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CHAPTER SIX

Laryn thought she was going to die. She worked out three mornings a week, but trying to keep up with Tate and his friends was making her feel as if she was going to hurl.

She’d also slept like crap last night—which wasn’t helping her performance this morning—because she couldn’t stop thinking about Tate being just on the other side of her door. Using her pillow. On her couch.

If he wasn’t staying there simply because he thought she was in danger, she might have gotten more enjoyment out of the situation. Though, she couldn’t deny feeling warm and gooey inside that he even wanted to protect her.

She truly didn’t believe that Altan would come after her, even though he’d sounded beyond pissed on the phone.

So much so that it had shaken her usually unflappable confidence.

Having Tate there last night was actually a huge relief.

But she wouldn’t get used to that. He couldn’t just move in indefinitely.

And to her shock, he seemed fine this morning.

As if her lumpy couch hadn’t fazed him in the least. Then again, he’d probably slept in worst places.

It was annoying how chipper he seemed though.

He’d talked all the way to the base and seemed excited to meet up with his friends to inform them that she’d be joining them for PT.

The guys seemed genuinely happy to have her there, which was kind of a surprise, since they were so tight-knit. Everyone knew the team did PT on their own, didn’t invite anyone to join them, and generally kept to themselves on base.

And now, after her first invite, she was doing her best not to puke up the water she’d gulped down before starting off on this jog.

By the time they got to the park to use the equipment there, she was done. Laryn flopped down into the grass and said, “You guys go ahead. I’ll just do some sit-ups.”

Everyone chuckled, but she could tell they weren’t laughing at her.

After catching her breath and doing a few sets of sit-ups, Laryn rested her arms on her updrawn knees and watched the pilots do their thing.

And their thing was impressive. As were their physiques. They all wore Army-issued shorts and matching gray T-shirts with the word ARMY across the chest. Their arms bulged as they did pullups, their thigh muscles on full display as they did squats and burpees.

Even though these men were pilots, and their job required them to sit for long stretches at a time, Laryn had no doubt they were just as capable as the special forces men they carried to and from dangerous missions.

Each of the six pilots had been through extensive training in hand-to-hand combat and being able to evade hostile forces if, God forbid, their choppers ever crashed behind enemy lines.

Seeing them work out, seeing their comradery, the way they joked and laughed and even how they encouraged each other, gave her a deeper understanding of their bond. They weren’t simply coworkers, they were best friends.

To her surprise, after the guys were done working out, they came and joined her in the grass.

Buck and Obi-Wan sprawled on their backs and groaned.

Pyro and Chaos laughed and told them to suck it up.

Edge merely smirked, and when Laryn looked over at Tate, she saw he wasn’t looking at his friends. Instead, his gaze was locked on her.

She immediately felt flustered and looked away.

“So…Laryn’s being harassed by an asshole who wants her to work for him.”

She gasped. His words all the more shocking because for a short while, she’d actually forgotten about the phone call from the night before.

“What? Who?”

“But she has a job.”

“You aren’t leaving us, are you, Laryn?!”

“Harassed how?”

The questions and exclamations came hard and fast.

“Long story short,” Tate said, “we all know Laryn’s the best MH-60 mechanic we’ve ever had.

That the Army was smart enough to hire. Well, apparently word’s gotten out and everyone wants her to come work for them.

And by everyone, I mean other countries.

Countries that would do whatever it takes to get someone who knows the technology we use like the back of her hand.

A man from one such country has been recruiting her hard , and when she said she wasn’t interested, instead of backing off, he’s doubled down.

Called her last night, even though she never gave him her number, and said some things that were worrying.

I’ll be contacting Tex as soon as I can to have him look into this asshole, to see if his threats were more than just frustration over not being able to hire her. ”

Laryn was embarrassed. She wasn’t sure why, considering she was on the receiving end of the nasty threats.

Maybe because she felt as if she’d opened herself up to Altan’s behavior by letting him think there was a chance she might actually take him up on his offer, simply by listening to him in the first place .

“What do you need from us?” Edge asked. He said it nonchalantly, as if their support was a sure thing.

Laryn opened her mouth to respond, but Tate beat her to it.

“I stayed at her place last night, just in case, but I can’t be around her all the time. Depending on what Tex says, we might need to take turns watching out for her.”

“Done.”

“Easy enough.”

“Just let us know when you need us.”

Their support was immediate and heartfelt.

Still, Laryn couldn’t help but feel irritated at Tate’s takeover of the situation.

“I don’t need a babysitter or a bodyguard,” she told them as firmly as she could.

“I admit that, last night, I was feeling a bit off-kilter. But now that I’ve had time to think about the situation, it’s unlikely that Altan will actually do anything.

It wouldn’t be smart, because if anything happened to me, it would be obvious who did it. ”

“You think that’s going to stop him?” Chaos asked with a small tilt of his head.

“Well…yes,” Laryn said.

“Wrong,” Buck said in a low tone. “You could be taken captive and forced to do the work he previously would’ve paid you to do. And you’d have to do what he asks, because the alternatives wouldn’t be pleasant. Even if we knew who took you, we wouldn’t know where you were taken.”

“We’ve been on rescue missions for American prisoners of war, and trust me, the conditions those soldiers and sailors have been found in when we recovered them weren’t pretty.

” Pyro sounded serious, and Laryn shivered as he continued.

“The strongest special forces soldier is often no match for months of torture. You’d break, little Laryn.

You’d go back on every oath you’ve made to our government to keep what you do to yourself, if only to make the pain stop. ”

“Enough!” Tate barked at his friends. “No one is going to take Laryn captive. And you’re scaring her.”

“You don’t think she needs to be a little scared?” Chaos asked. “Maybe she doesn’t understand how much the knowledge she has in her head is worth. How desperate enemy countries would be to acquire it…by any means necessary.”

“I’m serious, no more,” Tate growled in a voice that was so unlike anything she’d heard from him, Laryn almost felt afraid of him .

“There’s nothing wrong with Laryn knowing her worth and wanting to look for more compensation and better benefits because of her skills.

Isn’t that what we all did? We knew our worth, so we convinced the Army to give us a special contract so we could be stationed here, instead of with the rest of the 160 th Special Ops Aviation Regiment at the bases in Kentucky, Washington, or Georgia.

Doesn’t matter how or why Laryn ended up on this asshole’s radar, just that she has, and it’s our job to protect one of our own.

I don’t want to hear one more fucking dire warning aimed at Laryn. Period . You guys in or out?”

“In,” all five of the other pilots said at the same time.

“I’m sorry,” Laryn couldn’t help but say quietly. Tate standing up for her so vigorously and aggressively had taken her by surprise.

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” he said without hesitation.

“I think I do. Chaos isn’t exactly wrong. I did ask a friend if he knew about any contract jobs. How word spread so fast from there, I’m not really sure. But I was the first to reach out.”

“Why?” Pyro asked. “Are you so unhappy here? With us?”

That was a tricky question to answer. And there was no way Laryn was going to admit that she’d asked her friend if he knew about any jobs because she was feeling down about being around Tate all the time, when he barely acknowledged her presence.

“No. I just…I think I was in a rut. I thought that going someplace new would make me feel…” Her voice trailed off. She real ized almost too late that she probably shouldn’t say what she was thinking. She didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.

“Feel what?” Edge asked.

Laryn licked her lips, then sighed. “More like part of a team,” she said quietly.

“I mean, I know I’m not a pilot or anything, and I do like the other mechanics I work with, but they treat me strictly like a boss.

For a long time now, I’ve been feeling as if I work in a bubble.

Do my thing, go home, come back to work.

I guess I kind of wanted to shake things up. ”

As soon as the words left her lips, Laryn felt bad, because all six men around her had stricken looks on their faces.

“You are a part of our team, Laryn,” Pyro said. “You think we could do anything we do without you?”

“Without you, I’m not sure I’d be as confident as I am when I fly,” Obi-Wan agreed. “I don’t hesitate to do some crazy shit because I know the bird isn’t going to fall apart under me…because you’ve gone over her with a fine-tooth comb to make sure everything’s working properly.”

“We’ve obviously failed in making sure you know how important you are to us,” Edge agreed.