Charming But Reckless (NightShade Security #5)

Epilogue

ARICK

Working with Memphis every day was a challenge to my patience. The man was a fucking genius, yet he had the social skills of a feral cat. How Sinclair dealt with him was a mystery.

“I swear there isn’t anything else to find. I’ve traced every possible lead for this,” I repeated for the third time.

We’d come to multiple dead ends in the last two weeks. There was nothing new on the TGO front. Everything we thought would work hadn’t panned out. And it was driving Memphis to be even worse than usual.

“There has to be something. We’re too close to the end now. I can’t accept them winning.”

“It’s not a fucking game. There are lives at stake.”

At my bitter words, Memphis turned to face me. We were working side by side, him having abandoned his desk to bring a laptop out to the main area of the war room.

The others were all in various places. Some at lunch, others with Tank going over cases they’d put off. I even knew a few of the partners were off doing jobs in other places. It left the two of us alone, which definitely didn’t help things.

“I know there are lives at stake. This project has been my life for over a year now. I don’t take any of this lightly.”

“Yes, I know. Sometimes you’re a fucking asshole though. Think before you speak.”

He grinned. “Noted. Now let’s see if we can find anything new to track.”

“Why isn’t there a big agency working on this? Stabler seemed competent. He could build a task force, right? This city alone would give him enough work to keep him busy. Plus, we’ve already done a lot of the work,” I pondered aloud as I worked.

Memphis grunted, though he didn’t say anything to agree or disagree with my thoughts. It didn’t anger me as much after the little blow up we just had. My anger had fizzled out with his passionate rebuttal.

Whether we’d get answers or not, I didn’t know. What I could guarantee is that we’d keep searching until the Gilded Ones were completely dismantled. Only after that final leader was taken down will we redirect our focus.

I wondered what life would look like after that. Pre-TGO NightShade sounded much different. Hopefully my skills would still be useful. I refused to give up the family I’d just found.

Sol

It was a bad day.

I tried to hide it. Dad would worry if he knew. So would Orion. They didn’t need to be upset because I was.

Burying myself in the big blanket on the bed, I tried to pretend I was invisible. If no one saw me, they couldn’t tell I was sad.

Takeshi’s face popped up in front of me. I didn’t move or anything even though it should have scared me.

He dropped to a squat, then signed, “What can I do to help?”

Learning to talk with him had been fun. I wanted to learn because I didn’t like not knowing what was going on around me.

My mind went back to a boat full of crying people and the men yelling at us in multiple languages. I hated not knowing what they wanted us to do. It made blending in so hard.

I signed back to him. “Nothing. Just tired.”

Takeshi shook his head. “Not tired. Sad. We don’t have to tell anyone. You’re not alone. Orion could help if you wanted to talk.”

True.

Orion had always said he would be willing to talk if I needed him. I really hated thinking I’d bring up bad memories for him. He should always be happy.

Dad made him happy.

I wanted him to have that forever.

“Do you think he’d sign with me? I don’t want to speak,” I signed to a watchful Takeshi.

He smiled. “Yeah, I think he would. I’ll go get him. Don’t go anywhere.”

With a wink, he rose and took off. Inside, I laughed at his words. On the outside, I didn’t even smile. We both knew I wasn’t going anywhere.

It only took a couple minutes for Orion to drop onto the bed behind me. I knew it was him because he was the only person brave enough to do something like that besides Dad.

He tugged on the blanket until I turned over. Then he signed, “Talk to me, kiddo. What’s on your mind?”

The words came before I could hold back. “I’m scared I’ll get taken again. And I don’t know how to feel safe. I keep remembering everything.”

Orion watched each word as I signed them. When I finished, he took a deep breath.

“I’ll be honest, Sol, it’s not always easy to stop bad thoughts. It’s been a really long time for me, and I still have hard days.”

“Does anything help?”

He smiled softly. “Yeah. Having close friends or family to talk to. Getting a therapist. I did that for a while when I got out. Learning how to defend myself. All of it made me feel safer.”

“Can you help with that?”

“Absolutely,” he signed. “I would love to. You’ll always have me. I’ve got your back. Have since the minute I saw you.”

I nodded, then hugged him. He wasn’t lying. I remembered seeing him in that container and hoping he was really there to save us. When he picked me out of the group, I worried I’d been wrong about him.

Orion was my hero.

And my dad loved him. I knew he did.

“Can you be my other dad?” I signed to him when I pulled back. “I didn’t ask Dad yet, but I think he’ll be ok if we keep you too.”

I heard a noise behind me. Looking over my shoulder, I saw Dad watching us.

He signed, “It’s ok, son. You don’t need to ask me. I want him around forever.”

Orion cleared his throat. When I looked back at him, he had tears falling down his face.

“I would love to be your dad too, kiddo. You’re stuck with me now.”

Dad came over and we had a big group hug. Some of the sadness lifted while I was in their arms. I knew the two of them would keep me protected.

Orion

Arick gripped the pillow I slipped in his arms tightly. I waited another minute to make sure he was asleep before I slipped downstairs to put up the decorations I’d snuck in the house the night before.

It wasn’t that I didn’t want his help with this surprise. I just felt like I needed to handle it alone. My boyfriend did so much of this alone for years. Now that he had a partner, he deserved to get a hand with Dad duties.

Since Sol asked me to be his other dad almost two months ago, I took my role very seriously. We’d jumped headfirst into our little family, yet it all worked perfectly.

I firmly believed they were meant to be mine.

I pulled out the bags of decorations and went to work covering the living room and kitchen in everything birthday related. It wasn’t themed, because Sol really didn’t have a favorite show or game. He played a little of everything, though he much preferred working on his ASL or spending time with members of the team.

His favorite thing was family. It was obvious he’d been starved for it before. So had Arick. The two of them thrived when surrounded by the men I’d chosen to surround my life with.

Two hours after slipping from bed, I finally hung the last piece. I stared at the work, proud of what I’d done.

Dropping onto the couch, I took a minute to wonder how Sol and Arick would react to everything. Hopefully they loved it.

I must have fallen asleep because the sound of shouting jolted me awake sometime later.

“Dad! It’s my birthday!”

Smiling at the raised voice, I stood and turned to watch the hall for the first sign of the pair. I had no doubt Sol was headed to the bedroom to wake us up first. They’d both head out this way once they saw I wasn’t there.

Sure enough, they appeared a minute later. Arick was being dragged by a giddy Sol. It was the happiest I’d seen him since his bad day.

“We’ll find him. Don’t you worry,” Arick said before he froze. “What in the —”

Admittedly, I might have gone overboard with everything. I didn’t want to hold back though. These two needed to see how much I loved them by my actions.

“Happy birthday!”

Sol ran to me, his small arms squeezing me tight. “Did you do all of this, Dad?”

“Sure did, kiddo. Had to go all out for your birthday. Do you like it?”

I held my breath, though I shouldn’t have worried. He nodded emphatically, then went to look closer at the decorations.

There were streamers, balloons, and loads of confetti. I’d even hung photos from strings on the ceiling to add to the family energy I was going for.

Arick walked up to me much slower than our son had. “How long did it take you to do all this?”

“Let’s not talk about that. Tell me you’re not mad that I steamrolled any plans you had.”

“Absolutely not!”

Horror filled me as I thought about how badly I’d fucked up. He must have realized how his answer sounded because he planted a hard kiss on my lips, then placed his hands on my shoulders and shook me.

“You silly man! I’m not mad. I’m thrilled. He’s never had someone in his corner besides me. This is the best surprise. It means the world that you thought of him enough to do all this.”

I wiped away the tears as they started to fall from his eyes. Holding his face in my hands, I basked in the rightness of it all.

“This is only the start of it all, baby. Every birthday, every holiday, is ours to have together.”

He groaned, though he wore a big smile. “Should I be worried about Christmas?”

“Probably. I have zero control when it comes to you two.”

“That’s not such a bad thing. I know he deserves it after everything.”

I tightened my grip, making sure he focused on my words. It wasn’t enough to hurt. Just enough to let him know I was serious.

“You both deserve it. Yeah, what he went through was horrible. But you also had to deal with the worry and stress of not knowing what was happening to him. Your birthday might be even more outlandish,” I admitted.

“Dads! Look at this!” Sol’s shout drew our attention. I laced our fingers together, then walked over to see what our son wanted to tell us.

It was the best feeling in the world.