9. Beau #2
“ Yours ?” The calm breaks, and Dom snaps his own golden glare my way. “ She’s not yours, Beau . She’s everyone’s. She’s no one. She’s just some girl we picked up. Two days ago . What is with this insta-love shit?”
“ She’s ours, Dom ,” I bite out. “ Maybe you don’t remember what that’s like, but I sure do. And for the record, you don’t have to be in love with someone to show them a little good old-fashioned hospitality.”
“ For the record , I don’t think your mama would agree with your idea of ‘old-fashioned hospitality.’” Dom rolls his eyes.
Rolls . His . Eyes .
Is he really trying to pretend this doesn’t even faze him?
“ If she’s just some girl, then how come you can’t bear to be in the same room with her?
” We pass the stream where I tended to Eden .
Where she kissed me like she wanted to drown in my arms. I drag him to a stop at the lip of the forest. “ If she’s just some girl, it should’ve been real easy for you to work her over with me yesterday, burn off some of that tension from the last three years. ”
Dom snorts. “ You’re not going to bait me into fucking her, idiot.”
“ Like I need to. You might take your own sweet time about it, but you’ll snap sooner or later—you always do.”
He glowers at me, and I glare back, trying to figure out how to get through to him.
I want to ask if this is about Heather , but if I do, this conversation will be over.
I’d just about need to pull out the cuffs and catch him by surprise to get him to go there .
And anyway, I don’t want to be making this about her when it should be all about Eden .
“ You got no interest whatsoever in pinning that girl between us and seeing how many times we can make her come? You don’t want to watch those pretty eyes beg for more?
You really saying that you don’t miss waking up with a warm, pretty girl snuggled between us?
” A muscle ticks in his jaw, and I press on.
“ You know how alone she’s been. You telling me you don’t want to give her a friend she can count on?
You really want me to do this without you? ”
“ I don’t want a mouse for a pet!” he bursts out, eyes flashing with temper. “ God damn it, I want—”
Dom’s mouth snaps shut, and my lips twist bitterly, choosing to ignore that he’s insulted Eden twice now.
I won’t let it slide a third.
“ She’s gone, Dom .”
He shakes his head sharply, like that wasn’t where he was going, even though we both know it was.
“ You just want her because she’s here,” he says softly. “ It’s not a good enough reason. Not for this, not for us.”
Us . Yeah , right. Us has been on the rocks for a long time.
For a way longer damn time than that, though, Dom was my brother.
In greens and out. We met in military school and got tight fast .
We fumbled through learning how to top with some seriously patient subs together.
We got our first girlfriend together. Got dumped by that same girlfriend, also together.
We graduated together, did our Ranger training together.
Even when I did my surgical training and he started working his way up the ranks, we stayed partners.
And as soon as I graduated, we pulled every string we had to make sure we were in the same squad.
I always thought it’d be him and me, preferably with some pretty subbie between us, right up until we got dusted. That had always been The Plan .
Then Heather happened, and suddenly Dom was telling me good and clear that I didn’t feature in his new idea of Happy Ever After .
That it wasn’t going to be me and him and our girl—it was just him and his girl, and maybe Beau as a little side piece whenever Heather was feeling adventurous .
Like I was an extra man-shaped dildo they could pull out when I served a purpose.
He loved her more than me, and so fifteen years of friendship and The Plan got nuked with one brutal conversation.
When Heather blindsided all of us and ran off with Thomas instead, I was there with him, despite it all.
But this resentment won’t let me alone; I can’t push it far enough down this time.
At the same time, I haven’t been able to bring it up, not when our friendship is this weak.
It’s like it’s lacking its old foundation—a mis-healed bone that’s still too tender to take our full weight.
Since Heather left, we’ve been gentle with it, not pushing it too hard.
But it has to end.
Eden could be our last chance at happiness together. This time, I know I’ve got to tell it to him straight—he’s right on the brink of fucking this up for the both of us.
“ That ain’t it, Dom . It’s not just because she’s here. She’s more than just convenient; I want to know her better. And you don’t get to make the decision that I don’t, just because you’re scared I’ll choose her over you, the way you chose Heather over me.”
He stiffens. “ I didn’t—”
“ Don’t . Don’t lie to me,” I warn, chest tight.
Jasper’s been trying to get me to talk to Dom about this for years, but I haven’t been able to find the words.
“ Dom —”
“ For fuck’s sake, would you just—”
A bullet explodes into the tree beside my head.
Chips of bark spray us both as Dom yanks me down under him, pulling us both behind a tree.
He scans my face as bullets pepper the trees around us with brutal, bursting thuds, and I pull back to look him over, breathing easier when I don’t spot any blood.
“ I’m okay,” I assure him quickly.
Damn it, my gun is under me. Why the hell did I sling it?
He squeezes my arm, then releases me to peer around the trunk. “ Firing from seven and ten. Semi -auto. You good to split?”
Assaults through heavy thickets are tough. Being surprised by a firefight even tougher. We’ll have to be quick and use the terrain for camouflage to regain an edge. Misdirect if possible. My heartrate kicks up, and I nod. All thoughts of Heather , Eden , and our fucked-up issues vanish.
This is where we shine.
“ Good . Move out.” He pulls back behind the trunk with a curse as more bullets fly our way. “ And be careful—don’t want you going Swiss on me.”
I breathe a laugh as I nod, adrenaline purring through my veins. “ No new holes today. Promise .”
Dom grins back, color high in his dark cheeks. I push off the tree and brace myself for an ugly fight.
* * *
Dom dumps another body on the pile, then rubs his jaw. There’s a nasty bruise blooming where one of them clocked him, and he’s salty they got one in. Still , he came out better than I did. I caught a knife across my chest and left arm. Nothing too serious, but it stings like a pissed-off jellyfish.
We’re back in the clearing where we took out Eden’s hunters two days ago, discarding the remains of the assholes who fired on us. Five more hunters had been lurking in the woods around the area, and it took us hours of cat and mouse before we got them all.
And the five of them must have been hard at work for the last two days because there’s now a deep pit in the clearing, and it’s filled to the brim with more than half of the old bug-ridden bodies. Just one big rancid puppy pile.
We’ve been tossing today’s fresh ones over the top, but this time, as the last body thumps over the others, it groans.
Dom frowns. He crouches and grabs the corpse’s hair as its eyes crack open.
“ You’re meant to stay dead, you know,” Dom scolds mildly.
I set my rifle across my shoulders and rest my head back against it. “ Must have been a sloppy shot.”
Without looking up, Dom flips me off.
Blood bubbles from the dead man’s lips. “ H ... help.”
Poor lamb.
“ Hmm . Seems like you’re in dire need of medical assistance,” Dom muses, a hard glint in his eyes.
But this breathing carcass is part of the group who chased Eden —the same coiled serpent brands his hand.
Whether he likes her or not, Dom has no patience for predators.
“ What do you think, Beau ? You know anyone who might be able to help with that?”
I cluck in disappointment. “ It’s the darndest thing—in all this commotion, my training has just flown right out of my brain.”
“ That is a shame.”
“ A damned shame,” I agree.
Turns out, I don’t have all that much patience with predators either.
The man’s gaze falls to the side, and he seems to realize he’s in the grave, sprawled over the leaking, reeking bodies of his comrades. He squeezes his eyes shut, shaking.
“ They’ll f-f-find... you.” His breaths start rattling. “ Th -they’re... com.. . coming.”
Dom’s attention sharpens. “ There are more of you?”
“ More than you... can stop,” he whispers, then he coughs, coating his lips in blood.
The man goes limp, and Dom and I exchange a look.
“ Fuck !” He stands and shakes his head. “ We should have taken a hostage.”
“ Oh yeah? Did you have an opportunity for that? Because I sure as hell didn’t. You know as well as I do not to fuck around in this terrain. You get the shot, you take it.”
Dom rubs a hand over his mouth, glaring down at the corpse pit like he could revive one of them with the force of his ire.
I grimace. “ Look , the others need to know about this—we should go back to Bristlebrook .”
“ We have a camera set up about a klick from here. I told Jasper to keep an eye on it— I’ll put up a sign so they know to look out for another group.”
Irritation spikes again, fueled by my buzzing adrenaline. “ Unnecessary . We can cover our tracks, Dom . We’ll be careful this time. There’s no reason to take the long way.”
Damn it, I want to go home and kiss our girl again, not be stuck out here with his sulky ass.
Dom just raises his dark brow in the condescending way he knows I hate.
“ They could be coming right to this clearing—we don’t know how the groups were communicating, or what their rally points are.
It’s safer to leave a decoy trail. If we go through town and the caves, they have no lead on Bristlebrook .
Not to mention, your pet might appreciate some clothes of her own. We can use the trip to stock up.”
That ... Damn it. She probably would like that.
The smugness comes now, hiding in the tuck of his smile. Dick . He knows he has me now.
But the real joke’s on him, because this only proves my point. Even if he’s using it to manipulate me, he’s still thinking about her. He pretends to be the aloof, in-control CO , but he’s more considerate than he gives himself credit for. He’s still thinking about what she needs.
He’s acting like her dominant.
So , fine, Dom can pretend he doesn’t care till the cows come, but I know him through and through. The man was hooked the second she turned those big eyes on him for help, and he was lost the minute she submitted to me and Jasper right in front of him.
I’m sure it pissed Dom off that I shared her with the sadist instead of him.
It was meant to.
The proud asshole could choke on that one for being a dick to our girl.
I let out a long sigh. “ Fine . We go through town. But in five— I need a break.”
After walking upwind of the fetid clearing, I sit, stretching back against a mossy tree. To my surprise, Dom sits next to me, pressed against my shoulder. I pull out my canteen to take a sip, then spot the hole going right through it. I toss it down.
Wordlessly , Dom hands me his, and after a moment, I take it and drink deep.
“ Thanks ,” I mutter, handing it back.
As he screws the top, his jaw flexes tight. “ Our friendship can’t take another hit, Beau .” He looks up at me, golden eyes solemn. “ We’re full of holes as it is.”
“ I didn’t break us, Dom .” I smile at him, a little bitterly. “ You did.”
His eyes flinch shut, and his head drops back against the tree. “ I know.”
The words float between us, like a musty old secret freed to fresh air. Just hearing him acknowledge it, finally, soothes some of the sullen ache in my gut. But it also births a new pain. Because he thinks it too. We’re broken, riddled with wounds, and we have been for three years.
“ Maybe ,” I start, then stop, trying to find the right words. “ Maybe we shouldn’t have left those holes to fester. Maybe we should find someone to help us heal them. We’ve always been better with a third.”
“ Or maybe we should fix ourselves first before we try to involve anyone else.” Dom’s voice is full of rebuke. “ I won’t do it, Beau . Even if we were ready for that, the girl isn’t right for us—she’s too timid. She’ll be gone in a week.”
Eden melts through my memories—her chin lift, her clever, quiet regard—and I give Dom a grave look. “ You’re wrong about her. And if you wait too long, she’ll move on before you realize exactly how wrong you are.”
His mouth curls up in a half smile, his eyes full of phantoms. “ They always move on, Beau . That’s why I need you.”
My eyes travel over his face, hurting for his pain. “ You always have me, Dom . Always .”
He swallows hard, and ducks his head to examine his compass for a beat too long.
My own throat feels a little thick, and I stand. I offer him my hand, and he stares at it before he takes it. I pull him to his feet, and then into a tight hug. He squeezes me back, pressing his face into my shoulder, and it’s like he’s squeezing my heart through my chest.
I miss my friend. I don’t want to abandon The Plan .
When he has himself together, he steps back and nods in the direction of town.
I follow him... and start my plotting.
I need to figure out how to make the asshole fall for Eden . Whatever he thinks, we need a third. Someone smart, someone kind—someone who can soothe over the scar tissue that’s forming between us.
We need Eden .
But I have to get Dom on board, because no matter what he’s afraid of, I could never choose anyone over our friendship.