The Long Way Home (Corps Security #6)(78)

The doors start opening, and the men start filing out. Zeke grabs my hand, and I let him help me climb down from the SUV.

“Where are we?”

“Private airport. Seems a few talents were picked up over the years. Maddox is flying us up.”

I glance over at the dark eyes of the large silent man. Man, he’s intimidating. How sweet little Emmy can handle all that silent brooding, I don’t understand. In the limited interactions I’ve had with him, he’s hardly spoken.

“Just leave your bags there, sir. I’ll get it all loaded up for you, and you guys can head up into the cabin.”

Zeke and the guys place our luggage on the cart the man indicated and walk up the plane’s stairs. Without a choice, I follow their lead. I don’t pay much attention to the very opulent surroundings. Instead, I take the first seat I pass and settle in to look out the window. My thoughts are too turbulent for me to do much more. Beck and Asher pass by me, taking seats farther back in the cabin but close enough that I can hear their low conversation about football. Maddox goes to the front, and I see him take the pilot seat. A man I don’t know next to him.

Zeke sits down next to me. “It’s not a long flight, but the car ride was long enough for the silence, Liv. Please talk to me.”

“Who is up there with Maddox?”

I see him turn his head from the corner of my eye. “Helps out on long flights. Maddox brought him in case we need any help while in Boston.”

“What kind of help, Zeke?” I turn, looking him in those beautiful eyes, and feel my heart speed up. “Are we in danger?”

For a man who was so good at hiding what he was thinking for so long, he’s doing a crap job of it now. The expression on his face is nothing short of wrecked, and I hate seeing it there. No matter what I’m feeling now, I love this man. I know deep in the pit of my heart that he would never do anything to intentionally hurt us. It’s just taking me for one hell of a ride that he felt he had to hide something from me. Regardless of the reason, I wish he would have trusted me enough to give it to me.

“I’ll never let anything happen to you or Riley.”

“But something did happen, Zeke. Something did.”

He closes his eyes and leans his head back against the seat. His chest moves rapidly, jaw clenching and those dimples popping. As upset as I am with him, he still steals my breath away. I don’t understand why he couldn’t talk to me and tell me what was going on instead of building something with me on a foundation of omissions.

He’s beating himself up harder than I am. My thoughts give me pause when I was about to speak.

I look at him.

Really look at him.

He looks terrible. Handsome as always but terrible. His eyes have been dull all day. The brightness in his clear-blue eyes, the brilliance that had stolen my breath the first time I saw him without his green contacts, hasn’t come out from beneath the clouds once. He’s holding himself so tense I’m not sure how he’s able to keep from crushing the bones in the hand he’s holding. Not once since we got news on Riley and I found out he had been keeping something from me has he looked like himself.

He looks … scared. And dammit, if that doesn’t just break my heart.

“Looks like we have a straggler,” Beck says from a few seats back.

I look out the window, and my eyes widen when I see the black Jeep speeding at an alarming rate toward the plane. I can’t tell who it is, the windows are too dark, but whoever it is seems to be trying to get our attention if the horn, arm out the window, and flashing lights are anything to go by.

“Time to take off,” Maddox calls from the cockpit. “Get his ass in here quickly.” I see his arm reach out, and the door shuts a moment later. I guess that’s all the warnings we get. No need to come over the speaker for someone as commanding as him.

Chatter continues, and Asher, having just walked past us from the bar area with water bottles, turns back and heads to the door. He tosses two water bottles in his arms over to his brother and lets out a little laugh when it lands in his lap. The other two—assuming for him and Beck—go to the small counter next to the door before he opens the hatch.

I had been so focused on what Asher was doing, I missed the airport employee moving the stairs back to the side of the plane.

“Party is here,” the youthful Cooper voice of Zac announces. He dips his head and enters the cabin. He winks at me, giving me a smile almost as heart-stopping as Zeke’s. Almost. “Couldn’t let all the old men out of the state without a babysitter. Shiner’s looking good.”

“Sit down, boy,” Asher groans, shaking his head with a smile. When he passes his brother, he leans down and looks him in the eye. “All you, baby brother. Same tact that you have in serious situations, too.” A small laugh vibrates his chest. Asher looks over at me and gives me a small smile. Thankfully, he doesn’t apologize again for the shiner Zac just mentioned. I know he feels bad enough.

“Jesus,” Zeke breathes, reaching out to give his son a manly handshake.

“I can’t wait to meet your girl,” Zac tells me, honesty dripping from his words. “Pops says she’s incredible.”

Pops?

Oh … my God. He’s talking about Zeke. I sneak a glance at him and see him staring at his son with shocked wonderment.