Page 128 of Men of Fort Dale: The Complete Series

Tapping out the last of the report, he scanned it.

Normally, he would have looked through his work carefully, making sure everything was properly worded and accurate.

His mind was elsewhere, namely on his last conversation with Matt.

He wouldn’t bother bringing his wayward thoughts back on track, either.

So long as there weren’t any huge errors or terrible misspellings, he would accept it for what it was and call it a day.

All he had to do was submit the final report, and he would be free and clear.

Well, until he had to come back a few days after Christmas anyway.

Surprisingly, General Winter had immediately approved his and Matt’s leave request and given them a few extra days.

The trickier task had been finding plane tickets at such short notice.

The last thought made him wince as he remembered he hadn’t specified that to the General.

While it was understood that leave meant you could go and do what you wanted so long as it was legal, it also came with the caveat that you could be recalled at any time.

That would be trickier when he and Matt would be cut off from the outside world once they reached the lodge.

Before he could decide to retreat, the door continued to swing, and he considered it a traitor.

Which meant he had a full view of what was happening in the room.

General Winter sat in his customary spot behind the desk, leaning back.

His shirt was undone, and instead of the armrests, he was holding onto a pair of slacks-covered calves.

The legs in question belonged to Christian, sitting on the edge of the desk, facing the General, his normally carefully kept hair flying in every direction.

And then the door squeaked because, of course, it needed to cement its status as a villain. General Winter’s pale eyes darted toward the door, widening slightly at the sight of Nick. Knowing there was no graceful way out, Nick winced apologetically, raising his hand in greeting.

“Engel,” the general greeted, voice rough. “Didn’t know you were still here.”

Christian turned, his cheeks flushed, but Nick didn’t think it was from embarrassment. “What is it with the people working here that they always stay late?”

“Because they believe in a job well done, you were the same,” General Winter told him, adjusting his collar.

Christian looked at Nick, smirking. “That’s what he tells people anyway.”

“He did, in fact, sing your praises...professionally speaking,” Nick told him.

“Yeah,” Christian said with a dreamy sigh. “But that’s because he’s a big softy under all that no-nonsense attitude.”

General Winter’s opening gambit when dealing with a troublemaker was a hardass glare.

Nick had to fight to keep his face neutral when the expression, probably born of habit, immediately turned to one of exasperation.

Nick couldn’t claim to be an expert on Christian, but based on reputation, he was pretty sure the man wasn’t usually so flippant.

“Thank you, Christian,” General Winter muttered, gently nudging his husband off the desk.

Nick watched as Christian pushed back with his knee, giggling again. His eyes drifted toward the edge of the desk, and he let out a soft sound of understanding. An open crystal decanter sat beside two glasses. One of the glasses still had an inch of dark liquid, and the other was empty.

Another giggle, and Nick realized Christian was a goofy drunk.

General Winter cleared his throat. “Did you need something, Engel?”

Nick felt his lips twitch but fought hard to keep his expression neutral. “Yes, sir. Since I’m going on leave tomorrow morning, I felt it necessary to inform you that where I’ll be, there is no landline, let alone a cell tower.”

General Winter tilted his head gently to one side. “No contact?”

Nick shook his head. “Holiday with my family, and where we’re going, they prefer to have no contact.”

“Interesting,” General Winter muttered, pushing Christian out of the way so he could view Nick clearly. “Though I can’t say I disagree with the logic.”

“We did the same thing for our honeymoon,” Christian informed him happily.

General Winter ignored him. “I assume the same will be true for your teammate.”

Nick wasn’t sure if that was an indication of him forgetting Matt’s name or if it was just a respectful nod to knowing they were close and still considered each other a team at the end of the day.

“Yes, sir.”

General Winter nodded. “Understood. I wouldn’t worry too much about what happens here. Barring a disaster, I doubt we’ll need you here.”

“I’m sure a few more than usual will be too hungover to train effectively,” Nick said.

“Indeed. We have things well in hand.”

Christian eyed the bottle with interest, stealthily sliding the glass with liquid in it. “He means I used my free time to help him organize his fancy soldier party.”

“Yes,” General Winter agreed easily, grabbing the glass from him before it could reach Christian’s lips. “That’s true. Your help has been invaluable and is why I haven’t gone completely gray.”

Christian pouted. “I like the gray.”

General Winter’s cheeks flushed. “Anything else, Engel?”

Nick jerked his head, pretending he was back in boot camp so he wouldn’t break. “No, sir.”

“I appreciate your head’s up. If you’re all done for the day, go home.”

It wasn’t quite a curt ‘dismissed,’ but it was all Nick needed to know his presence was desperately not wanted.

Christian was still pouting and kept shooting General Winter a pleading expression.

From the strain Nick could see on the general’s face, the older man wasn’t going to be able to resist much longer.

He snapped a quick salute. “Have a Merry Christmas, General.”

Christian grinned. “Get going before he implodes from embarrassment.”

Nick didn’t need to be told twice, quickly backing away before the general lost his composure.

He had just witnessed a part of General Winter’s life he was sure very few people had.

Nick could understand the separation between worlds, though he hoped it wasn’t for fear of what others might think of him.

If anything, seeing General Winter so obviously in love and enjoying himself made Nick like the man a little more.

Well, and maybe feeling a little envious too.

Nick was turning thirty in a few months, and for some reason, it was altering his views on some things.

He’d always wondered what he was going to do about his career.

Military careers could be prosperous, but while you were still part of a select team, you weren’t always sure if you’d end up higher on the ladder or released back into the wild, relearning how to be a civilian.

Personally, despite the horror some soldiers had shown, Nick rather liked being relegated to a desk.

After a decade of fighting life or death so consistently, he was okay with a bit of peace and quiet.

Unlike his younger self, however, he found his attention wasn’t so much on the future or even wondering if he would live to see it but more on the things he was missing. Foremost among them, he could only look at couples like the general and Christian and feel a tug in his chest.

His was a good life. He had a great job with the potential for more.

He was whole and healthy, without any serious complications to worry about.

He had a family who loved him and the best friends he could ever hope for.

And yeah, he had Matt, not necessarily in the way he still found himself wishing, but he had him all the same, and it was a gift.

He just wished his bed wasn’t so lonely at night.

Twelve hours later, he found himself staring up at the arrivals and departures screen at the airport.

Squinting, he tried distinguishing the numbers and words dashing across the screen.

But for the life of him, he couldn’t process them fast enough.

It was probably a good thing they’d taken an Uber to the airport, otherwise, he wasn’t sure they could have made it on time.

“Here,” Matt said to his right.

Nick looked down at the warm cup shoved into his hand, blinking owlishly at it. The rich smell of coffee filled his nose as steam rose from the hole in the lid. He curled his fingers around it with a low sigh of appreciation, bringing the cup to his lips and drinking carefully.

“Bless you,” Nick murmured gratefully.

Matt hummed knowingly, looking up at the screen, eyes darting over the letters and numbers nimbly. Nick contented himself with watching his friend as he sipped the coffee, savoring the bitter taste that served to wake him up almost as much as the caffeine.

He liked watching Matt engrossed in something, even the most trivial things. A small crease formed on his brow, and Nick would swear he could practically hear every thought flit behind his eyes.

“Got the plan?” Nick asked between sips.

And because, of course, he did, Matt nodded. “Don’t worry. We’ve got time.”

Nick looked at the clock on the right-hand side of the screen. “You said our flight was at seven.”

“Seven-thirty.”

“You lied.”

“Because if I didn’t, we’d be rushing right now. Getting you out of bed is a harder fight than half the shit we went through.”

Nick opened his mouth to protest but thought better of it. Sleep had never been something he was all that good with, even as a kid. The inevitable diagnosis of insomnia in his teens hadn’t come as a surprise, though the side effects of the medication they’d given him had been unpleasant.

Thankfully, it hadn’t come into play when he was in the field.

Whatever part of his brain kept him from sleeping was turned off while he was with the team and needed rest. As soon as his feet hit safe ground, it came right back, and suddenly, he was struggling to fall asleep.

Of course, when he did manage to sleep, it was like trying to raise the dead.

“Well, didn’t we think of everything?” Nick grumbled.

Matt screwed up his eyes thoughtfully. “Got you here early and with caffeine. We got through security and had our bags checked in. Confirmed with your mom what flight it was and the expected arrival time. Have my phone programmed to shoot her a text as soon as I turn airplane mode off, telling her we’ve landed.

Oh, and rerouted all your mail to my place because, for whatever reason, the mail carrier doesn’t like to put your mail in the slot and the last time, someone took the birthday card your mom sent. ”

Nick raised a brow. “While I’m not surprised you managed to think all that through, how did you get my mail routed in such a short time?”

“Look, if you know the right people, you can get almost anything done.”

“Blackmail?”

“Hey! Why do you immediately jump to blackmail?”

“Well, murder was the first thing I thought of, but you’re more likely to blackmail someone than murder them.”

“I’m not sure what it says about me that you think I’m willing to blackmail someone.”

“Better than murdering them.”

“At least being murdered means you aren’t hooked to someone else’s every whim and demand.”

“You’ve really thought this through.”

Matt huffed. “I mean, it makes sense if you think about it.”

Which Nick took as the cue for Matt to meticulously explain precisely why he was right. Nick chuckled softly as Matt began to list the reasons, with several examples. Some people found Matt exhausting, long-winded, and occasionally pedantic to the point of annoyance.

Nick found a seat and settled down as Matt moved into his second set of points. He knew he didn’t have to say much to keep Matt going. His friend knew Nick was listening, even if he looked like he was trying to have a staring contest with the floor.

Personally, Nick could listen to Matt ramble on, spewing knowledge and facts dotted with his opinions all day and night. And from the looks of it, Matt was just getting started, so Nick bet his friend would fill the time right up to their flight.

Nick smirked softly, thinking it might even fill up the plane ride as well.