Page 52 of Oathbreaker

By the time she got rid of the glasses and grew into her curves and figured out how to tame her wild hair, we were already close. And even though I was deployed for most of her time in college, I watched her grow. Change. Mature.

When we were home on leave, she and I spent a lot of time together, both with the boys and without. Nothing ever happened back then, but I liked hanging out with her. Even her friends in college were cool. Smart. Funny. Not completely absorbed in partying—not like I had been.

I knew she had a crush on me. She didn’t even try to pretend. She would say things like, “someday you’re going to realize the puck bunnies and military bunnies will never understand you like I do.” I’m not sure what a military bunny is, but I got her point.

Because she was right. But I always brushed it off without making her feel bad. I knew Dash and the others would go postal if I touched her, so I pushed those feelings way down to a place where I thought they would wither and die.

That never happened.

Somewhere along the way I realized my feelings were changing. Growing. The letters she wrote me while I was deployed were personal. Private. Not ones I shared with Dash. Not because there was anything going on, but because I knew one day there would be. At some point, I stopped fighting the inevitable.

Then the black ops group came calling.

That changed almost everything, but there was no universe where I gave her up. I just had to come up with a plan.

That weekend before I was supposed to leave for my training, before I really understood what I was getting into, we met for breakfast. I needed to talk to her about my feelings and she was the only one who knew I’d decided to stay in the military, even though that wasn’t a completely accurate description of the job I’d taken.

Again, I was operating on the idea that it was safer for my family and friends if they didn’t know what I was up to.

But Briar was different.

I trusted her in a way I couldn’t trust the others. Mostly because she wouldn’t try to talk me out of it.

One thing led to another, feelings were confessed, and it was the best thirty-six hours of my life.

And now… fuck.

Now everything is spiraling.

The house is quiet and empty, with Briar at work and Frankie at school

I roam the hallways and bedrooms like a ghost, trying to find my place, both here and with my friends. Royal and Banks, we’re going to be okay. What I did couldn’t hurt them the way it hurt Dash, and Atlas by extension. Atlas and I had a strange connection. Both of us had mothers who didn’t want us.

My phone buzzes in my pocket, startling me out of my dark thoughts.

Igor.

“Hey, man.” I walk outside to take the call, staring out at the beautiful landscaping without really seeing it.

“How are you?” he asks in his barely discernible Russian accent.

“Physically on the mend. Everything else… shit.”

“What happened? Your girl find someone else?”

“I wish that was the only issue,” I admit grudgingly.

“Oh, boy. What’s up?”

“The boys—especially Dash—are pissed. Because there’s been a plot twist you don’t know about.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m a father.”

“Briar had your baby?” Igor probably heard more about Briar while I was delirious than someone should.

“She’s four, Igor. Four fucking years old. She’ll be five in February. She had her while I was still in training.”