Oakland scratched at his jaw. “You do that, and take a couple of hours to catch some shuteye. I’ll watch over the omegas.”
“You need to rest, too,” Ethan pointed out, frowning. “You’ve not slept either. Brier, you’ll find the beds ready for use down the end of the hallway on the second floor. Last three doors, pick whatever room you want. They all have bathrooms attached.”
Brier’s lips parted, then shut as Oakland growled, “I’m fine.”
Rue shook his head, noticing how Brier became watchful of his boss. “Nope, you both can go and get some food and shuteye. I’ll grab Monty from Silas’s office, and we’ll set up our laptops upstairs in the room next to the master suite and work from there for today. The omegas seem comfortable around me and Monty, so it shouldn’t create an issue. They’ve also had a busy night, so I’d say they’ll be out of it for a while. Take the opportunity while you can.”
“It’s my job—”
“To be rested enough to respond effectively.” Rue held up his hand when he could see Oakland was going to argue with him. He had done plenty of ops in the army that involved a degree of sleep deprivation. Oakland had way more experience than Rue, but that didn’t mean he was going to shut Rue down. They all needed to be on their A game. “This is not up for discussion. Be sensible, Oakland. Take the time to eat and rest. If I have a problem, I assure you I’ll get Monty to come get you.”
It wasn’t until Oakland stomped wordlessly out of the room ten seconds later that Rue believed the other man listened to reason.
Brier walked to the door at a slower pace, halted and then looked back at them. “It’s personal for Oakland. For all of us, after all these months… so don’t be too hard on him when…”
“When what?” Rue questioned, frowning when Brier sighed heavily, his expression showing how conflicted he was.
The silence lengthened, and Rue thought Brier wasn’t going to answer, but finally he muttered, “It’spersonal.”
He was gone before Rue could ask what he meant, his emphasis on ‘personal’ clearly was supposed to convey some deeper meaning. He ran through what he recalled from the last week, but found nothing out of the ordinary to account for what Brier was referring to. Oakland had done his job. One he was exceptional at. Was it that? Did he somehow perceive the omegas’ freak out as some kind of personal failure?
“What am I missing here?” Ethan asked, pulling Rue from his thoughts.
“Not a damn clue.” He shrugged off the uneasiness in his gut that said there was more to all this, and focused on Ethan for now. “You sure you’re alright with moving out of the master suite? Is me being in town an issue?” It had to be asked, as much as he didn’t want to face the possibility the answer might be yes.
“We talked ‘bout this when you arrived and nothing has really changed. Last night was unexpected, and your being here wouldn’t have made any difference to how those men reacted. As for moving, I only went down to the second floor ‘cause Silas insisted it was stupid for me to stay up in the attic when the house was empty.” He chuckled, pushing the brim of his hat back to reveal his eyes. “I’ll move my things back up there once the omegas go to get food.” He glanced at his wristwatch, groaning. “I gotta head out, I’m already way behind.”
“Shit, can’t you take a couple of hours, too?”
Ethan’s laughter held a wealth of ‘you gotta be kidding me’. “Who’s gonna run the ranch? You?”
Rue had enjoyed the ranch experience more than some of his brothers, but he could admit he had no clue where to start with the endless shit that seemed to need doing. “Yeah, sorry. Not sure that would work out so good for you.”
“You got that right.” Ethan wiped his eyes, grinning widely. “I’m a big boy.”
Monty came into the room at such a pace his sneakers skidded on the wooden flooring, a scowl forming as he stared at Ethan wearing…
Was that a ‘back the fuck off’ look? The thought tickled Rue as Ethan continued eyeing Monty with speculation. Ethan already knew there was something going on between him and Monty, as well as Kendrick, he just didn’t bring it up—thankfully.
“I can manage with no sleep, so it ain’t no biggy. I’ll come back later and check in.” Ethan gave Monty a nod, striding out.
“Why the look?” Rue asked tongue in cheek, because Monty was too fucking darling.
Monty sniffed, his nose going in the air, not looking in the least contrite. “This is my normal look, I don’t know what you mean.”
Rue strolled over and hooked his fingers into the belt loops of Monty’s jeans, tugging him into his body so he had to tilt his head back to look at Rue.
“Oh, you don’t?” The pouty lips were too much to resist. He waited until Monty’s lips parted before he took a kiss they both wanted. It was fast and dirty.
Releasing a breathless and flushed Monty, Rue walked off toward Silas’s office whistling, counting in his head.
“Hey… we aren’t finished, Mr,” Monty aimed at him, the sound of his sneakers squeaking as he gave chase.
He swung around when Monty reached him and scooped him up in his arms, chuckling at how unprofessional he was being during working hours. His brothers would be shocked. Heck, he was shocked. But after the start of his working day, he needed some light-heartedness. “No, we aren’t. I thought there wasn’t a problem?”
“Ethan was flirting with you.”
The chuckle turned into a belly laugh. “Ethan isn’t my type.” He kissed the pouting lips because he could, free of prying eyes. “You and Kendrick are more than enough for me to handle. Does that satisfy you?”
