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“THANK FUCK WE GOT HIM,” Grayson muttered five days later. He dropped his gear down onto the ground near the building of the forward-operating base in Afghanistan, resting his weapon against the wall. He pulled out his canteen, chugging the cool water as sweat dripped from his forehead. It was hotter than hell lugging around their gear, wearing Kevlar vests and helmets out here. And after days of tracking Sayed from his camp up into the mountains, they’d finally nabbed the motherfucker this morning.
Troy spat on the ground, crossing over toward him. “Still not a word on the women though. I wish we had time to search the area more.”
Blake clenched his jaw, nodding, as he scanned the area around base. “They weren’t in the abandoned camp or where we found Sayed. It would’ve been nice if we’d lucked out and stumbled upon them. As far as we know, they’re still possibly being held by someone.”
“Or dead,” Jackson said flatly.
Grayson glared at him. Sure, it was a damn possibility, but that was Hailey’s friend. He didn’t appreciate the negative thought, no matter how likely or unlikely it was.
“Let’s hope like hell we get info on the mole though,” Ethan said, taking his helmet off. “If some assholes were feeding intelligence to the enemy, they deserve to spend their lives behind bars.”
The Humvees they’d climbed out of rolled off to another part of the compound, and Grayson and his team looked at one another.
“I’ll be in contact with the commander,” Blake said. “We’ll debrief when we get home, but I’ll inform him we have Sayed. I hope like hell we can get the info we need. This took longer than any of us wanted, but thank God we have the bastard.”
“I’m gonna need a few days to recover after this,” Logan joked, rolling his shoulders. “That terrain was rough. Maybe we can meet some pretty girls when we get back to nurse all our wounds.”
“Speak for yourself,” Blake joked.
“Hell, you’ve already got a woman,” Ethan complained. “The rest of us wouldn’t mind a beautiful lady in our bed.”
Grayson muttered a curse. Yeah, that would’ve been exactly what he did in the past, too. Hell, hadn’t he run straight to Shawna’s when they all got back from Colombia a couple of months back? Being with her had been more about slaking his need though. With Hailey, everything was different. He wanted to talk to her. Hear her voice.
And someday, when he’d actually taken her to the damn dinner he kept promising, he wanted to hold her in his arms and kiss her goodnight. Eventually bring her home to spend the night. He hadn’t heard back from her before they’d flown out—not that he’d totally expected to. She’d had her meeting at the Pentagon that day and couldn’t bring her phone. They’d up and left almost immediately after briefing with their Commander.
Damn if he hadn’t worried about her though.
The men moved inside, grabbing chairs around a table as Blake called Commander Hutchinson. They were all tired and dirty, but they needed to update him and find out how soon they’d be flying out. It had been a long few days with little sleep, and Grayson was looking forward to getting home and just crashing.
Some missions were easy in and easy out, but this one had drained him. That, and worrying about Hailey.
“You okay?” Jackson asked him a low voice.
“Yep. I’m good.”
Jackson raised his eyebrows, and Grayson chuckled. “This mission was rough, and it was harder than I thought not talking to Hailey. It seems crazy since I barely know her, but we had talked every night for the past week.”
Jackson lifted a shoulder. “You connected with her. Hell, you saved her life. Nothing wrong with that.”
“Well, she’ll be out in San Diego in another week or so. I won’t have to wonder any longer if it’s all in my imagination.”
“I don’t think it is,” his friend said. “We all saw you two a few weeks ago. Both of you seemed to be on the same page. And hell, you wouldn’t have rushed into a burning building for a woman you didn’t know if she wasn’t special. I mean, there were plenty of other people to help there, right? You went straight for her. I’m just glad she was okay after that bombing.”
“Me too,” Grayson agreed.
They quieted as Blake began talking to their commander, updating him on what had happened that day. Sometimes the commander listened in on their op, but since this had spanned several days, they’d taken to briefing him periodically. The men listened to his instructions, and Grayson was dismayed to learn they weren’t flying out until morning. It wasn’t surprising, but he was more eager to get home than ever. He couldn’t call Hailey from here or check on her. He didn’t have anyone to let her know things had gone okay.
And hell. He hadn’t even talked to her before leaving—he’d just up and flown out with his team.
The life of a SEAL was rough—their first duty was always to their country. And it was hard as hell knowing he finally had someone at home that he cared about.
***
NEARLY TWENTY-FOUR hours later, Grayson finally pulled into his apartment building. They’d put away their gear, debriefed with the commander, and he’d finally made it home. He was exhausted and was looking forward to spending the next twelve hours or so doing nothing but sleeping. At the moment, he was too tired to even cook himself a damn meal.
He grabbed his gear from his trunk and strode toward his building. It was light outside but might as well have been midnight. After not getting enough sleep all week, crossing multiple time zones, and being constantly on alert, he was wiped. After a quick shower, getting the rest of the dirt and grime off of himself, he planned to crash.
At the moment, nothing sounded better than his own bed.
It was only seven at night, but damn. He’d survived on barely any sleep all week. Dropping his bag down after he walked inside, he headed straight for the bathroom. He was barely awake while he showered, and although his stomach rumbled from hunger, he was too tired to do much about it.
Grayson tugged on a clean pair of boxers after toweling off, crossing his bedroom. He turned his cell phone back on, looking at it in confusion when he saw the messages from Hailey.
Hell.
He wanted to talk to her more than anything but knew he could barely form a coherent thought at the moment. And what did she mean she was coming a week earlier? Would her things even have arrived yet? Would her apartment be ready? Was she coming in just a few days?
He was too tired to even understand what she meant. He’d talk to her tomorrow, and then they could hopefully figure out a time to see each other next week. Grayson would likely be busy on base again, but maybe he could take off a few hours and pick her up at the airport or something.
Damn.
He couldn’t wait until she got here to the west coast.
Thumbing a quick text back to her, he hit send:
We just made it back, sweetheart. I’m exhausted. I’ll call you tomorrow. -Grayson
Then he put his phone down and collapsed onto his bed, sleep immediately overtaking him.
