Chapter 1 #2
Shay wouldn’t allow her to pull away too far. “Ok. tell me where and when we met before, old man.”
“I was running in Idaho about four years ago. I ran across the Warlords MC. They were hunting down a nasty cartel and we met briefly up there. Only you weren’t Shay Montross up there.
You claimed to be a man named Ben Overton.
Your road handle was ‘Eagle’ back then.” Pops took a sip of his beer.
Then went on, “You also claimed you were after the cartel because they came after your wife and kids.”
Kelly jerked away from Shay and turned to face him “You’re married with kids?” She practically screamed at him then with anger in her eyes, she reached out and slapped him hard.
Shay turned his head with the slap, his cheek burning. He then stared at her. The red mark on his face stood out vividly. “I’m not married and I don’t have any kids.” His words were low and steady, as he never once looked away from her.
Kelly had to study him for a minute. Then she remembered what he’d said, that when he lied there was a tell.
So, she looked at his ears but there was no color in them.
This was her first real test and she didn’t want to fuck it up.
“Can you tell me about this wife and kids you claimed to have before?”
The men who were basically brothers to Kelly, all stood from the table and stepped out. Fists at their sides, all looking ready to take Shay down. They growled.
Crusher popped his knuckles, looking like he wanted to kill.
GTO growled and his face looked hard, unforgiving.
Chase took his jacket off and set it on a chair, like he was ready to throw down.
Pappy stood up and called out, “Stop, right there!”
Shay shook his head. “Pappy, you don’t have to...”
Pappy ignored him. “I have the answer for you men. So sit your unhappy asses down and listen to me first.”
The men all looked over and studied him.
Kelly stared at her ‘Boys.’ “Let him speak, guys.”
They unwillingly shuffled back to the table and sat down.
Pappy then looked around at the men gathered there.
“About four years ago, Colonel Shay Montross contacted me. He asked me to come to Washington for a mission. I took my men with me and we met in secret with Montross and a few of his men, so I have known him for many years.” He paused and ran his fingers through his hair.
“Shay, here was our intel officer in Desert Storm, so that was how we met in the first place. He wasn’t a Colonel back then but he was a damn fine intel officer.
He double checked everything before he passed it along to the troops and he made sure we weren’t headed into some hell before he let us go in.
We came out alive because of him and every man jack of us knew he’d always have our backs.
We worked together in some way shape or form for five years before he was promoted and left us.
The day he did, we threw him a hell of a party.
” Stone smiled as he looked over at Shay.
Shay smiled a bit and nodded his head.
“The man that replaced Shay as Intel was Carmine Vance. And this man was absolutely useless in the Intel department. He couldn’t find his own asshole if it bit him in the ass.
In fact, the last three missions he sent us out on got at least four of my men killed.
I told the upper brass he was giving us bad Intel, but all they would say was they would look into it.
” Pappy shook his head. “That’s when my man Recon started hanging out near the Intel tent.
He watched the messages coming and going and got informed as to what was going on.
He saw Carmine ignore Intel that would have helped our guys stay alive.
Carmine sent one unit out to secure a dumpsite and because he ignored a report from a local, he got six men killed.
Not all the men were ours but that didn’t make a difference.
I told the Commander about it and when he got all the facts, he stormed over to the Intel tent and reamed Carmine out.
He demanded to know what was going on and Carmine lied right to his face.
When Recon showed him the report he'd thrown away earlier, the Commander got pissed and demoted Carmine on the spot. He sent him to a holding area under armed guard. Two days later, Carmine was sent back to the States under guard. He was supposed to face a court martial but instead, he ended up doing office work for Major Wright at the Pentagon and he even got a new name to go with it. But we didn’t know this at the time. ”
“So, what’s that got to do with him being married or not?” Pops asked.
“We knew Carmine was again, doing his same old dirty deeds. We needed to flush him out though, not knowing exactly where in the government he was hiding. He was leaking info yet again and for a price and more men got killed. Shay had gone undercover as Ben Overton to flush the traitor out. You see Ben was a real person, he had to be, or it would have never fooled the mole. So Ben’s wife and kids were threatened as well.
Shay here, lived the life of Ben for a whole year.
He would even have to go to Ben’s house and be with his wife and kids.
For all intents and purposes, they were his family at that time.
I was there when he told the Warlords why he had allowed them to believe he was dead and the wife and kids had been dead too, at that time, so they would be safe as well.
He had said they were his family, but it was all so fresh and he’d been undercover for quite some time.
He was never married, he had assumed Ben Overton’s life though. ”
Everyone seemed to let this soak in.
“That is an incredible story,” Kelly stated.
Shay closed his eyes and sighed. Opening his eyes again, he looked at her.
“For the Warlords, I was Ben Overton. They are a special unit of men, who were trained by me. I was Ben, not Shay, because yes, like Stone just explained, at the time there was a mole or a leak in the NSA. Only we didn’t know who.
Ben and his family are all alive and living happily now. ”
The men in the room all stared at him, as they listened.
Shay shook his head. “It was Ben’s family I was laying claim to. It was the only way I could protect them. We got the bad guys and it all ended well. Though the Warlords...” He shrugged. “They may never forgive me for allowing them to believe I was dead.”
Pappy sat forward in his chair. He was one of maybe a few in the entire world who knew of Shay’s particular tell. “Now lie to her, Shay.”
Shay looked over at him.
Pappy nodded.
“I’m in love with...umm, GTO here,” Shay told her.
Gasps rose up around the table and in the room.
GTO stood from the table, looking angry. “Bullshit, mother fuc—”
Kelly raised her hand at him and watched while Shay’s ears flamed a bright red. She giggled. She felt the world lift from her shoulders. She threw her head back and laughed. She’d never seen anything like it before and she knew he was telling her the truth.
She ran over to him and threw herself into his arms.
He wrapped his arms around her and held her close.
Gunner had just walked in. He turned to Pappy and asked, “What did I miss? What’s going on here?”
Pappy turned to Gunner then looked to the other men that came with Kelly.
“There’s one thing about Shay that you guys need to know.
He cannot do undercover work because he can’t lie.
He was better at intelligence work because of it.
He did work that one case but even that put us all in danger because his ears flush red when he lies.
He doesn’t like to tell people his faults but in this case, you all need to know about it. ”
Pops cleared his throat and made it clear, “I was protecting her and I won’t apologize for that.”
Shay kissed Kelly and when they broke away, he looked over at Pops.
“I would hope not. It’s good that you guys have her back but know this, she belongs to me now, and I will never hurt her.
If you have a problem with me, call me out on it.
But like Pappy said, I can’t lie myself out of a fucking, wet paper bag. ”
Pops nodded. “I can live with that.”
GTO sat back in his chair and drawled, “So you’re with him then?”
Kelly looked back at the guys that meant the world to her. They had been a family of sorts for a few years now, and she relied on them. “Yeah, I am. I have to take a chance with him. I love you guys but it’s not the same way.”
GTO and the others nodded. “Just want you to know we still got your back girl and we will always be there for you,” GTO assured her.
Then he turned to glare at Shay. “Know this Mr. Government Man, if you ever hurt her in any way, shape or form we will hunt you down... and we will hurt you ten times worse.”
Shay tightened his hold on her as he nodded at the men. “I hear ya.”
“They won’t be the only ones hunting down your sorry ass Shay,” Pappy informed him. “She’s one of us now too.”
“Then it’s agreed we all have her back?” Shay asked.
Pappy nodded.
Pops, GTO, Comanche and the rest of the guys nodded as well.
Shay cocked his head then looked around at all the men. “But you all need to know that if anyone ever hurts her, I will forget all my own rules and make them pay.”
Three months later...
Shay had taken her to the room she was staying in here at the compound. He had laid her down and already told Pappy to get Doc.
Kelly was finally coming around as she opened her eyes to look up at her husband's concerned face. “W-what happened?”
“You passed out and I mean cold. I called for Doc,” he informed her as he kept a hold of her hand.
She sighed. “You didn’t need to call for him, baby.”
“Oh?” He glared at her. “I suppose you always pass out while you’re laughing.”
“No, not normally,” she replied with a slight smile. “But your brothers are a hoot. Wow, are you going to have your hands full with them.”
“So, what’s going on?” he asked quietly, ignoring her comment about his new siblings as he looked worried. “Are you sick?”
“Kind of and kind of not.”
He huffed air out in frustration. “Kelly, don’t give me halfass answers.”
“I’m pregnant,” she stated outright.
Shay froze, in fact, he looked like a statue. He didn’t even blink his eyes.
Kelly stared up at him. Then after he didn’t move or speak for a full minute, she asked, “You okay?”
He kept staring at her. “W-we are gonna...” His voice floated away.
Nodding, she replied, “Yes, we are gonna.”
“B-but I have never...I mean, I don’t know how to...”
Kelly scooted herself up to a sitting position. “Yes, I know. You’ve never had a kid and neither have I. But I am afraid that we are pregnant. And I waited until well... the end of the fourth month mark to tell you.”
He finally seemed to snap to reality as he asked, “Why? I mean you should have told me—”
Placing her fingers over his lips, she said, “I wanted to wait past the iffy stage. I didn’t want us to get all excited and then lose the baby, ya know?”
Shaking his head, he said nothing.
“You are excited, right?” she asked quietly.
“I’m sure I will be as soon as the shock leaves.”
Kelly chuckled. “I know, tell me about it. When I took that test I about fainted when it went pink!”
“Well, I am glad I was sitting down already when you told me. I might have passed out too.”
She smiled at him.
He slowly shook his head while looking bewildered. “Babe, I’m older and I never thought that...”
Kelly sighed. “You married me and you know in life, there are normal parameters, Shay. Meet your significant other, fall in love, get married and have babies.”
“I’m not good at life’s parameters. War, yes. Battles, yes. But a baby?” He still couldn’t seem to wrap his head around it.
Kelly turned away and scooted to the side of the mattress. “I hope after a bit, you will be happy about this. If not, we are gonna be in trouble here.”