“Go on,” Mustang urged.
“Right, well, I think she has the impression that as a sailor, I’m not making all that much money. Normally, she’d be right. But with our hazard pay and rank, not to mention the housing allowance and cost of living bonus, even without my trust, I’d be doing just fine,” Aleck said.
“And now you’re wondering how, and if, you should tell her that you’re loaded,” Jag said.
Aleck nodded. “Yeah. And that I live in a fucking penthouse at Coral Springs. I absolutely don’t want her to feel weird about me having plenty of money when she doesn’t. But the longer I go without telling her about my trust and my parents’ wealth, the harder it is to figure out how to spill the beans.”
“Just tell her,” Slate said.
Aleck wasn’t exactly surprised at his friend’s suggestion. He was a no-nonsense kind of guy.
“No, man, he can’t just blurt that out. He has to finesse it,” Mustang said.
“I agree,” Midas said with a nod.
“But how?” Pid asked. “It’s not something that’s likely to come up in casual conversation. He can’t say something like, ‘Oh, by the way, I live in a penthouse,’ and expect that to be that.”
“Why not?” Slate asked. “It’s true.”
“Because!” Pid exclaimed.
“Is she gonna be mad that he’s not a broke-ass military guy? Only if she’s psycho,” Slate said with a shrug.
“She’s not psycho,” Aleck said with a shake of his head.
“I agree that the longer you go without telling her, the bigger a deal it’ll be,” Midas said. “But I also think you need to find a good way to tell her that doesn’t feel as if you’re bragging about it or something.”
“You know I never brag about money,” Aleck said, somewhat annoyed.
“I do know. I wasn’t saying you do. But things with Kenna are new,” Midas said.
“So? Anyone got any great ideas?” Aleck asked.
No one said a word.
“Shit,” he muttered.
His friends all looked apologetic. Aleck was going to have to figure out something on his own. It wasn’t that he’d come out and told Kenna that he was barely getting by, and she had called him a snob, so she might not be all that surprised. But he didn’t like keeping such a big detail about his life a secret, even if it made no difference in how he felt about her.
Aleck had dated a few women who made no bones about the fact that they were thrilled he could afford to buy them gifts and take them out all the time. At first it didn’t bother him. But the older he became, the more he wanted a woman who was into him, not just interested in what he could give her. And the more he talked to Kenna, spent time with her, the more he was certain she wasn’t like that.
So he needed to suck it up and just tell her.
“How’s her friend? Carly?” Pid asked.
“Good, as far as I know,” Aleck answered.
At the same time Jag said, “Good.”
Everyone turned to stare at their teammate.
“You been talking to her?” Mustang asked.
Jag shrugged. “It’s not a big deal, but yeah. We text now and then. And she sometimes calls me when she’s on her way up to her apartment, you know, as a safety thing.”
Everyone smirked.
“Seriously, she’s one hundred percent anti-dating right now. So we’re friends. I just want to make sure that asshole ex of hers is obeying the protective order and isn’t harassing her,” Jag said.
“And is he?” Slate asked.
“So far, yeah. But it’s only been days, and we all know assholes like that usually don’t slink back to their holes so easily.”
Aleck nodded. It was true. He worried about Kenna as well, since she’d been up in Shawn’s face the other day. He definitely hadn’t been happy about that.
“Oh, hey, if you guys aren’t busy the week after next, Lexie could use some help moving to the new location of Food For All,” Midas said.
“That’s finally happening?” Pid asked.
“Yeah. There’s not much furniture in the new location, but her boss, Natalie, is letting her take a bunch of extra stuff from the downtown location over there.”
“They need a donation to get some things?” Aleck asked. It didn’t really matter what the answer to his question was…he was already planning on making sure Lexie had what she needed to be comfortable and successful at the satellite location of the food pantry where she worked. Located in Barber’s Point, it was closer to Midas’s house, and would really help out the residents in that area. Traveling to downtown Honolulu was out of the question for the families in Barber’s Point who needed help the most.
“It wouldn’t go unappreciated,” Midas said diplomatically.
Aleck nodded.
“Elodie is super excited to work with her,” Mustang told them. “She’s been researching all sorts of healthy meals for box lunches. She’s also talking about the possibility of making dinners too. She said Lexie is working on finding volunteers who wouldn’t mind delivering the meals to the people who can’t make it to the center.”
“Lexie told me about that,” Midas said. “I guess Ashlyn is interested in helping. Maybe even heading up that part of the program.”
Slate growled, surprising everyone.
They all looked over at their friend.
“You don’t approve?” Midas asked.
Slate shrugged. “Just don’t think it’s safe for a woman to be driving around to strangers’ houses by herself.”
“I agree,” Pid said.
“Me too,” Midas added. “But no one said she’d be by herself, and one thing I’ve learned after getting to know Ashlyn through Lexie is that she isn’t someone you say ‘you can’t do that’ to. It makes her dig in her heels and become more determined than ever to prove you wrong.”
Aleck heard the note of warning in his teammate’s voice, and wondered if it was aimed at Slate. He’d just opened his mouth to say something sarcastic, because that was what he did, when their conversation was interrupted by a deep voice from behind them.
“Well, well, well, Smart Aleck’s gone and got hisself some pats on the back.”
Sighing, knowing exactly who was behind him in the hallway, Aleck turned to face the sailor who’d been a pain in his ass ever since the man had arrived on base.
Kylo Braun.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Pid asked the other man.
“I’m just congratulating the big bad SEAL on tackling an unsuspecting civilian and causing a ruckus,” Braun said.
Aleck crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the other man. Kylo had taken an immediate disliking to Aleck the first time they’d met. They’d all been on a company run, and a little girl hadn’t been paying attention and had dashed out into the street, right in front of an approaching SUV that was driving way too fast.
Braun had yelled, “Watch out!”
Aleck had acted. He’d barely gotten to the child in time, diving for her and snatching her out of the way of the approaching vehicle with inches to spare. He’d gotten a hell of a case of road rash out of it…and a commendation from the base commander.