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“Bring them in here,” Seven’s voice floated from the kitchen.
Shucking off his jacket, Ice hung it by the door and then took off his boots. Hunter waited for him and he followed the man into the bright, homey kitchen where Grit was already sitting at Seven’s feet, waiting for treats. Having smelled steak, the dog was all over that.
“Not yet, boy,” Seven told the dog and then glanced up from the meat he was seasoning. “Hey, man.”
Ice leaned on the large kitchen island-style counter. “Come here, Grit.” The pup tipped his head after hearing his name, but nope, he was galloping to the back glass doors.
Hunter opened the slider door and Grit launched outside. “He’s huge.”
“More muscle. We’ve been training, but as you can see, he’s got a wild streak,” Ice chuckled.
“He’s still young,” Hunter agreed, taking a seat at the counter.
“Got KP duty, eh?” Ice teased Seven.
“When we’re both home, we take turns,” his best friend said, throwing a smile in Hunter’s direction.
Ice glanced around the wide kitchen and then toward the patio doors and the pool beyond.
“Where’s Josh?”
“At a friend’s house.”
“Is he excited about college?” Ice asked Seven.
“No.”
“Why?”
The man grimaced. “He wants to join the Navy.”
“No shit?” Ice raised his eyebrows.
“No shit,” Hunter echoed.
Joshua was Seven’s eighteen-year-old brother who lived with them full time and had just graduated high school.
In Ice’s opinion, that was way too fucking young to go into the military, but he also knew that young adults needed to find their own way.
Ice rolled over in the bed of the spare room at Seven and Hunter’s place, and Grit was up and off the bed in seconds. At the door, the dog nudged at the slightly cracked door until it fully opened and trotted out like he owned the place.
“Could shut the door after yourself,” Ice yelled after the ungrateful mutt and swung his legs over the side of the bed to sit up. He rubbed at his face and tied his hair back.
He’d given his notice on his apartment and put all his stuff in storage before coming there. The shocked look on Seven and Hunter’s faces when he’d told them had Ice laughing.
“I have a plan,” he had said, but in hindsight, he might have jumped the gun. He just didn’t want any ties to anything right then. “I’ll just motel it when I need to.”
“Absolutely not,” Hunter had said firmly. “You and Grit will stay in our spare bedroom.”
“Thank you.”
Ice had stayed quiet while they ate with Hunter doing most of the talking. Hunter was a former Erebus assassin and one of the reasons Ice was there, but he’d save that conversation for the right time. Seven currently took the odd Erebus job now and then, but wasn’t officially working for them. Hunter had told him before that he’d never go back to that way of life.
He got it.
Ice figured if he had a family, he wouldn’t want that either. He checked his phone and rolled from the bed to shut the door. After a quick shower, he pulled on jeans and a long-sleeved white Henley, and barefoot, he walked down the hallway and stood at the kitchen door.
“Hey, Ice.” Joshua, sitting at the long granite kitchen island, looked up from his plate of food.
