Page 99 of Cohesion

“It’s Greer,” Six said, not looking up.

Just in case, Jericho stepped forward, keeping Quinn, Will, and Peyton behind him.

A car slammed, someone tripped over a plant, and a curse clearly rang out.

Definitely Greer.

Greer paused after getting inside, a long black bag on his back with a strap across his chest, Olivia’s school backpack in one hand, and a generic sports bag in the other. He sneered at them. “The fuck you all looking at?”

“Nice to see some things don’t change,” Quinn said.

Greer spared Quinn a brief look before heading straight for Six. He dumped the bags beside the table. Six tipped his head back, and Greer obliged, kissing him deeply in greeting, a possessive hand splayed over his cheek.

Quinn’s jaw dropped. He met Jericho’s gaze, and Jericho answered the question in them. “Over a decade.”

Small footfalls signalled the movement of Olivia, and then she was speeding past, plastering herself to Greer’s leg. “Gee-gee. Oooh, you brought my keyboard!”

“Course,” Greer grunted. He shot them a warning look. Jericho wasn’t stupid enough to ever repeat that nickname, even to pull the bear’s tail. Greerwouldkill someone without provocation, and unless they were Six, they were fair game.“Grab everything you want out of your backpack and put it in the other bag.”

“Why?”

“Can’t take it with you.”

“Why?”

“What did I tell you about questions?”

“Don’t ask?”

“There you go.”

Olivia huffed and dropped to the floor, immediately opening one bag and transferring the contents without even looking at them. “Why didn’t you just put it all in the other bag, then?” she grumbled.

“I can see the family resemblance.” Peyton snickered.

Jericho ignored that.

“I didn’t know what you wanted, and navigating your room comes with a six-figure payment,” Greer said. “Hunter can give it to me in unmarked bills. When was the last time you cleaned your room?”

“You’re not mydad; you can’t tell me to clean my room.”

Hunter snorted. “I can confirm as your father that having the title doesn’t make the request work any better.”

She rolled her eyes again, with exaggerated effect. “There. Done.” She shoved the empty backpack away. “Where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise.”

Olivia stood and squinted at him. “That means you don’t know.”

“It means it’s a surprise,” Greer said, showing infinite patience in the conversation that he had with no one else. Even Six would have gotten a sarcastic, pissed-off response by this point. It wouldn’t have ended well for Greer, of course, but he never learned. Or he liked it. Jericho had never been able to work that out.

Six stood, making eye contact with Jericho. He gestured at Olivia.

Jericho moved closer and tugged a strand of her hair. “Can you go get a portable first-aid kit out of the med bay? You know what they look like. It needs to go in the bag.”

Olivia nodded like a bobblehead and took off down the hallway. The second she was gone, Six had Greer on his knees, tipping his head back with his index finger.

Quinn inhaled quietly, looking to Jericho for direction. Jericho hooked fingers into his waistband in response. Six and Greer were so free about their relationship and their dynamic that it was easy to forget not everyone saw this obedient side of Greer. The soft-ishparts of himself that he covered with barbed wire and live ordnance.

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