“You trust me, I hope,” Mace said.
Without thinking, Cannon replied, “With my life.” Apparently, it didn’t matter how many years had passed. His brother was his brother. “Always.”
“Good. ’Cause I want in.”
“What?”
“You heard me. I want in. I just quit my job, and I’m too young to be fully retired. The Marines kept me overseas, which is why it wasn’t working for me anymore. With you, I can be closer to my moms and not lose my sanity because I ain’t doin’ shit. Put me in the game, coach.”
Before Cannon could even consider the request, Capri spoke up. “You’re hired. Now we could really use your help with Nahla’s situation?—”
“Cap,” Cannon said in a warning tone.
She cut her eyes at him. “What? You just said you trust the man with your life. I’ve been telling you we needed more people. What’s the problem?”
“Give us a minute, y’all,” Cannon said, looking at Nahla and Capri.
Nahla looked concerned, while Capri just looked annoyed. She turned on her heels and stomped toward the hallway, and after a few seconds of peering at Cannon, Nahla followed her. After they were out of sight, Mace spoke up again.
“You ain’t even gotta say nothin’, ’cause I already know. You’re in love as hell.”
Cannon frowned, but instead of denying it, he found himself asking, “What makes you say that?”
Mace chuckled. “That woman Cap just introduced is named Nahla, right? The same Nahla that she said has asituation? I peeped how y’all were lookin’ at each other, nigga. She’s yourclient and you in love wit’ her, so you’re trying to keep it close to the chest. I respect it.”
“It ain’t that, I just?—”
He cut Cannon off. “It’s exactly that, and like I said, I get it. Look, I was ya brother before the Marines ever gave us a uniform. I’m rockin’ wit’ you before anybody, and the years apart don’t change that.
“I’on know everything that happened when you left, because they were real discreet about it, but I know Ox was involved in whatever went down. I know that it’s because of him that you shut down on me, and I know it was bad. It had to be for you to feel like you couldn’t come to me with it. For you to feel like I wouldn’t have had your back.”
“That wasn’t it, Mace?—”
“It was, but like I said, it’s cool. I don’t know all that you went through over there, but I know we’ve both seen some messed-up stuff, and those kinds of experiences stay with you. Just know that I got you for whatever, and if you need me, I’m here.”
Cannon ran a hand over the top of his head. Mace wasn’t wrong about anything he said. Ox was the only other marine Cannon trusted like a brother. He was the reason they even joined the Marines. When Ox betrayed him, Cannon shut down completely. He automatically assumed that Mace would likely side with Ox and the Marines and turn his back on Cannon, so Cannon beat him to it. It wasn’t right, but it was how he felt at the time. Honestly, it was how he felt until the moment Mace walked intoPorter Protects.
“I know you are, bruh, and I appreciate that. Honestly, I owe you an apology. My issues with Ox and the Corps ain’t have shit to do with the brotherhood we had built since youngins. I know you’re a real one, and I know you have my back.
“With this case, though, just give me a minute to think about it, aight? Slide me your number. I’ll hit you up.”
They dapped up, and Mace said, “Fair enough.”
“When you finishin the restroom, I’ll be in Cannon’s office a little further down the hall. It has his name on it.”
“All right.”
Nahla quickly went into the restroom, handled her business, then washed her hands. She looked in the mirror as she dried them. Cannon had sent her and Capri down the hall so that he could talk to their surprise visitor alone.
Nahla couldn’t say that she didn’t want to know more about Cannon’s connection to this Mace person.
All she had managed to gather so far was that he had been in the Marines with Cannon, but they had to have been close before that, because he knew Capri well enough to say that she hadgrown up. Capri said Mace was Cannon’s oldest friend, buthe was probably hisonlyfriend. Cannon didn’t seem like the friendly type, and in the month that they had spent together, the only people he ever talked to or spent time with were his sister and his grandmother.
He seemed genuinely happy to see Mace, but Nahla saw something in his eyes that she had only seen once before—the day she asked him about the Marines at the gun range. Cannon was carrying some major pain from his time in the Marines, and she wished he trusted her enough to put some of that weight on her.
With a sigh, she left the restroom. She was about to join Capri in Cannon’s office, but she paused when she realized Mace’s and Cannon’s voices were carrying down the hall.
Mace was speaking.
