Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Together, Hound and his teammates entered the office. They all smiled at Yolanda, who waved to them, and continued with her phone call.
They headed for their desks, knowing what was going to be waiting for them.
Hound bit back a smile, he couldn’t give away that he knew what was coming.
He needed to put his game face on, but he was so damned excited about what they’d planned that he wanted the hours to melt away so they could get on with the surprise.
They all planned to be at the venue at least a half an hour before the others.
Their invites had the same time as the ones Irish, Growler, Ox, Angel, and Yolanda had received.
Everything had to be the same for everyone, in case one of the other guys had decided to look at their invitation, which Hound didn’t think they would, but considering how tense it had been in the early stages of their planning, anything was likely.
“Hey, what’s this?” he asked holding up the envelope.
“No idea. Did y’all get one?” Jag asked, as he studied his invite as if it was a science experiment.
“Why don’t you open it and see?”
Hound looked up and found Irish standing opposite where his and his team’s desks were. “Did you get one too, Irish?”
Irish nodded, crossing his arms over his chest, reminding Hound of a block of ice.
Hound loved the surly former Delta soldier.
He’d seen Irish in the field when he joined them on the occasional mission, and he was cool, calm, collected and deadly.
Whatever had caused the Army to dishonorably discharge him must have been serious, because doing so meant they lost one bad-ass soldier.
Hound slid a finger into the corner of the invitation and ripped it opening, pulling out the card that they’d chosen for the invite. “Oh, an invite to a Christmas party. How cool.” He made to study it more closely. “Wait! It’s for tonight? Who the fuck organizes a party at such short notice?”
“Fucked if I know. Not sure I’ll go,” Jag said, tossing the invite on the desk. “I’ve got better things to do than go to some mysterious party.”
“We all got one, so I think the idea is that we all show up for this shindig,” Irish said dryly.
“Hey if it’s a free feed, I’m in. Come on, Jag. It will be fun,” Hound cajoled, knowing full well that Jag would be there no matter what.
“We’re a team; we go, okay?” Fox came up to them, his expression serious. They were doing a hell of a job convincing Irish that they were just as confused as he had to have been when he opened his invitation.”
“Fine,” Jag grumbled.
“I’m sure it won’t be as bad as you think it is, besides, I thought you loved Christmas, Jag.” Deal sat on the corner of Hound’s desk.
“I do, it’s just I don’t like things being planned at the last minute. It generally means the event is going to be a disaster,” Jag said.
“There’s nothing to say it was planned at the last minute,” Irish interjected. “We’ve just been given late notice about it.”
Hound nodded. “I take it everyone else is going. I’m sure you all talked about this while we were at our meeting.”
Irish nodded. “Like Jag, I wasn’t sure about it, but we’re all going.”
“Kids as well?” Fox asked, as it was really important that Angelica and Oscar turn up.
Jag had hired a Santa suit and was going to surprise the kids by turning up and showering them with the gifts that they’d bought for them.
They were all hoping the little ones wouldn’t freak out when they saw Santa, like some kids did; then it would be the disaster Jag had talked about happening.
“Yes, there’s no way Ox or Angel are going to leave their kids at home.”
Hound nodded. “Wouldn’t expect them to. Anything happen that we need to know about while we were at our meeting?”
“Nope. I’ll see you all soon.” Irish walked away then stopped. “By the way Hound, glitter looks good on you.” He continued on his way laughing, a rare occurrence for him, as he headed toward Cass’s office.
“What the fuck? I checked myself before I left?” Hound looked at his hands and couldn’t see anything.
“He’s fucking with you.” Jag shook his head. “There’s no glitter on you.”
“Which can only mean one thing,” Deal grumbled.
“He’s figured out we sent the invitations and have organized the party,” Fox sighed.
“Do you think he said something to the others?” Hound hoped Irish hadn’t, and if he did, well then there was nothing they could do about it.
“I don’t know.” Deal looked in the direction of where Irish had disappeared, as if he was ready to charge after him and demand Irish explain himself.
“Or he was just messing with us to see how we react?” Jag offered.
“We’re not going to find out until we get to the party. It’s possible Irish told the guys, but they decided not to say anything to their wives, so they’ll be surprised.”
“That’s a possibility too,” Hound agreed, and hoped that was the case. “Whatever happens, we did a good thing and that’s what counts the most.”