Page 38 of Keeping a Warrior

“Someone should’ve talked to her,” was all he said.

Back at the transient quarters that evening, Rhys jogged over to tap on Devon’s door, unable to keep from letting out a huge sigh of relief when she opened it.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

She leaned against the doorframe wearily. “Yeah. A mild concussion, some bumps and bruises. I’m gonna be fine.” She looked up at him, her lips quirked. “Thanks to you.”

“Me?” Rhys propped his elbow right above her head, his other hand on his hip. “What’d I do?”

“Helped me focus,” she said simply. “When you asked me to say altitude, I realized I was still high enough to do something about my situation. Up till then I was in full-blown panic mode.”

Why hadn’t he noticed how pretty her eyes were before? The color of melting chocolate, they were thickly lashed, and currently shining with a warmth that made Rhys go a tiny bit weak at the knees.

Clearing his throat, he murmured, “Glad I could help. But it was all you up there, Devon.”

Her quirk of the lips turned into a full-blown smile. It crinkled up her nose and revealed the tiniest of dimples.

Jesus, she’s cute.

The memory of her palpable horror when she woke up to find Rhys’s hands on her sliced through him. Straightening from his slouch, he took an unobtrusive step back. “I, uh, I’m sorry about—”

Triggering you. Taking you back there.

Her cool fingers brushing over his forearm forestalled his stammering words. “Don’t be silly. You were just doing your job.”

She gave him a light squeeze before dropping her hand to step back inside her room. “What’s on the agenda for tomorrow?”

“Another jump.” Rhys met her eyes. “And no one will blame you for sitting this one out.”

“Aww, screw that,” Devon scoffed. “Gotta get back on that horse, right? I’ll see you on the plane.”

With a wink, she closed the door gently, leaving Rhys tingling with admiration and a little something else he didn’t want to examine too closely.

He wandered aimlessly down the breezeway toward where Smudge had his hips propped against the railing, his voice low and intimate as he talked to his wife, their spat apparently resolved. Pulling out his own phone, Rhys stared at the notification-free lock screen. Lani hadn’t called, and he wasn’t going to call her.

What would he say to her anyway? Their training methods and tactics were classified, and he’d do almost anything to avoid talking about Tyler. What did that leave? Not much. In fact, nothing.

I guess that means it really is over. And now I don’t have anyone to call.

His stomach churning with a toxic combination of grief and loneliness, Rhys was about to put the phone away when a door slammed on the second deck and Aaron jogged down the stairs toward the vending machines.

“Hey, ’sup,” Aaron started to say, and then he caught sight of Rhys’s face. With a soft exclamation, he trotted over to pull him into a fierce hug. “It’s okay, Peanut Butter. It’s okay.”

Rhys couldn’t help but clutch on to him, the sound of Aaron’s old childhood nickname for him bringing tears to his eyes.

“I don’t have anyone, man,” he choked out. “She was my only family, the only one who cared.”

“C’mon now, you know that’s not true.” Aaron cupped the back of Rhys’s head and pressed their foreheads together. “You have me. And Sarah. My mom and dad. You have every single one of these guys here. You are not, repeat, you are not alone. You’ve been so wrapped up in Lani for so long, you’ve lost sight of that.”

“When Tyler died, she needed me so bad...” Rhys forced down the sob that was threatening to break free. Lani’s brother had come home from work early one wintry day and cajoled her into building a snowman with him. After that, he’d made her some hot chocolate, kissed the top of her head, then went down into the basement and shot himself.

“I didn’t know how to be needed like that back then,” Rhys whispered. “And now I don’t know how not to be.”

“We’ll figure it out,” Aaron vowed. “I promise you, we’ll figure it out.”

Before Rhys could reply, there came a booming “Hey!” from right behind them, and Rhys and Aaron both jumped when a couple of arms like steel bands wrapped around their shoulders.

“I don’t have a clue what’s going on here,” Smudge declared, “but I want in.”