“Artemis,” my brother said immediately, shocking us both.
“Second,” Macon agreed.
“Third,” Teresa followed, and pretty soon it was clear that the vote was unanimous.
“Congrats, boss,” Cipher said to her, and she only smiled modestly. “I’d like to request that Kitten and I remain honorary Assholes, though I understand we will no longer have voting rights.”
“Will you come back when your time’s up?” Artemis asked.
Cipher shot me a questioning look. “Kitten may have to go to medical school or be stationed at a lab at another base.”
“We’ll come back to visit as often as we can,” I assured them.
“Well then, once an Asshole, always an Asshole,” she said and raised her glass.
“I can’t believe the two of you are going to be soldiers,” Macon marveled.
“Kitten’s going to be a fucking doctor,” Cipher said and cupped his hand around the back of my neck. I ducked my head and grinned. Just the fact he believed I could… maybe that meant he was right.
“Of course you are,” Teresa said. “You’re already so good at sewing.”
“What are you going to do, Cipher?” Artemis asked.
“I don’t know yet. Something badass I’m sure.”
“Clearly, that is where you excel,” she said with a wry grin.
“You’ll have to take care of Little Miss Purrfect while I’m gone,” I said to Teresa.
“She’s already mine,” Teresa said and hugged my cat possessively to her chest. Little Miss purred lazily and gave a big yawn, showing off her tiny fangs. Yeah, she’d be fine.
“But while we’re here, we’re going to make sure this compound is in tip-top shape,” Cipher said. He then pulled out the notepad he kept in his back pocket and went through a list of what he called “code violations,” reading them off one-by-one while everyone groaned good naturedly. “I haven’t even gotten to the outbuildings yet,” he warned.
“Maybe we could save it for tomorrow?” I suggested because we were all excited to go out back for the “bonfire and booze” party Macon had planned for us where we’d get to try his homemade moonshine for the first time. “Tonight we’re having a party.”
“What are we celebrating?” he asked, looking adorably suspicious.
“You,” I said simply. “We’re celebrating you.”
Our weekwith our family was wonderful and way too short. On Sunday morning as we were packing up our things and preparing to say goodbye, Cipher asked, “You sure you want to do this?”
I rolled up my Zac Efron poster to take with us—Cipher’s request—and thought about just last night when he was moving inside of me, telling me to be a good boy and wait for him, holding my wrists above my head with one hand so I couldn’t disobey him. How I’d come hands-free for the first time and Cipher had taken it as a personal achievement.You’re going to have to do it that way every time now,he’d told me with a fiendish grin. Despite it being our last day with our family, I’d been smiling since I woke up. Some things would change when we became soldiers, but not the important stuff, not us.
“Yeah, I’m sure. How about you?” I asked.
“I’m with you, babe, forever and always.”
“Think our family will be okay?”
Cipher tilted his head. His project yesterday had been to write out our entire security protocol on a second whiteboard and quiz the other Assholes until they knew it by heart. “If anything happens to them, we’ll be close by and can help,” Cipher said.
I nodded, feeling better that we were only an hour or so drive away. “Santi’s coming with us to see us off.”
“That’s good. He’s a dick sometimes but he loves you. Kind of like me.” He waited for me to reply. “This is where you tell me I’m not actually that much of a dick,” he prompted.
“I promised not to lie to you,” I teased.
He pulled me into a tight hug. Chest-to-chest, he wrapped both arms around me and lifted me right off my feet. “You’re the biggest brat I know,” he said and smothered my face with wet sloppy kisses.
