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“I know that. It was hard for me to talk about. Still is. I was in denial. Talking about it made it too real.”
“Well, I’m glad you finally told us. Anything you need, say the word. You’re not alone in this anymore. She’s our mama now too,” Aaron chimes in.
In true Aaron fashion, he only speaks if there’s something worth saying. And those words mean so much to me.
“Thanks, guys. I appreciate it.”
A grin crawls up one side of Jonesy’s face. “So, you and Mia? The lime trick really drew you in, huh?”
With a straight face, I shrug and act casual. “Yeah.”
“So verbose,” Sawyer teases. “Does she know you speak so highly of her?”
“Not everyone needs to fill every second of silence. Sometimes less is more,” Aaron playfully chastises our resident big mouth.
“Everyone is entitled to an opinion, A-A-Ron. Even incorrect ones such as yours,” Sawyer quips.
“A-A-Ron.” I chuckle. “Classic.”
“Fuck you both,” Aaron mutters, obviously over the joke he’s heard since that hilariousKey & Peeleskit went viral a few years ago.
Jonesy chimes in, “Don’t let him get to you, Aaron. Sawyer doesn’t understand people who don’t talk around the clock. That man could talk the ears off corn.”
“How did this turn around to me? Weren’t we asking Klein about his fling with Hobbs?”
I flip him off. “It’s not a fling.”
“Hobbs?” Jonesy asks, but he doesn’t have time to get an answer because his phone rings with an incoming call. “Speaking of our little gingersnap.”
I’ll punch him later for that. She has a nickname already. Two of them, if you countGhost. Three if you countHobbs, which I don’t.
He taps the answer button, and her voice rings through the speakers of the SUV. “You guys are about two minutes out. Time to mic up. Boss is waiting on the comms.”
“Well, we would have done that already,” Jonesy gives me a teasing side-eye, “but your sweetheart here was gushing about you, and we didn’t want to embarrass you.”
“That’s funny. But Klein doesn’t kiss and tell.”
“Thanks for having my back, Mia,” I say through a toothy grin.
“Always,” she replies instantly.
A chorus ofawssurrounds me from the peanut gallery. Mia’s big, vibrant laugh comes through the speakers loud and clear.
“Mic up, boys. And get this asshole for me, okay?”
“Thanks for watching our mama while we handle business,” Aaron says.
My airway gets tight as emotion threatens to overwhelm me.
He was serious about that.
She’s our mama now too.
Why did I force myself to suffer alone? Burdens are so much lighter when you’re not the only one shouldering them.
Mia ends the phone call once we insert our earbuds and connect to the team comms.
Big Al addresses us right before we pull into the parking lot of a hotel a few blocks away from the beach. “Listen up, team. This needs to be peaceful unless he forces your hand. This is a federal fucking agent we’re talking about. You got me?”
