“Baby,” Cannon said, pulling her attention away from her screen.
“Yes?”
“You were right.”
She frowned. “You’re talking about something with the case?”
He shook his head. “Nah . . . Well, you were right about a lot of that too. But I’m not talkin’ about that. You were right about me.”
Nahla leaned forward and set her coffee on the table in front of them. She turned inward and gave him her full attention.
“What do you mean?” she asked softly.
“I’ve been shuttin’ you down and pushin’ you out whenever you ask about my past. You’ve been askin’ for me to let you in. To give you the pieces that shape the man I am. I treated you like you were digging for gossip or shit, when all you wanted was me. I knew better, and I was wrong. If I’m bein’ honest, you’re the only person I trust in this world to give all the pieces to.”
A few tears fell from her eyes as he spoke.
“I wanna let you in, La. I’ma tell you all of it.”
“Cannon, you don’t have to?—”
He cut her off. “I’m going to.”
And he did. He told her all about how Maddox was a dude from Jasona who was about six years older than him. He was kind of like their big brother growing up, and both Mace andCannon admired him. He went to Lyle to play basketball but left school early to join the Marines. When it was time for them to decide their futures, Mace and Cannon followed Ox straight into the Marines.
After she had the back story, he fast-forwarded to the worst night of his Marine career. About five years after joining the Marines, both Mace and Ox had been assigned to different overseas missions. Cannon happened to be part of a unit that Ox and another guy, Lieutenant Rourke, had recently been placed over.
One night, while they were at their perimeter post, a civilian truck approached. Rourke felt that something was shady about the car because the driver seemed nervous. Cannon, on the other hand, was able to make out a few words in the civilian’s native language and realized he was only nervous because they all had guns, and he had a woman and his children in the vehicle with him.
Rourke ordered Cannon to fire a warning shot to intimidate the truck into turning down, but he refused. Another trigger-happy member of their unit, named Jennings, fired twice instead. He grazed Cannon and hit the car.
“After that, it was fuckin’ chaos. The rest of my unit rushed the truck and opened the back door. That’s when we realized a small boy had been hit. I was pissed. Rourke and Ox were nervous and screaming to create a cover-up in real time.
“None of them were concerned with the child who was bleeding out; they only gave a damn about fixing the fuck up. Rourke said something about just taking care of the entire family and covering the shit up that way. Ox agreed. Both of them raised their guns, and that’s when I lost it. I was not about to watch them murder an innocent family because Rourke made a bad call.
“Without really thinking, I punched Rourke in the face. Not because I was trying to start somethin’ with my superior, but because I was trying to stop him from shooting. Ox was shocked that I had done that and lowered his gun, so my goal was accomplished.
“In the moment, I was able to reason with Ox, and he called medical to help the boy. He lived.”
Cannon could feel a headache breaking through, and he gripped the side of his head. Nahla reached out and caressed Cannon’s arm, and some of the pain immediately subsided. He continued.
“I thought everything was going to blow over. We were all interviewed about the incident. Imagine my surprise when the investigators told me that everyone’s story matched except mine. Everyone else—including my brother Ox—said that Jenings shot in self-defense and that I went rogue in an attempt to compromise the mission. Apparently, I acted with aggression when I punched Rourke, and Jennings grazed me to get me off of our unit leader.”
“That’s horrible,” Nahla said, rubbing his arm.
“It got worse. All branches of the military have their own judicial system. They sat me in jail for weeks, trying to break me down. They eventually had Ox come and offer me a deal. If I were to take a dishonorable discharge, I wouldn’t have to stand trial.
“I took it because I knew they were going to find me guilty no matter what. I wasn’t tryna put my grandma and sister through that. I was messed up for a minute after that. I stayed away from Jasona because I didn’t want to run into Mace or Ox’s families. I was done with Ox because he was a snake, but I had no real reason to cut Mace off. I didn’t want to be reminded of what I lost, so I shut down.
“It took a while for me to get back to a version of myself, for the sake of my family, but I was never quite the same after that. But I feel more and more like the man I was before that happened every day, and that’s thanks to you. Ox’s last name is Barrett, so, yeah, I did lie when the name of his company came up in those files. I apologize for hidin’ from you, La.”
She leaned in and gave him a tender kiss. Once they broke away, they gazed into each other’s eyes silently until she smiled softly. What she said made him love her more—if that were even possible.
“FuckOx.”
He wasn’t sure if it was the fact that she didn’t cuss often or that she justknewhe didn’t desire a pity party from her, but Nahla’s response was perfect, just like her.
“Y’all missed me?” Capri said, walking into the safe house.
