Page 47 of Maximus (Gold Team #4)

“Are we almost to Tex’s?” Liam asked from the back seat and I smiled.

This was not the first road trip I’d taken with Eva and the boys but it was the first one that was for fun.

And strangely, it didn’t bother me that Liam had asked that very question no less than ten times and Elijah had asked double that.

No, I didn’t give the first fuck the boys needed to stop every thirty minutes to use the bathroom. I didn’t care we’d stopped to eat lunch even though we’d had breakfast before we left and the drive to Pennsylvania and Tex’s house was only three hours.

This was because Eva was sitting next to me smiling and happy and my boys were in the back seat and they, too, were smiling.

Life was good.

It had been good before Eva had been taken. But something had changed in those twenty-seven hours she’d been missing. I’d never be able to say I was grateful my woman had been kidnapped, but now I understood Bubba .

He’d never be happy he and Zoey had almost died, but something great had come from that, and Bubba had decided to concentrate on that and that alone.

The silver lining.

So I was taking a page out of Bubba’s playbook and focusing on what had come from Eva’s abduction—my boys.

Mine.

That day we sat on the bed together and shared our fear, we forged an unbreakable bond. And in the week since Eva had been home, it had only grown stronger.

I was surprised how quickly Liam and Eli had bounced back from the ordeal.

Eva wasn’t surprised and had told me it was because while she was gone I’d made them feel safe and loved.

I didn’t think that was the case. I figured the boys were just happy their mom was home and that was all they cared about.

Either way, the kids were good. Liam was excited about starting school soon and Elijah was looking forward to Eva starting her new job and getting to play with Mikey all day.

And if they were happy, I was happy, even though the team was gearing up to leave on a mission. Eva had refused to let me tell Zane to pull up one of the guys from the Blue Team to take my place.

I was still on the fence but I knew if I stayed behind, I would be in danger of Eva’s wrath and from what I’d heard from Owen and Myles, my woman had one helluva right hook. Gabe had proudly sported her mark for days and even joked he was going to ask her to be his new sparring partner.

That would happen never.

“Yeah, Liam, we’re pulling up now.”

Eva’s hand on my thigh tightened and I glanced over at her.

Damn, she was beautiful .

But more than that, she was tough. Strong and smart and resilient.

“Excited?” I asked even though I already knew the answer.

“Yes. I can’t wait to meet him. Melody and their kids, too.”

I pulled to a stop in Tex’s driveway and told the boys to wait in the car until I got Eva out. They met my request with groans but I knew that even as excited as they were, they’d do as I asked.

I grabbed my cell and got out of my truck and rounded the hood. There was something I needed to tell her before I lost another opportunity.

I opened Eva’s door and she looked up at me with curiosity as I helped her out.

“Before we go in, I need to tell you something. I should’ve found time before now, but the week’s been crazy.”

“Everything all right?”

“We started to have a conversation the day you were taken. We never got to finish it.”

“Max—”

“I want kids. I didn’t think I did. Even after I met you and the boys, I didn’t want more. I thought the boys would be enough—and they are. So if you don’t want more, you have to know, Liam and Elijah are—”

“You want kids?” she cut me off.

“Yes.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yeah, okay.”

“I want girls,” I told her.

“Seriously? I thought all men wanted boys.”

“I already have boys,” I reminded her. “I want them to have little sisters. ”

“God. Just when I think I couldn’t possibly love you anymore than I already do, you prove me wrong.”

“It’s you, Eva. All you. Before I met you, I had nothing and I was content to live out the rest of my life alone.

Then you and the boys came along and thank God you did, because I realized I wasn’t really living.

I was simply breathing. Nothing more.” I wiped the tear that started to fall and smiled.

“Let’s get you and the boys in the house to finally meet Tex. ”

“All right.”

During introductions and a lengthy greeting, where Eva had broken down into tears while hugging Tex, who looked so damn uncomfortable it was funny. When Eva was done with Tex, she turned to Melody and thanked her profusely, too.

Mel was much more comfortable and simply muttered, “I know. He’s the greatest, isn’t he?”

Akilah and Hope both stood to the side beaming with pride as Liam and Elijah told Tex’s daughters that their dad was “more awesome” than any silly superhero on TV.

Then they told the girls that their dad had saved Eva.

The vibe in the room changed as Tex’s girls simultaneously sucked in a breath and stared at their dad.

Surely the girls knew Tex helped a variety of people, but I doubted they ever got to meet the people he saved.

And he indeed saved Liam, Elijah, and Eva.

The love I saw shining in Tex’s daughters’ eyes hit me like a jackhammer to the gut. I prayed that one day Liam and Elijah looked at me the way Akilah and Hope looked at Tex.

He was the center of their world.

With the women chatting in the living room and Hope and Akilah showing the boys their movie room, Tex and I went back to his office.

Christ, the man had a setup that rivaled NASA. Three big screens hung on the wall, four more monitors sat on a huge desk alongside numerous keyboards, computer towers, and laptops.

“This is damn impressive,” I told him.

“What’d you think, I saved your asses on a Dell?” He chuckled. “Here.”

He handed me a beer and motioned for me to sit in one of the three chairs.

“Thanks.”

“So, figured we should get this out of the way now,” he said and I braced at the tone of his voice.

Tex took a seat, stretched out his left leg, the cuff of his pants riding up just enough for me to catch a glimpse of his prosthetic. It was easy to forget Tex had lost half his leg in an IED explosion—nothing slowed or stopped the man.

“You were right,” I told him and watched his mouth twitch before his head tipped to the side and he roared with laughter.

“Yeah, I was,” he said, still chuckling.

“Well, I’ll be damned, you’re like a commando cupid.”

“You can call me whatever you want but you know I was right.”

“I said you were.”

“All right, I’ll let you off the hook. But I want your first born named after me.”

“John?”

“No. Tex.”

“I’m not naming my kid Tex. I’ll consider sneaking John in as a middle name.”

“Bet Eva will name your kid Tex,” he told me.

He was correct, Eva would jump at naming my kid Tex .

“We’re having girls, so this conversation is moot,” I told him. I did not see good things for my unborn child so I changed the subject. “Anything we need to go over? Did Owen ever get back to you about Natasha?”

“The woman’s not talking. I’ve been over all missing persons reports with the first name Natasha and came up with nothing.

Either that’s not her real name or no one’s reporting her missing.

Owen’s gonna get me something so I can run her DNA.

But for now, he’s more worried about her getting settled in.

You know he took her back to his place, right? ”

“Yeah, I know. Eva’s called over there a few times to check on her.”

“And I got nothing new. You already know Novak’s body was taken care of. Kenneth and Tracy Eklund are making deals. Joshua Lemont is up shit creek with no paddles or life preserver. You four are all good. Smooth sailing from here.”

“Smooth sailing? We’re gearing up to roll out as soon as you and Garrett finish your work up.”

“Yeah, we should have everything ready in a few days.”

Fucking hell—a few days and I’d be leaving.

“It gets easier,” Tex told me.

“What does?”

“Leaving. Or so I’ve been told. The first time Wolf went on a mission after he met Caroline he was a wreck, couldn’t wait to get home, all the guys busted his balls over it. The first time’s the hardest.”

“You know you sound like an old man, sitting back sharing wisdom.”

“I’m an old man with everything I could ever want.”

Damn right, he had it all.

“Listen, I need to talk to you about something.” The seriousness in his tone had me on high-alert.

“There a problem? ”

“Not right now but there’s gonna be.”

“Come on, Tex. This isn’t your style. Enough with the cryptic bullshit.”

The deep creases between Tex’s brows worried me. In our world a problem could mean a variety of things. Anything from a shortage of ammunition, to someone’s life in danger, to anything in between.

“Declan’s…in over his head—”

“Yeah, Tex, I know.” I cut him off. “Has he talked to you about her?”

“Take Dec’s back,” Tex told me.

“What?”

“Max, trust me on this. Take his back. I know you don’t understand right now, but Declan’s struggling more than any of you know.”

“Declan is—”

“Hollow. He’s a dead man walking with nothing left to live for. He’s a shell of who he once was and if this goes sideways, he’ll never recover. This is it. Autumn Pierce may be the only person who can heal what’s broken inside him.”

“How do you know about Autumn?”

I didn’t bother asking how he knew Dec was dead inside.

That was the only thing my team leader didn’t hide.

You didn’t even need to meet the man face-to-face to know he was a shell of a man, you could hear it in his voice.

I hated that Dec preferred to suffer in silence, but there wasn’t anything any of us could do when he refused to open up and trust us.

“I know a lot of things, Max.”

More ambiguity. Tex did know a lot, truth be told he seemed to know all—yet he’d never tell anyone how he came about the information.