4. Mika
MIKA
“I didn’t realize my first time being sent out was going to be rescuing a kitten from a tree,” Aidan said with a sigh as he maneuvered through the brush beside me, with Trev behind us. “I also didn’t know that SAR even rescued kittens from trees.”
“We’re not rescuing kittens from trees,” I told him.
Sometimes it was weird to talk with him so normally.
Part of it was the fact that I never thought I’d see him again, let alone work beside him.
The other part was that two weeks of awkward tension had melted over the past week.
“We’re going out to confirm the three reports that there’s a lost hiker out here. ”
“How much trouble would I be in if I said that anyone wandering around on their own should either be too good at this shit to get lost, or a complete idiot who shouldn’t leave their front door?
” he asked as he frowned up at the cloudy sky.
The weather had tried to tease us with a couple of raindrops, but so far, everything was looking clear.
That was how it was going to stay as far as I could tell, having checked at the beginning of the week and at the start of the day.
Then again, even an expert like me would be the first to say the weather was predictable in its unpredictability.
“Don’t like the woods?” Mav asked.
“I’m not fond of being cold and wet,” he said with a shrug. He reached up and ran his fingers through some branches, which ironically sent raindrops from yesterday down on him, but he wiggled his fingers in the air.
“You’re in the wrong line of work,” Mav grunted.
“To be fair, I was told I was expected to mostly ride a desk,” Aidan said, and despite his bitching, I could hear the lightness in his voice.
“You’d think a boy born and raised in a state surrounded by water and known to get freezing fucking cold would be better prepared for this shit, but alas… this is miserable.”
I glanced at Mav, who was looking at Aidan like he couldn’t figure out if he wanted to tell the guy to shut the hell up and stop bitching, or laugh at how ridiculous he was being. I decided to help him along. “Aidan is what I always liked to call a complaining doer.”
“That’s right,” Aidan said over his shoulder as he looked around. “I’ll do what I’m tasked, but by God, you’re all going to hear about it in the process.”
“Wait till you see him have a meltdown over something he thinks he shouldn’t have to do,” I told Mav, who gave me a wry look. “Seriously, if you remember he just has to get his feelings out beforehand, it’s kind of funny. The fit will be thrown, but the job will get done.”
“Stop telling people my secrets,” Aidan complained, and I smiled, trying not to let anything else out with that smile.
A little ember had taken root in my chest since we’d made up and were being friendly and relaxed with one another.
Like when he’d casually and, I firmly believed, innocently, stripped down to a tight shirt that showed off his shoulders and arms, and then to a pair of shorts, I had felt my stomach twist with sudden desire.
The reason I had pushed away that lust wasn’t because I was telling myself it was my ex who had complicated feelings for me, and a great deal of understandable anger.
Not the fact that trying to go too far with your ex when you had broken up with for a reason was a recipe for disaster.
And not even the fact that it would probably piss him off all over again that I had taken the first good vibes between us and tried to make it sexual.
No, the reason I had pushed it away was that I didn’t want to feel disappointment at being rejected again.
In the end, even back then, I had believed him when he’d said our meager, barely breathing sex life wasn’t because he was cheating, or because he didn’t find me attractive.
That it was because he had that absurd braking system in his head that even when he wanted to rev it, his brain stopped him.
That didn’t mean it hadn’t hurt when my advances were shot down, or that aching feeling in my chest because the lack of physical intimacy grew with each day until I felt like I was going to lose all sense of self-esteem or lose my temper.
I’d turned away because of a wound from our former relationship, not our current standing, and I didn’t know what to think about that.
“You know,” Aidan said, and I was brought back to reality, wondering if I had missed anything important, “it just occurred to me.”
“What?” I asked, noting his bewildered tone.
“I have not one fucking clue where I am or where we’re going. Why the hell did you guys let me take the lead?” Aidan asked, turning to look at both of us in confusion.
Mav snorted. “We weren’t; you’ve just been going in the right direction.”
“And since you like feeling like a big boy, I thought it was a good idea to let you keep going,” I said with a smirk. “It’s good for your self-esteem to feel important and capable.”
Aidan flipped me the bird. “We drove out here, at y’alls direction, and we’ve been walking, so can we maybe, just maybe, find this guy?”
Mav glanced at me. “Does he…expect we’re just going to pull this random person out of thin air?”
“I think he’s hoping, not expecting,” I informed him wryly. “We’re in the right area, Aidan.”
“You sure?” he asked, looking around. “Don’t worry, I’m not doubting you…not seriously, anyway. But, like…it all looks the same.”
Mav sighed. “You get used to it.”
I checked the GPS in my hand and nodded. “We’re in the area. There were three different reports within five hours, and this is more or less the spot you estimated.”
Aidan peered over curiously. “How did you come up with that estimate?”
“Hmph,” Mav said, and I thought for a moment he was going to clam up and refuse to speak, but he sighed. “Based it on where the reports came in from and where they reported they’d seen the guy. Factoring in how long it had been since the reports and how far a person can walk and it’s…an estimate.”
Aidan looked at him. “No shit? Huh, I probably should have thought of that, because now it seems obvious. I’m guessing outside being a pretty face, you must be what…the better navigator and tracker out of everyone?”
Mav’s face went blank, and I was forced to turn away so neither man could see me trying to bite back a laugh.
Of all the things Aidan could have said, I would have bet money Mav hadn’t been expecting that.
And while I wasn’t willing to bet money on it, I wondered if Mav was a little flattered, if not pleased by the attention.
“We’ve already got a third of the area covered,” Mav grunted rather than give away anything that would give me my answer. “Take him with you and cover the second third, and I’ll get the last one.”
“How do you know the difference between each third?” Aidan wondered, peering down at the device in my hand.
“Magic,” I told him, but Mav groaned.
“We have a system for this kind of thing,” Mav explained and waved a hand between him and Aidan. “We don’t have time to explain it. Big Boss wanted you out on something easier than some of our calls, so you’re getting a hands-on. Good job on not pissing him off.”
And with no more explanation, Mav walked off, shaking his head, and I watched him go with surprise. After I nodded for Aidan to follow me, I snorted. “You got Mav to speak, bravo.”
“I…is that rare? I mean, I thought he talked to y’all, but not me because I was new,” he said nervously.
“He…talks, when the mood strikes him.”
“And to Carter.”
“Yes, and to Carter.”
“Hmm,” Aidan said as we walked. “So Mav and Carter seem to have buddied up. Jake and Reno are pretty much buddied up too. And really, it’s only been three weeks that I’ve been here, but does it seem like Colin and Xander have buddied up?”
I had noticed it and not thought much of it.
Colin was a weirdly good balancing act for Xander, tolerating Xander’s abrasiveness but not a doormat by any measure.
Xander was…different with Colin, just as gruff and occasionally rough, but he was never…
I didn’t know how to describe it. “Yes, and before you say it, Xander is straight.”
“I wasn’t going to say it,” Aidan said thoughtfully. “Though now I think about it, there is a touch of romance there, isn’t there?”
“I…yeah, but considering Xander is going through a nasty divorce and again, straight…and don’t mention his divorce.”
“Hey, I might be slow reading the room, but even I noticed everyone mentions the divorce, but never when Xander could be around. So, I took a cue from that and decided mentioning something unpleasant, like a divorce, isn’t worth it around our decidedly cranky boss.”
“At least your sense of self-preservation is as strong as ever,” I said with a snort.
I chuckled, rubbing between his shoulder blades.
His expression froze, and I realized what I’d done and pulled my hand back, taking a step away.
Only to be reminded I had been standing on the narrow crest of a hill we’d just climbed and felt the wet earth give way, making me stumble hard.
I stomped my heel down and…found it wasn’t nearly as stable as I thought.
“Mika!” Aidan snapped, reaching out to take hold of me, and I twisted to catch myself as I’d had to do before. Except I had someone else flailing to catch me, not knowing how to do it without making it worse, and worse was exactly what it was as we both tipped back and tumbled down the slope.
I tumbled and twirled, leaving me blind and helpless as I bounced and slid down the embankment, occasionally hit by the man who had tried to save me as he suffered the same fate.
When we collapsed at the bottom, the wind was knocked out of me with a keening whine as I slapped my hand against the first solid thing I could feel: hard, wet, and yet somehow warm.