Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
SOMEWHERE, VIRGINIA
R.O.O.T HEADQUARTERS
Noah stepped inside the old bunker of a once-operational base just outside of Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Beside him was Callahan—Drew and Asher Rainer.
The man was rambling on about the construction happening just a few floors below them, making ready for their new jobs.
The last four years were hard. He hated not having something meaningful to do.
Each of the security jobs he’d picked up ended quickly and never left Noah with a sense of fulfillment. He was sure Mateo sensed as much, too.
Taking this job, however, meant keeping Mateo in the dark once more, and after almost being killed in the field, he fucking hated lying, but he also needed this. Noah had a sneaky suspicion Asher knew that, too.
“I can’t promise I won’t put you in harm’s way, but I can promise the pay is good—better than good and our team will be more like family than not,” Asher said, selling the program.
“Right now, we’re a team of five. I have feelers out for other operators and grunts.
Once we prove ourselves to the subcommittees, we’ll have more money and better resources. Until then, we’re doing this alone.”
“When do the others get here?” Drew asked. “When can we start?”
“The others will be arriving in ten days, give or take a few. Give me six months to finish the renovations here. In the meantime, we’ll train. By the time we receive our first set of orders, we’ll know when each other eat, sleep, and shit better than we know our own routines.”
“Damn, that’s fast,” Drew said. “I’m in.”
“Same,” Noah added. “I have some things to take care of in California, but I will be here when prep begins.”
Asher nodded. “I have your contracts in my office if you’ll follow me.
Each of your ranks will be reinstated with your base pay, along with a stipend for housing since the barracks here won’t be ready for a few years.
I suggest you find cheap apartments close to this location, should anything happen, and I need you here, asap. ”
Asher led them to a set of stairs. Looked like Drew and he were getting their cardio in until the elevator could get sorted out.
When they reached Asher’s make-shift office, as he said, their contracts waited for them.
There was nothing fancy or frilly about the language.
No promises of grandeur or riches. Just a unit of guys willing to police those who had blank checks written for their activities within the federal government.
Kind of felt like he was narcing on his team back home, but he understood why this was being done. To protect government contracts and those who blindly jumped into positions believing they supported the greater good. This was something Noah could get behind.
He only wished he didn’t have to lie to Mateo.
After everything they’d been through, he deserved a quiet life, teaching high school kids about history.
The fucking nerd got a hard-on just talking about his assignments.
Only made Noah love him more, too. Still, not telling him Noah was signing up for this new position within R.O.O.T.
was a betrayal. He promised himself, though, as he signed away his freedom one more time, that as soon as he could, he would tell Mateo the truth about his new job.
Until then, as Drew and he stepped back out into the last summer swelter, he slipped his phone from his pocket and called the one person whose voice he needed to hear—Mateo.
He didn’t have to wait either. Mateo picked up on the second ring.
“Mi amor? How did everything go? Did the transfer go through?”
“Transfer went through just fine,” Noah lied. “Looks like while I’m here, I’ll grab some reality information for us. How does that sound?”
“I was looking at the state website for teachers to find out what I needed to transfer there,” he murmured. “I might have jumped the gun and put in my application with the state.”
Noah laughed. Sounded like something he’d do. He got into the rental next to Drew. “Well, then, I guess we can’t back out now, can we?” Couldn’t even if he tried. Already signed the dotted line, making the job official.
“No, mi amor,” he replied. “When will you be home? I miss you.”
Fuck. Noah missed him, too. Since he returned from Afghanistan and woke up in Walter Reed hospital, they hadn’t spent any time apart, unless there was a school activity Mateo had to participate in.
Being away for two days was stretching him about as thin as he’d felt comfortable being away from his husband.
“Tomorrow. Drew’s going to drop me off at the airport in the morning. The rest of today, I plan on apartment shopping,” Noah replied. “Maybe if I’m lucky, I can get a red-eye out of here.”
Drew nodded as he turned left out of the base. “Don’t worry, Mateo. I’m taking good care of him.”
Mattie laughed. “I’m glad someone is, while I’m not there. Take photos, Mi amor. Show me what you find.”
“I will, Mattie,” Noah said. “I love you.”
“Love you more,” he replied before they ended the call.
Exactly ten days later, Mateo and Noah moved into their new apartment in Virginia Beach, and Mateo had the first of several interviews for teaching positions around the area. Drew might have put in a good word for Mateo, along with his new boss, but Noah wouldn’t be telling him that, ever.
Noah hadn’t exactly expected to be back in the field or training again after being laid up and almost dying, but the sense of accomplishment he felt when he came home at night was something he missed.
Mateo even commented on the fact that Noah seemed happier.
Lighter than he had been while in California.
Over the last couple of years, being close to the action and not in the middle of it left a sour taste in Noah’s mouth.
He loved his job. He just didn’t love the parts where he almost died and worried the fuck out of Mateo.
Given the choice between the two, he’d always pick Mattie and himself first. This job.
..Well, he hoped it would be nothing like being an active member of SEALs Team 3.
PRESENT DAY…
“So, as you can see, sometimes it’s all about timing and finding the right person,” Noah said.
“I can’t tell you what my life would’ve been like had Mattie not been by my side the whole time.
I think it would’ve been a little dimmer.
Not as colorful. Being laid up like I was could have sent me into a spiral, but with Mattie, I knew I could do whatever I set my mind to.
” Noah cleared his throat and held up a finger.
“One last thing... Unburdening myself with the truth only brought Mateo and me closer together. Don’t let your truth be your downfall.
You never know what you might miss out on. ”
He stepped back, allowing Mateo to speak.
The soft murmurs of those around them had a small smile tugging at his lips.
He didn’t tell them how close he’d come to almost losing Mattie forever when Dario took him, or again when he found out the truth about Noah’s job.
However, thinking back on the day they met, he knew theirs was a forever kind of love.
Sure, Noah still groveled for Mateo. Also, after that first time, Mateo topped Noah, they took turns.
Not that he told the kids that. Nor would he go so far as to say bottoming was his penance for lying to his husband, but it was when Noah finally let Mateo all the way in.
It was doing the things he’d sworn that night when they first had sex, he’d always do, but then somewhere along the way, tried to protect Mateo from.
Sure, he supposed the ambush had a lot to do with it.
There were still times Noah saw the shadows in his husband’s beautiful eyes.
The memories creeping back in from a time when Mateo sat by his side and wondered if Noah would ever hear Mateo’s voice again.
Understood the loss of eighteen of their brethren in the hot Afghan desert.
Noah promised himself he’d protect Mateo from all of it, and in one mission, Noah failed him.
Then again.
Now, Mateo was in this with Noah. Right at his side, learning the job.
He’d taken on an advisor role. They’d adopted their daughter, and they were thinking of adding more to their family.
They were becoming what he’d seen all those years ago when Noah sat across from Mateo in that all-night diner in San Diego.
He’d just been too wet behind the ears to see it.
After Mateo dismissed the club, Bexley filtered out with them.
He had a sneaky suspicion Alé or Bronx was there to pick her up, leaving Mateo and Noah alone in the silence.
Noah walked up behind him as Mateo put his things away and wrapped his arms around him.
“Twenty years, Mattie. Hell of a lot longer than six months, don’t you think? ”
He chuffed, interlocking their fingers together as he leaned his head back against Noah’s chest. “Hell of a lot longer.”
“Was it everything you ever could’ve asked for?” Noah murmured, pressing a kiss behind his left ear.
“Then some,” Mateo answered. “Of course, I could have kicked your ass a few times along the way.”
He chuckled. “You should’ve. I think Asher was rooting for you to do it, too.”
“He would. The guy is blood thirsty.”
A genuine laugh bubbled up within Noah. “That is Asher in a nutshell. Come on, let me take you home. We can order in. I’ll start the jacuzzi...”
“Mi amor,” Mateo purred, “are you propositioning me?”
Noah turned his face just enough so he could kiss Mateo. “Is it working?”
“Yes.” He turned to face Noah, momentarily breaking the kiss before settling back in. If they didn’t get the hell out of there soon, someone was liable to walk in on a situation they didn’t want any part of. “Take me home, mi amor. I want to make love to my husband tonight.”
Well, when he put it that way, who was Noah to tell him no? “As you wish, husband.”
Mateo grinned, smacking his lips to Noah’s one last time before grabbing his bag. “I was thinking Rosco’s for dinner, what do you think?”
“As long as we get shakes and extra onion rings,” Noah stated, holding the door for him. “Might as well grab something for Bex while we’re there. Knowing her, she’ll be upset if we don’t grab her at least a burger.”
He laughed, nodding. “Last time I went without telling her, she wouldn’t talk to me for the rest of the afternoon. Who knew she could be so adorable when she’s pouting?”
Noah did. He’d seen it while she worked out and trained. She had this need to prove herself in every way possible, reminding him of himself when he was her age. “She is your daughter, so...”
Mateo laughed, swatting Noah’s arm as they walked out of the school. “Well, if she’s my daughter when she pouts, she’s yours when she gets grouchy.”
“Touché,” Noah replied.
“Exactly.”
Before he could say another word, Noah backed him up to the door of the car and kissed him again, this time putting in all the emotions still flowing through him from remembering the good times and the not-so-great moments of their lives together.
“I love you, Mateo. From the first time we met until the day we die, you’ll always be the other half of my heart. ”
He sighed, cupping Noah’s face between his soft hands. “I love you too, mi amor. Until our dying breath.”
Noah would follow him forever until, like he said, they took their last, dying breath on this Earth. Then he’d find him again in their next life. That’s just what it meant to find his soulmate.
“Let’s go home, husband.”
THE END