“What the fuck do youmean, he’s missing?”Glenn demanded, and all eyes in the room swungto him.Aiden could see a mixture of fear and anxiety in the man’sexpression from where he stood across the room.
Up until that point, the conversationin Dev’s house had been relaxed and calm from the moment they hadreturned from the forest, and Sam had just finished fussing overhis wounds.When he saw that Nick had popped a couple of stitches,Sam had taken care of those, too.It had been a stressful evening,and they had waited a further three hours to help put out all thefires before leaving.It turned out Muir and the prick who had beensetting fires and killing people were one and the same.Nickreckoned there would be a mountain of paperwork to fill out, but hewas officially on medical leave so was leaving it to one of hisdeputies.Aiden had even run a sweep of the area with Deefer toensure all explosive devices were taken care of.He’d figured thatonce they’d left the area and dealt with all the authorities thatthe rest of the night would be calm and uneventful.
Apparently not.
“Exactly what I said, G,”Dev said, frustration clear in his tone.“Bateman’s only just letme know about it.The Pathfinders took a contract that took them toSouth America.They were going after the head of a drug cartelresponsible for bathing the east coast in ice.”Aiden had heard ofthat drug.It was akin to methamphetamines, but if it was cut wrongit was much deadlier.
“They missed a scheduledcheck-in.When Bateman sent another team in to look for them, allthey found was carnage.Four of the six men that had been withMaddox were dead.Three of the team was missing, includingMaddox.”
Fuck.That wasn’t good.
“When did they gomissing?”
Devon sighed.“Three days ago.”Therewas the sound of a chair being slid back, but Aiden heard Dev curseover the grating sound.“For fuck’s sake, Glenn.What the hell areyou going to do?Go marching into South America and save thestubborn asshole all on your own?”
“If I have to.”Glenn’stone was determined.“I’m going to talk to Bateman myself first andfind out what the hell is happening.The Pathfinders aremercenaries for sure, but all of them were military.They know thecode.They’ll be doing everything they can to get three of theirown back.I’m simply going to go down there and help.”
“Not without us, youaren’t,” Marcel said quietly as he stood to face Glenn, and whenAiden looked over at him, he saw Riley nodding his head from wherehe stood leaning against the wall.
“Count me in, too,” Samsaid as he stood up from the couch.
Nick laughed, but there was no humorin his tone.“Now, Sam, I think you need a vocabulary lesson there,baby.”
Sam turned back to look athim and Nick, and Aiden grinned back.“What he means, lover, isthat you should have said ‘us’.As in, ‘countusin’.”He and Nick stood up fromthe couch and both moved so that Sam stood between them.
“Oh, for fuck's sake,” Devgroaned as he looked to the heavens as if praying for strengthbefore leveling a glare on the room at large.“Of course we’re allgoing.You all look like fucking morons standing there in a circle.What’s next?Are y’all gonna hold hands now and sing‘Kumbaya’ before braiding each other’shair?”
Aiden grinned.Dev had such a way withwords.
“Glenn, you need to calmdown for a moment, and we need to plan,” Dev said as he stood andstarted ushering Glenn out of the room.“Come with me.We’ll callBateman and find out what the fuck your idiot spotter has beengetting up to since he made the stupidest decision of his life toleave here.”Dev paused at the door.“Marcel, you and Riley startgetting the equipment together.We leave in the morning.Finn,there’s a number for Colonel Perry on my phone.Call him and tellhim we need one of his planes.”
When he turned to walk out the doorAiden called out.“What about us?What do you need us todo?”
Dev turned back, and his expressionwas almost soft.“You three just went through a situation thatcould have gone either way.You faced death and risked everythingto be together.So, go.Be together and celebrate the fact thatyou’re alive, you’re in love, and you’re together.”
With those wise words of wisdom, Devwalked out of the room.
Finn sighed.“Isn’t he amazeballs?Sofucking hot, so fucking badass, can kill a man a hundred ways usingnothing more than a toothpick, but deep inside he’s just a big oldsoftie.”
“Finn!”Dev shouted fromsomewhere out in the hallway.“Move your ass!”
Finn grinned.“See?You gotta lovethat guy.”With that, Finn trotted out the door, and the rest ofthem laughed.It felt good to do so after the night they’d had andthe news they’d just heard.Riley and Marcel left the room, and itwas just the three of them.
“Come on,” Sam said as hegrabbed both Aiden and Nick by the hand.“Dev gave me an order, andI never want to disobey that man.”
The three of them practically sprintedup the stairs to Sam’s suite of rooms.
****
Sam sighed with relief when he closedthe door and the three of them were finally alone together in hisrooms.He turned to face his two men with his back pressed againstthe door.Nick and Aiden stood in the middle of the room, both ofthem with their eyes locked on him.
“You just gonna standthere all night?”Nick asked dryly.“Or are you gonna come on overhere so that the three of us can love on each other alittle?”
Sam’s smile was slow in coming butwicked to its core.“How about I come over there and we love oneach other a lot?Hard.Fast.Slow.All of it.”
“Sounds good to me,” Aidensaid with a grin, and then Sam couldn’t wait another minute.Hestrode toward them, and in three strides he was right there wherehe was meant to be.Nick reached out to cup his face, claiming hismouth in a swift dominant kiss that had Sam’s arousal spiralingquickly.
“Fuck that’s hot,” Aidenmurmured as he pressed himself against Sam’s back, and he couldfeel the hard heat of his lover’s arousal pressed against his ass.Sam groaned when Aiden pressed his hips forward, causing him tomove forward so that his own arousal pressed against Nick’s, makingthem both groan.
