Which made me wanna pull my hair out because Xander was so fucking young, buried so deep in the closet, with good reason,but still. And then there was the issue he seemed to have around the word “need.”
I came to a stop at the gate behind several other cars. Parker, who had a long drive from the fancy-ass beach house his mega-rich family owned near Pendleton, sat just in front of me. Waiting for my turn at the guard check, I got out my credentials and rolled down my window. With every car granted access, I noticed a change.
Base security was always a concern, but not like what I saw ahead. When Parker moved into place, that’s when it hit me. The security forces stationed at the gate and around the guard shack were on high alert. They always checked things out, but not like this.
This included mirrors scanning the undercarriage of vehicles, dogs sniffing the outside, and then the inside of Parker’s car. Parker Holt—son of an admiral, a Navy SEAL legacy, Team 3 Echo Platoon squadron leader, SpecOps golden boy who never got more than a cursory glance and wave through from gate security, that Parker Holt—was being turned inside out as if…
“Holy fuck.”
I reached forward, my skin crawling with fear and anxiety as I flipped the radio on to the local news station.
“If you’re just joining us, two planes have struck the World Trade Center in New York City in what President Bush is calling an act of terrorism.”
My stomach fell. The world screeched to a halt.
The prior attacks…the threats…all of it…holy fuck!
We were at war.
CHAPTER 13
ALEX
Droppingmy ass into the chair at the conference table for our morning briefing, I did my best to conceal how I felt seeing Parker and Daniel chatting it up near a couple of computer monitors. Neither of them bothered to look up when we filed in.
Not that I expected any different. Every briefing since the attacks started the same way—me finding them sitting with their heads together, talking about who knew what. It got to me, watching them huddle up the way they were. It shouldn’t. I held no claim to the man. Yes, Daniel and I fucked. That didn’t mean we were a couple.
Besides, I didn’t even do relationships. That was the reason Kelly and I…the reason he and I were no longer friends. We weren’t a couple. We were friends with benefits, at least by my way of thinking.
Now that I think about it, perhaps that was how things were between Daniel and Parker. Maybe they were just friends who fucked. Maybe they were more. Maybe they had an open relationship and screwed around with other people.
My biggest problem came from the fact that I didn’t know what they were. Daniel said they weren’t together. He claimed he was single. I wanted some further proof. Yet asking Parkerwas out of the question. And there was no one else who would be privy to the information. Which led me back to Parker and how I could go about asking him about Daniel. God knows I couldn’t just come out and say, “Are you fucking the guy I’m fucking?”
Ridiculous.
I was ridiculous.
Plus, none of that was possible. I had to take Daniel at his word or…
“Listen up!” Commander Turner yelled as he walked into the room.
Parker broke off the conversation with Daniel and took his seat at the table with the rest of us, but not before he patted him on the back and gave his shoulder a squeeze. Not before Daniel smiled at him with that gorgeous, toothy grin of his, both of which had me ready to punch something—namely, Parker Holt’s gorgeous, smug face.
“Agent Lennox, do you have any new Intel for us?”
“Yes, Commander,” Daniel answered, coming to stand next to the commander at the head of the table. “Team Two has been doing reconnaissance in the areas indicated on this map.” Daniel pointed at two different areas on the large map displayed on the wall in front of us.
Dominic Vinetti, Echo Four, piped up with a question plaguing us all, “Any idea if the fuckers who did this to us are in those mountains?”
“Vinetti,” Parker Holt interrupted, looking over his shoulder at Dom, “Give Daniel a chance to finish the briefing.”
Dom sat back in his chair with a huff. Parker waited, staring him down. Finally, Dom nodded and gave Daniel a take-it-away wave with a bit of a shrug—Dom’s way of apologizing.
Daniel stepped forward, putting him closer to Parker as if seeking protection from the man, which set my teeth on edge.“The entire intelligence community is searching for the people who did this. But it’s like searching for a needle in a haystack. We will find Osama Bin Laden. It will just take time.”
Dom nodded with a deep sigh of frustration, as did the rest of us.
Commander Turner cleared his throat. “In the meantime, the US military community will prepare for the inevitable, while taking down those who aided and abetted our enemies.”
