Page 81 of Forced Proximity
“I think they’ll all even out,” Dru interjected. “There are still those ones that really want to be there. They’ll study. They’ll pass the tests. They’ll be the ones taking care of you. Plus, they’ll weed themselves out eventually. If they can’t pass the test, then they won’t be there.”
I let my thumb sweep up and down the length of her belly, and she settled back just a little bit more.
“I know we don’t want to talk about it.” Webber crossed his arms over his chest and continued. “But we need to. The viewing is tonight. I spoke with a few of Knight’s military buddies, and they’re going to have an honor guard with him tonight. Plus, a few of his buddies will be able to get here in time tomorrow. They know we cremated him, but they still want to help any way they can. I was wondering if you’d care if a few of them stay here?”
I felt sick to my stomach.
I’d heard all about these men.
“I have no issue with them staying here,” I murmured quietly. “I just have to go make up the rooms…”
“I already did that.” Dru patted my hand. “I found everything today and fixed up all the beds. I also placed a huge grocery order. And there are several people who have already contacted me about bringing food over. I asked them to bring it to the reception tomorrow at the convention center.”
I turned my hand over and caught hers.
“How are they getting ahold of you?”
“They actually were calling you, but I did that call forwarding thing to send all calls to my phone. Hope that’s okay,” she replied, looking at me over her shoulder with a sheepish expression on her face.
“You can answer my phone calls for the rest of our lives if you want,” I chuckled, though it was halfhearted at best. “If they don’t text, they don’t get answers.”
“Ask us how we know,” Audric drawled. “But I’ll be damned if I don’t answer his. He calls, I answer, because I know it’s important.”
“Damn straight,” Doc grumbled. “I missed his call one time, and he didn’t talk to me for a week.”
“I’m a busy man.” I shrugged.
Dru giggled, but the expression quickly sobered off her face as I felt her phone start to vibrate in between us.
I let her go when she went to get up, and listened as she started talking before she’d even left the room.
“…Yes, I need to make sure we have enough tables for at least a couple hundred. I’m sure most won’t stay long, but they’ll need somewhere to sit…”
I missed the rest of what she had to say because she’d moved too far away.
Turning my gaze back to the table, I saw that all the men were watching me.
“What?”
“She’s good for you,” Copper said. “She keeps you grounded.” He tossed his brother a look. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him sit this long without a phone in his hand doing something.”
He had a point.
After initially looking up the flight manifest to show them, I hadn’t picked it up since.
That was definitely weird on my end.
My phone was usually an extension of my hand.
But when it came to my girl, I thought about other things.
Kind of like when Tavi had been here.
He and I always had something fun and exciting to do, but it’d never involved electronics of any kind.
I rubbed at my chest.
“You think they’re up there right now looking down on us?” Gunner asked. “Laney, Tavi, Knight, and Elaine?”
