FIRE (Elite Forces #2)(33)
The door swings open, finally. I smile wide when I see the look on all the guys’ faces as they walk out one by one.
“Hey, Mal. The guys are walking toward me. We’re heading home. I should be back in a few days.”
“I can’t wait to see you,” she returns.
“Ask Harris if he wants to come over to my parents’ for dinner Saturday night.” It’s crazy how this past month or so has gone. Meeting Kaleb like I did. Then falling in love with him. When I told him last night about the conversation with my parents and how my mom talked my dad into having a big get-together, he honestly seemed to be looking forward to something for the first time since this entire mission went to shit.
This demanding and bossy man has a loyalty to family. I’ve known it all along with the way he talks freely about his mother and sister, not to mention the overflowing love he has for all these guys. Underneath his hard shield is a man who’s not afraid to show how much others mean to him. It’s one of the many reasons why I love him. It’s also one of the reasons why I’m worried. He may be hiding how he truly feels about his brother. A big part of him does hate Ty, but—and it’s a huge but—no matter what he tries to tell anyone, I know it's killing him slowly inside to deal with this shit.
“Dad’s barbeque chicken. Hell, yes, I’ll be there whether he can be or not. Love you,” she says quickly, and I tell her the same before I hang up while watching what feels like a dozen pair of eyes trained on me. Every set of them screams power and determination. They are also warning me to not ask a damn thing.
“You ready?” Kaleb lifts me off my feet and plants a hard, closed-mouth kiss to my lips.
“No. Not until you guys tell me what the hell is going on?” It’s Jackson who gets my hard glare after Kaleb puts me down again on solid ground. A ground that feels like it’s trying to suck me in. These *s are keeping something from me, and I don’t like it.
“Jade.” Kaleb says my name like a warning. I keep my eyes on Jackson. His smirk is pissing me off. This is not the time for him to act like an *. He’s itching to give me some smartass retort, that’s why I’m glaring at him like I want to kick him square in his damn dick.
“What’s going on?” I demand.
“Baby. I’ll tell you later. Right now, I want to forget all of this shit for a few days and spend some time with our families.” Even though the sun is shining down on us and the humidity in the air is letting me know it’s going to be a sweltering hot day, a cold shiver runs up and down my spine. Goosebumps caress my skin. Whatever it is, it’s bad, very bad. “We need to go or we’ll miss our flight.” I internally take note of all their faces. Analyzing is what I do best, and these *s know that.
“You’re lucky you found her first, dickhead.” Jackson leans down and plants a kiss on my cheek, pulling me in close for a hug as he begins to whisper into my ear. “Cheer up, buttercup. I promise to protect that big ape of yours. You have nothing to worry about. Just relax.” I squeeze him tight, knowing it’s bothering him to keep whatever this is from me. It should be Kaleb with the guilty conscience.
If it’s no big deal, then f*cking tell me. I almost force those words out of my mouth. I know better though. I leash it all in and just observe and watch every single one of them. They can’t look me in the face when they tell me goodbye. These f*ckers are terrible at this shit.
They think I don’t know they’re all hiding something, and I’ve had it with all of them. I’ll keep my shit together and enjoy my day meeting the two women in Kaleb’s life who mean everything to him. But I can promise one thing… before that, I’ll work on Kaleb. This could be a very long flight.
*****
The flight so far has been awkward. Neither of us tried to hide that there’s an issue suffocating us both.
“You acting all pissy and shit makes my dick hard.” I mull over my response before answering him. Does he really want to go there right now?
“It’s just like you to try to deflect my attention and avoid the issue, Kaleb.” I sneer, and he smirks. I’m beyond pissed. I’m f*cking livid. How dare he keep a damn thing from me. Especially with everything we’ve been through. I know I’m making this about me. This is about how I’m going to be able to handle the shit that has been dealt this time. About how I’m going to feel if he travels out there somewhere without me, which is very likely to happen.
“I hear the clicking noises going off in your pretty little head, Jade. If you really need to know, it’s nothing. A small job; one I’ve done many times. We’ll be in and out and back home within a day.” Kaleb is lying to me. He shifted in his seat, which isn’t like him at all. That right there, along with him not being able to make eye contact, is one of the first signs I look for when interrogating someone to see if they’re lying.
He’s a pro at this job. Very rarely does he make a mistake. So why is he lying to me? I guess I should be happy he can’t be the expert he’s trained to be when it comes to lying to me. But I’m not. I will get to the bottom of this one way or another.
“Fine, Kaleb,” I concede. I’m not in the mood to argue, not here anyway. Not when we're about to land and head straight to his mom’s house.