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Bless European border security.
Three hours—I could work with that. If we were catching a ride through Coach and Hillcroft, chances were we could bring our weapons, and I needed to clean my rifle, both handguns, and—
“Joel, I need a word.” Elliott nodded toward the hallway.
“But I’m not done with him,” Coach protested. “I need popcorn and a live reenactment of how he and Crew killed three Blancos in a tunnel. And set the scene properly—what did it smell like down there, how dark was it, did they beg for mercy,und so weiter.”
I lifted my brows, kinda stuck. I just couldn’t sink into some comedy mind-set like they could. If we met up when life was good again, they wouldn’t recognize me.
“I’m sure Crew’s a more vivid storyteller,” I answered and rose to my feet. “Elliott could probably tell you, but…he’s slow as fuck these days. He got there when it was over.”
“Oh-ho!” Coach laughed and clapped his hands. Danny was highly entertained too.
“What the fresh fuck.” Elliott wasn’t laughing, though he wasn’t pissed either. For once. “You got a comfy ride in a truck to the estate—some of us had to crawl through the goddamn jungle.”
I shrugged and scratched my nose. “So even a crawl exerts you. Got it.”
Goddamn, I missed our banter. We hadn’t gotten to experience enough of it, just a few weeks, really. But we’d been naturals.
“Oh, go to hell.” Elliott waved me off and headed over to River with an outstretched hand. “Lemme steal your smokes for a minute. Coach finished mine.”
River chuckled and tossed him the pack. “Lighter’s inside. You can keep ’em. I don’t want Shay to get any ideas.”
“Aw, man.” Shay frowned.
“Emerson will be so proud,” Danny said.
“I think we should quit when we get home,” Shay said firmly. He turned his puppy-dog eyes on Reese. “Are you going to deny me this simple pleasure after being held hostage for weeks?”
Oof.
Reese’s jaw ticked with tension, and he pointed at the door for Elliott. “Get the fuck outta here with those cigarettes before I cave because I have zero willpower at the moment.”
“Maybe save a few.” River threw that out there, so he clearly had no willpower either.
Elliott chuckled and headed for the door. “I’ll do my best not to smoke all…fourteen of them.”
“Emerson is no longer proud,” Danny grumbled.
I left before another round of bantering could begin, and I followed Elliott out into the hallway, where we stuck our feet in our boots and stepped out on the stoop.
The sky was a little lighter, though it would be a while before the sun rose.
I let out a breath and sat down on the first step.
The air really was thinner up here.
Elliott sat down next to me and lit up a smoke for me too.
“Thanks.” I took a drag and exhaled skyward.
What were the odds of him admitting what he’d told me when I’d been fucking deaf?
“You gonna lay into me?” I had to ask.
He blew out some smoke and shook his head, then rested his arms on his knees. “No. To be honest, I don’t have a plan here. You’re a grown man, and maybe you don’t care what I think.”
I didn’t.
