Page 34 of The Team

“Okay, favourite place and least favourite you’ve never been?” Jay asked. “I gotta say, favourite is Brazil. Didn’t love Greenland. Pretty, yes, but I’m not built for snow like that. Gimme tropical climes, man.”

“Because you like looking at half-naked people on the beach,” Echo said.

“Correct,” Jay said without shame. “Tropical climes and half-naked people on the beach. That is one hundred percent accurate.”

“Favourite place I’ve never been,” Sid offered. “Maldives. Worst place...” He grinned at Azrael. “Stade de France.”

Azrael snarled at him. “Good, because that’s exactly where I’m going to bury you.”

Jay chuckled, Echo and Coyote rolled their eyes, and Yin and Chen didn’t know where to look.

Azrael sniffed. “My favourite place is every stadium France has beat England in, and my least favourite is England.”

Sid glowered back at her, but before he could say anything, Echo chimed in with his answer. “My least favourite place is anywhere these two are bickering,” he said, gesturing between Azrael and Sid. “And my most favourite place is sitting at my mother’s kitchen table.”

That made Jay smile.

Hell, it made everyone smile.

“For me?” Coyote said. “There’s a bar in Tijuana where the margaritas are sweet and the girls even sweeter.” He shook his head, smile wide. Then his smile died. “And my least favourite was that place in Paraguay.”

Sid, Echo, and Azrael laughed. Rhett snorted. “We told you not to eat that,” Rhett said.

“Damn near left my innards in that motel,” Coyote added grimly.

Totoro didn’t seem to follow, so Jay explained, crudely, in Mandarin. Totoro laughed then. “Favourite place for me,” Totoro said. “Las Vegas. Crazy place.”

“You been to Vegas?” Coyote asked. “No shit.”

“Much shit,” Totoro said. “I lost money at casino.”

Everyone chuckled.

Rhett sighed. “My favourite is, without doubt, Acheron Island.”

Jay grinned and nudged Rhett’s shoulder, and Sid groaned. “We don’t wanna know what the fuck happened there.”

Jay laughed. “Want me to tell you?”

“No thanks,” Coyote said.

“Least favourite place,” Rhett said. “Belarus.”

Everyone winced. “What happened in Belarus?” Yin asked quietly.

“We had a close call,” Rhett answered.

And it had been.

“Shit went sideways,” Sid answered. “It wasn’t anyone’s fault. Certainly not yours.”

Rhett gave a shrug and a tight smile.

Another weight that Rhett bore on his shoulders. It hadn’t been his fault. The weather was utter shit, a truck rolled, slamming into their convoy and they’d been lucky to not have been seriously injured. It had been a freaking scramble. They were lucky to have survived at all.

“What about you?” Jay asked, giving Yin’s boot a tap with his own. “Favourite place?”

He seemed to think for a second, perhaps to consider how best not to answer. But then his eyes flashed with a glimpse of warmth and honesty. “Favourite place. Home.”