Page 75 of Stealth Mission
But I get really mad when I’m dancing around, and one by one they step back and smirk at me. Hands held up.
Those bastards. I pant at them, dropping my hands to my knees. “What the fuck?”
Scout knocks some dust off his pants leg that came off my shoe. He gives me a flat look. “You know what.”
As I swipe some sweat off my brow, I pace around.
For the first time in the four hours since Marianna kicked me out of the recovery room, I’m breathing. Really breathing. Deeply.
Justice straightens his shirt, rearranging the cuffs over his massive biceps. “You needed to let off some steam.”
Fucking hell, they’re right.
I rub the back of my neck. “My headache is better.”
Beast tosses me a bottle of water he got out of the built-in power cooler in the truck. “Lucky you still got a head. You weren’t guarding yourself for shit.”
“Whatever.” I twist the lid off with a snap and slug down the cold liquid. He’s right. I was sloppy. Just like with Marianna. I let my fucking guard down.
When I let the bottle of water hang down by the side of my thigh, Scout latches an arm around my neck. “What were you thinking just now?”
“Making that mistake, reminded me of others.”
He’s sweaty from our scuffle, his arm slick against my skin. Scout is the most distant of the team. The closed off, angry one. But something has changed since we’ve been in Vandemora. A little give, here and there.
His arm around me takes me back to days of training to be a SEAL.
The brotherhood.
When I look around, it hits me—how lucky I am to be surrounded by these men. Good men. Solid. Honest. Brave and tough as they come.
I don’t deserve their respect.
Not only did I let Marianna down, I let the team down. Got distracted from my job. Caused one of the company trucks to be destroyed. Could have gotten an innocent person killed.
“I understand if you don’t want to keep me on the team.” I’m looking directly at Beast. He’s the boss.
He flips me off. “Shut the fuck up. You’re not getting off this team. Who’s going to make corny southern jokes?”
Justice chuckles as he plucks at his shirt, tugging the damp fabric from his chest. “We didn’t let Beast leave, why do you think we’d cut you any slack?”
I shake my head. Some of the anger changes, but I don’t know how to handle the feeling inside of me.
The tension is almost more than I can take. It hurts to breathe. My voice is raspy too. “I’ve fucked it all up.”
Scout shakes me, squeezing my neck harder in the thick angle of his arm. “You know what we do with fuck ups?”
“Debrief. Analyze. Learn from them,” I reply somberly.
Beast clutches my other shoulder. Justice leans in too, grabbing my arm. They all grip me with their strength, holding me up when I need it.
A voice booms behind us. “Vutze fuck? Vut kind of sissy hug fest is zis?”
We snap apart. All of us instantly on alert.
Vik.
Great.Just what I need.