Page 17 of Knight's Fall

Wings presented his middle finger before opening the truck door to slide out. He landed on his uninjured leg and balanced his weight long enough for him to withdraw a cane. Once it was settled on the ground, he eased onto his injured leg and began the slow hobble to his front door.

Once inside, he tried to ignore the musty smell that assailed his nostrils. A thin layer of dust coated everything. His home looked old and neglected, a reminder of how he felt.

“Look, I’m just going to come right out and say it. I know you want to be alone, but if I leave you, are you going to do some crazy shit like drink yourself into a stupor or something?” BB sounded like he was busting Wings’ balls, but Wings saw the concern in his eyes.

“You mean like overdose on whiskey and pain pills or swallow the business end of my Glock?” Wings smirked derisively. “Nah, man. It sucks to be me right now, but not bad enough for any of that.”

“Damn it, Wings. It wasn’t even a life-threatening injury. We saved the missionaries and somehow made it safely out of Haiti with our one and only combat pilot injured. Hell, I’m still trying to figure out how we managed that without crashing. Why are you acting like your life is over?”

Wings collapsed into his recliner and immediately pushed the footrest up. The recliner’s cushions had, over time, molded to the shape of his frame to provide a comfort that no other piece of furniture could.

“What do you want from me?” He fired back at BB because he was ready to be left alone. In the hospital, he’d been bothered by nurses, doctors and visitors. At the Knights’, he’d been hovered over by Tryst and Kat or forced to play with baby dolls by Hannah and Lilah. He only wanted peace, but that had seemed too much to hope for until he made it home.

“If you expect me to sit here and pour out my innermost feelings while we braid each other’s hair, you are more of an idiot than I gave you credit for.”

That was enough to erase the concern and playful sarcasm from BB’s face and replace it with red-faced anger. “Kiss my ass, you son of a bitch.”

BB dropped an overnight bag to the floor by the front door. The thud echoed in the too-quiet house. BB turned to leave, pausing before he was completely out of the house.

“Call if you need something. You’re an ass, but you know I’ll come.”

Then he was gone, the slam of the door behind him sounding more final than Wings’ was comfortable with. His injured leg ached, though the pain lessened every day.

He’d graduated from the brace that had held his leg immobile to restricted mobility using the cane. He had made progress — impressive progress if his physical therapist was to be believed. According to the healthcare professionals, his biggest obstacle right now was his attitude. He didn’t disagree, nor could he snap his fingers and make the melancholy dissipate like a puff of smoke.

It didn’t make sense to him either. BB was right. Their mission was screwed from the start, but they’d pulled off the impossible. The surprise had been how much support they’d received from the missionaries, from covering their backs, to translating to helping to navigate the plane into more friendly territory.

Wings had been the only one injured during the rescue. The hostages suffered from injuries they’d received at the hands of their captors as well as from dehydration and hunger. Fortunately, the women hadn’t been sexually assaulted, which was a common occurrence in those situations. They all hugged and thanked the team once they made it back.

Wings couldn’t forget the picture of Joel Rafferty clutching his sister and brother-in-law to him in a strong, protective hug in the middle of the landing strip. The Master Chief only released them so they could be transported to the hospital for treatment.

Even with the touching return of the missionaries, the Alpha Team barely paused to appreciate the scene. They’d followed Wings as he was transported by ambulance to Lenfield Medical Center.

Payton Colter and Bridget Kincaid were already there waiting for them since they were employees at the hospital. Jay’s wife was a social worker while Zane’s girlfriend was a floor nurse. They were soon joined by Panther’s wife, Sydney, and Sydney’s best friend Chloe, who might as well be Sam’s significant other for all the time they spent together.

The entire team had someone except him and BB. But he didn’t count the young buck in the mix. BB was too consumed with the dating scene to think of having a serious relationship as their teammates had done. Right now, the object of his flirtation was one of the KSI investigators, Gennessey Croft.

Not that Wings could blame him. BB had good taste. Gen was smoking hot with a lithe, athletic body, big blue eyes hinting at the devil hidden beneath the innocence, and lips that were meant to be devoured.

Wings had almost warned BB off from his pursuit of Gen. Messing with a co-worker had trouble written all over it, even if it had turned out for the best for Tryst and Panther. In the end, he kept his mouth shut because it was too entertaining watching his friend pull out all the stops to gain Gen’s interest only to have the pretty investigator shoot him down, stomp on his heart and rip it from his chest every time he tried.

Gen made it widely known that she didn’t date co-workers, and BB’s attempts had only fueled her dislike of him. She could barely stay in the same room as him or even work the same cases. But the flirtations had their place, and BB and Gen were careful to keep their personal affairs from affecting their work. They were professionals, first and foremost.

Wings had no idea where he fit. He had no significant other and wasn’t sure he even wanted one. Dating was more of a hassle than he cared to deal with, and casual one-night stands often became messy.

His recall conjured up an image of a model-gorgeous brunette he’d met at Torch, the bar and grille the KSI crew visited when they needed to blow off steam. They’d flirted, made out on the dance floor, and eventually ended up back at her place. The sex had been mind-blowing, and when they’d both finished with their orgasms, he’d realized her sister sat in the corner of the room, hidden in the shadows and never saying a word as she watched the entire thing.

“What the hell?”He’d been exhausted after the intense sex until he saw the sister. Then his fatigue gave way to shock.

At that point, the brunette raised up and smiled at her sister.“Oh, yeah. He’s a keeper. Marry him, and he’ll keep you knocked up all the time. Then I’ll have a sex buddy whenever I want.”

Wings didn’t mind threesomes, but he drew the line at crazy. His dating life had been nothing but a shit show since, and now this injury was making him rethink his career as well.

This wasn’t his first injury. Being a soldier and fighter pilot in the Air Force didn’t guarantee he wouldn’t receive his own share of wounds and scars, but since working for KSI, he’d managed to escape any serious harm.

He couldn’t say the same for some of his teammates, or their women for that matter, but he’d been the fortunate one until now. He doubted he would have considered a bullet to the leg much of a setback years ago when he ended his military career and followed Tristin Knight as he set up the company. Since then, so much had changed that his injury made him wonder if he should shift his priorities.

Tristin had been more than willing to put in the time it took to build his business, and he even brought Kat on board as a computer analyst to oversee that portion of the company. Neither saw much action outside of the office building in Grayson Cove, but Tristin had made enough of a reputation to make him and those closest to him a potential target.

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