Chapter One
“Dude, you are about to get your ass kicked,” John whispered as he leaned toward Brody.
Brody Walker turned and glared at his soon-to-be-former friend.
He never should’ve told John about his crush.
Of course, Brody had been drunk off his ass when he confessed.
Currently, he was sitting in the first row of seats as Master Sergeant Coffey paced the stage.
Sue him, he was distracting himself by staring at his crush, one Andrew Nolan.
Christ, he just wanted to pin on second lieutenant, graduate, and get to Brooke Medical. Maybe then he could get over Drew.
“What the fuck? It’s not like he’ll notice me, anyway.
Did you see the blonde he brought to the ball?
I think it was the same one from last year.
” Brody tried to keep his voice down. “Listen, we graduate this weekend and then I’ll never see him again, unless I’m stupid enough to come to a reunion years from now. ”
“What blonde? I thought he brought—” John was cut off by Master Sergeant Coffey.
“Listen up, cadets. We’ve got a bit of a situation and I hate that it’s going to impact your ceremony.
It seems that our guest speaker, Colonel Howard, has come down with a case of food poisoning and won’t be able to attend tomorrow’s ceremony.
I know that you were all looking forward to having someone other than Lieutenant Colonel Robbins talk, but I don’t know that we’ve got many options.
” Coffey shook his head. Brody couldn’t remember seeing the master sergeant looking …
lost before. He blew out a breath and said, “Rehearsal first. Join me on stage, cadets.”
Brody stood, along with his classmates. There really weren’t many of them. Eight seniors this year. “Let’s get this over with.” This past year had been hell. And Brody was so ready for his heart to stop hurting. Faster they got done, faster he could get out of Drew’s presence.
§ § § §
Drew stood on stage with his fellow seniors waiting to be released when his cell phone chimed. Shit, forgot to put it on silent after talking with his mom earlier. He reached into his pocket to quiet it. Just as he pushed the side button, Master Sergeant Coffey yelled.
“Nolan! You would think after four years you know the rules.” Coffey stopped in front of Drew and glared.
“Sorry, Master Sergeant. I thought I’d silenced it,” Drew apologized as he pulled out his phone, which promptly jumped out of his hands to skid across the stage, stopping in front of Brody.
“Shit.” Drew moved to pick it up and lost his balance right into Brody’s legs.
All Drew could do was close his eyes and shake his head.
He tried not to moan at the whiff of scent he got from Brody.
Okay, yeah, he’d noticed his fellow cadet, but he had no idea if Brody was gay. Not that Drew’d gone out much, anyway.
“Are you quite finished, cadet?” Coffey asked. Drew had no idea where this bout of clumsiness came from and he could do with it leaving. He picked up his phone and saw a message from his father lighting up the screen. Heptad all here. Uniforms pressed. Call when you’re out of rehearsal.
Drew looked to the ceiling. Maybe he had a way out of this fuck up? He could throw his father and uncles under the bus. They’d do it for him. Oooh, or his brother. Yeah, surely Tris owed him for something.
Nothing like the present.
“Master Sergeant, would you like an option for the guest speaker?” Drew asked. He’d kept quiet about his father and uncles his whole time at ECU in the ROTC program, but since he was graduating now, it wouldn’t make a difference.
Coffey looked at Drew with narrowed eyes. He could see that Coffey was trying to figure out the catch. “Yes,” he finally said.
“What if I could get you a retired command sergeant major or four? Or just a retired sergeant major? Or if you’d rather, a retired first sergeant or two? Or an intelligence major?” Yup, he was pulling out all the ranks.
“What are you talking about, Nolan?” Coffey paused and Drew could see the wheels turning in his head. He saw the minute that Coffey put together Drew’s last name with all those ranks. “The heptad?” Coffey finally said. Actually, he almost whispered. Drew’s secret identity was revealed.
“Yes, Master Sergeant. My father is First Sergeant Retired Kevin Nolan. I’m sure you’ve heard of him and my uncles?
” Drew stopped before naming his uncles.
“Or maybe my brother, Major Tristan Nolan-Luna?” He watched as Coffey’s jaw hit the ground.
“They represent all the branches that we’re going into except Nursing, for Brody.
But I’m sure he’d be okay if it wasn’t someone from his branch, right Brody?
” Drew turned and gave puppy dog eyes to Brody.
No, they weren’t the closest of friends but he’d have his back right?
Another pleading look from Drew had Brody nodding his head.
“See, Brody’s okay with that. So which branch would you like to hear from, Master Sergeant? ”
§ § § §
Brody threw himself into the end seat of the first row with John right next to him.
“Dude, you’ve got spank material for months now! How’d it feel to have Nolan on his knees for you?” John whispered while elbowing Brody.
“Seriously? I’m really trying to get out of ECU without getting my ass kicked, so could you keep it the fuck down?
” Brody wasn’t going to think about Drew in front of him.
Nope, he wasn’t going there, else he’d embarrass himself in front of all the cadets and cadre.
“Any idea how long we’re going to be now? ”
John shrugged. “No idea. Sounds like Master Sergeant Coffey’s going to change everything around.
” Brody looked at his friend. John was pissed, but there wasn’t anything they could do about it.
“My parents are here and waiting to take me to dinner. Guess my sister and brothers jumped into the pool the minute they were checked into the hotel, so they couldn’t care less about food.
We’ll bring them takeout or order them pizza. ”
“You’re going to have your sister pin your hat and your brothers your uniform, right?
” Brody thought that was what John had planned.
He wasn’t sure who he was going to get to pin his rank.
His foster parents hadn’t responded to his last texts or phone calls over the semester.
He guessed he was alone in the world now, since he had no idea what happened to his biological parents, or if he even had any bio family out there. One of the cadre would step up for him.
“You saved my ass, Brody. I owe you big time,” Drew said as he sat behind Brody.
“Coffey would’ve had me humping in full ruck for hours after we were done here.
And there’s no time for that since Rick and I are moving out of the apartment this afternoon.
Now, we just have to deal with my uncles, dad, and brother. ”
“Are they that bad?” Brody asked. He thought he had heard that Drew came from a large family that was supportive of him.
“What?” Drew sounded shocked and when he looked at Brody, he had his mouth was screwed up and eyes squinted. “Bad? Oh, hell no. Overwhelming, maybe. But I do think we’re about to watch Coffey all but genuflect.”
“Why?” Brody had no clue what Drew was talking about and looking at the others, he wasn’t the only one confused. Except maybe Rick, which made sense since he and Drew were best friends.
“Oh, yeah. The reaction he just had when he finally put my name together with my dad? He knows of at least one of the heptad, if not more.” Drew shrank down in his chair, like he was trying to make himself disappear.
“Heptad? What fucking language are you speaking? Is that a bad thing?” Brody was confused. He really hadn’t heard a damn thing while Drew was on his knees in front of him. The man was straight. He needed to wipe that image out of his mind. It was bad enough to crush on the straight guy.
A bang echoed through the auditorium as the door crashed against the wall.
They all turned as eight men entered the room and commanded the space without saying a word.
Even if they weren’t in uniform, Brody was 100 percent sure they were in a formation.
He didn’t think they even realized they were in step.
One of the men waved a hand in the air and said, “Squeaker, we’re here. What have you gotten us into?”
Brody heard Drew groan and mutter quietly, “He did not. Can I dig my way through the floor now?”
“Squeaker?” Brody managed to say before he snorted. He wasn’t going to laugh. He really wasn’t.
Drew sighed loudly and stood up to greet the men.
They engulfed Drew to the point Brody couldn’t see him.
What would it be like to have such love and support?
Brody wasn’t sure he would ever have it.
What difference would it make? He hadn’t had it all his life, so why pull the scab off an old wound now?
It wasn’t long before the men released Drew and followed him to the front.
“Master Sergeant Coffey, may I present Command Sergeant Majors Retired Casper, Luna, MacNamara, and Mullvaney. Sergeant Major Retired Holt and First Sergeants Retired Glenn and Nolan and last, but not least, Major Nolan-Luna. Branches are, in order, special forces, military police, artillery, quartermaster, transportation, cavalry, infantry and military intelligence.”
Drew was right when he told Brody that Coffey was probably going to genuflect. It was funny watching him snap to attention. He didn’t seem to know what to do with himself. It was hard to hold in his laughter. And from the snickers around him, Brody wasn’t the only one.
“How the fuck did Drew say that off the top of his head?” John muttered. Drew must have heard him because he leaned over and answered.
“Practice. Lots and lots of practice.”
“So, Master Sergeant, what can we do for you?” It came from one of the men who looked enough like Drew that he had to be his father.
“First Sergeant Nolan?” Coffey asked.
“Please, call me Kevin. I’ve been retired for a while. Now these two,” he motioned to a few of the others, “They just couldn’t say no every time they were offered somewhere new to work. They haven’t been out for long.”
“Ummm, we need someone to be the guest speaker and…” Coffey looked over at Staff Sergeant Parks and then back to the men. “Would you all be willing to be a part of the ceremony? We have eight seniors who are pinning on second lieutenant.”
“Absolutely,” another of the men said. He looked as though he could tear Brody apart with his bare hands.
That had to be the Special Forces one. “Mooney? Do you want to speak? Actually, Coffey, is it? Which one of us do you want to speak? How long and on what topic? Officer or enlisted?” The man turned and smirked at the youngest of the group. “See? I didn’t leave you out, Tris.”
“Uncle Spook, you just can’t help taking charge, can you?” Drew asked.
“Nibble? Let Spook do his thing. Aunt Jeannine will love you even more than she already does. He’s driving her insane. She’s threatened to call up USASOC and have him conscripted to get him out of her hair.”
“And Haley has put her foot down that he’s not allowed to spend the summer in Boston with her, Keith, and Dylan,” another one chimed in.
“Nibble?” Brody whispered, earning a glare from Drew.
“You can forget that and the other nickname,” Drew commanded.
“What’s it worth?” What the hell? Brody was flirting with the straight guy? He had lost his mind and was going to die. It looked like if Drew couldn’t take care of Brody, he had a lot of backup who could.
“We can bargain later,” Drew said before winking at Brody.
“Would you all follow me…” Coffey directed the men to walk up onto the stage. Apparently, he’d snapped out of his stupor.