill.

  “Don’t worry, I’ve got lunch today. You can pay next time.” His mother assured him.

  “Okay, I love you, Mom,” he said as he got up to leave. As he passed the waiter, he handed him three bills. His mom shook her head in exasperation and laughed. He waved good-bye.

  Finn made good time to the field. He’d thought ahead and had most of the equipment in his old 1972 El Camino. When he got there, a group of parents nodded in his direction, and toasted him with their coffee cups. He didn’t have to say a thing to the boys, they were already scrambling away from the field to his car. Billy was one of the first three boys to arrive.

  “Can you men help get the equipment over to the field?” he asked.

  A bunch of affirmatives were matched with hands reaching to take the sticks and bags.

  Finn reached into the front seat and pulled out his roster. There were supposed to be five boys at the goalie clinic. So far there were only four.

  “Hey Billy, I recognize you, Stan and Michael. Is the other kid over there Hal or Luke?”

  “He’s Hal.” Finn looked at his watch. They weren’t due to start for another five minutes. He’d give the other kid ‘til five after, then he’d start whether he showed or not.

  “So did they pull you out for just the one game, or are you out for multiple games?” Finn asked.

  “Mason talked to you, huh?”

  “Yeah. Nothing bad. It sounded like the kid probably deserved it. Still if you pull that shit on the field somebody else could end up with a stick in the face. You’ve got to be careful.” Finn watched Billy, and the boy didn’t flinch.

  “I was careful. Nobody else was in the area. I wanted to make sure it just impacted Eric, the last thing I wanted was an innocent to get harmed.”

  Fuck, it was like listening to Mason, Finn thought to himself.

  “So this kid had it coming?”

  “He ruined one girl’s reputation, and pushed another too far. Yeah, he deserved it. He knows I’ll be keeping an eye on him.”

  “Just like I’m going to have an eye on you. This kid sounds like the type who’d pull in others and come after you on the field. That’s why Mase asked me to keep an eye out, so I will.”

  “I suppose something like that is always possible, he’s a bully. I think he’s just going to lick his wounds and remember my warning.”

  Yep, he definitely sounded like Mason.

  “Did he mess with a girl who’s important to you?”

  Finn watched as Billy’s fists clenched.

  “Nope.” It made Finn wonder what would have happened if he had.

  Finn smiled. “So there’s a girl?”

  “Yeah.” Billy sighed. “There is. She’s pretty great.”

  “And this guy didn’t do anything inappropriate with her?”

  “No, he didn’t say or do anything to Rebecca. She was the one who told me when he asked her out. He asked her the day before I was going to.” Billy looked across the field at the other players.”

  “Then you got worried about her turning you down too, right?”

  “You got it.”

  Finn nodded.

  “I shouldn’t have waited. I should have asked her
out then and there. But the more I let it slide the worse it gets, ya know?”

  “I hear that.”

  “I should never have procrastinated,” Billy said with disgust.

  “I don’t know, at least you’re putting together a game plan,” Finn said as he hefted a bag of equipment and started walking towards the field. “I think going in with a plan always beats bursting in and not knowing what to expect.”

  “I guess.”

  “Plus, you’ve probably laid some groundwork.” Billy perked up.

  “It’s kind of like this, you’re hitting your fundamentals, you’re practicing, and you’re building your foundation.”

  “A sports analogy, Finn?” Billy shook his head with a grin.

  “I’m a firm believer in sports teaching you a lot of good things for life. You my boy have probably built a foundation of trust, am I right?” Billy laughed.

  “Yes.”

  “Build on that, and you’ll be going to the dance.” They looked up as another car pulled up and a new boy got out.

  “Looks like the clinic can start now,” Finn said.

  Chapter Five

  Clint Archer

  “Billy, for the last time. We wanted you to come with us,” Lydia said as she shelled out for the massive amounts of popcorn, soda, pretzels, and candy.

  “Kid, you ask again I’ll be forced to kill you,” Clint growled good naturedly.

  “It just seemed too perfect. I love Mason’s mom, but I really didn’t want to have to stay at the house and listen to them talk about wedding stuff. I was really impressed Mase was willing to stick around and talk about flowers and what color the tablecloths should be.”

  “It’s important to your sister,” Clint said.

  “I know, but still.” He made a face, then bounded ahead of them towards the theater. Clint smiled to himself when he realized how much food he was carrying. His smile extended to Lydia as they followed at a slightly more leisurely pace, but his woman was as excited as Billy to get to her seat. She wasn’t fooling him, she didn’t want to miss one single preview.

  “Speed it up, SEAL-Boy. I can’t believe you’re moving so slow.”