let him go son. Your pizza’s ready, take Miss Julia and go wherever y’all are headed for the night,” Antonio says this firmly but is glaring at Wyatt.
“I mean it, you stay the fuck away from her,” Jaxson says dangerously, shoving himself away Wyatt.
Antonio hands me the pizza and puts his hand on Jaxson’s shoulder.
“Let’s go Jax,” I say quietly, tugging on his arm.
He looks to Antonio, “How much do I owe you?”
“Nothing, it’s on me. Good luck out there kid, make sure you come back,” he claps Jaxson on the back.
“Thanks Antonio. Sorry about this.”
Antonio nods at him then turns to me, “Take care Miss Julia, I’ll see you soon.”
As soon as we get into my car Jaxson loses it and starts punching my steering wheel, “FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!” I jump, not expecting the outburst. I know he would never hurt me. I’ve seen him like this enough times that I just stay quiet till he gets himself under control.
He looks over at me, rage and worry consuming his expression, “Jules you have to promise me that you won’t go anywhere near that asshole. Not ever!”
“Jesus Jaxson, what is it with you two? Why do y’all hate each other so much?”
“Just promise me you’ll stay the fuck away from him. If he gives you any problems you go to Cooper right away, ok?”
I’m a little surprised at how intense he is about this. “I’ll be fine Jax, I am pretty sure he only talks to me now just to get under your skin. He’s always been nothing but polite to me.”
“That’s because he wants in your fucking pants! Christ Julia, will you just trust me on this? I know shit about him that you don’t,” he looks so panicked that I lean over and hug him.
“Alright, I promise. Don’t worry. I’ll go to Cooper if I need to, but I’m sure it’ll be fine.” I try to reassure him as best as I can. He wraps his arms around me, holding me tight.
“I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you.”
My heart melts and I wonder what he knows about Wyatt that has him so concerned for my safety. “Nothing is going to happen to me. You’re the one who’s going to be a Seal, you are in more danger than I am.” I get sad now thinking about him leaving. I pull back from him and smile, “Come on, let’s go to the beach. In the future please don’t beat my car again.”
“Sorry,” he smirks not looking very apologetic.
“When do classes start for you?” Jaxson asks, while picking up our garbage from supper.
I brush off the crumbs from our blanket, “Three weeks. I just purchased my text books.” I’m attending college in Charleston to get my teaching degree. “I’m not really looking forward to four more years of school but I’m hoping the elementary school will have a position for me when I’m done.”
Jaxson walks over and sits back down beside me. “You’re gonna be a good teacher Jules.”
“Thanks,” I say giving him a smile. “So tell me what all this training is going to entail for you?”
He looks at me doubtfully, “You really want to hear about it?”
“Of course I do.” I scoot closer to him and get into our familiar position of me wrapping both my arms around his one and lean back on the log behind us. We stare out at the sun that’s just starting to set.
“Well BUD/S, which stands for Basic Under Water Demolition/SEAL, is a 6 month process with different stages. The first 8 weeks are the toughest on recruits, both mentally and physically, or so I hear. They call it ‘hell week’. They put us through a lot of shit to see how much our mind and body can endure. I’ve heard a lot of people drop out before the 8 weeks are finished because they can’t handle it.” Jaxson stops explaining when he looks over and sees my horrified expression, “Ok, that’s enough info for you!” he says chuckling.
I stare at him like he’s crazy, “What if something happens to you?”
“Jules I’m in training, they’re not going to try and kill us.
John B. Garvey, Mary Lou Widmer