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“Sucks for him since I’m the one answering the damn phone,” Christian muttered.

“Who did you piss off?”

General Winter’s voice from behind brought Christian around with a slight yelp. He was standing outside his office door, frowning at Christian.

“Jesus, sir, you scared the hell out of me,” Christian complained, holding a hand to his beating chest.

He hated it when the general snuck up on him like that.

“I’m putting a damn bell on that door,” Christian continued.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

Christian was again struck by the strange mood. Christian wanted to ask what was wrong but didn’t know how. For all their comfort with one another and ease of conversation, there was still that gap between them.

Christian glanced at the phone nervously. “Ah, the police chief?”

“What did he want?”

“Apparently, another private got himself in trouble last night and was thrown in the drunk tank.”

“And? People have been getting drunk and doing stupid things since alcohol was invented. Why is that my problem?”

Christian raised a brow. “As I’ve mentioned before, Chief Williams gets testy when it happens a few too many times for his liking. Though I probably didn’t help by pointing out that compared to how many people arrested who don’t come from here, our soldiers are pretty well behaved.”

“Good. Maybe that will give him something to think about for a while. I’ll speak to him some other time and remind him he has more important things to do than to waste our time.”

Christian squirmed, pleased he wasn’t going to get his ass reamed but still uncomfortable with the irritation in the general’s voice. It wasn’t like General Winter to express aggravation. One of Christian’s favorite things about working for General Winter, besides his genuine care for his men, was that he seemed to draw from an infinite well of patience. Seeing him irritable was surreal.

“Uh, sir?”

“Yes?”

Christian tried to hold the other man’s gaze. “Is everything okay?”

General Winter frowned. “I’m fine, why?”

“Because you don’t seem...fine.”

“Really?”

Christian grinned nervously. “Yeah, really. I know I talked about how there are things I don’t know about you, things that are weird not to know when I think about it, but...I know what you’re like day to day. And you’re...off. You’ve been off the past couple of days.”

General Winter blinked at him. “Oh. My apologies.”

“Something wrong?”

General Winter shook his head, the surprise disappearing behind an impassive expression. Christian was almost impressed with how quickly the older man locked his emotions behind a professional mask.

“No. Just a few things on my mind. It will pass. I haven’t been sleeping too well, and I think I might take the next hour to myself. Maybe have a little nap.”

“In your office?”

“Yes, can you adjust my meetings today?”

“I can do that, yeah.”

“Thank you.”