Chapter 11 #3
This is your home, so I expect you to treat it that way.
That includes eating as much of the food in the refrigerator as you can.
(That’s not a request, it’s an order. I want to see most of that food gone by the time I get home) This key is yours, although I expect you to do as little as possible for the next four days. You need to take it easy and recover.
I miss you already.
My work can be unpredictable, but I’ll call you every day when I can. We don’t take our cells out on calls with us, so if you can’t reach me, it’s because I’m working, never ignoring you, and I’ll call you back as soon as I can.
Remember your promise. I’ll see you in four days.
Your Warrick xoxo
Checking the time on my watch, I hate that I need to go. Grabbing my cell, I type out a quick text to Huck Barnett, then copy and paste it and send it to Knight too.
Me: My woman Verity will be at the house alone for the next four days. She’s promised me she’ll be here when I get home. I won’t ask you to cross a line, but I’d appreciate you helping her to keep that promise by not assisting her to go to town unless it’s an emergency.
A reply comes from Knight before I reach the front door.
Knight: I don’t know who Verity is, but if you want to keep her in your house, I can facilitate that.
A bubble of laughter spills from my lips, and I type out a quick reply.
Me: She doesn’t have to stay in the house, I just want to make sure she doesn’t leave town.
Knight: On it. Octavia and I will make contact with her later today.
I don’t know why, but knowing that my most reserved but obsessive brother will be keeping an eye on my woman makes closing and locking the door behind me a little easier.
The reply from Huck Barnett comes as I pull my car off the road and onto the gravel track that leads to the group of buildings that serve as our base.
Huck: Cora doesn’t drive. I’ll do my best to discourage her from trying to get to town, but I can’t promise anything, and my wife is too pregnant to piss off.
I don’t love his reply. Unlike Knight who would more than likely barricade Verity in my house if I asked him to, Huck isn’t willing to go that far. I get it, but I still don’t like it.
Me: Understandable. Please give me the heads-up if she tries to get you or any of your family to help her leave.
Huck: Of course.
At this point I’ve done everything I can to make sure she’s here when I get home in a few days.
She promised she would be, and I know that I should put my trust in her.
I plan to marry this woman, so assuming she’s lying to me already makes me feel shitty.
But truthfully, Verity and I barely know each other, so having a backup plan in place for if she tries to run makes sense… right?
I’m distracted as I grab my bag from the back of my Jeep and carry it into the building.
“Morning, Warrick,” Nero calls the moment I step through the door.
“Morning,” I call back, not stopping to speak to him as I head through into the bunk room, dropping my bag onto my bed. The bunk room consists of eight sets of bunk beds. There should be fourteen men, split between two teams, but with Knight on sabbatical, our team is currently down to six.
Since our first shift, we’ve all stuck to the same bed we chose that day. Each bed has a small locker at the side of it, and opening mine, I quickly unpack my stuff, sliding my clothes into the space at the bottom, before I push my empty bag beneath the bed.
Pulling my cell from my pocket, I lean back so my head is resting on the pillow, then snap a quick picture and send it to Verity.
Me: Good morning, amore mio. I’m hoping you won’t see this for at least a few more hours while you catch up on some sleep, but I wanted to show you where I’ll be for the next four days.
This is my bunk, it’s small, but I’m used to it.
Remember that you promised to take it easy, so I want to know how little you’ve done today when I call later. Miss you already. Your Warrick xoxo.
Sighing, I sit up, slide my cell into my pocket then head out into the main mess hall to join my brothers.
A chorus of hellos greets me, but it’s Buck’s smug face that has me glancing from him to the rest of the team.
“Did you tell everyone?” I ask him.
“No, brother, that’s on you, not me,” he says, a shit-eating grin spread wide across his mouth.
“Tell us what?” Danny questions. He’s the youngest and most energetic member of the team. If he was an animal, he’d be a golden retriever chasing a ball.
“Err,” I start, unsure what to say. “I met someone.”
“You met someone, or you found your one?” Oz asks.
Five days ago, I’d have rolled my eyes at the absurdity of that question, but now I get it. “I found my one,” I admit. “Her name is Verity.”
“Have you got a ring on her finger and given her your name yet?” Oz asks.
Rolling my eyes, I shake my head. “I met her three days ago.”
“So?” he says, like that fact is completely irrelevant.
“So, I barely know her.”
“You know enough to know she’s yours, so why are you waiting?” Anders asks, surprising me.
Of all of my teammates, he’s the most rational and the one I’d have thought would have understood why it’s insane to question why I haven’t married the woman I’ve known for a matter of days.
“She needs time,” I say, feeling unsettled by my confession.
“You’ll have all the time in the world once she’s using your name and wearing your ring,” Buck chimes in.
All five men surrounding me nod in agreement, even Nero, who isn’t even married to Tori.
“You’re not married.” I point at Nero, then Anders.
“Henry and I are engaged, and we’ll be married as soon as he decides what kind of wedding he wants,” Anders argues.
“Tori won’t agree to get married unless her shithead brothers give their blessing, and right now they’re enjoying fucking with me too much.
Once Atticus and Felix get to town, I’ll get them to agree, then Jude and August will stop being annoying little assholes and agree too,” Nero admits with a scowl.
“I can’t wait to meet her brothers, they sound like a fucking hoot.” Danny laughs. “But I can’t offer any advice, bro. My woman was so desperate to marry me, she surprised me with a wedding. I never even got a chance to tell her she was going to be my wife.”
“I’m going to marry her,” I growl.
“When?” Oz and Buck ask at the same time.
“She’s mine,” I say, ignoring their question, because the truth is, I don’t know. Part of me wants to rush her, but the sane, rational bits of my brain know that I need to move at her pace, not mine.
“I liked her. James did too,” Buck announces.
“You’ve met her?” Danny questions before turning to me. “Why has Buck met her but not the rest of us?”
Sighing, I rub at my forehead with my palm. “I planned to bring her to meet you all yesterday afternoon, but she got overwhelmed, so I took her home,” I admit.
“James plans to introduce her to Tori tonight,” Buck warns.
“I’d appreciate you all telling your women, and Henry, not to help her run from me,” I blurt.
“She’s a runner?” Oz asks, arching a brow at me.
“I hope not,” I admit. “But we’re strangers, and she’s got a history that could make her a flight risk. She promised me she’d still be there when I get home, but I have Knight and Huck keeping an eye on her.”
“I’d say you could go home—” Buck starts, but I lift my hand and stop him.
“We’re a man down, I know. I’m not asking for time off. I need to trust her word, and she needs to know I trust her. I just…” Pausing, I swallow thickly. “I don’t know what the fuck I’ll do if she runs. She’s it for me. I didn’t understand before, but I get it now. She’s it.”
Five understanding nods come back at me, and the sick feeling in my gut settles a little.
My brothers get it. Not all of them were hit in the face with the instantaneous connection I felt the moment I saw Verity, but they’ve all experienced the complete rightness and understanding that the person in their life was their person, the one they are meant to be with.
After our moment of unity, Buck calls us together, and we fall into the familiar routine of the first few hours on shift.