“Did not.” Zander’s brilliant grin left a trail of doubt as he rounded the island to make his escape. “You coming to help me set up the boardroom, D?”
“Yeah.” Already elbows deep in the dishwasher, Davis finished loading a couple of plates before shutting the door. “You need anything else, Grant?” Always moving at top speed, he’d made it to Zander’s side by the time Grant managed to track him down.
“Nah, I’m good, buddy. Thanks.”
They left, and Grant forked his food with more force than necessary, shoveling it in as fast as he could. Beside him, sitting pretty and drooling like one of Pavlov’s dogs, Jeff begged with eyes bigger than his belly.
“When did we get a cat?” he asked, slipping both animals a piece of bacon.
“At the same time we got a Becca,” Gray replied, bobbing her head toward the quiet woman sitting at the corner of the table by herself.
“Her name’s the Grand Duchess, Kitty of Catia,” Becca said, lifting her coffee and taking a sip. “Miss Kitty for short, and I don’t care what anyone says, stupid move or not, you saved Jay’s life, and that makes you a hero in my book.”
His breakfast sitting heavy in his stomach, Grant acknowledged her with a dip of his chin. “Just doing my job.”
“Well, job or not, I was there, and you were the only one who moved fast enough to get to him in time. So, thank you for that. If there’s anything I can ever do for you in return, just name it.” Mug in hand, she stood, and with the legs of her chair scraping against the hardwood, she cut off any response he might’ve made. “See you in the briefing.”
She left. Miss Kitty followed her out. And after swiveling his big head back and forth between Grant and the exit, Jeff concluded there were no more treats in his immediate future, and took off after the cat like she was his favorite chew toy.
Room empty except for the two of them, Gray folded one long leg beneath her as she turned to face him full-on.
“What?” he grumbled after the silence between them dragged on.
“We’re friends, right?”
He pushed his plate away, met her eyes, and lost himself in the deep green of their depths. “Right.”
“And you know I can’t live without you, right?”
“Gray—”
“No. Stop. Listen to me. Chase told me what you did—jumping into the Bering Sea without a rescue cable attached—you can’t do that kind of shit! I won’t make it through this without you, so you need to promise me you’ll never risk your life like that again.”
Her voice cracked at the end, and Grant felt the sharp edge of it pierce his heart. “What if it’d been Chase, sunshine? What then? Do I hesitate? Weigh the risks before jumping in to save him? Calculate the odds? Put myself first? I can’t do that. Not when it comes to the people who matter to me. You know better than anyone, I’m not wired that way.”
She dropped her gaze to her lap, picked at a cuticle, and shook her head. “That’s not fair. You’re my best friend; you can’t make me choose between you and Chase.”
“I’m not asking you to choose. He’s your husband till death do you part, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let you cry on my shoulder if he’s six feet down because I put my life ahead of his.”
“But—”
“No buts.” He curled his finger beneath her chin, lifted her head, and held her there until she looked him in the eyes. “I promise you, Gray, I’m not trying to die, but we’re in the crossfire, and shit happens.”
“But why does it always have to happen to you?”
“It’s not just me. It’s the whole team. We’ve all had close calls, but we’re fighting for something more important than ourselves. Bigger than the cost of all our lives combined. Your father died trying to protect Jay. How could I do less than any one of the JTT with the fate of humanity on the line?”
“My father died because he trusted the wrong people.”
“Your father died because he swore an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic. He believed in the mission, believed in the purpose of the Joint Task Team, and knew the consequences of failure. I may not be JTT, and I’m not American, but I’m cut from the same cloth, and I made the same declaration when I joined the Canadian military. My life in service to my country. What we’re dealing with here—the level of threat posed by Johnson, Dominion, and the Imperium Council—has no borders, and however we choose to look at the situation we’re in, it’s do or die or do and die. So, I’m gonna keep doing, and if I die, promise me you’ll survive, because that’s how you keep me with you. Understand?”
“I understand you’re a dickhead.”
“Gray—”
“No, really.” She huffed. “How long have you been practicing that speech in your head?” She stood and grabbed his plate. “It’s simple, stop trying to be everybody’s fucking hero, and I won’t have to survive you dying. Put yourself first for once, and if you can’t do that, then put me first if it keeps you from doing stupid shit.”
Head pounding and patience at an end, he stood too, and bending over until they were almost nose to nose, he let her have his truth. “Everything I fucking do is for you. Even the stupid shit. You know it. Chase knows it. Everyone in the fucking house knows it. So do me a favor, and don’t pretend otherwise. It’s insulting.”
