Saxon studiedRick out of the corner of his eye. Did the idiot even realize how worried he’d been? He was going to guess no, considering the asshole was leaning back on the flight seat with his eyes closed, as if he didn’t have a care in the world. Resisting the urge to poke him in the ribs, or maybe to boot his ass for being careless, was difficult. But he managed it. Barely.
They had a few minutes left on this flight to their home base. He couldn’t wait to be back where no one shared their space if they weren’t Red Squadron or their family. Being outside the wire these days gave him frick-fracking hives. He was making an executive decision: he was never leaving the house again. He knew he didn’t mean it, the second a mission came up, he’d be the first one on the bird with his Go-Bag full of boom booms. Still, it helped to keep him in place until the bird was on the ground.
Fuck buddy, he’s a fuck buddy.
But reminding himself of the fact didn’t change a fricking thing. They may not have rules. For sure, there was no attachments or strings between them. But he was still pissed as hell that Rick had been taken. It annoyed the fuck out of him that the people Rick worked for hadn’t come for him. He should have arrived at that house tonight to find Rick already rescued. Bah, seriously, who the fuck did he work with? “Why didn’t your team come for you?”
“Later.” Rick didn’t even open his eyes when he responded.
“Rick…”
“Later, Saxon.” Rick shifted in his seat, but he kept leaning against the side of the helo. His eyes blinked open, and he pinched his fingers into the corners of them. “This is not the place.”
“I…”
“Boom-boom.” Noble’s voice whipped across the interior of the helicopter. “Keep your shit together ‘til we are on the ground.”
“Yes, Boss.” He scratched his head. He was an idiot. He knew better than to let anything that might resemble a feeling to show. But argh, the second he asked for their help to get Rick back, his brothers knew, despite how many times he insisted he wasn’t his. They knew Rick was important to Saxon. They couldn’t expect him to not want answers now that they had him back. Hell, each and every one of them was as protective as fuck about the people they loved. Did they not know he was just as protective? Was that what they really thought? They were about to find out how wrong they were.
“Five minutes.” Castiel called from his place in the cockpit.
“Roger that.” Noble replied.
The helo hovered for a couple of seconds before it finally bumped down onto the helipad. “Thank you for flying Crazy Daisy Airlines, tips are appreciated. Leave them in the bucket at the door.” Castiel shouted. “Now get your asses off my bird.”
All the men unbuckled their straps and started gathering gear. Everything needed to be taken back to the main compound. Weapons and surveillance equipment could not be left unattended, not even here at their home base.
“Does he not know it’s my bird?” Noble asked nobody in particular.
“If Cas flies it, as far as he is concerned, it’s his.” Max answered.
“Debrief in thirty.” Noble slid back the door, turned and grabbed a crate from Max, and left the bird. He jerked a thumb in Rick’s direction, “Take him to yours to clean up.”
“Yes, Sir.” Saxon waited his turn and stepped out of the chopper with his Go-Bag slung over his shoulder. Noble had brought all their gear to the base in Naples with him when he had gone to speak to the commander.
He paused for a second and inhaled deeply, taking in the fresh sea air. He fucking loved this place. Turkey had been okay, and Noble’s house on Santorini was awesome, but there was something about the wildness of this abandoned base on Isola Della Maddalena that spoke to his soul. This place was the first to feel like home in a long, long time.
“Isola Della Maddalena?” Rick stood just off to one side of the helo, looking around, scanning the area surrounding the helipad. No doubt he was marking any and all possible exit routes that he could see. No matter where an operator went, they always checked out the location. A Seal like Rick… former or not… he’d want to know everything about this place.
“You know it?” Saxon led the way to the row of trucks parked under a carport and opened the door to his battered Ford.
“I came here once, a long time ago.” Rick nodded in response to Saxon’s waved hand and went around the other side of the truck. “I thought it was abandoned?”
“Not anymore.” The fact that Noble had not given him orders to keep Rick under lock and key and had ordered him to take him to his own quarters to clean up told him he could explain the basics to him. “We live here.”
“Who is we?”
He could hear the curiosity in Rick’s voice. “Red Squadron.” He caught the movement of Rick’s head out of the corner of his eye as he backed out of the parking space. “You knew.”
“I suspected, and I recognize your boss.”
“Good.” Phew, at least he didn’t have to do the ‘I can’t tell you who exactly Red Squadron are’ speech. Also, Rick knowing… that definitely meant he had clearance of some sort. Red Squadron weren’t exactly on many people’s radar.
“Speaking of teams, I’m gonna need to call mine.”
“Can it wait ‘til after ya talk to Noble?”
“I probably shouldn’t,” Rick shrugged. “But I will.”
