Page 73 of Beyond the Rules
“He’s probably up on the mountain,” I said, covering for Aiden. “You know how much he loves anighthike.”
Her golden glower accused me of lying. “Maybe we should goafterhim?”
“No, negative.” Aiden would kill me if I allowed Nina to see him when he was down. “He needs time for himself. He’ll be okay.” I prayed I wasright.
“Does he do thisalot?”
“He hasn’t done it for a while.” Not once, since Nina had arrived. “He’llbefine.”
“So I’m only part of the team when things are nice and dandy.” She grabbed her glass and drank a deep draft of her wine. “The rest of the time, I’m out oftheloop.”
“Nina…” I groaned inside. “Aiden’s a very privateperson.”
“And I’m sleepingwithhim.”
She was right and I had no good answersforher.
Nina looked out the window and contemplated the evening sky, where the Milky Way was making a huge splash. “In what part of the world do you think Zar isrightnow?”
“Somewhere shitty,” I said. “Yemen or Sudan. Maybe hunting after Boko Haram or in Syria. It was a 911. I bet you he’s doing hostage extraction.Again.”
“Jesus.” Nina shuddered and downed the rest ofherwine.
I gave myself a mental kick in the ass for adding to her worries and tried to reassure her. “Zar knows how to take care of himself. He’s the best in the business,forsure.”
“Why does he take these huge risks?” she said. “I mean, he’s got nothing to prove and you guys run not one, but two hugely successfulbusinesses.”
“Part of it, he likes the work,” I tried to explain what civilians never grasped. “We all loved what we did. At the end of the day, getting a little justice done in a fucked-up world is extremely satisfying, especially when all goes well. Hard to walk away when you’re good at whatyoudo.”
“He’s excellent at cyber hunting,” Nina pointed out. “He’s great at furniture design andwelding,too.”
“It’s not the same,” I said. “Old man’s work.Retirementjob.”
Nina scoffed. “You guys are way too young toretire.”
“Some of us didn’t get achoice.”
Nina’s gaze flew to my face. The words out of my mouth sounded angry, acid. My knuckles tightened around the stem of my glass. We were coming across like a sorry bunch of broke-dicks tonight. How were we gonna get Nina to stay when we were scaring hertohell?
Nina reached over and gave my hand a little squeeze. “I’m glad that you are here, safe and sound, with me, and not in some hellhole dodgingbullets.”
Her sentiment was sweet and the fact remained that she could swell my heart and my dick at the same time, but part of me felt as if I should be covering Zar and Aiden’s backs wherever the hell they were, fighting the wars we hadn’t yet won. Instead, I was sitting prettily inside, warm by the fire, sipping fine wine while my brothers weretakingfire.
I pushed back from the table and, juggling my crutches and our dirty dishes, made for the sink. I dumped our untouched dinners in the trashcan and suppressed a wince. The nerves on my back were in a punishing mood today. Never mind that. I went to the mudroom and put on my puffyjacket.
Nina followed me. “What are youdoing?”
I grabbed my backpack and strapped it to my back. “I’m gonna go check onAiden.”
Nina reached for her own jacket. “I’mcomingtoo.”
“No.” I couldn’t risk showing Nina our weaknesses. Not if we had a prayer of convincing her to stay with us for the long run. “Stay here.” I donned my headlamp and punched in my code to arm the security system. “I’ll be back in no time. I’m gonna lock you in, so don’t go anywhere.Understand?”
“Oh, yeah, I get it.” She crossed her arms and fixed her sparkling gaze on me. “I’m off the team again and imprisoned in this house. Zar’s in some shithole under fire, Aiden’s under attack too, but of a different kind, you’re worried and so stiff that I think you’re hurting. And what do we do? Put Nina back in her cage, make sure she doesn’tscrewup.”
Igroaned. “Nina…”
“Go find Aiden,” she spat. “I’ll be fine. Trapped and useless,butfine.”