Between them, these men can build anything, find out anything, and fix anything.
Survive anything.
For as powerful as my ex seemed to think he was, when my car got a flat tire, he told me to call a towing company, and when the faucet in his fancy townhouse started leaking, he called a plumber.
Following my gaze around his workshop, Grizz says, “It looks like a mess, but Viper says this place is operational chaos, which I takeas a compliment.”
“It’s not a mess. It’s impressive.”
The tips of his ears turn a little pink. “Thanks.”
Atlas rests a hand at the small of my back. “Let’s go see the cameras.”
Back outside, the three of us continue along a narrower path, the men matching their pace to mine, and stepping closer to me whenever the ground looks uneven.
Atlas stops, pointing up into a tree. “See that?”
After a few moments, I find what he’s looking at. “The birdhouse?”
“It’s a camera,” Grizz says.
Further down the path, they point out another one that’s disguised with strategically-placed branches and pinecones. “Viper monitors them constantly,” Atlas says. “He’ll know if so much as a squirrel gives us attitude.”
Speak of the devil, Viper’s voice suddenly crackles from a radio I didn’t realize Atlas was carrying. “Heard that.”
Atlas smirks, his steel blue eyes twinkling. “Copy. You behaving?”
“Define behaving.”
Grizz shakes his head. “He’s always watching.”
A few weeks ago, that would have unsettled me. Now, it’s reassuring.
On a different path that leads back toward the house, I get too close to a low-hanging branch and am dusted with snow.
Grizz leaps into action, brushing the powder off me with his big hands. “Hold still. Gotta keep it from going down your collar.”
Atlas wipes some of the snow from my sleeve himself, but says, “Boyd, she’s wearing a coat.”
“Snow melts, and melting snow is cold,” Grizz says, finishing the job he started. “I’m preventing hypothermia.”
“Pretty sure I’m not dying of snow.” I tease him gently, mostly to distract myself from how good it feels to have their hands on me, even through all the layers of warm clothing.
“Not while I’m around.” He squares his broad shoulders in a show of pride, joining in on the joke, but something flickers across his eyes.Does he feel something, too?
All three of us are quiet for the next couple of minutes, just boots crunching on snow, a few sniffles, and distant sounds in the forest like birds and snow falling from branches.
A couple of other buildings are visible through the trees. “Are those part of your property, too?”
Atlas nods. “There’s a garage and some storage buildings. Further out, there’s a training field and shooting range, but they’re pretty much useless until the thaw.”
“There’s a small greenhouse beyond the workshop,” Grizz says. “The carrots we ate were grown in there, along with a few other things.”
“Wow, really?” It’s another surprising aspect of these men who are complicated yetstraightforward.
Everything they show me and tell me reinforces the same message:We’re capable. We know what we’re doing. You’re safe here.
I’m starting to believe it.
