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“Yo! Spaceballs… did you hear anything I said?” Firefly grinned in the rearview mirror at him. “I said, you are welcome to come stay with us or at the main building. If you stay at the house, you are subjected to all sorts of toddler mischief, and we have a rooster that might become dinner if he doesn’t shut up in the mornings… but, at Flyboys? You are welcome to use one of the cars to get around town.”
“Would you be upset if I said Flyboys?” Jax said openly. “Having a car to drive would be nice if I wanted to try to see Mary while I’m here.”
“He bought her a present at Heathrow,” Houdini volunteered, smiling over his shoulder at him. “Talked the entire time and…”
“Speaking of,” Firefly interrupted. “Don’t you have something to handle while you are here in town, too?”
Houdini’s face fell almost immediately, causing Jax to arch an eyebrow suspiciously.
“Mind your own business, Firefly,” Houdini ground out.
“What’s going on?” Jax asked.
“Just a little something, from what I understand…”
“I’ve got eight weeks to get it handled and…”
“Eight weeks?” Jax gaped. “How did you get eight weeks of leave approved by Riley? He barely okayed my one week!”
“Yeah, howdidyou manage that?” Firefly asked curiously. “You got naked pictures of the man or something?”
“No!” Houdini snapped, glowering at him before sighing. “Reaper pulled some strings…”
“That man hates Reaper with a passion – so no, that wouldn’t have done it.”
“It was – and it did,” Houdini said flatly, crossing his arms as if to say, ‘that’s enough on the subject’ and grinding his jaw mutinously in irritation.
“Alright… alright,” Firefly grinned and chucked Houdini on the shoulder as they pulled into a gravel driveway before a long airstrip in the middle of nowhere.
A massive hangar was off in the distance, and he could see people emerging already, walking this way… as well as some people coming out of the building before them.
Jax couldn’t help the smile that touched his face as he recognized a few of the guys and jumped out of the car as soon as it stopped, hugging everyone he could happily with excitement.
Life was good and he was here, among his brothers, even if only temporarily.
CHAPTER6
MARY
She had just kickedoff her worn-out sneakers when there was a knock at the front door. Hesitating, she peered out the blinds and let out her breath. It was her neighbor – Karen.
Opening the door, she smiled easily.
“Hey there. What’s going on?”
“Actually,” Karen began and hesitated. “I was going to ask a huge favor.”
“What’s that?”
“Well, see… Jace is back in Afghanistan for a few more months, and there is this party tonight with our friends – and I do not want to go alone. I was going to see if you minded accompanying me? There’s going to be dinner and drinks – and we are just hanging around a bonfire for a little bit.”
“Is this a set up?”
“Nope. In fact, if you chose to only talk to me – that’s fine. I’m not sure who all will be there, but it’s supposed to be Jace’s friends, their wives, maybe a few children…”
“Is this a set up,” Mary repeated, crossing her arms firmly. “Jace’s friend is Jax, right? Is he going to be there? I’m not about to meet my pen pal in my work uniform – because that is not cool.”
“I’m not going to lie,” Karen began openly. “I know he’s supposed to be flying into town sometime later this week or next week – but no one has told me if he’s here or not. I can ask if you want, but I would think you would prefer the anonymity. Like I said, we can get a free meal, hang out with the women, and avoid the others if you like… I just don’t want to be alone, because it’s been tough, honestly.”
