* * *

It was so natural for them. The way they each went to their respective women. I searched my heart and there was no envy, but there was a slight pang of longing, stronger than the others that came before.

I knew it was the surroundings that added to the melancholy. That and the fact that I was the only one without a partner.

But none of that could take away from the happiness I felt at my brothers’ joy. Especially Quinn.

He looked so happy it was hard not to smile at the complete ass he was making of himself. For someone who’d sworn to me over and over that he’d never take the plunge, he looked just as gone as the others.

I started getting twitchy when I caught the side eye looks and the whispering started. I knew what was coming next and knew only one way to save my own ass.

“So, Dani, I walked around this place earlier and you know what? This looks like the ideal place to have a wedding. Did you girls bring your magazines?”

“You’ve got the beach, these beautiful gardens as a back drop and I think those cliffs would be perfect for pictures at sunset.”

My brothers were all giving me what the fuck looks but no fucking way. I’ll make it up to them later. For now I made my escape and went to play with Zakira.

I started grinning halfway across the lawn when I heard the arguing start. Then I saw Davey moping around behind Lyon’s oldest and remembered the threat from earlier.

Since there was no use pretending that Colton Lyon wouldn’t do exactly what he said he would, I thought it prudent to head that shit off.

“Davey, a minute.” The girl didn’t even seem to notice when he walked out of her shadow. I felt bad for the kid. The girl was absolutely beautiful, but her old man was nuts so there was that.

“Yeah Dev?”

“You’re gonna want to leave that alone.” I inclined my head in her direction.

“I know but she’s so pretty.” He said it almost in awe.

“I know, but I think she has a boyfriend, plus the fact that her dad is not gonna be happy if you keep trailing her like that.”

“I know about the boyfriend, she told me. But damn she’s gorgeous. There’re no girls like her back home and she’s smart too.”

Because of who we think he is, Davey’s like our little brother, he’s one of us. And I was the unlucky one who was gonna get stuck leading him through his first heartbreak.

I looked back at the others weighing which was less painful. Letting the girls dig into me about finding a woman, or trying to fix his shit.

“Come with me.” I took him towards the water and sat with him on the sand. It was the first time any of us have been able to just relax and talk to the kid since this whole mess started.

Now that we suspected he might belong to the man we’d all looked up to as a dad, makes him that much closer, he and his sister.

Now that Susie was Cord’s she’ll always be one of us, but Davey might be left feeling a bit left out in the cold, kinda like me in a sense.

“Have you spoken to your mom lately?” We’d basically taken her kids, but we didn’t have a choice. It’s not that she’s a bad mom, some of my other brothers had worse.

But she’s going through some stuff of her own and hasn’t really been there, which in itself wouldn’t have been that bad if not for the threat against the kids.

“I called her before we left, she’s okay; she just misses us a little.”

“You’ll see her when we get back son, we’ll make things right there for you and your sister. Was there anything you needed Davey?” He shook his head no and played with the sand.

It was hard sometimes to remember he was just a teenage boy. We’d sucked him up and kept him away from his friends and everything he’s known his whole life but we didn’t have a choice.

If something happened to him on our watch we’d never be able to forgive ourselves. Even though we couldn’t share our suspicions with him and his sister, they were the only things we had left of the old man.

He may not have served with us, but he’s one of us, which is why I can’t let Lyon kill him. “So, this girl, she hit you hard huh!”

“Yeah, I guess. I’ll get over it though. At least she was nice about shooting me down. Not like some girls her age, she’s got class.”

Oh damn, the kid had it bad. I tried to remember what it was like at his age, but the truth is, I was never that innocent. None of us were.

“So you think you can handle being here and not…” What the fuck was I supposed to say here? His nervous laugh saved me from having to say the words.

“Oh come on Dev, I’m a big boy, though the rest of you treat me like a baby. She has a boyfriend, that’s who she’s been texting all day. I hope when I find a girl she loves me like that.”

I put my arm around his shoulders and we gazed out over the water. “You will son, you will.” This is why we have to see this shit through, put an end to whatever vendetta the Fox had going on in his sick, fucking mind.

It wasn’t only the seven of us whose lives he was fucking with, but these two kids for some reason. The CO had been there for us, had given us more than we deserved, but for some reason wasn’t able to be there for his flesh and blood.

Something I’m sure had cut him to the bone. Now it was up to us to make sure they had what he would’ve wanted for them.

I have no doubt that Cord would see to Susie’s happiness, but it might be a little harder figuring out what the hell to do with Davey.

So far he’s been getting along fine. It’s obvious he sees us as people he can look up to, but what about his future? And how do we keep him from feeling like a fifth wheel?

And why the fuck, do you keep coming back to that? Maybe I am feeling a little envious. This is the first time I wasn’t part of something that my brothers were doing.

I can try to convince myself that it didn’t matter, but the truth is, more and more in the last few hours, especially after what happened with Quinn, I’ve been feeling…off.

As if he could read my mind Davey looked at me with a grin. “So, Quinn has a girl, does that mean you’re next?”

“Okay kid that’s enough of this.” I got up to leave his ass to the waves.

“Oh come on Dev, you guys always do everything together. I don’t see why this should be any different. Besides, I heard the women talking back home and your goose is as good as cooked.”

“What, what did they say?” At least his mind was no longer on Lyon’s kid therefore taking his ass out of the line of fire.

“Well, after they got through talking about weddings and babies.” He rolled his eyes. “They decided that you and Quinn needed to settle down. Then once they saw Quinn with his girl, they figured it was a done deal and you were the only one left.”

“How did they see Quinn with Kelly?”

“Come on Dev are you serious? They were peeping out the windows and that lady from Law’s place, the writer, uh, Ginger, she was reading their body language. At least that’s what she said.”

I looked towards the women and their men wondering just what the hell they be getting up to. “Anyway, after Quinn went all caveman in the yard, they decided she was his and they started talking about you. I think they plan to find you a girl as soon as we get back home.”

“Oh for fuck sake!” I punked out and went to hide out with my niece who was having the time of her life. It did my heart good to see her in her element, running around and laughing happily as we rolled around in the grass together.

As the day wound down the atmosphere changed, even though the guys did their best not to let on to the women that there was something going on.

I’m not sure what excuses they used for our pending absence but by the time we were ready to head out the women were all acting a bit anxious.

Mancini had found them the movies they wanted to watch and he’d done it smooth enough that they still didn’t know if their men had been listening into their conversations earlier.

“You know they’re gonna figure that shit out right. What are the odds that you’d have all those movies on tap?” I’m still trying to figure out the machinations of this relationship bullshit.

It seems to me each of these men differ in a lot of ways but one; when it comes to their women. Neanderthal comes to mind.

“That’s why I got all the movies I could find from that era. This way they’d be left guessing. Of course since my well behaved wife met these other women she seems to think that I’m no longer to be trusted so who knows.”

“Did your women try pumping you for information? I think Kelly was trying to figure out if we were listening in on them.”

“What did you tell her bitch made?”

“Nothing Tyler, I guess you can say I turned the tables on her.”

“Huh?”

“I distracted her Tyler damn, you need me to spell it out for you?”

“Quinn are you blushing?”

“Shut the fuck up Dev.”

We ragged the hell out of each other on the way to the airfield. It’s always been our way heading into battle.

We keep it light and playful until zero hour, then the masks come off and whoever’s on the other end of that shit is fucked.

We made it to the decked out flying palace Mancini calls a plane and filed on. We’d already discussed how we were going in.

Since Quinn had told us we were expected, we figured the retired major in Cali wouldn’t shoot us on sight.

The talk turned to world events. Something we hadn’t really had time to delve into since we’ve been so caught up in our own shit.

Then again, we knew enough to know we had no control over that shit. All we could do is clean up the messes after they’d been made and put shit back together.

This latest horror show was a little more fucked than usual though. And we’d already discussed whether or not we might be called up at some point.

Lyon, who seemed like he didn’t pay attention to anything other than his wife and his horde of kids, was the first to broach the subject of traitorous fucks.

“So what’s the story on this guy with the leaks and the other one that ran to Russia? I thought you military fucks were supposed to be badass, why are these humps still breathing?”

“What would be your answer Lyon, how should they be handled?” Seriously Con, you have to ask? From the look Lyon threw him and the way Con laughed I’m guessing that shit had been rhetorical.

“They’re plants.” Mancini took a sip from his bottle of fancy water and grinned at the rest of us. “If they wanted them gone they would’ve been a long time ago.”

For someone who wasn’t part of any military outfit he sure did have his fingers on the pulse of shit.

“They’re both on somebody’s payroll. My money is on the G-eight.”

My brothers, Creed, Law and I didn’t say anything but you could feel the tension. The conversation was getting close to shit that was only known by a few and speculated by many more.

“Those fucks get together every year under the guise of global discourse but in reality they’re all planning to screw the world as we know it to farther their own fucked up agendas.”

“Thought so, damn. Our government is pretty fucked isn’t it?”

“They’re not the only ones Lyon, it’s a concentrated effort between the leaders of the so called free world.”

Logan was staring at Mancini like he was trying to dissect his head or some shit. Me, I just kept my lips sealed and my ears open.