Page 80 of Silver Secrets

Gunner’s face remained blank. “We don’t know for sure yet. Lily swears she’s not. Says she’s just late cause her body is still out of whack from having Sage.”

“Why don’t you just buy her a test?” Hawk asked. “Seems like if you get her one, she won’t be able to put it off.”

“I’m trying not to be a pushy fucker about it. It wasn’t exactly planned.” He took a sip of his beer. “We had a little oopsie moment one night celebrating Sage finally going to sleep in her own room, and Lily is pissed at me. Hell, I’m pissed at myself.”

“I thought you both wanted another kid? What’s the problem?” Hawk chuckled.

“The problem is, she fucking collapsed in my arms with postpartum preeclampsia after she had Sage and we’re not fucking sure what that means for future pregnancies. And as much as I dream about seeing her belly grow with another baby…” Gunner raked his hand down over his face. “I mean, Christ. Watching her go through labor and delivering Sage was so powerful, but when she got sick after, and I almost fucking lost her? No. She doesn’t want to be pregnant again this soon, and as much as I want another carbon copy of her to hold in my arms, it doesn’t mean anything if she gets sick again and I lose her.”

Gage nodded, worry twisting in his gut.

“Okay, so no congratulations yet. But Reap?” Stone smiled.

“Yeah?”

“If she is pregnant, you know you guys can lean on us for anything, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. Now enough of this sappy shit. I’m ready to whoop your asses in poker!” Hawk grabbed the pile of cards in the center of the table and started to shuffle.

“Elias.” Gage turned to his left and smiled, happy to switch topics but acutely aware of the worry simmering in the back of his mind for his friends. “Ellie was telling me a while ago you started working on a new forestry project.”

“What the hell does a forester actually do?” Hawk asked, butting into the conversation.

“Yeah, Gage, I’ve got a few new projects I’m juggling right now. Mom loves to brag to anyone who will listen about it.” He chuckled. “But honestly, it’s not that exciting. I help evaluate an ecosystem to present a cohesive plan for logging companies that allows the forest to remain unharmed by the demands of their business. Deforestation is a huge problem, but with a little technology and some cool looking spreadsheets, I show executives how to maximize their profits without destroying our planet.”

“That’s pretty cool,” Stone said as he sipped his whiskey. “You travel a lot for it?”

Elias’s eyes moved over towards Courtney, softening as he looked at her. “Yeah. I do, which used to be fun. I was just up in New York and next week I’m heading out to Washington. It’s a lot, but last year I left my corporate job and struck out on my own. Have to keep my face out there in the industry so people know to look for me and not my former employers. I’m sure you guys know how it goes. Former SEALs to security experts now. Running your own business and all that.”

“Thank god a lot of the boring part falls on Sebastian and Gunner,” Nash laughed. “Track, probably on you too, with all that coding you’re constantly working on.”

“I like it.” Gage shrugged, looking away from his buddies. Truth be told, he was mesmerized by Sloane. Her whole demeanor changed when she was with the other women, and he could sit and watch her smile and laugh all night long.

“Oh, you code?”

He nodded, returning to the conversation. “I basically run everything for Montgomery Defense and The Trident. It’s nothing crazy, just some standard program coding.”

“Fuck that, Track. Christ, you’re like some computer nerd extraordinaire,” Hawk laughed. “You’d be better off trying to hack into something the Pentagon put into place, rather than go up against something Gage coded.”

“That’s cool, man. I dabble a little in coding too,” Elias said. “My mom asked me to put together a website for the shelter, but that’s not what interests me.”

“Oh no? What does then?” Nash asked as he sipped his beer.

“I’m interested in ethical hacking. You know, like working counter-intelligence stuff. Trying to catch the bad-guy hackers. Got into it when I was working on the coding for my proprietary algorithm to use for my calculations. I’ve tried some simulation stuff, but I have a bad habit of leaving a trailing slash in my code. Poor Courtney had to sit through a whole ten minute vent session the other night after I did it again. I’d love to pick your brain sometime.”

“You know, I actually have a contact at the FBI in the Cyber Crime Unit. I could give him your info if you want to know more about their programs.”

“That would be awesome. Thanks, man.”

Twenty

Sloane’s eyes darted to Gage as a satisfied groan filled the space between them. They’d ordered in from Dolly’s, both of them opting for her fish fry with a slice of apple pie. She had barely touched the fish, but the pie had been incredible.

Gage, on the other hand, had finished off nearly everything by the time she was setting her plate down. It hadn’t passed her notice that the guys were fast eaters, probably something they picked up during their time in the Navy.

“You okay over there?”

---