Page 14 of Remade (Hillcroft Group #3)
“Do you need help, buddy? Want me to get you crutches at Nurse Tina’s office?”
“Fuck off,” I grumbled and limped inside the familiar lobby.
Finally back at Hillcroft.
Hell Week had been… Fuck it, it’d been okay. Hellish, for sure, but nothing I couldn’t handle. Well, until tragedy had struck.
I winced and shifted my duffel bag from right shoulder to left, and I aimed for the elevators.
Hyatt laughed all the way to the cafeteria. His clothes were as muddy as mine, but he was evidently in the mood to piss off the staff with his appearance. I wanted a shower before I ate. Not to mention a fuck-ton of sympathy from Leighton.
He’d spent the week here instead of in our apartment, and he’d texted me what unit he was in. Evidently, he’d gotten too bored after hours when Alex wasn’t around, and I could admit that was reassuring. I bet he’d come with me when I picked her up at Ma’s tomorrow.
I made my way to our room, only to be met by a fucking note. No hug or kiss? Bullshit.
I dropped my duffel on the floor and read what he’d written in his chicken scratch.
Welcome home, beast. You’ve been missed.
Take a shower and dress comfortably.
Barbecue on the roof.
When you see me, kiss me hard.
—L
I guessed I could do that.
Fuck me, my foot really hurt.
I dragged my ass through the top floor, past all the empty offices that belonged to staff that worked nine-to-five, and ran a hand through my hair. Maybe I should’ve dried it a bit more.
He’d said dress comfortably, so he better not give me shit for showing up in sweats and a hoodie. I was fucking drained—and famished.
When I got closer to the terrace, I could hear voices. Leighton wasn’t alone, though I’d expected that. I just hoped it wasn’t a grand shindig. Neither of us liked those. He’d specifically told me not to go big for his birthday a couple months ago, and it’d made me fall even deeper in love with the little shit. Instead, we’d had a nice steakhouse dinner, and I’d given him more gift cards, this time so he could buy everything he’d need for a two-week trek in the rainforest in Ecuador.
It was hard to think final selection was upon us. Just one month to go before we flew to South America for our last three weeks of recruit training. One week of testing and drills, two weeks of monitoring screens as the recruits took on a brutal orienteering trek by themselves.
I pushed open the door to the terrace, immediately doing a head count. Not too bad. Coach, Riggs, Leighton—and I saw Crew was still here with his hubby, Adrien. Both had assisted Coach in the last week of RTI training and the introduction of infiltration tactics, with the latter being Adrien’s specialty. I’d met him for the first time last fall, and he had an impressive résumé after years working undercover for the Feds. Jones had recruited him since then.
Whatever Coach had put on the grill smelled fantastic too.
“He’s here! You’re here!” Leighton lit up, cute as fuck, and hurried toward me, and I instantly wondered if he was drunk.
There was something about his grin…
My heart drummed a little faster, and then I finally had my arms around him again.
Christ, this was insane. I squeezed him to me and pressed my lips to the side of his head, and I let a week’s worth of missing him drain out of me. Almost eight months together, and I was still falling for him. How was that fucking possible?
I cupped his cheek and dipped down to kiss him hard; after all, he’d ordered me to.
He smiled and kissed me back.
“I missed you,” I murmured.
“So fucking much.”
I nodded minutely and got some tongue action before I pulled away. I just needed a proper look at him. He’d tasted sweet, and the dopey look in his eyes made me grin.
“Are you tipsy?”
His smile was infectious. “A little? We’re celebrating.”
“Oh yeah?”
He raked his teeth over his bottom lip. Highly distracting. “I’m celebrating that I passed my RTI training, and Coach is celebrating that he got Darius to act as a consultant on your next op.”
Wow. That Leighton had passed was naturally impressive, but the fact that Darius would play a part in my taking down Omar Said was nothing short of a miracle. Holy hell.
“I’d say that’s definitely worth celebrating.” I pressed a kiss to my boy’s cheek, ready to pour another drink down his throat. I bet he was a fun little drunk.
We walked over to?—
“Why are you limping?” he asked abruptly. “Did you get shot again?”
His voice was loud enough to get everyone’s attention, and I cursed internally and rubbed the back of my neck.
Coach cracked up and turned away from me, so I narrowed my eyes. He already knew, didn’t he? Hyatt had told him. Or Quinlan, or…whoever else. Nine operators had been present for my devastating loss.
“I feel like I’m about to hear something awesome,” Crew said.
Riggs was amused too, hiding his smirk in a beer bottle.
Fuckers.
“No, I didn’t get shot,” I muttered. “I got hurt by karma.”
“What?” Leighton looked up at me, puzzled.
I sighed, figuring I might as well get it over with. “I aced the whole fucking drill, and maybe I was a little cocky about it.”
“A little ?” Coach laughed. “Quinlan called me on the way back and said you’d told everyone you could be their mentor for another round of recruit training.”
Well—fuck it! Some of those bastards were getting slow in their old age. Leighton called me old? Wait till he got to experience the fifty-plus crowd in the field. Hyatt and I had been grouped together with the operators who didn’t take on rougher assignments anymore because of a scheduling conflict, so I’d naturally performed much better than the rest. Hyatt had his own excuse for average scores. The Air Force ran in his blood.
“So, how did you get hurt?” Leighton asked, more amused now than anything.
Goddammit.
“I twisted my ankle on the way back when we stopped for gas,” I grumbled.
“Tell him the rest too,” Coach pressed.
I shot him a scowl. “Fine. We bought burgers after we filled up the tank, and when I was giving Paul shit, I tripped, twisted my ankle, and smashed my burger against the car door.”
As expected, everyone cracked up. In Leighton’s case—he was damn close. His eyes were brimming with laughter, and he was physically pinching his lips together to prevent sound from coming out.
“You’re supposed to be on my side,” I told him accusingly.
“This is what that looks like, baby,” he replied, failing to hold back the laughter another second.
Was he calling me baby now? Actually, I didn’t mind it, I decided right then and there. I liked it. Maybe it was the drinks that did it. We should change the topic and see what else he’d say when he was unfiltered.
No, but really, Let’s change the topic.
I looked around the terrace, and I soon spotted something leaning against the wall. “What’s that?”
The piece of wood had a red bow on it and everything.
Crew was down to chuckles, so he responded. “A gift for Coach.”
That made Coach react. “It ain’t a gift if you broke the first one.” He flicked me a glance. “It’s a countertop for my house in Italy.”
“First of all, I didn’t fucking break it,” Crew laughed. “I left a single cutting mark behind. Second of all, it’s not a house! You barely have walls .”
“It’s a perfectly wonderful safehouse,” Coach barked back.
“Not a single window!” Crew went on. “In the living room—take one step too far and you fall into the lake. Rubble everywhere. No running water, no power?—”
“I swear I’ll throw you off the roof, kid,” Coach growled.
I smiled and exchanged an amused glance with Adrien.
Topic successfully changed.