Nick nodded, reaching into his bag andpulling out a comms device.“Stay on channel 8.The three of uswill be the only ones on that channel.As much as it turns mystomach to think so, I am of the opinion that we’ve beenbetrayed.”
Sam felt sick to his stomach andenraged beyond belief at that thought.Among the three of them,they took out the four armed insurgents who had come armed withphotos of the men in that South West bunker.All in all theoperation had been a success.The loss of life was unacceptable forSam, but that would always be the case.
It was an hour after they had thesituation under control, that Sam got the opportunity to take careof the wound in Nick’s shoulder.Aiden had stood by, Deefer afamiliar shadow at his side, while Sam got what he would needtogether.Sam knew he hadn’t imagined the tension in the room, buthe had no idea how to fix it.Ignoring both men, Sam got to workcleaning the wound before putting in the sutures.
“I just don’t see why youdidn’t glue the damn thing?”Nick asked, and there was no missingthe frustration in his voice.
“Forgive Nick, Sam,” Aidensaid dryly.“He hates needles like you wouldn’tbelieve.”
Nick waved his hand dismissively.“I’mjust saying that glue is fast and an acceptable alternative that Ihave had on multiple occasions, so why can’t we use it in thiscase?”
Sam shot a quick glance at his patientbefore returning his eyes to the curved needle in his hand.“Glueis a great alternative, but you can’t use it on areas where thewounds will stretch or move.Not to mention this isn’t just agraze, this was a gunshot, and it’s deep.The muscles were damaged.Glue is not acceptable in this situation.”Sam waited a second thenadded, “But for children, we would most definitely work with theglue.”
There was a beat of silence, and thenAiden’s rich baritone laugh filled the tent that Nick had securedas his quarters.“God, Sam, you’ve only just met Nick and you’vegot his number.When it comes to needles, my man is very much achild.”
Nick growled.“Shut up, Aiden.I am asmanly as they come.And that was cold, Sam, really fuckingcold.”
Sam would have normally thrown acomment back, but his mind was still reeling from the comment thatNick was Aiden’s man.Oh, sure, Sam had caught that vibe from thetwo men a couple of times that day, but this was the first timeeither of them had admitted it out loud.
“Sam.”Nick’s tone wasserious, and Sam looked up.“I think you are going to have to movein order to finish up with my shoulder.”When Sam simply blinkedstupidly up at him, Nick sighed.“Does it freak you out that Aidenand I are together?”
Sam shook his head immediately.“No!Not at all.You’re both really hot!”Sam closed his eyes for amoment in mortification.“I apologize.That was inappropriate.Itwould be pretty fucking hypocritical of me if it did.”
Aiden stepped up closer to the bunkNick was sitting on.“Yeah, I thought you might feel the same way,and I can assure you the hotness description applies to you aswell.”
Sam blushed, refusing to meet theman’s gaze as he finished off the last suture and tied it off, notreally knowing how to answer that, so he remainedsilent.
Nick moved and flexed his shoulder.“Thanks, Sam.That feels … well, like shit if I’m honest, butthanks anyway.”
Sam packed up his med kit, and despitethe fact that he was looking down, he had the feeling Nick andAiden were communicating somehow above him.
“Sam, this is going toseem very forward of me,” Aiden finally asked.“But, was there aspark of attraction for you and the two of us at any pointtoday?”
Sam shot up from his chair and movedto the other side of the tent, zipping his kit closed.“What?No!Ididn’t put the moves on either of you—” Sam stopped when Nick heldup a hand.
“That’s not what Aidenasked, Sam.At any point today, did you feel anything for me orAiden, or hell, hopefully both of us?”
Sam felt like he was in one of thoseimpossible situations.Damned if he did, and damned if he didn’t.How the hell did he answer that?
“It’s okay if the answeris yes,” Aiden said in a calm voice.“There was a definiteattraction from my part.And Nick looks at you like he looks at me,so that’s pretty much a given, too.”
Sam swallowed hard.“What the hell areyou asking me here?”
The two men in front of him shared aquick look.“It’s fairly simple,” Aiden continued.“What we want toknow is if you were open to perhaps getting to know us a littlebetter.Perhaps seeing where that might take us.This,” Adengestured among the three of them, “feels really important to me,and I would love to see how this chapter might playout.”
“Chapter?Like this issome kind of book?”Sam sneered.As always, when he felt corneredhe came out angry and swinging.“I guess if it’s a sex scenebetween three men, it’s a what, gay erotic romance?”
A strange look flickered acrossAiden’s face, and that got Sam’s ire up even further.“So, let meguess, this is something the two of you do on a regular basis.Youlook for a third character in your erotic book of life, to what,spice things up a little?Well, fuck you.Leave me the hell out ofit.I refuse to be a passing character in your chapter.”Sam glaredat Aiden before he left the tent and walked off toward thetemporary barracks.
He was due to head back to Bravo teamat the end of the week, and he couldn’t fucking wait.No one in histeam had ever put him second.He was an equal member of the team,and he had value, and fuck anyone who thought otherwise.
ChapterFive
Present day
Aiden scowled at his phone, tempted toheave it as far out into the lake as possible.The only problemwith that was the fact that Deefer was a lab who loved water, andhe would just go out and fetch the damn thing.
He thrust the offensivedevice into the back pocket of his jeans in frustration.The testhe’d just received had come from a retired FBI agent that he hadknown since he was eight years old.He had reached out to Aiden totell him that Miles Duncan had been released from jail twoweeks.Two motherfucking weeks!
