“I pointed out Snow—Aria,” she corrected. “On the other side of her is Lily. Lily’s Rexar’s wife. Did you meet her?”
She shook her head. “I’ve met Rexar and RJ, though.”
“Awesome. And I know you know Willow because she was on the plane with us, too. Then there’s Eedana and Adalyn.” She pointed out the other two men. “Eedana is Logan’s?—”
“She owns Bison?”
“Yes, that’s her. Adalyn belongs with Rory, and they have a little boy, Sam, who’s probably out causing chaos with RJ.”
“I’m never going to remember everyone.” She didn’t understand why, if she was only going to be here for a few days, she needed to know everyone. But she didn’t want to be mean to Becky. In a different world, she could easily see them becoming friends. But long-term friends weren’t going to be possible for her.
Maybe Caleb and these people can figure out a way to help me escape Janek without me losing everything again.
For the first time in a long time, a spark became a flame, and the flame warmed her from the inside out… hope. She really hoped it wasn’t like fate, and if you tempted it, it wouldn’t betray you as fate would.
“Are you listening?” Becky nudged her.
“Sorry, my mind wandered.” She stuffed a mouthful of food into her mouth and chewed. “It does that sometimes. I don’t mean to be rude.”
“Eh, girlfriend, all this hawtness around, it short circuits the brain at times. You’ll get used to it.” She grinned when her husband growled at her again, and Becky’s cheeks reddened. She elbowed him hard, then cleared her throat and pointed out someone else. “The dark-haired woman at the back of the room is in training. The bosses haven’t decided what team she’s on yet, but possibly Delta team.” She obviously recognized the confusion on her face and tagged on, “Alpha Team is where Lina and the others are. This is Bravo, that’s Charlie, and Delta is all about girl power.”
She was so confused.
“Delta team is mostly women who have a unique skill set,” Caleb supplied in her other ear.
How curious.
“What skillset?”
He chuckled softly, his breath warm against her ear. “I can’t tell you that without clearance.”
That’s a movie reference, right? Or maybe that’s, ‘if I tell you I’ll have to kill you.’
“Okay.”
“Dalton,” he explained, “isn’t like most contractors in this business. He doesn’t care if the operator is male or female. If they can do the job he needs filling, then he’ll hire the best there is. This job can be hella sexist at times. But here, he’ll kick a man to the curb just as fast as he would a female. Mission first. The only exception to that is family. He’ll put family first and go balls to the wall to keep our wives, partners, and kids safe.”
“He sounds like a good man.”
“In this industry, it’s the good men willing to do bad things in any hell hole on earth to survive.”
There was a warning in his words. She thought he was telling her he was a good man, but not everything he’d done was something she or any civilian would typically approve of. She nodded and went back to her food, using it to cover her thoughts while she tried to figure out if that was what he meant. She could ask him about it later, she decided, or she could ask Becky. She might tell her.
From under her eyelashes, she could see the people at what Becky had called the Alpha table getting to their feet, and one of the women was making a beeline to their table.
“Hi.” She stopped right next to Rose. “I’m Lily, RJ’s mom. I just wanted to say I’m so sorry he nearly ran you over on the four-wheeler…”
“It’s okay, he missed.” It was nice of her to come over. “His dad handled it. I’m Rose.”
“Rexar is still figuring out the dad thing.” Lily’s smile was sad, as if it hurt to admit that. “And RJ that he has to answer to someone who isn’t me. But they are getting there.”
There was a story behind that comment, but she didn’t want Lily worrying that she was upset or angry at her son.
“Serious, no harm done.” She nudged Caleb. “Tell her, Caleb.”
“It’s good, Lil’, he came close, but to be fair, we stepped off the porch. He couldn’t have known we’d do that.”
Her cheeks heated. Caleb hadn’t stepped off the porch. She had.
