Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
TALON
I've known Harlan Frost for years and I'm not sure I can remember the last time I heard the man laugh. It's not that he doesn't have a sense of humor, he just has one of those faces that are incapable of smiling.
I thought.
"Imagine this hasn't been your best vacation, huh?" Harlan reaches over the table and shakes Arizona's hand. "I hear it has a bright side though?" His eyes shift to me seated beside her, my left hand casually draped over her thigh beneath the table, doing not a damn thing to hide that fact.
Zona blushes and I steel myself for a lecture similar to the one Austin dressed me down with earlier.
"Ward mentioned you'd struck up something with our cabin guest." Harlan's expression returns to its customary stoic position, giving away nothing.
Arizona's hand squeezes over mine and I feel her body tense beside me.
"I have." I confirm. "I understand if that's not acceptable. I'll resign."
Those words don't come as easily as I expected them to. Arizona is my first priority. I knew that the moment I saw her. Choosing her isn't a question. Leaving the team though, that comes with feelings I hadn't expected.
Despite having only spent maybe sixteen of our first forty-eight hours together, the men assigned to the mountain security protocol team have grown on me.
Even with Leo's obvious psychopathy, and Austin's disapproval of me acting on my attraction to Zona-- and whatever chip Sagan is carrying on his shoulder-- I sense the same kind of brotherhood among these men that I found in a few of my units back in the Army.
I might be the new kid, and they've regarded me with the cautious acceptance that comes with that, but not one of them hesitated this afternoon when Arizona went missing.
They showed their dedication to our mission, zero hesitancy to protect the innocent, and support for me knowing I had a personal interest in ensuring Zona's safety.
These men will have my back when I need to count on them, and I'm willing to have theirs.
That's something I haven't found in my colleagues in the civilian sector.
"That what Ward told you?" Harlan leans back on the chair, his eyes darkening as they look toward the hallway leading to the back room where the Ward brothers are presumably already busy working on syncing their maps.
"If I thought for a second that you lacked the integrity, the discipline, and the just plain common sense to know when your dick should stay in your pants, you wouldn't have gotten hired with Frost Security, let alone made it to Rogue.
"You're here because you've already proven you belong here. There is no probation period... Ward needs to get laid."
He adds that last observation under his breath, but not low enough that the man beside him doesn't laugh lightly.
"Caspian, by the way," the man shakes my hand over the mostly empty pizza boxes and then shakes Zona's as well. "Former field surgeon-- mostly light medic duties these days if we can help it."
"Talon Avis," I introduce myself, "it's usually the other guy who needs the medic."
"Heard that!" Sagan pipes up from where he's lounging across the living room sofa.
"Pft," Leo scoffs, "with me, the other guy needs a priest, not a surgeon."
The two men on the couch click beer bottles and turn back to the game they've found on the television.
Caspian shakes his head, a lazy smile forming as he looks at teammates he's obviously used to spending time with.
"I mean it, Arizona. Chloroform is nasty stuff, call me if you have any side effects; dizziness, nausea--" He turns my way, "If she seems confused or has memory issues-- keep a watch on her for the next day or two... good to meet you."
Caspian leaves the table, heading down the hallway to the where Jay has the bulk of the team's operations set up.
"But you two can't cozy up in the cabin long term," Harlan says as he, too, pushes back from the table. "Not that you want to stay here if you're going to be sharing space, I pay you well enough you should be able to find a place in town."
Arizona
Talon joined his colleagues where ever they went in the back of the house. It was pretty obvious I wasn't part of their meeting, so I sat at the table with the mostly empty pizza boxes, staring at the beer I'd wanted so badly and had barely touched.
Half an hour or so later, Talon returns with Austin and another man who introduces himself as Jaden, jarring me out of my thoughts.
"You're sure his name was Meyers?" Jaden asks as Talon pulls my chair out for me so I can get up.
I guess we're heading out. Which is fine by me. Exhaustion is leaning on me heavily and I'm looking forward to more time alone with Talon.
Austin has his phone in his hand, holding it up for Talon's inspection.
"Pretty sure, yeah. Is that you?" He points at the phone screen to a teenage boy in that developmental phase between adolescence and adulthood. Maybe a senior in high school, that I would have thought was drop dead gorgeous when I was that age.
The boy in the photo just looks unfinished and more than a little sad, standing beside another boy about the same age and a younger boy that looks like he's not quite in his teens yet.
The one that turns out to be Austin, is holding a young girl in one arm. She's barely older than toddler age, with her hand hiding half her face and her head leaning on Austin's shoulder.
"Thanks for helping us out." Jaden shakes Talon's hand across Austin, who I've now picked up on is his brother. "Anything else you can think of, let me know right away."
"We've been looking for them for a long time. Never considered names might change."
I watch Austin's face cloud, his voice thick with emotion that he probably thinks he's hiding. Whatever happened to the other kids in the photo, it's clear that they mean a lot to the two men standing with Talon.
"I told you what I remember. Like I said, we were both just passing through, didn't really get a chance to know him. Seemed like a good kid, heading out for his first deployment-- eager to see action."
The other two men acknowledge that with noises that say a lot about their own experiences and I start putting together more of the picture of who Talon works with-- and who he is as well.
Another half an hour and we're back at the cabin, Talon doing a security sweep of the space before giving me the go ahead to fully enter-- something I'm noticing all the guys do when they enter a space.
I guess I'll get used to it. To be honest, it's kind of nice to feel protected and after today? Talon's protectiveness is something I don't plan to take for granted.
"I'm going to hop in the shower." Talon steps behind me while I find space in the fridge for the two boxes of left over pizza that got sent back with us-- one of the boxes has the untouched California veggie pie in it. "Wanna join me?"
Dropping my head back against his chest, I moan long and low at the thought.
"Make that noise again and we'll be getting much dirtier before we get to that shower."
God, I love that deep, throaty growl in his voice that has my toes curling and my panties dampening.
"There's a tub in the back bathroom," I remind him. "I might take advantage of that in a bit-- you could join me?"
"Sounds like a plan. I'll go run the water."
I get an upside-down kiss that makes me smile while Talon heads into the back room and I search the cabinets for glasses.
"I found bubble bath, would you rather have Summer Raspberry, or Spun Sugar and-- did Cap give you something to take? He was worried about you having side effects from the..."
When Talon comes out to ask about the bubble bath, I'm still pretty much where he left me. A glass of water sits on the counter in front of me, all my concentration centered on the small pill in my hand.
Talon picks up the packaging and reads the box, catching on pretty quickly that it's not something Caspian gave me and has nothing to do with getting drugged and kidnapped earlier.
"You haven't taken that yet."
It's a pretty dull statement of the obvious.
I shake my head, closing my fist around the pill and looking up into concerned blue eyes.
"Do you want to?"
I wish I could tell what he's thinking, but his voice is gentle and even.
"It's not like we had time to talk about-- consequences-- or anything," I point out. "I'm not on anything. I've never...um, needed to worry about it before."
"Look, Zone, you're right, we didn't talk first and we haven't had a chance to talk today. But in case you didn't pick up on it when I was talking to Harlan earlier-- I'm all in here. Whatever this is that's happening between us, it's everything I want.
"If you need to take that..." His eyes fixate on my fist like he can see the pill clasped there through my skin, "and get on something till you're ready, I get it. But I don't want you to take it."
I'm not prepared for the wave of relief that washes over me at those words, but I probably shouldn't be surprised considering how long I've been standing here, not taking the stupid Plan B pill.
"I'm ready." I let the pill drop on the counter and look back up at his stupidly handsome face, loving the crooked smile that has butterflies shifting restlessly in my stomach. "If I wasn't...then, I wouldn't have..."
I feel myself blushing, entirely aware that I am being a dork.
"I see a future together. You, me, as many kids as we can handle-- but I've also got a job to do. An important one."
Nodding in understanding, I leave everything on the counter and let Talon pull me into his arms, then off my feet as he carries me back to the waiting bath before we flood his boss's safe house.