They’d had to be careful in case his momdecided to clean his bedroom again. A habit she was slowly startingto step away from as she silently, lovingly gave her son a littleshove out the door. Never leaving a trace, Sophie even adjusted herpillow and made her side of the bed before leaving it eachmorning.
Sated from an intense, passionate bit ofnot-sex, Asher laid awake, holding Sophie in his arms. Exhausted asthey both were, she was already falling deeply into dreamland.Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her up tight againsthim.
He wasn’t falling asleep so easily. How hadthis happened? From the moment he’d laid eyes on her, all snarkyand playful in his garage, he’d been hooked. Correcting himself, herealized it had started a lot sooner. A sucker for her untamed,indecisive hair, that lush pink smile, and those stormy gray eyesthat revealed the secrets her sweet expressions masked, he’d tankedwhen he first saw that graduation picture on the mantle.
He’d been with more than his share of bedpartners, but none had even tempted him to settle down. Somehow,before they’d even met, he’d known.
Just as his thoughts were drifting intononsensical imaginings as sleep finally enveloped him, a shrillseries of chirps from his phone jolted him awake. Sophie stirredbeside him but didn’t open her eyes.
Sliding the answer button, he answered theunknown number. “Yeah?” He must have been more deeply in sleep thanhe realized, his voice was full of gravel.
“Jack’s in the ICU.” The voice was terse,gruff.
“Zane? Where are you?” Zane was due to getout of the navy any day now, last he’d heard. Not that he’d heardmuch since he’d been home. Zane and Jack had been his best friendsin the navy, his only friends, really, for years.
“San Diego. I was listed as Jack’s emergencycontact.”
Heart thundering in his chest, Asher slippedout of bed and pulled on the closest pair of sweatpants. Found themcrumpled on the ground now that he was generally stuck doing hisown laundry lately. “Is he okay?” Juggling the phone, he snuck intothe bathroom, so he didn’t risk waking Sophie.
“Fuck no, man. He’s in the ICU. On aventilator and god knows what other shit they have him hooked upto. Sepsis; bacteria in his blood or some shit like that.” Zane’svoice was as croaky as his own.
Asher froze, knowing this wasn’t a good sign.Jack had been seriously injured in the op that had taken a goodchunk of their team. Asher and Zane had left the battle with hardlya scuffed knee between them and a bitter aftertaste of survivor’sguilt.
Not Jack; he’d never walked again.
“What hospital?”
Zane gave him the information. “Come quickman, I don’t think he has much time left.”
“I’ll be on the first flight out.” Fuck. NotJack.
Until the injury, he’d been the heart andsoul of the team. Both the obnoxious, impish little brother and thegot-your-back buddy. It had been devastating for Asher, but Zanewas a damn mess afterwards.
Asher had at least known he was getting outsoon and had a family to go home to, so he’d stayed afloat on thehope of distance from the mess. Zane didn’t have much else in hislife.
They should be as dead or amputated orconcussed as the others, but Asher had seen someone moving down thestreet and had taken Zane to investigate. The impulsive decisionhad spared the two of them, but those left behind weren’t so lucky.Would he ever be able to stop reliving it?
Hanging up the phone, Asher moved back intothe dark bedroom and sat on the side of the bed. Searching hisphone, it took only minutes to book a flight. Next Seattle to SanDiego left at 0400, best he could do.Going to be a long fuckingnight.
Restless, no way he was getting back to sleepjust yet, he slipped out of the room. Tiptoeing down the stairs, heheaded for the kitchen to grab a drink.
Sniffling from the moonlit living room caughthim off-guard. “Pippa?”
A wet voice answered, “Nothing. I’m fine.”She stood from the couch and wiped her eyes, looking ridiculous,pretending all was well as she cried alone in a darkened room, whenthe rest of the house was asleep.
“I think you may need a drink as badly as Ido.” He continued on his mission for liquor. Opening the pantry, hepulled out a dusty bottle of Jameson.
Pouring each of them a finger, or two, ofwhiskey, he brought both glasses to the living room. Pippa didn’targue when he handed her the glass, but she made a face as shehesitantly nursed the strong drink.
“What’s up, Pip?” Worrying about Jack… AndZane, for that matter, wasn’t going to help anyone right now. Hewas actually grateful for the distraction, but admittedly felt alittle guilty that his relief was at his sister’s expense.
“Am I a total nutcase?” She sniffled againbut washed the threatening return of weeping down with another sipof whiskey. Grimacing, she swallowed the liquid fire.
He managed a sympathetic smile. “Notusually.” He stared at his own glass, debating whether it wouldactually help or just make things worse.
“I’m sorry I’ve been so crazy around thiswhole wedding business. It doesn’t even matter, that’s what I can’tfigure out. I love Lincoln, he loves me, so why do I care so muchabout the stupid party to make it official?” She stared out thewindow at the bright moon.
“For one, it’s a big damn party that’s goingto be amazing. For another thing, this is a lot to take on andyou’ve shouldered most of it. You have always been single-minded.”He quickly added, “In a good way. That’s why you always seemed tobe able to do the right thing.”
