Free Keeping You: KJ Elite Inc. by L.K. Kracek

with technology but also had a near genius IQ and eidetic memory. Though the memory thing was pretty fun when he was being especially troublesome; all it took was one comment and he had a perfect memory of walking in on me buck ass nekkid after a little happy time. I was embarrassed then, but man his reaction to this day gets me every time.
    “Why not just tell her? Tay and TJ got me full up on chasing women.”
    “That’s a different story and you know it. Plus…”
    He slammed the bar into place, shot up and turned on me.
    “Don’t give me that bullshit again, No.”
    He knew where I was going.
    Between the two of us, he seemed to be the only one who was vehemently arguing my morality. Or defending it – whichever.
    “You were a Navy-fucking-Seal, brother. Don’t give me this crap about you being morally bankrupt or waiting for your spot in hell to open up. There is a lot of shit you might not have liked, but I know you wouldn’t have done it if you knew it wasn’t absolutely necessary.”
    “You don’t know the half of what I’ve done.” I argued.
    I knew I was wrong; Luke knew everything.
    “I’ve seen your non-existent file. Don’t play that. There’s a reason Seal’s exist, and there’s an even better reason why you were selected. You’re a leader and you’re a champion of this country’s – hell, this whole world’s safety and fight for freedom. It takes a strong person to run those streets and you dominated. Don’t be sorry because you knocked off some piss-ant terrorists to save a school of kids or the nation’s capital. I can’t guarantee you there wouldn’t be people who would berate you and call you a baby killer but don’t go turning into P.C. Polly on me now. You’re created for a reason and if you didn’t exist, chances are we would all be living in New China or ISIS Land.”
    I just nodded. I had run out of defenses and didn’t want to appear the martyr, even though that’s probably exactly what I am.
    “How’s the house coming along?”
    “It’s coming. I guess. I don’t know, man. I’m not a pro at this shit. All I need is a bedroom, bathroom and computer room. Ma and Aunt V keep tellin’ me I need a dining room, extra rooms for babies one day, a garage, a living room and family room, yadda, yadda, yadda.”
    He used his hand to mimic mouthing a puppet or a runaway mouth.
    I just laughed at him.
    “You better listen to them or they’ll take turns whoopin’ you. Just let them design it and Tommy’ll walk through it all with you. I could even call J.R. up here.”
    J.R. was the dude you wanted to see if you needed anything built. I’d known J.R. since we were in diapers all through school; he had taken over his family’s carpenter business but added a construction sector to the company, tripling their profits and income. I reached out to him my last year in the Navy when I knew for sure what I was going to do. Mike and I planned KJ Inc. well before the government released our balls back to us. It took us a few months to get everything moving but J.R. was our go to and he really nailed it. No pun intended.
    J.R. was the only person not involved in KJ Inc. who knew the whole rundown on what we had going on over here, structurally. He even worked a little with Tommy to build up his and Taylor’s place.
    “How is ole’ boy doing?” Luke chuckled.
    “Like you don’t know. You’re worse than Mrs. Wilmington.” I snorted. “And don’t change the subject.”
    Mrs. Wilmington was our local source for gossip – you needed the dirt and she had it. Woman was a nuisance and a raging thorn in my side. You find a social media sight and she’s on it blabbing out the news of the town and it’s residents. Here’s to hoping Tommy and Tay’s wedding kept her full up for at least another month or two.
    I laid back down to do another set of lifts.
    “What are you babbling about, now?”
    “You’re putting off building your house.” I said