Sea of Temptation ; Simon Riley.

Chapter 6.

People leave
but the way
they leave
Always remains.

WHEN life seemed to get difficult, I always dipped my body into the cold water of the sea. My uncle owned a lovely villa that faced the beach, so I often spent the night letting my body sway with the calm waves, leaving a silent permission to wash away the memories and thoughts.

But now there was no lovely villa, no uncle, no sea to wash away the venom that filled my head. I was desperately looking for a similar way and then I stepped inside the shooting range.

Taking a deep breath, I inhaled the scent of gunpowder in the air. There were only a few soldiers since it was so early in the morning, better for me.
It took me a while to choose a weapon, I went ahead with a simple gun that seemed new to me.

I positioned myself to a free station and pulled my headsets on, blasting music into my ears. I checked the gun's mag before aiming at the target in front of me, pulling the trigger when I felt like it was centered.

Missed.

Well, must've been the recoil. So I tried again a couple of times, gaining only other misses. I narrowed my eyes at the target with my missing shots, this wasn't definitely going to calm my nerves down.

I was about to try again when a gloved hand wrapped around the gun's barrel, lowering it down slowly. "What the hell?" I snapped and pushed down my headsets, my head flying towards the man on my side that dared to interrupt me.

"I don't think you'll ever center the dummy without anything on that gun." Ghost said, his face hidden behind his usual skull patterned balaclava. This time he was wearing a simple dark uniform, no gear, no vest, only an uniform that accentuated his muscular build.

I stayed silent and handed him the gun instead. He left without saying a word and came back a couple of minutes later with accessories on the weapon, "I want you to listen carefully." He said and walked right behind me as I grasped the gun again.

My body froze when he placed his hands over my shoulders, pushing them down a little bit, "Just relax." He whispered roughly, sending a shiver down my spine. I relaxed my shoulders but when he fitted a leg between mines, forcing me to part them slightly, I tensed up again. What. The. Fuck.

He moved his hand on my left arm and corrected my stance, letting me still feel his presence right behind me. His other hand rested on the side of my waist, caressing it gently before giving it a slight pat, without ever leaving. "Go ahead." He gave me the go and I centered the target, pulling the trigger right after.

I hit the center perfectly.

"Oh.. okay." I murmured quietly, feeling my heart rate rise all of a sudden, yet he didn't move an inch, "Try again, Scylla." He gave my waist a little squeeze, making me tense up all over again. He did it again. He said my name in such a seductive way.

I pulled the trigger a few times, hitting the target continuously, the bullets burning a hole in the same area. I continued until I emptied the mag, I didn't even realize I was holding my breath the whole time, I could still feel the heat from his hand on my waist.

I lowered the gun and turned my head to the side, resting my chin on my shoulder as I raised my gaze to lock my eyes into his. I wanted to insult him for giving himself the permission to get this close, to touch me, to breathe my same air, to let my name roll down his tongue in such ways, but my body thought differently.

Because I never pushed him away, we just stayed like this for a few more seconds before he let his hands drop from my body, taking a step backwards. In that instant my body turned cold again, it felt like his hands left a permanent heated mark on me, "Thank you." I muttered silently before placing down the gun.

*

After what happened in the shooting range, Ghost kept his usual distances from me, just like how I always preferred, but this time it felt wrong to me. He wasn't avoiding me, he seemed like a mature man, to speak up whatever came to his mind, he just gave me my spaces and acted like a normal teammate.

Price was still away on other missions with Farah, it took longer than expected as two missiles deployed and hit the Arklov base, spreading the same gas I breathed back then.

In the meanwhile Makarov managed to slip in an airport and led a plane to a crash, victimizing an innocent woman and leaving a tragedy behind. Poor souls.

So that meant we still had a few more days of rest. I kept on spending my days in the shooting range, sometimes I helped the others to write the reports from the missions, I did the possible to keep my mind away from overthinking.

Then the day of Soap's birthday came, I hoped with my soul that he wasn't planning anything that included the team, because for sure he was going to drag me along.

All my prayers were ignored because he did really plan a small party at his apartment.

I was sitting on a couch, minding my own business with the third glass of whiskey in a hand, while the other was holding the fourth cigarette of that night. Soap and Gaz were laughing over a stupid thing that Ghost blurted out, without any intention of making it funny.

It was just the way Soap and Gaz were, I finally understood that. Everyone had a few drinks, the next day we had a free morning so it wasn't much of a problem if they wanted to get drunk. In the end it was Soap's birthday.

After I finished the third glass, I poured some more, even though I promised myself to not exaggerate again with the amounts. "Ey, Simon, slow down. You might collapse on that couch if you keep on drinking that shit." Gaz slurred, betraying his own words as he held up in the air the fourth bottle of Strong ale.

Ignoring the three idiots, I got up from the couch and found my way to the toilet, and God, I wished I never peed after chugging down four glasses of whiskey. When I got up from the toilet, everything started to spin around me, heat rose to my cheeks, the alcohol was getting to my head all of a sudden.

I stumbled across the hallway, not even remembering where the living room was, so I just started to open every door I saw. One in particular caught my eye, it was an office, neat, with a desk, two couches at the center of the room and a coffee table between them. I closed the door behind me and slumped down on one of the couches.

The silence was so soothing to my ears, I could still hear their loudness in my head and taking a moment to relax was just the right option.