Page 12 of Stand Fast

Zaid had been bewildered, and yeah, hurt. More hurt than he probably should have been, considering they’d never actually met and hadn’t even seen pictures of one another due to security concerns with their jobs.

Sure he’d withheld certain things from her, like his last name and what he did for a living, but he assumed she’d done the same and thought they’d had a real connection going. They had similar political and moral beliefs; they both valued family and wanted to make the world a better place. They both loved to read and liked a lot of the same books.

He had no idea what had gone wrong, but figured she’d either lost interest or found someone else. Or he’d misread her the entire time. Whatever the reason, he was in no hurry to put himself out there and get his heart stomped on again. Hence his dating hiatus. This deployment couldn’t have come at a better time.

“Well you’re no fun,” Rodriguez said.

Guess not, or she wouldn’t have cut contact with me.

Putting his hands in his pockets, Zaid tried to think of what he could do to raise spirits around here. As the team medic, it was his responsibility to look after the guys’ physical injuries, but he also considered it his job to monitor and help them with personal things too. “How are things back home?” he asked Rodriguez.

“Okay. Charlie’s good, still working hard on cracking more encrypted files on theVenenoinvestigation with her team.”

Rodriguez’s girlfriend was an analyst working the case back in D.C. TheVenenoswere a big freaking deal, and a global threat whose tentacles now reached all the way over here to Afghanistan. Rumors said The Jackal was involved with them somehow, shipping Afghan opium back to Mexico. “And your mom?”

Rodriguez hesitated, then lowered his gaze to the floor. “Not good.”

Shit. Her MS was progressing much faster than anyone had expected. Now Zaid was sorry he’d asked. “Sorry to hear that.”

Rodriguez nodded. “Thanks. It’s not critical yet, but she’s getting weaker every day, and losing more function.” He blew out a hard breath and rubbed the back of his neck. “The holidays always make it tougher, especially when I’m so far away. At least she’s got the rest of the family there with her, even if I can’t be.”

“Yeah.” Zaid paused a beat. “Anything we can do?”

His teammate looked up and gave him a half-smile. “No. But thanks for asking.”

It had been worth a shot. “Sure.”

Prentiss walked in and stopped when he saw them standing outside the storage room. “Y’all using the laptop?”

“No, go ahead.” Zaid stepped out of the way and motioned for him to go in. “Got an important call?”

“Trying to set up one with Autumn, yeah. I want to make sure I get to talk to her either today or tomorrow.”

His daughter. “Good stuff.” Aside from their commander, Prentiss was the only one on the team who was a father. Zaid wasn’t a parent and not likely to be one anytime soon even though he wanted that one day, but he could imagine how much it sucked to be away from your kid during such an important holiday—especially if it wasn’t the first or even fifth time.

“My ex isn’t making it easy, of course.” Prentiss shook his dark head, frustration burning in his deep blue eyes. “She’s a great mom, I give her all the credit in the world there, since she’s basically a single parent while I’m gone. But when it comes to me?” He snorted. “She still doesn’t seem to grasp the fact that I can’t just schedule a call and always stick to it. That I can’t opt out of a team meeting or mission to be on the call if something comes up.”

“That sucks. Good luck.” The guy lived for his baby girl, and rightly so.

“Thanks,” Prentiss muttered, and walked past them into the storage room to shut the door.

“His ex is a piece of work,” Maka said from over in the corner where he was busy loading his Nerf gun in gleeful anticipation of hitting another victim with a foam dart.

His latest coping mechanism to stave off boredom and pass the time while they waited for something from command. Zaid swore the guy had ADD.

“Never misses a chance to screw him over when it comes to their kid.” Maka shook his head and didn’t bother looking up, intent on his work with the pile of darts in his lap. “Don’t get why she’s still so pissed at him about the breakup. They’ve been divorced for like, seven years.”

Zaid snorted. “Says the guy who’s never been through a divorce.” Zaid hoped he never went through one. He was a one-woman kinda guy, and when he found The One, he would lock her down with a ring on her finger so the whole world knew she was his.

Unbidden, an image of Jaliya popped into his head. Now there was the kind of woman he’d be proud to settle down with one day. Smart, driven, sexy. They even shared the same religious background.

Not that he was ready to risk his heart again. Maybe after this deployment he’d feel up to putting himself out there once he’d been home for a while.

Maka looked up at him, his dark brows pulled together in a ferocious scowl. “I’m serious. She’s nasty to him. Do you know how many kids out there would kill to have a dad who cared about them that much? Prentiss has done everything in his power to maintain a good relationship with his daughter since the split. But instead of trying to support that, his ex would rather sabotage it to get back at him out of some twisted sense of revenge. And who loses? The kid. Every damn time.”

The impassioned speech took Zaid off guard so much that he didn’t answer for a long moment, and shared a look with Rodriguez. Maka didn’t open up about personal stuff too often, although the team knew he hadn’t had it easy as a kid. It sounded like Maka had just exposed an old wound he’d kept hidden until now. “Was your dad like that?”

Maka’s jaw flexed under the dark scruff and he looked back down at his foam ammo, shaking his head. “Are you kidding? My sperm donor didn’t give two shits about me or my mom. Took off when I was a baby and never looked back. That’s why I’m saying someone like Prentiss, who busts his ass trying to be there for his daughter, shouldn’t have to fight for that relationship. It’s not right, for him or his girl.”

---