As Ancog walked away, Houdini said, “No pressure or anything, but if you don’t win, ya might be disowned.”
No shit, I thought, but tried to brush off what the commander had said. I didn’t need to focus on that right now, not when classes hadn’t even started. “Let’s go.”
Down at the end of the maze of a hall, the locker rooms split up, and we veered off to the right, running into some of the other trainees.
Houdini seemed to know them all—of course he did—and made quick introductions as we headed into the room.
“Thirty-five, thirty-five,” I said under my breath, scanning the locker numbers for mine, and when I found it, I dropped my bag and popped the locker open. Two sets of flight suits were hung inside, and as I reached for one of them, I heard a laugh from the other end of the room.
Glancing to my right, I caught sight of two guys I’d yet to meet. They were talking amongst themselves and making it clear to everyone else in the room they were happy to keep it that way by not bothering to come over and introduce themselves.
One looked to be the size of a house, and I couldn’t help but wonder how he managed to fit in the cockpit of a plane, while the other was much leaner. With their backs turned toward me I couldn’t see either one’s face, so when Houdini stepped up beside me and opened up his locker, I heard myself asking, “Who are those two?”
Houdini peered around me to the other end of the locker room, and when he zeroed in on the two standing there, he rolled his eyes. “Gucci and Solo.”
When he offered nothing more, and instead went back to sorting out the contents of his locker, I narrowed my eyes as the hulk looked my way.
“Solo? As in—”
“Yeah, as in the reckless fucker who almost cost the Navy a jet last month. That Solo. Not real sure whose dick he had to suck to get here, but clearly it worked. The guy’s trouble.”
I studied the pair of men again, wondering which of these two was the infamous Solo, but when the hulk slung an arm around the other guy’s shoulder and pivoted him in my direction, I knew exactly which guy was which.
I’d seen trouble last night, I just hadn’t realized it had followed me here.
Fuck.
5 Panther
I COULD FEEL his eyes boring into the back of my head.
Solo.
Of course the persistent man from last night was now sitting behind me in the training room, because life could never just be that easy.
I kept my attention on Commander Levy at the head of the classroom and tried to focus, even as panic flooded my veins. With such a devil-may-care reputation, would Solo out me to my peers and instructors? I kept my private life private for a reason, and now this guy’s very presence threatened what I’d worked so hard for.
This was why I didn’t fuck around with anyone within the military: people talked, and even though it wasn’t technically against the rules anymore to be gay, it still made others wary and look at you differently. Knowing how my father felt about it had kept my lips sealed and actions under the radar from anyone other than my closest of friends—and they weren’t talking. Hell, that was why I went out of my way to hit up bars outside of town where it wasn’t likely to run into anyone with loose lips. Once I’d felt Solo’s dog tags last night, any attraction I felt no longer mattered. I wasn’t about to risk my career for anyone, so thank God I hadn’t been thinking with my cock last night.
But damn, I’d never expected he’d show up in my life again, and definitely not here.
Fuck, fuck, fuck. Why did the charming, attractive man I’d thankfully resisted have to be a fellow pilot with a reputation of infamy throughout the Navy?
Beneath the desk I clenched my fists and forced my focus back on the orientation. At the front of the room, Commander Levy paced, his eyes cold and assessing.
“Each of you have proven yourselves to be the top of your respective classes, and that’s why you’re here.” Commander Levy stopped in front of me, his hands clasped behind his back. “The Elite. It’s not just a name, ladies and gentlemen. It’s a badge of honor. The highest aviation honor in the Navy, which means all eyes are on you and what you do here in the next ten weeks.”
It didn’t escape my notice that he stared directly at Solo as he said that, probably hoping to instill a bit of fear into the guy known to be fearless.
“By the time you graduate—if you graduate—you’ll have your choice of jobs anywhere in the world. But I must warn you, the next two and a half months will be the most intense of your life. You’ll face scheduled and unscheduled hops at our discretion, sometimes at a moment’s notice. Sometimes you’ll go up in pairs. You’ll be forced to work together as a team while also competing against each other.”
The thought of being paired up with the man still staring at the back of my head made me uneasy, but I’d be damned if I showed it. This competition was mine to lose, and I never lost. I wouldn’t start now.
Commander Levy went back to pacing the room. “Only one of you will come out on top—”
Behind me, someone snorted.
Commander Levy jerked around, staring over my shoulder. “Is something amusing, Lieutenant Morgan?”
“As a matter of fact, there is,” Solo replied, arrogance not-so-subtly laced through his words.
“Since you find it important enough to interrupt my class, perhaps you’d like to share?”
All eyes turned in Solo’s direction, and being determined not to draw attention to myself, I glanced behind me. With his flight suit showing off that spectacular body, Solo lounged casually in his seat, his arm propped up lazily on the back of his chair. A smirk tipped his lips, as if he didn’t have a care in the world, as if he wasn’t sitting in a room full of the best and most respected pilots in the Navy.
“You say only one of us will come out on top,” Solo said, and then his eyes flicked to me. They seemed to be more golden than brown under the fluorescent lights, but the devilry I’d seen in them last night was still there. “It just so happens, being on top is my favorite position.”
Then he winked at me—fucking winked, that asshole—and I jerked back like I’d been slapped, turning back to face the front, because was he kidding with that shit? Could he be more obvious?
“No one wants to hear about your sex life, fucker,” Utah called out, causing a low chuckle to filter across the room.
“I’m not talking about my sex life,” Solo replied. “In that case, I don’t care who comes out on top.”
Sweet God almighty… Like I needed that thought in my head.
Or that visual.
“That’s enough,” Commander Levy snapped, and then narrowed his eyes on Solo. “I’ll see you in my office at the end of the day, lieutenant.” When Utah snickered, Levy added, “You too, Utah.”
A hush fell over the class, no one else wanting to start off their time here by getting ripped a new asshole on the first day.
“For your first hop you’ll be working as a team. Lead and wingman. I’ve assigned your partner for the duration of the course, though your roles will change up for each different hop.”
I glanced down at the binder in front of me and looked over the flight brief and specs of the F/A-18A Super Hornet.