Just Kidding (SWAT Generation 2.0 #1)(18)

Booth only nodded and walked to the living room where I could hear a loud commotion happening.

Booth was a friend of the family and a SWAT kid.

His father was Nico, and he had a twin named Bourne.

I hadn’t realized he was on the police department at all until he’d stopped to pick me up at the end of the street, and told me that he had a meeting with my father.

After watching him go, because goddamn did they know how to grow them in Kilgore, Texas, I skipped the living room and went straight to the kitchen.

My mother met me with a frazzled look about her.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Monthly team bonding meeting,” she answered. “Yes, I need twenty pepperoni pizzas.”

“And one cheese,” I ordered.

“And one cheese,” my mom continued.

“Also, some Cinnastix,” I continued. “And a Dr. Pepper.”

My mother sighed and relayed the rest of my order.

When she was done with the order, she looked at me.

“You look… happy,” she said.

I grimaced. “I’m happy. If I had hair, I’d be super happy.”

My mother’s face fell.

“The meeting?” I changed the subject before she could get started on her rant again.

“Yeah, monthly meeting,” she said again, sounding tired.

Since it’d been something that my dad had done since the beginning of time, I hadn’t thought much of it.

Not only was my dad, at one point in time, the leader of the SWAT team, but he was also the man with the biggest place to hold the meetings.

Now it was just tradition, since my father hadn’t actually been on the SWAT team for a while.

The doorbell rang and my mother jerked her chin toward it.

“Will you go get the door?” she asked.

I didn’t protest, instead heading in that direction with a little bit of pep in my step. When I opened the door to the next man to arrive for the meeting, I couldn’t help myself.

I threw myself at him.

“Louie!” I cried out.

Louis Spurlock was another one of the kids I’d grown up with.

Back before we were all grown and out of the house when the meetings were held the kids came along with the wives. While the men had their meetings, the kids would play. And Louis was definitely one of my most favorite of friends growing up. Even if I was a bit older than him.

“You’ve grown up!” I cried.

Louis snorted.

His father, Foster Spurlock, was whipcord lean and one of the funniest guys that I knew. Louis, much like his father, was also whipcord lean, but he also had bulk to his upper body that his father just didn’t have.

“You’ve lost all your hair,” Louis said.

I rolled my eyes and fell back onto my feet.

“Yes.” I lifted my nose in a silent snarl.

Louis studied my face.

“I was told to never hit a woman,” he said as he studied my bald forehead. “But, if I could ever get past that part of my morals, I would totally beat the shit out of her for you.”

I grinned then, loving the way that he protected me, even now at our age.

“Thank you,” I said softly.

Louis ran his hand over my bald head on his way past, and I was just shutting the door when a motorcycle pulling up to the house caught my eye.

My eyes became glued to the spot, and I couldn’t have closed the door even if I tried.

Dax dismounted his bike and hung his helmet from the handlebars. The next thing to go was a leather vest that made him look so badass that it wasn’t even funny.

Tossing the leather vest onto the seat, the next thing to go was his t-shirt, leaving him in nothing but motorcycle boots and a pair of jeans.

I watched with avid fascination as he bent over and dug into his saddlebags, the dog tags that he was wearing swinging forward and nearly grazing the seat that his tight ass rested on when he rode.

Dear, sweet baby Jesus.

He hadn’t been wearing dog tags the other day.

Why was he wearing them now? He wasn’t active military.

He came back out of his bent position with a t-shirt in his hands from his saddlebags.

My eyes went to the dog tags that rested between an impressive set of pectorals, and I watched in utter fascination as he pulled the t-shirt over his head and settled it into place.

It was a simple black t-shirt.

But it had a few holes in it, as if it was so old and worn that he probably should’ve been throwing it away instead of storing it as a spare in his saddlebags.

I nearly moaned when he looked up then and caught me staring.

I could do nothing but stand there as he grinned and started toward me.

“Thanks,” he said as he made his way up the walk. “You’re letting all the cold air out, though.”

I sure the fuck was.

I didn’t often do that seeing as we lived in Texas. But today was a fairly mild day compared to our usual.

“Yeah,” I found myself saying. “But I didn’t want to go sit down only to have to get up a few seconds later.”

He winked at me, and I tried not to moan.

Jesus Christ.

Was there anything hotter than Dax Tremaine winking at you?

I thought not.

Hell, there’d been one point in time when Theo had done it and I thought it was adorable.