Page 120 of Boomer

“I ran. Left the team. Thought I could outrun the pain. But I ran headlong into seven of the most stubborn bastards alive. They”—he looked up at them, his eyes glassy—“they didn’t let me go.”

Skull gave a crooked smile. “Self-correct or get corrected.”

Boomer swallowed hard. “I met someone. Taylor. She’s…hell, Mike, she’s all the things I didn’t know I needed. I want alife with her. I want a family. Love. Laughter. All the things we dreamed about. But to give her everything, I need to letyougo.”

He touched the trident pinned to his chest, then laid it on the grave gently. A symbol. A farewell. A promise. “Not the friendship. Not the love. Just the guilt. Just the pain.” He stood, the wind catching his shoulders like the weight had lifted. “Thank you for saving my life, brother. I’ll never forget you.”

He turned to face his team. The men who stood with him through every fall, every rise, every crawl through darkness.

“That was beautiful, Boom Boom,” Skull said softly.

Iceman gave a solemn nod. “Let’s go raise a glass. To Mike. To healing, and to what comes next.”

“I’m notsure I want to go anywhere with Break and watch him chick-magnet another date,” Skull said, this time not under fire. “Hell, the sky could be the limit.”

Break remembered what had happened after they had returned to the compound from HQ. While mags were reloaded and wounds patched, the SBS guy who’d witnessed the entire boardroom takedown couldn’t hold it in.

“Mate,” he called out, loud enough to command the room. “This guy”—he jerked a thumb toward Breakneck—“never seen anything like it.” Then he blurted out the whole story from beginning to end. Break endured it. “Wasn’t sure if he was auditioning for a western or just showing off, twirling his sidearm like a desperado,” the Brit added, still shaking his head. “The woman he saved? Slipped him her number.”

Skull blinked. Stared. Then pointed a finger like he was issuing a formal accusation. “Fuck me.You took out seventangos, five of them with a sidearm, mid-slide, through glass and you got adate?” He tossed his hands up. “Jesus. This kid.”

Break had loaded a fresh mag with all the urgency of a man making toast. “All in a day’s work.” He slid the mag home. Clicked it. “So, I do my shit with a little flair. Sue me.”

As they walked toward the parking lot, Skull shook his head, muttering under his breath. “Showboating little bastard.”

“Me and Bibiana, the blue-eyed receptionist at MAOC HQ, had a good time, but the other woman there…she was amazing.”

“What? Two dates?”

He flashed a grin, all heat and trouble.

“That SBS guy said she was stacked,” Kodiak said, using his hands to outline a curvy body.

Hazard shook his head. “Bibiana? Was she stacked like a library’s bookshelf?”

The guy laughed, and Breakneck gave them an unreadable look. “I don’t kiss and tell.” He stopped and spun around. “But this showboating little bastard did all right.”

Then he gave Skull the finger, casual as you please, and walked toward the vehicles. Before he knew it, all of them were piled on top of him, and he couldn’t catch his breath from laughing.

But beneath all that stupidness, he was scared that Boomer was going to give up everything for Taylor, including them. That hurt more than he was willing to admit. All the kidding aside, he wasn’t sure a woman was worth losing the brotherhood.

Boomer leftthe bar sober with a light heart, his stomach hurting from the laughter, knowing there was only one other stop he had to make before catching his flight back to Lisbon.

The cottage was white with blue shutters and a little fence out front. The kind of home built from someone’s childhood dream. Lila’s dream.

Boomer hesitated at the gate, then walked up the path, boots crunching softly against the gravel. He knocked once.

When the door opened, she was glowing. Eight months pregnant and radiant, a cotton sundress clinging gently to her belly.

“Carter!” she gasped, joy flashing across her face.

Before he could speak, she threw open the screen door and wrapped her arms around him. He froze, then caught her, held her, stunned by the warmth that still lived in her bones.

She stepped back, eyes shining. “It’s so good to see you.”

He blinked, still catching up. “You, too, darlin’.”

“Come sit. I’ll get us some lemonade.”