Chapter 25
Lochlan
It’s well past noon by the time we wake, check all the texts from our friends, and drive back to Gray’s empty, unlocked house. We grin as we make our way past the kitchen island and out to the noisy deck full of friends.
Gray hands me a beer while Callie reaches into the cooler for a sparkling water. Then, we sit at the picnic table piled high with potato salad, burgers, hotdogs, and a melon salad.
Isabella stares pointedly at a red mark on my wife’s neck. “Looks like everything’s all good?”
Callie blushes like a teen and my willy swells.Damn, if I don’t want her again.
Grayson, sitting cross-legged at a miniature blow-up pool, points with an orange rubber ducky. “Nightmares last night? Or did you two even sleep?”
“Not a wink.” I take my incredible wife into my arms and kiss her soundly.
Callie glances down at the tenting under my loose suit and whispers, “Best you wrap a towel around that.”
I nibble on her ear with a chuckle. “Nah, he’ll settle down in a bit. Besides, the kiddies are too little to notice and Gray is family. He’s aware I’m hot for you.”
For a whole week, we alternate between making love, partying with friends, and helping to watch kids. I have a few more sessions with Blake to talk over some shit and the fog is mostly gone.
Tired from a long day in the sun, I sit on the deck with Callie on my lap, the moon hanging low over the ocean. We both jump when her phone rings.
“I’ll get it.” She eases off my legs and into the kitchen where her phone charges on the black granite countertop.
I rush in when I hear her gasp and turn on the overhead light. Pale, she clutches the cell tight to her ear as she listens. I slide behind her, unwrap her fingers from the small device, and put it on the countertop in speaker mode.
“…Capitol Building. Expect us in ten minutes.”
I don’t recognize the voice, but the command in the tone is definitely military. “This is Lochlan James. Say again.”
“A helicopter will be landing for your wife in twenty minutes. The president has ordered her to Washington, sir.”
I almost tell him to bugger off but think better of it. “Make sure there’s room for me.”
After a few moments of silence, he comes back. “Copy that. See you soon, sir.”
“Oh my God, Loch. Come see.” In the living room, Callie’s turned on the telly.
A talking head speaks in front of the Capitol. “What we do know is this. About an hour ago, people started getting sick and leaving the building. Some had second degree burns and were taken to a local hospital. Sources in the White House aren’t saying but experts believe there is some kind of electro-magnetic weapon in the Capitol Building. The president has been taken to…”
“Shit.” I turn up the volume and join her in the bedroom where she’s tossing things willy-nilly into a suitcase.
I barely have time to throw on jeans and a dress shirt before a loud whop-whop of rotating blades sounds overhead.
Grabbing our bag, I lock up, and walk her to the top of the dunes. On the beach, three young men in fatigues jump out of the helo and run toward where I wave.
The first one up the hill says, “Doctor and Sir James? You ready?”
The second we bob our heads, the one in the lead takes my wife’s hand and shouts, “Let’s go.”
I step between the young upstart and my woman and whisk Callie into my arms. Then, I duck under the blades and hand her up to a waiting officer. Once inside, I strap her in and seconds later, the bird is in the air. It hugs the coast, the moon rises higher, and I point out the Sandy Hook Lighthouse.
I’ve been in helicopters plenty of times but this is Callie’s first experience. Even if she hadn’t told me, I’d have known from her wide-eyes and the way her jaw drops as she stares below at the dark ocean.
She’s either thrilled or terrified, maybe a little of both.
“You okay, luv?”
