Ten Years Ago
Stepping into the staging area, Gage looked around for Laurel, anxious to feel her, touch her, let her envelop him in her essence. It had been eight long months without her, and this last mission had been a nightmare. They were trained to shoot, fight, kill, but nothing prepared you for watching your friends get shot out of the sky in a helicopter. Nothing prepared you for the stench of seared flesh or the aroma of blood. Nothing.
Then he saw her and for the first time in months, his heart was lighter.
“Laurie!” he called to her, moving at a fast clip.
He was almost on her when she turned, and the look in her eyes was one he’d never seen before: nothing. There was no warmth, no love, no excitement. Not even anger. Her face was completely devoid of emotion and he was so dumbfounded he stopped in his tracks.
“Babe?”
“You’re home.” She leaned over and lightly, coldly, pressed her lips to his. “Come on, the car’s out front.”
“Honey? Are you okay?”
“I buried my mother last week, so no, I’m not okay.” She turned her back and started to walk.
Wait, what? Buried her mother? When the fuck had that happened and why had no one told him? He hurried after her, reaching for her hand.
“Babe, talk to me.”
“We can talk in the car.” She kept moving and he had no choice but to follow unless he wanted to make a scene, which he definitely didn’t.
She unlocked the car and turned on the ignition while he stowed his bag in the back, and then pulled onto the street, heading toward their apartment.
“What happened to your mom?” he asked softly, reaching for her hand. She briefly returned pressure but then moved it to the steering wheel.
“Stroke. She died the next day.”
“Oh, baby. I’m so sorry.”
“They told me there was no way to reach you.”
“I’m sorry about that. We got caught in some hostile territory. We had to hide out in the mountains for days, until they found us. We had no communication, nothing. I’m really sorry, Laurie. You know I would’ve been here if I could have.”
She nodded. “I know.”
“When did it happen?” He didn’t know what else to say but she was obviously upset, so he had to choose his words carefully.
“Seventeen days ago.”
They’d been in the middle of a fire fight. The helo had gone down; he’d been ground support and things had gone downhill quickly. Chains had been the only survivor from that crash, and they’d helped keep each other alive in the days that followed, along with a rogue Mossad operative and a couple of Afghani nomads who were Good Samaritans. She didn’t want to hear about that, though. She wasn’t a soldier and losing men in a war wasn’t the same as losing your mother.
“I’m so sorry, babe. If I’d known…”
“You wouldn’t have done anything differently,” she muttered.
“That’s not fair, Laurie. You know we don’t have a lot of control over what happens over there.”
“It doesn’t matter. It’s not like you could have stopped her from dying.”
“How’s your dad?”
“Devastated. How do you think?”
“What can I do?”
“Nothing.” She pulled into the underground parking garage and parked the car.
He followed her to the elevator in frustration. This wasn’t the homecoming he’d been expecting, and dammit, he was hurting too.
“Friends of mine died too,” he said in exasperation as soon as they were in the apartment.
“I’m sorry.” She tossed her purse on the counter and reached for a packet of papers. “I’m sorry about this, too, but I can’t do it, Gage.”
“Can’t do what? What is this?” He had no idea what she was talking about.
“I love you, but I don’t want to be a military wife. I’m not cut out for it. I think I want a divorce.”
“I just got back from a deployment and you’re divorcing me?” He gaped at her in shock.
“I don’t want this life, Gage. We’re a couple, and we’re supposed to be there for each other. You’re far more enamored with being a hero than being my husband and that’s not what I signed up for. I don’t want anything from your family’s money or your inheritance. All I want is some of the stuff here in the apartment because I won’t be able to afford to buy all new—”
“Wait. Stop. What the fuck, Laurel?” He threw the packet down on the counter. “You think I give a fuck about money? If I cared about that I would’ve had you sign the prenup Uncle Malcolm sent before we got married. I love you. I don’t want a divorce.”
“Are you getting out of the military?”
“What?”
“You only have a few months left. Did you re-up?”
He swallowed. Shit. This was not the time for this conversation. He’d meant to talk to her. The CIA had said he could. But not if she was divorcing him. What the fuck was he supposed to do now?
“Babe, I…”
“You did, didn’t you? I knew it. You know how I knew?” Her glare was frosty. “Because Rick’s wife told me. What do you think of that? Another guy’s wife knew before yours. How fucked up is that?”
Fucking Rick, he could never keep a secret. Sonofabitch.
“I told him I was going to talk to you about it,” Gage sighed. “The only reason he knows is because we did it at the same time. I’m sorry… It’s not inked yet. I really was going to talk to you first. I can back out.”
“But you don’t want to.”
He met her gaze guiltily. He didn’t. They needed him out there. His country needed him. The CIA needed him.
“You didn’t see the things I saw out there,” he whispered in a gruff voice. “You didn’t see the horror those people live. I want to help. I want to be part of it.”
“And I understand that. You just have to understand that it’s not what I want, what I thought our life was going to be. I’m sorry if that makes me shallow or less of a patriot, but you were only supposed to do four years. I won a medal in the Olympics and you missed it. I graduated from college and you missed it. My mother died and you not only missed the funeral, you didn’t even know it happened. That’s not a marriage, that’s an arrangement.”
“Laurie…” He didn’t know what to say. If she was serious about the divorce, he couldn’t tell her about the CIA. He’d been planning to, but once she started talking about divorce, he shouldn’t. It was too dangerous for both of them.
“There’s food in the kitchen,” she said, her voice edged with sadness. “I’m going to stay with friends tonight so you have time to think about what you want to do.”
“Seriously?” He stared at her incredulously. “I just got home from one of the most traumatic events of my life and you’re just going to leave me here with divorce papers?”
“I’m sorry.” She picked up her purse.
“Babe, we have to talk about this… I love you.”
“Apparently, not enough.” She turned and let herself out of the apartment.
Present Day
The buzzing of his phone brought Gage back to the present and he answered with a low greeting. “Chains. Where are you?”
“In the lobby. Can we meet?”
“Uhhh…” Gage scrambled to come up with a way to spin this. Laurel would want and need to know where he was. He hadn’t had a chance to tell her why he’d invited Chains to meet him here but maybe this was the time to do it without giving anything away that would upset her. “Laurel’s here.”
“Here as in…” Chains paused. “Your room?”
“Well, yeah.” Gage couldn’t even hide the happiness in his voice.
“And she knows nothing?”
“No.”
“Past or present?”
“Correct.” He paused. “But I have to read her in to why you’re here. Can you give me thirty minutes and then come up to the suite? We’ll have breakfast and can talk here with some privacy.”
“Absolutely.” Chains disconnected and Gage padded into the bedroom, crawling onto the bed and nuzzling Laurel’s shoulder. “Morning.”
“Hi.” She yawned and stretched, giving him a sleepy smile. “Why are you awake so early?”
“Have a friend coming for breakfast that I’d like you to meet. Someone I knew…in the military.”
Her eyes popped open. “What?”
“He’s how I found out what Sylvester and the others were up to. He works for a security and protection company now, so I asked for his help. I called him yesterday to do some digging behind the scenes about Matt’s overdose—maybe find out where the drugs came from—and he’s here now, so he must have news. I don’t want to hide anything from you anymore.”
“I appreciate that.” She sat up. “Okay, let me freshen up.”
“You’ve got thirty minutes before he gets here. I’m ordering breakfast.”
“Let’s hope that goes better than it did yesterday,” she smiled, sliding off the bed.
Half an hour later the three of them were eating breakfast, with Chains and Laurel chatting like old friends.
“Are you excited about the baby?” she was asking as Chains told her about his family.
“A lot more than I thought I’d be,” he admitted. “We already have two kids, and we share them with their fathers, Jamie and Viggo, but this one is a little different because she’s mine. I adore Simone and J.J., they’re part of Emilie so I love them the same, but I never thought I’d have my own. In my years with MI6 it wasn’t feasible and after I retired, I didn’t think I was capable of love anymore, but knowing how much I love Emilie, I can’t imagine how it’s going to be when I get this one in my arms.”
“You’re going to be a great dad,” she predicted with a smile. “When is she due?”
“August.”
“I admire your wife. It must be tough to have two kids, be pregnant, have a husband who travels, and run a nightclub full-time.”
“We have lots of help,” he chuckled, “and normally I don’t travel. I made an exception for Gage, but my job is at the club with Em.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re here. Although I don’t think there’s going to be any trouble, there’s definitely a lot of scrutiny of the team right now, so I’ll feel better having you around as an added layer of security.” She sipped her coffee as if she didn’t have a care in the world.
Which made Gage wonder what the hell she was thinking.
“I don’t think there’s any correlation between his overdose and the firing of the coaching staff,” Chains said, “but I don’t think it hurts having me around for the playoffs, just in case.”
“I have some business in D.C. that I have to attend to in the next week or so,” Gage said. “I’ll feel better knowing Chains is on the road with you.”
“That works. Anyway, I have to get ready for the morning skate,” she said, standing up. “It was lovely to meet you, Chains. When do your duties officially start?”
“I’ll be incognito during the skate,” he said, “hanging out with Gage. Otherwise, my official title will be team security, so I can have all access while you’re on the road.”
“Then I’ll see you at the arena. I have to ride over with the team.” She smiled at Gage. “See you later?”
“You will.” He snaked out an arm and pulled her against him. “We don’t have to hide anything from Chains, and I’m not going to miss out on an excuse to kiss you.” Which he did, fully and passionately, until she playfully swatted at him.
“Stop that. He may work in a sex club but that’s not his job here. See you later!” She waved and let herself out.
Gage watched her go warily. She was either mad or unsettled about something; she was just too much of a lady to show it in front of Chains. What the hell had he done now?