Page 23 of Homecoming

“Don’t you have family out west somewhere?”

“Montana. I… haven’t connected with them. I didn’t think it was fair to let them know I was alive if I wasn’t going to stay.”

Aiden gave him a considering look. “It’s wintertime, and almost Christmas. Maybe you could run out and give them an amazing gift. It rips out a family’s heart when they’re told their loved one is lost. I promise you, the mountain will still be here when you get back. As well as all your lists and schedules.”

Black had actually thought about it a time or two, but discarded the idea. His family thought he was dead, thanks to the government, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to disabuse them of that reality. He felt responsible to the men here. They were his family now. Eventually, he shook his head. “I’m good.”

“Well, if you change your mind….”

“I don’t think I will,” he said, giving Aiden a look. “Now, do you want to tell me the real reason you came looking for me?”

Aiden grinned, his white teeth flashing. “Was I that obvious?”

Black shook his head. “Not at all,” he lied.

“Well, now that Duck has the plow running again, Angela was wondering if you could run her down the mountain. I’ll watch the baby. She wants to get some last-minute shopping in.”

Black rocked back in his chair. “I’m sure Doc…” he started, but Aiden shook his head.

“His driving scares her.”

Unfortunately, Black understood. Doc hadn’t wrecked recently, that he knew of, but he drove with a recklessness that made Black worry. Doc had been a medic in the Army, so he should be more careful, but it didn’t slow him down. As soon as Doc had recovered enough to get out of the Elton building hospital and be mobile, he’d bought the Jeep. He’d been one of the first to volunteer to move to North Carolina, and he lived to be outdoors.

Black understood. With the way they’d been kept before, they cherished their freedom.

“Plus, she’s meeting Grace, and she thought you might want to tag along.”

Black tried not to react to the woman’s name, but Aiden smiled slightly and he knew he’d seen. Or maybe he felt the emotion that hit him. Aiden was kind of like he was. He registered too many things.

“I’m glad she’s getting together with Grace,” he said. “I’ve dealt with her for several months, and she seems genuine.”

“She also seems to really be into you,” Aiden said.

“I know,” he said, sighing. “She asked me out three days ago.”

Aiden’s dark brows shot into his hairline. “And you told her…?”

Black shifted, uncomfortable. “I told her I had a lot of responsibility and that it wouldn’t be fair to start something. Besides, it would be an entanglement that we don’t need up here.”

Aiden rocked back in the seat, propping one ankle on his opposite knee. “So, do you think we should curb all personal entanglements? Tell the men they can’t connect to anyone other than the men on this mountain?”

Black scowled. “Of course not. But we haven’t had a chance to go through and try to figure out how it would all work. What would we tell the potential partners? What if it didn’t work out? All our secrets will be exposed.”

“That seems like it could happen in any relationship.”

Yeah, it probably could, but they weren’t normal people. They had a price on their heads, and he already lost sleep at night thinking about the footprint they were leaving, and when they would be found. There were only so many security precautions they could put into place before they needed to be tested in a real-life situation. He would prefer to put that situation off as long as possible.

If no one found them up here, great. But he didn’t want to be the one to introduce the risk.

Grace was a temptation he had to fight against.

“No, she’s not,” Aiden said, and Black wasn’t sure if he’d broadcast the thought or his buddy just read it on his face.

He opened his mouth to argue, but Aiden held up a hand.

“If I’ve learned anything over this past week, Owen,” he said, using the name he’d given Grace. “It’s that you have to live. We were okay in Virginia, but for the first time in a long time, we’re actually living our lives. I’ve been so worried about Fallon being found that I haven’t let her be a little girl. Not even a little girl. She’s still a baby. And Angie has stifled herself as much as I’m going to let her. Yes, she’s a mother and she’s learned to lovecooking, and she loves caring for Fallon, but she’s a ball-buster at heart. She was an MP and a cop, and I have a feeling she’d love to take on a role like that again. Maybe she’ll go down the mountain and work with the sheriff, or just offer her detective services. She had a whole life before me and our crazy world took it over.”

Aiden leaned forward, planting his elbows on his knees. “And let me tell you. She has healed me more as a man than any therapy sessions or drinking sessions or time. She’s been there for me every step of the way, and she hasn’t flinched once. Sheismy ride or die. I would love for you to feel that.”

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