Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN_
DECAF
Trav looms over the large table in our war room, acting like he didn’t just drop a bomb on Haz.
Not only on Haz but on all of us. “But,” he says, his tone suddenly more upbeat and less morose, “it might not come to burn notices and doxing. I’m being proactive and cautious because of a few red flags that are most likely coincidences. ”
Atlas gave me ice for my swollen eye while we waited for everyone else to get here, so I take it off and place it on the table.
My face must be black and blue because Iris, who’s across from me, winces.
I don’t care about that. I only care about what’s happening and finding out exactly how much danger we’re in here.
“So your plan is what, exactly?” I ask. “Have us play roommates indefinitely?” Can I put up with any of my teammates for that long? Or, probably the bigger question, could any of them deal with me and my caffeine habits? Oh, this is for sure going to end in murder. Most likely my own.
“I’m halting any and all overseas jobs,” Trav says.
“Not because getting out of the country will be hard, but getting back in could soon be impossible. I’ve already spoken to Domino and given him the heads-up.
With him being on tour with Eleven on protection duty with Brix by his side, they’ll be set.
” He glances over at Angel. “You can join them if you want to be with Jamie.”
“Only if Proxy comes with me.”
“Take whoever you need, though maybe not too many, because we don’t want to paint a target on Eleven’s back. I wouldn’t put it past this fucked-up administration to blow up a concert arena and call it a terrorist attack.”
To be fair, I wouldn’t put it past any government to do shit like that.
When I was in the military, some of the directives we had, the missions we served …
When it comes down to it, it doesn’t matter which side of the scale you fall on: left, right, independent, what-the-fuck-ever, anyone and everyone in power is capable of doing atrocious things.
Some just take advantage of that more than others.
The military is, unfortunately, essential, but war? That’s never needed.
And now it’s entirely possible that our government is going to launch an entirely new war. On Mike Bravo.
“I’m not going back to pop star babysitting duty,” Iris says. “I love Harley Valentine to death, but I was so bored out of my brain the last time, it’s lucky I didn’t actually love him to death to get away from him.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything less from you,” Trav says.
Saint leans in closer to Iris, mumbling, but everyone can still hear when he says, “Wouldn’t expect you to go back to Harley or to not kill him?”
Iris shrugs. “Both work.”
“Obviously, you two are fine. It’s everyone else I’m worried about.” His gaze then darts to Zeus.
“Sam,” Zeus says. “My niblings.”
Scout squeezes Zeus’s shoulder. “I got you, man. I’ll move in for a while.”
“And if they do come for us? What then? I drop the kids back off with their grandparents and abandon them? They already have enough abandonment issues and—”
“It might not come to that,” Trav says. “But if it does, we’ll figure something out. We always do. I hear the schooling system in Finland is top-notch. Then they can learn Finnish. Bilingual for the win.”
Zeus, who up until meeting Sam was this major fuckboy who seemed to run away from responsibility, has finally settled down, and now there’s a chance it’s all going to be ripped away.
Trav can stand there and tell us this is all precautionary all he wants, and maybe I’m jaded after my life in the military, the perceived image the US likes to give the world, and then the reality, which is a lot fucking darker, but Mike Bravo knows too much.
We’ve done too many off-the-books missions, too many “unsanctioned” rescues and takedowns on foreign soil with little to no repercussions. No backlash. Because when we have succeeded, our government has taken all the credit.
Running away. Starting a new life. Is that what this will come down to? And if it is, will I trust anyone enough to keep Hazard safe? As much as it hurts to be around him, to be near him, to see Jesse reflected through his eyes, I can’t put his life in someone else’s hands.
Before everyone else starts pairing off and claiming their new roomies, I say, “The kid can come stay with me.”
The room falls silent, and as if neurotoxin gas or something fills the air, each person’s jaw drops. Eyes widen. This is how the zombie apocalypse starts. The only people who seem to be immune to it are Haz and me.
“I just attacked you. You think I want to be anywhere near you?” he argues and then mutters under his breath, “And I’m not a kid, fuck you very much.
” Under normal circumstances, in a room full of this many people, I wouldn’t have been able to hear it from the opposite end of the table.
Everyone else, however, is still in shock, so they’re more silent than usual.
“You attacked me with good reason. I deserved it. Is it out of your system, or do you want to even it up?” I point to my good eye.
“Either way, do what you gotta do because I might have been playing by your mom’s rules, but now that you’re in danger, I have to live by your dad’s.
” I never wanted Haz on that first mission, and even though I hated when he was bounty hunting, I could at least keep tabs on him.
He wasn’t being hunted down. He was the hunter.
Now those roles are flipped, and I can’t disappoint Jesse more than I already have.
“Even though I hate you and want you to fuck all the way off?” Haz’s defiance is expected. Deserved even. But this is nonnegotiable.
“Here’s a tip. If you want to be treated like an adult, maybe act like one.” Patronizing him isn’t going to do me any favors either.
Haz stands so fast, his chair topples backward. “Says the man who was too fucking gutless to tell me the truth for almost a goddamn year. Now you want to play godfather? Now, when I want to walk away?”
Trav folds his arms across his wide chest. “Unfortunately, it’s too late to walk away. We need to keep everyone from Mike Bravo safe. Past and present.”
“Fine. Whatever,” Haz says, only proving more that he’s behaving like a child. “I’ll have a babysitter, but it’s not going to be him.”
I lean back in my chair. “I can tell you now, it’s not not going to be me. The sooner you deal with that, the better for all of us.”
“Why are you doing this?” His voice cracks.
I force myself to look him in the eyes as I say, "Because you were right. I didn't do a thing to help your dad, but I'm not going to make the same mistake with you. Jesse would want me to protect you. No matter the cost."
If I have to, I will lay down my life to save Corey Hazard.
“Then where the fuck have you been for the last eight months? I won’t let you treat me like some kind of redemption token. It’s not happening. I won’t let it. End of story.”
“How’s putting your foot down working out for you?
” I ask Haz, who’s currently pulling down the blanket and sheet on the bed in Atlas’s studio guest room.
It might only be one room with a bathroom, but it has a small kitchen and living space, so I’m sure it’s big enough to house the two of us.
I fluff the pillow Atlas gave me and throw it on the couch.
This is what he gets when he refuses to move into my house and worries Trav enough to turn our pairing up into a threesome. Atlas is big enough to get in between Haz and me if Haz gets … stabby.
Looks like I’ll be going back to sleeping with one eye open whenever he’s close like when he first joined and I was still half-convinced it was his sole purpose to kill me. But no, I’m doing this. He’s my responsibility now.
“How’s your personality transplant working out for you?” He reminds me so much of Jesse when he’s angry that it hurts.
I don’t let it show, though. “No transplant. Just … freedom from the restrictions your mother put on me.” Do I feel guilty about throwing her under the bus? A little. But to be fair, she did it to me first. Maybe Haz isn’t the only child around here.
“What? Cat got your tongue?” I ask when he doesn’t respond.
“Just because you’re here to protect me doesn’t mean we need to talk. You made it perfectly clear the day I showed up that you weren’t interested in getting to know me.”
“You’re wrong there, but I’m going to let you have that. One day, you might realize that everything I’ve done since the moment you came into my life has been for your benefit.”
“How can you even say that?” He looks like he wants to say more, but he hesitates.
“You know what? Never mind. Both you and my mother made decisions about my life without so much as thinking about what I would want. Her decision was when I was a baby, so at least once the anger subsides, I know I’ll forgive her, but you …
You had a chance to set everything right, and you didn’t do it.
Now that I’m unwilling to try, you’ve attached yourself to me like a barnacle. It makes no sense.”
He’s right. It doesn’t make sense on the outside. But the second there was a real threat on his life, all that grief and guilt didn’t seem as important as doing the right thing by Jesse. By Haz.
I might have needed to step away when Haz first joined Mike Bravo, sure I couldn’t handle seeing him every day, but I’m back, and I’m all in now. I have to be.
I owe it to both of them. To my best friend and his pride and joy. Whether Haz likes it or not. Whether I can handle it or not. His life is more important.