“You’ll still be sore,” I threw back.
Declan threw his head back and laughed. “Dude, I might come just to watch you fall on your ass trying to do that shit.”
Theo shot him a look. “What are you talking about? I’m fucking graceful.”
“All right, all right. Can we get some shit done?” Travis demanded, though he was hiding a smile. He turned to me. “I won’t be long. Where do you want to be?”
“I’ll just wander around, check out the gym,” I replied. I was curious to see the rest of the space.
“All right, babe.” He dropped a kiss on my temple.
I was pleasantly surprised at the affection in front of his team. I hadn’t expected it.
I left the guys to their work and wandered back to where he’d said the gym was. Upon stepping through the doorway, I promptly dropped my jaw in shock.
This wasn’t a gym, it was a… fitness supercenter. It was easily the size of a parking garage, with ropes hanging from the ceilings, tires leaning on the wall to the right, and rows upon rows of cardio and weight-training equipment. A yoga mat was probably theonlything this gym didn’t have.
The rooms off the gym included a place to sleep, complete with two sets of bunk beds, a locker room, and a small kitchen.
By the time I made my way back to Travis’s desk, my head was spinning at the sheer magnitude of the space and how much funding he clearly had to support it.
Travis and the guys were in the conference room, so I plopped down in the chair next to his desk and pulled my book up on my phone. I’d devoured two chapters when a call came in from an international number.
Ryan.
“Hello?” I asked through the crackle of the poor connection I’d grown used to over the last few years. “Ryan?”
“Emmie?” His voice sounded faraway, and I stood up, walking to the back of the office so I wouldn’t disturb anyone when I raised my voice to be heard.
It had been a few days since he’d been able to check in, and I was thrilled to hear his voice. We had so much to talk about; he still didn’t know about Travis, but our check-ins had been so brief. “Hey!” I grinned. “How are you?”
“Oh you know, dirty, tired.” He chuckled. “How are you?”
“I’m great,” I replied, loving how true those words were. “I have a lot to catch you up on.”
“I want to catch up, too, but Emmie, unfortunately I don’t have time right now. I actually called to let you know I’m going off the grid for a while. I didn’t want you to worry.”
My back stiffened. “Off the grid?”
“I can’t say much more than that, but it could be a few weeks until I’m able to get in touch.”
I swallowed back the emotion his words immediately incited. The thought of anything happening to my baby brother was unimaginable.
“Ryan, please be careful,” I begged.
“Always,” he assured me, sounding so different from the boy he’d been not so long ago. “I’ll call you as soon as I can.”
“Love you, Ry,” I murmured.
“Aw, don’t go getting all mushy on me,” he complained, as he always did. “Love you, too,” he added, his tone losing its levity.
The line went dead, and I blinked furiously against the tears welling in my eyes. He’d been in the service for years, and it hadn’t gotten any easier.
I knew it never would.
I took a moment to collect myself, leaning against one of the bunks in the room I’d sequestered myself in.
“Em?” Travis’s call sounded from the front of the office.
