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Kat made a noise in her throat.
“Problem?” Hunter asked carefully.
“It’s not necessarily fine with me.”
“What, exactly, is the sticking point, Kat?”
She thought for a moment, lining up her words. “Part of what Liam and I have, what we are as a couple, is the communication. The little texts and the back and forth which kind of connects us through the day. Liam keeping your note from me shook that, made me question whether what I thought we had was somehow different from what Liam thought we had.”
Liam shifted, reaching over to grip her hand. “God, K-K. I’m so sorry.”
Kat squeezed his hand before releasing him. “I know. Part of the issue was that you didn’t realize how much I needed you to tell me something like that. That’s my point here. If we aren’t clear about our expectations and where we are emotionally, this can’t work. I can’t deal with either of you keeping things from me. Which means I need you both to talk to me, to touch base so that I know where everyone is.”
“You need to keep your finger on the pulse of the relationship. To ensure that no one is burying shit.”
Kat mulled Hunter’s assessment for a moment. “That’s probably about right. Honesty is necessary for this to work. We have to be open and clear about what we want and need from each other.”
“I can get behind that, Kitty-Kat,” Liam said slowly. “You aren’t asking for quantity so much as quality.”
Hunter nodded. “I can’t guarantee when or if I’ll be able to text or call. But I can promise to put it all in when I’m here.”
“You’re going to have to do more to stay connected to us.”
“I can try. Email is a bit looser. The PDA rules would still apply, but more substantive stuff could move through there while I’m deployed.”
“I can live with that.” Kat rubbed her fingertips on the table. “The only other hard limit I thought of may not apply, but I want to at least put it out there.”
Hunter raised his brows. “Go ahead.”
“Liam and I are used to bringing others into our relationship, but that was when it was just two. I don’t know how I’d feel about bringing another person in. I think if anyone is thinking along those lines, we need to talk about that.”
Hunter’s face shut down, going blank. “I’m going to draw a hard line on that one. No. Just no.”
Liam pinched the bridge of his nose. “I can’t...I can’t say it’s a hard line, but I don’t want anyone else in here, and I can’t imagine that changing.”
“Then we’re agreed? No bringing anyone else in, at least for now?”
Hunter nodded curtly. Liam inclined his head in a gesture of agreement.
“That’s...all I have. At least for now,” Kat repeated.
“I’ll piggyback on the last bit, then,” Hunter cut in. “I’m already taking a huge risk with my career with you two. I’m not opening that up to more shit by dragging other people into it.”
“I think we’re all clear on that,” Liam said evenly.
“Good. The rules for me are what we said before. No PDA, nothing overtly sexual in word or deed in public. I’ve worked too hard to blow off the Corps. Beyond that, I like being a Marine. I like what I do. No, I fucking love what I do. So I need you to respect that.”
His vehemence was so at odds with his lack of expression that it took a moment for what he said to sink in. When it did, it was a shock. “We respect that, Hunter. If we didn’t we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
“I need you both to understand that this isn’t just a job that I can quit if it isn’t going my way. It isn’t the civilian world, and neither of you has any real experience with what this will mean. It isn’t that I don’t want to be with you—with both of you—it’s that I simply can’t give you the kind of time someone else can. Military families take the hardest hit, and you won’t even have the usual ways to deal with those hits. I said it before, but I really want you to think about it. It’s going to suck.”
Liam unfolded his arms and leaned forward. “This isn’t news. We’ve gone over this ground before and I’m not going over it again. Some things we’re just going to have to take as they come. We can’t know how we’re going to react to every situation. But unlike most military spouses, Kitty-Kat and I have each other. We worked it before you came into this situation, and we’ll work it when you have military shit to do.”
Kat knew her eyes widened. This didn’t need to be a confrontation, but both men were pushing at each other like boys on a playground. “Both of you need to chill. This isn’t a pissing contest. We can figure this out without beating each other up.”
“Tell that to Mr. Testosterone here, who’s all in our face over shit we can’t even see yet.”
She sent Liam a look meant to cut him off. Not helping.
