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He’d lie, cheat, and steal for his brothers, to make sure that they came out of this whole. Or as whole as they could be, considering that Steph was planning Smoke’s funeral and his sons would grow up without their father.
The meeting broke up, and Gate strode through the great room, ignoring the pussy on offer, to hit his bed and wait for daylight that couldn’t get here soon enough.
*************************
Nine
The living area of Cassie’s suite in the college dorms was standard college issue, but the girls had gone all out with décor, so even though the room itself was shit, the place had a swank, girly vibe, and could appreciate the effort, even if he didn’t understand it.
He sat in one of the leather recliners, head up, eyes alert, 9 mm on his thigh, finger on the trigger.
He practiced his deep breathing meditation, one of the two disciplines that silenced the voices that screamed in his head.
His mind went blank.
Marine training had made sure that he knew how to synthesize intel and dissect a hostile environment. Combat experience made sure that he could do it with little food and no sleep.
Nine didn’t mind protective duty in the middle of the night. He’d always been solitary by nature, and then his assignments in the Corps had taught him that attachments brought sorrow and heartache. Life lesson: If you didn’t care about anyone, then no one could be used against you.
His brothers mourned Smoke’s death.
Nine didn’t.
He figured Smoke had known the risks, known what he was getting into, and he’d been the one to run headfirst into a gunfight without waiting for backup, so the fallout was on him.
Nine hated that Smoke’s wife and kids were left alone, but that had been Smoke’s choice. He’d done that to them.
Harsh view of life, but that’s the way Nine saw things.
A man had to take responsibility for his actions. Had to stay in control of all the variables that he could. Had to anticipate and react. Use intellect, not emotion.
Nine knew what his brothers thought of him. That he was a little crazy. Hell, Nine knew he was unhinged, and the voices in his head made sure he never forgot it.
But he’d fight for his brothers. He’d die for them if they needed it.
At this point, there was nothing in this world holding him here other than his own sheer stubbornness. His refusal to give in to the shit hand fate had dealt him. But that had been his choice too, so like Smoke’s family, he had to live with the consequences.
No one had known when he’d started out on his last mission how bad it would go. How sideways the intel was. How greedy the suits were.
So Nine had gone into the desert with his entire unit but had been the only one to make it back. He hadn’t understood why at the time. He hadn’t been the biggest or the strongest. But he’d had something the others hadn’t, and until they were all dead, he’d had no clue how important that something was.
After the tragedy, which was the only way he could think about it, Nine had left combat with the need to belong to something. Something bigger than himself that would still be standing long after he was gone. Gate and his brothers had given him that. He belonged, but he wasn’t close. He was loyal, but he didn’t love. He was dependable, but he didn’t fit in.
He knew it. They knew it. Might have been awkward for them at first, but it worked for him. Gave him the home he needed and the structure he longed for without any of the betrayal that had cut his heart out in the desert.
So if Gate wanted him to babysit T’s woman’s kid, he’d do it.
He didn’t have a family, didn’t chase women.
He was very particular in his tastes, and he’d decided a long time ago never to settle. If the woman wasn’t down for what he needed, if she didn’t get hers the same way he got his, then he wasn’t going there. At all. He’d learned that shit the hard way.
Nine heard bed springs creak and then the faintest footsteps. Cassie opened her bedroom door just enough that he saw eyes peeking out, “Brick?”
“You got Nine, Cass. Everything okay?” he whispered into the dark.
“Nine?” her voice was soft, hesitant.
“Swapped out with Brick a few hours ago,” he answered.
