Chapter 6 #2
Ironically, we’d both waited for someone to fucking call us, and then it happened at the same time. Reese had reached out to me, and Ryan Quinn had reached out to Cullen.
We had shit to do now.
I dragged the towel over my face one last time before I left it in the laundry basket and walked out of our tiny bathroom. Archie was in the middle of preparing snacks for my drive up to New York, and Corey sat on the couch—
“Oh my God,” Archie uttered, staring at me.
Corey dropped his jaw. “Holy crap.”
I lifted my brows. What was happening?
Sloan reentered our cabin and blinked when he spotted me.
“What?” I demanded.
“It’s just so wrong, Dominus.” Corey eyed me as if I were a display in a museum. “I love you with all my heart, but shaving off your beard makes you more naked than when you rock out with your cock out. If you know what I mean.”
Oh, for the love of—
Archie and Sloan cracked up at that.
Fucking hellions, the lot of them.
“I’m hot without the beard too, fuckers,” I said.
“Of course, Master!” Archie hurried over to me and brushed his fingers over my jaw. “You’re always sexy.”
But…?
I narrowed my eyes at him.
He smiled and inched away. “That’s all. I’m leaving it at that. You’re always sexy.”
Hmpf.
They should be all over me. I’d put on utility pants and a matching green tee. I looked like the jarhead I’d been for so many years. Just…maybe add some grays and approximately ten pounds. A few wrinkles too.
Sloan smiled at me. “I’m surprised you didn’t give yourself a high and tight.”
Even I had limits. Besides, back in the day, I’d usually just shaved my head altogether, at least if I was going overseas.
“Do you miss those days?” I smirked.
He chuckled and walked over to me. “Not one bit, but it has nothing to do with your hair.”
I knew what he meant. Neither of us had much to look back on in terms of personal happiness and good relationships.
Even so, it was in the past he and I had become best friends, it was in the past he had waited for me to come home from deployments, and it was in the past I had waited for him to get divorced.
He touched my jaw and kissed me. “Thank fuck you can pull this off, though.”
I chuckled quietly and rested my forehead to his.
The humor faded when he threaded our fingers together and brought our hands between us.
“You better be safe over there,” he said quietly. “I’m trying to remind myself it’s LA, not Fallujah, but I’m guessing there’s a big risk you’ll end up south of the border.”
I couldn’t deny that. After what I’d learned about my nephew and a few others I knew ending up in Europe, I’d stopped thinking this was a domestic issue. And of course, there was that voice in the back of my head, reminding me where coke came from. South America.
“I’ll be careful.” I withdrew my hands from his and took off his glasses, and I placed them on the coffee table. “Keep in mind, I’m better in the field than sitting on the sidelines.”
“Boredom won’t kill you.”
“What Daddy said,” Corey chimed in.
I smiled faintly and brushed my lips to Sloan’s. “We can’t know that for sure.”
“Yes, we fucking can, Shepherd.” He kissed me back, but not before he’d given me a look. “Swear to me you won’t try to be a hero.”
Corey piped up again. “Yeah. Swear to him.”
Okay—Christ. “How about you two trust me to know what I’m doing? This is what I’m good at.”
“You’re good at a lot of things, Greer.” Archie’s use of my name always caught my attention, because he did it so rarely when we were alone. But even when the kids were around, I was Daddy, Dad, Shep, sweetheart, darling, and love most of the time.
Sloan gripped my chin loosely. “You know we support you, baby. Every step of the way, we’re there, rooting for you, waiting for you to come home. We do trust you. But don’t think for a second that being a grunt is the only place you shine.”
That was sweet of him, but he was doing that thing where he made me uncomfortable. Like back in the day when he force-hugged me and I tried to joke it off.
The bastard knew it too.
“Listen to Daddy,” Corey sang and skipped over to us.
“First and foremost, you are the best Papa Bear in the universe. Okay? And second, you’re a great dad.
Grade A husband, partner, Sadist, Dominus, hobby farmer, driver—’cause you let me choose the podcast, and you don’t get road rage—and you gave me Chonky.
Any man who brings home cute doggies and piggies deserves an award.
In fact, I will make you one. You can collect it when you come home safely. ”
I grinned and shook my head, and I pulled him into the fold and kissed the top of his head. He knew how to make all the discomfort go away.
“Whenever Daddy makes me squirm, it’s now your responsibility to take that away,” I murmured.
He snickered and peered up at me. “Let’s do that on a case-by-case basis. Daddy decides.”
I narrowed my eyes in playful warning.
“I’m not afraid of you,” he whispered and disappeared behind Sloan.
Too fucking cute.
“I’ll keep you safe, baby boy,” Sloan promised.
At that, Corey poked his head around, smug, and stuck out his tongue at me.
Right then and there, I took a mental picture. I’d keep it at the forefront of my mind—one of the many reasons to come home victorious. One of the many reasons to fight.
“Okay, everyone,” Archie said. “It’s late, and Master should get some rest before he leaves.”
He had a point. My flight to LA was first thing in the morning out of JFK, and I was still expecting further instructions from Reese.
In no way were we staying in LA. Maybe Cullen knew more.
It was… I checked my watch. Almost midnight.
I had to leave in little over an hour. I’d grab a half-hour nap, and then I’d talk to Colt and Ty one more time.
Then we were bringing Shay home.