Page 394 of Chaos has a Name
For his heart.
Oh, the irony.
“I don’t want to lose my family,” he whispered. “You guys have been mine for ten years. I’ve learned how to be me from that fresh Marine out of the corps with all the scars and wounds. I just can’t bear the idea that this might be my chance to meet someone who sees the real me.”
She moved closer, and he dropped his arm over her shoulders.
“Who says you’ll lose us?” she asked, knowing that would never happen.
If he called her in the middle of the night, on a Tuesday, she’d catch a flight. Each one of the Marines who worked for her was family.
They were hers to the end.
He was honest.
“She likes me for me. She didn’t laugh, and she is attracted to me. I’m not going to find a long line of women who want to saddle up to this mess.”
The second he said it, she pinched his leg, and he yelped.
Then, she told his ass off.
“You, Caspian Carter, are a catch. That’s the bottom line. You caught her all on your own, and you deserve it. Don’t let anyone tell you that you aren’t special—especially the demons in your head!”
He was honest as he rubbed his thigh.
“At what cost? What if it’s just a fluke, and one month in, after I leave, it’s not what I thought it would be? Then what? I’ll be family-less and job-less.”
Is that what he really thought?
She pulled out her phone, and she texted someone. When the front door opened, and in came Ivan, he looked worried.
“Oh, thank God. I thought I was going to find bloodshed. I know how you get.”
She ignored him.
They had bigger issues, and he was her partner in parenting the Marines. They looked up to Ivan because he gave them jobs, and made them all a unit.
“Cas is going to take a little work break,” she said, giving him a heads-up.
Ivan laughed.
“Rough night fornicating?” he asked, busting his ass because that’s what they did.
He stopped laughing when she finished.
“He’s taking a month or two off when we go home to DC,” she said.
The minute the words were out of her mouth, that was when Ivan stared at her.
There was no way he heard her correctly.
“WAIT. WHAT?”he asked. “That’s not a break, Elizabeth. That’s a leave of absence.”
She broke out the sarcasm.
“He. Is. Going. To. Stay. Here. For. Two. Months. And. Baby. Sit. The. Cabin. Am. I. Talking. Slow. Enough. For. You. Marine?”she asked.
He was still staring.
