“I like that you’re paranoid, it is a very attractive quality about you.” Aiden laughed.
“Kiss my ass.” She giggled.
Both sat silently looking into the fire as the snake sizzled, it smelled good.
“I don’t like Carol, but I hope she is okay. I can’t believe Grayson didn’t keep an eye on her. She is his teammate after all.” She said as she pulled a piece of meat off the long body and popped it into her mouth.
“I agree, you don’t leave your teammate behind, especially if you know your teammate is weak. I think Grayson is really mad about having her, but still, you don’t screw someone over like that, it isn’t cool.”
“Yeah, I thought he was a nice guy, guess you never know about people. Kinda scary you know? He seemed like a really nice person, but what kind of person just ignores someone, just because he is angry? I mean, that is crazy. And really sad for Carol.” She said, and shook her head. She got up and went to the back of the cave to get two bottles of water. She brought them out and handed one to Aiden.
“So, what happened to you Aiden, how did you get hurt?”
Aiden looked at her, his dark eyes sliding over to her. His mouth smiled crookedly, “my wife Becka tried to kill me.”
“What? Oh Aiden, I’m so sorry. I wasn’t trying to be nosy, I’m so sorry.” Sarah expostulated, upset with herself.
Aiden laughed and lifted up a hand, “Don’t worry, this is just between the two of us though. As you know, I was a navy SEAL. I was out and gone on deployments a lot. I guess I didn’t realize how much she hated me going. She was always accusing me of seeing other women and all that. I never cheated on her. Though SEALs have a reputation of screwing around. A lot of guys do, but then, a lot of guys don’t. But I think really, that she was mentally ill. I’d just come back from a mission, I’d been gone for three weeks. She seemed normal and happy to see me. Then about three am, I wake up and she is stabbing the hell out of me with a kitchen knife.” He said, his face sad and his eyes staring into the fire.
Sarah didn’t know what to say, it broke her heart on so many levels. “So, what happened?”
“I managed to fight her off, but Becka had already stabbed me thirteen times. I called 911, before I was able to get the knife from her. I broke her wrist, but then she ran to get another knife. By the time the police got there, she was stabbing me again, and they shot her.” He said quietly.
“Oh Aiden, I’m so sorry, oh my God, I’m so sorry.” Sarah said and laid a hand on his shoulder, she couldn’t believe what she was hearing and to have made him relive it, she felt horrible for bringing up the subject.
“It’s okay, she had turned and was going at the cop, he had to. I think she wanted to die, and I think she wanted me dead too. I did almost die. I was in the hospital for two months. I had to go to rehab and after, I wasn’t fit to be in the SEALs anymore, so I got out. I got a partial retirement because of the injuries. I applied for this to see if I could still do it, you know, survive.” He said softly.
“Well, you didn’t have to come all the way to China to figure that out Aiden, you did survive. I’m truly sorry, I can’t imagine how much the hurt, mentally, I mean.”
“Yeah, it took a couple years of therapy for me to figure out it wasn’t me or my fault, just that Becka was mentally unstable. Neither of us really realized it, I think, because I was gone a lot, and it seemed we fought a lot, but we loved a lot too. It was kinda messed up. I’m not mad at her, I do feel sorry for her. Maybe she was doing that suicide by cop?” He said, shrugging and bringing the snake between them.
“I’m sorry to bring up the hurt, I’d no idea.”
“Don’t worry about it, it was kinda nice to talk to you about it. I haven’t really talked to anyone else about it, you know a shameful secret.” He said, and took a bite of snake and smiled.
“It isn’t a shameful secret, it is a sad thing, but not shameful Aiden. And the snake is good, hold on a second, and let me get my pot.” She got up and went back into the cave and came out with her pot. She tore off pieces of the snake and threw them in the small pot, then took his machete and cut up ginger root and some of the small green onion stems.
She poured a little water in and put it over some of the coals. They sat in silence until the meat began to boil up, and the aroma of onion and ginger filled the air. She inhaled the steam and her stomach growled.
“Now that smells good. Let me make some forks while it cooks.” Aiden said and reached over for a stick. He used the
