Chapter 2: BAB 2
"What kind of bar is this?" he hissed.
Pino gave another casual roll of his slim shoulders. "It's West Hollywood, man. Very mixed crowd is to be expected, you know?"
No, Zaki did not know that, thank you very much. He figured Rino and his boyfriend wouldn't drink anywhere too conservative, but he'd also assumed they wouldn't drag him to a gay bar.
"Dude. You look like you just discovered mouse poop in your fries. I promise no one's taking away your het cred just because the quilt bag crowd likes to drink here too."
Zaki shook his head partly because he wasn't sure what all the letters stood for in quilt bag and partly because het cred was seriously the least of his worries. "It's fine," he lied.
"Can I see the trident pin?" Pino leaned forward. This was part of the thing about Pino. He loved all things military, knew all the acronyms, and made no secret about finding uniforms hot. It made it so that Zaki was never sure if Pino was truly interested in what he had to say or if it was all about feeding his SEAL fantasies. And why Zaki cared about that distinction, he couldn't say.
"I don't go wearing it out bar hopping." Zaki gave him a hard glare, one that usually convinced others to fall in line, but it didn't seem to faze Pino.
"So tell me about SQT. Was it as hard as BUD/S?" Pino's devilish smile said that he'd be happy to venture into more, inappropriate topics if Zaki didn't take this bait.
"Nah. I was so damn glad they didn't roll me all the way back to Hell Week that SQT was almost a relief." Zaki had broken his leg during the jump training portion of SEAL training that followed BUD/S, and he'd been hella nervous until the review board said he only had to repeat the jump training before joining the next SEAL class at SQT. He'd heard about guys rolled all the way to the start of BUD/S when they got a med drop.
"And now you've got your platoon assignment, right? All new guys? When do you get deployed, you think?"
Zaki laughed at the stacked questions. Pino played too many warfare games. "Yeah. I'm here for the weekend because I got some leave after finishing SQT, but I'll be based out of Coronado with my new team. And no, not all new guys. Couple of guys from BUD/S and SQT got assigned to the same platoon." He kept his voice as casual as he could, trying not to reveal how fucked-up it was that he'd been assigned to the same platoon as Cobb, the guy who'd made his life hell in BUD/S. And to make matters worse, they were only a few rooms apart in the fucking barracks.
"So you guys will be doing real missions soon?" Pino pressed. And fuck, wouldn't Cobb have a field day with Zaki being in this place with Pino? Christ, just the thought had him taking a deep pull from his beer.
Zaki groaned. "I wish. We're looking at another twelve to eighteen months of training before we get into the field." All the training was intense, but he couldn't wait to get out there for real it was what he'd signed up to do, why he'd done the navy SEAL challenge when enlisting, what he'd dreamed about for years.
"Excuse me." A pretty blonde woman, shorter than Pino, even in teetering heels, rested an arm on their table.
"Yeah?" Zaki said warily.
"My friends and I have a bet." She pointed over her shoulder at a group of young women crowded around one of the tables.
"Oh?" Pino was way more enthusiastic than Zaki would have been, giving the woman a friendly grin.
"See, Miriam says you guys are a couple"
"We're not." Zaki tongue nearly knotted in his hurry to deny that little idea.
"Awesome." She smiled widely at him. "So who wants to dance?"
"Zaki the one who plays for your team," Pino said all casually, jerking his thumb in Zaki direction, but there was a challenge in his eyes.
"Fabulous." She looked Zaki over in a way that made his stomach cramp. Unlike when Pino scoped you out. He knew her gaze was supposed to make his blood hum, make him start thinking sexy things, but instead it kind of creeped him out.
"Hey" Zaki started to protest, but the woman was already grabbing his wrist.
You're the one who's always on about how straight you are, Pino eyes said as he didn't move at all to rescue Zaki, instead saying, "Go on now. I'll keep the table and order some fries for when you get back."
Nothing to do other than drain his beer in one swallow and follow the woman to the dance floor at the far end of the establishment, separated from the rest of the bar by a low wall.
She was cute in a little silver tank top and smelled liked the wisteria in his mom's front yard, and Zaki supposed he should be thinking how good her chest looked in the tight top or how much he wanted that scent all over him, but yeah, not happening. Still, though, he'd been down this road enough times to know the drill, and he liked dancing, liked letting music move through him, even if the partner stuff did get tricky. The dance mix pumped out a fast beat, enabling him to keep space between them. And she was good, not stomping his feet or draping herself all over him. One dance and he'd politely send her back to her friends.
Near them a couple guy, guy couple to be exact danced super close. Fuck. One of them wore some sort of spicy aftershave and had a low chuckle for his partner that went right to Zaki gut. The two shared a private look and a kiss so dirty that Zaki couldn't look away. He'd seen Rino cuddle up to his boyfriend a couple of times, but that sort of playfulness was a far cry from this, fireworks show inches from him.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone