“Hah.” He’d boot the dog’s owner in the butt first, because booting a dog was never in his box of tricks. If the dog overstepped, it was his owner’s fault. Period. “You sure you don’t mind staying?”
“Nope.” Talon flopped onto the couch and picked up the remote. “Me and Zombie are good for a bit. Go do your thing.”
“Thanks.”
Talon waved him off. Gunnar paused outside the door of the suite and pressed his hand to his chest. This pretending he wasn’t hurting thing was a ball ache. He tugged up his t-shirt and peered down, wincing at the massive bruise he could see on his chest.
No wonder I hurt every damn where.
He called the elevator and got in before he allowed himself to slump. Even though there were cameras in here, he hoped it just looked like he was lounging against the wall without a care in the world. Although he figured there wasn’t a man among them who would believe it for a second, he was totally on board with gaslighting himself into believing he didn’t hurt everywhere.
Colt was waiting for him when he stepped out of the elevator on the basement floor where the holding cells were. What was it with his brothers ambushing him at doors and shit?
“Jorja is okay?”
How the heck was he supposed to be pissed when they allshowed so much concern for the person who was rapidly becoming the one who meant the most to him? “Yeah, she’s sleeping.”
“Don’t kill Michaels.” Colt paused outside the cell door. “I believe him.”
Fuck.
He really needed and wanted to punch something. Michaels was a target he could get on board with. Not that he was in any physical condition to take on another SEAL, mind you. But he’d make the fucker regret his involvement before he passed out or resorted to using a weapon. “Why do you believe him?”
“Because Remi confirms everything he said.” Colt kept his palm against the door, preventing him from opening it.
“All of it?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s true,” Dory confirmed as he approached from further down the hall. “My guys double-checked everything. Michaels didn’t have a fucking clue what he was getting into…”
“Then he should have checked better before he took the job.”
“I agree, he was an idiot,” Dory said mildly. “I’ll get that out of him real fast.”
Huh?
It took a second or two for the words to make sense. “Absolutely not.”
“He’s a solid operator,” Dory reminded him.
I beg to differ.
“And when he figured out who she was, he made sure you all knew where to look.”
Any decent human would have.
“And he kept her out cold so nothing happened to her until you could get to her,” Colt chimed in.
“Seriously?” He wasn’t sure what pissed him off more, that Dory was being logical or that his brother was fucking helping him be freaking logical. That should never, ever happen. Logic had never been something either of those two possessed, which was why they made such good operators. “You too?”
“I’m telling you, Grizz, if he knew beforehand, he’d have turned down the job.”
Colt kept himself between Gunnar and the door. “If he’d turned it down, we—you might not have your woman sleeping in your bed upstairs.”
I fucking hate when everyone makes sense but me.
He spun on his heel. “Put him through the selection process,” he ordered Dory. “If he fails one step, I mean it, one.” He held up one finger. “Then he’s gone. I won’t have an asshole who fucks up on this level on our teams.”
