A Fighting Man (14 page)

They were ready to move on with their lives.

Ramos smacked my ass as we left the office and the van pulled around to greet us.

“Don’t let Cassidy drive,” Ramos chuckled, getting in the backseat.

“I hit a curb one time and he never lets me forget it,” I sighed in frustration.

“You hit a hydrant, Cassidy,” Ramos laughed.

“Shut up.”

My phone rang and I looked at the caller ID. My brother was calling me.

“Yo, bro. What’s up?”

“Mom wants to know if you’re coming home for lunch?”

“No can do. On my way to the airport.”

“For what?”

“Transporting some soldiers. They’re off to live new lives,” I chuckled as the guys in the van hooted and hollered.

“Sounds like they’re ready to go.”

“I’ll be home for dinner, though.”

“Okay, Blaine and I will be there.”

I furrowed my brows.

“Spencer?”

“Yeah?”

“Why does it sound like you’re up to something?”

“Me?”

“Okay, now I know you are.”

“Gotta go bro!”

I hung up and glanced over at Ramos. I could tell when Spencer was plotting and he sounded like he was plotting. Ramos lifted his brows but said nothing. I leaned back in the seat and closed my eyes and for the hundredth time that day, I thought of Casper.

Casper

Blaine cocked an eyebrow at me as I looked over the newest proofs. The Rush campaign was in full swing and the ads were showing on TV. I couldn’t help but drool over Slater’s fit physique. He looked mighty good oiled up. I heard Blaine snicker and eyed him.

“What?” I asked.

“Are you done being stubborn?”

“I’m not being stubborn, I’m—”

“Hiding out. I know you love Slater, Casper. That’s what scares you so much.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You could have been with him all this time, supporting him, helping him, but you stayed away using the excuse that he was doing better without you.”

“He was!” I shouted. “I’ve snuck into the rehabilitation building whenever Raquel told me he was at an appointment, so even if he didn’t know I was there, I knew he was getting better!”

“And now he’s almost back to full form, so why aren’t you with him?”

“Stay out of this, Blaine.”

“Because you’re scared, that’s why. You love him, but you’re deathly afraid you’ll lose him.”

“Wouldn’t you be?!”

“I can’t think that way, or I’ll never be happy. I’m grateful for every damn day I get to spend with Spencer and Valerie. I’m grateful for every damn day my eyes open and I see the sun in the sky. I’m fucking grateful I have life and that those around me are here to share it with me.” Blaine sat down and eyed me.

“You have work.”

“I—”

The door slammed open and Spencer ran in, breathing like he’d just sprinted up the stairs.

“Casper!” he shouted.

“What?”

“You have to come with me now! They’re sending Slater back!”

“What?!”

“He’s all healed up. You have to come with me to the airport!”

“Now?”

“Yes, now!”

I whirled around to Blaine.

“Get out of here! Why are you wasting time?” Blaine roared.

That was enough for me. I ran after Spencer as we exited the building. His car was double-parked and I jumped in.

“How do you know he’s leaving? Why didn’t your mom tell me?”

“I just talked to him, see?” Spencer held his phone out to me.

“Move it!” I bellowed. And suddenly, just like that, my anger and hurt were gone. Months of nursing hurt feelings and holding a grudge against Slater fell away. Blaine was right. I had really just been trying to protect my heart. It might seem like I was going from zero to a hundred all of a sudden, but what can I say? When you have an epiphany, you act on it.

I thought we were going to get a ticket. Spencer drove like we were on the run from the cops. I kind of figured we would be soon if he didn’t slow down.

As soon as the car stopped, I was out. Spencer yelled something at me, but I couldn’t wait to hear what it was. I had to get to Slater; he had to know how I felt.

The airport seemed even bigger than I remembered as I ran through it, my lungs burning. My feet moved of their own accord, and I sprinted, hurtling myself toward security. Up ahead, I saw uniforms and I pushed myself even harder.

“Slater!” I all but screamed.

One of the uniformed men turned around and I almost cried with relief. It was him. My annoying, irritating, can’t control-what-comes-out-of-his-mouth Slater Cassidy. He was looking at me as if I wasn’t really there, like he’d seen a ghost. I almost snorted at that.

“Slater!” I ran faster as the line moved. “Don’t leave!”

He moved away from the rest of the soldiers and I plowed into him, wrapping my arms around him.

“God! Don’t leave! I’m sorry. I should have said it before. I love you, Slater!”

Strong arms wrapped around me, and I could feel Slater nuzzling my hair and inhaling my scent. God, he smelled so good. Like laundry detergent and starch. How those two smells had become my favorite, I could only pin on Slater.

“I’m so sorry,” I continued to babble. “I love you so much, Slater. Please don’t go.”

Slater led me away from the other soldiers and lowered his voice. “I’m not leaving, Casper. I’m just accompanying these guys to their flights. It’s my job now. I work for the Wounded Warrior Project.”

“So, that’s
the
Casper, huh?” One of the soldiers grinned. “He is cute, Cassidy.”

Slater narrowed his eyes and pointed. “You there, shush!”

I had to chuckle as the other soldiers grinned like maniacs. Some were in wheelchairs, but others had crutches and prosthetics. I noticed Ramos off to the side and he winked at me.

“What made you think I was leaving?” Slater asked.

“Your brother,” I muttered. Spencer had some explaining to do.

Slater’s brows rose. “Is that right?”

I huffed in frustration. “So? Is that it? You have nothing to say to me after I just outed myself to the whole airport and declared my love for you?”

Slater pulled me in close and lifted my face to his with two fingers.

“Oh, I love you, Casper Kennedy. I love you something fierce.”

Slater’s mouth descended on mine and his tongue teased at my bottom lip. I opened up immediately and wrapped my hands in his hair. I couldn’t get enough of him. I wanted him and, truth be told, I always had.

“Love you,” I groaned.

Whistling, clapping and hollering broke us apart and we both looked up to see find all the soldiers, plus most of the people in the security line, clapping and smiling. I hid my face in Slater’s chest.

“Hey, this is no free show!” Slater grinned, holding out his hat. “We take tips.”

I chuckled into his chest and peeked out at the people still clapping. Ramos stepped forward and extended his hand to me.

“Good to see you, Casper.”

“You too, Ramos.”

“Yo, Cassidy, why don’t you take off? The guys and I will be okay. We’ll take the van back.”

“You sure?” Slater asked.

“Yeah, go spend some quality time with your man.”

Slater shook Ramos’ hand and then took mine. I waved shyly at all the guys as we turned to leave. I spotted Spencer right away, leaning against one of the rental car booths. I narrowed my eyes at him and he grinned as wide as I’ve ever seen.

“Nice, Spencer. Real nice.”

“It worked, didn’t it?” Spencer pushed off the desk and started walking. “Come on, Mom’s waiting for us.”

I leaned into Slater, absorbing his scent again and relishing the feel of him. His arm pulled me closer to him and I looked up at him.

“Your arm—you’re moving it just fine.”

“Yes, and I owe that to you, Casper.”

“To me, why?”

“You may not have known it, but you pushed me to work harder, heal faster. I wanted to be the man you wanted.”

“You were always the man I wanted, Slater. I’m so sorry I stayed away—”

“Don’t. We’re together now and that’s all that matters. I’m so sorry I said those things to you. I wish I could take them back, Casper. I never meant to hurt you.”

“I know that.” I nodded.

“Um, change of plans. Guess I’m dropping you guys off at Casper’s,” Spencer interrupted us.

“You are?” I asked.

“Yep, Mom’s orders. She says she’ll see you tomorrow for breakfast instead.” Spencer winked at us.

“Sounds good to me.” Slater kissed my head.

“Yeah, it does.”

I faced the living room as Slater shut and locked the door behind me. I was nervous and I didn’t know why. It wasn’t as if I hadn’t been with Slater before. He seemed to sense my hesitation and tentatively wrapped his arms around my waist from behind me. I held his hand and leaned into his warmth. He felt so good and I could feel his heart pounding on my back. I turned slowly to face him and smiled at the look of uncertainty on his face. Palming his cheek, I leaned in and kissed him softly. He sighed as I kissed him with a little more force.

And then the floodgates opened.

Slater was out of his uniform and I was already naked by the time his boxer briefs hit my floor. Then I was in his arms and I breathed in his scent as deeply as I could.

My Slater.

Slater picked me up by my ass cheeks and carried me into the bedroom. My back hit the sheets and Slater was on top of me, kissing me like he couldn’t live without me. And God help me I knew I couldn’t live without him. I flipped him to his back and settled above him, just admiring the view. I caught sight of a pink scar just to the right of his nipple and traced with my finger to the much bigger one under his arm. It had healed so much since the last time I’d seen it. I leaned over and kissed it and Slater’s hands went to my hair.

“Casper.”

I lifted my head and smiled at him.

“I love you, Casper Kennedy.”

“I love you, too.”

Slater made love to me for hours and I knew then he was going to be my husband. If I had to drag him down the damn aisle, I’d do it. We spent the night just staring at each other, talking about what we’d been doing for the months we were apart.

“I actually came to see you,” I admitted.

“I knew. I smelled your cologne.” Slater grinned.

“I…I wanted to make sure you were really okay, Slater. I couldn’t…” I sighed and took a deep breath. “I can’t handle it if something happens to you again. I’ll stay with you, because God help me I can’t be without you.”

“I’m not re-enlisting, Casper.”

“You’re not?”

“No. I won’t put you through that. I love you too much.”

I cupped Slater’s face. “Don’t do it for me. I don’t want you to have regrets.”

“The only regret I have is leaving you at all.”

“So this is it? We’re going to do this?”

“Oh yeah, Casper,” Slater rolled me to my back and ground his hard erection against me. “We’re going to do it, all right.”

I chuckled.

* * * *

I held Slater’s hand as I placed roses on Mason’s grave. It was Veterans Day and I’d come to tell Mason I loved him, but I had found someone new. Slater kissed my temple and stepped away to give me privacy. Ramos stood nearby, leaning against a tree. I sat down and picked at a small weed.

“So, I think you know why I’m here,” I said, touching his stone. “I’ll always love you, Mason, but I’ve found love again. I hope you’re happy for me.” I looked up at the sky. “I hope you’re up their smiling and playing Eighties music. I’ll still come by and see you, because you were a special part of my life. You taught me love.”

I placed a kiss on my fingertips and pressed it to his name engraved in the stone. “You will always be a part of me, Mason. Don’t ever forget that,” I whispered.

I looked over my shoulder to see Slater smiling at me. Once again, he was in full uniform. We’d stopped by to see his battle buddies and Ramos had visited some of those he’d lost, too. The cemetery was busy, but I knew it would be. Wives of fallen soldiers, daughters, brothers, aunts, uncles and parents had come to show their respect to loved ones gone too soon. I took Slater’s hand and we walked toward the parking lot. I stiffened as I noticed Mason’s family walking our way. Slater put a protective arm around me as we passed them.

“Casper?”

I turned to see Mason’s mother looking at me.

“Yes?”

“We, well, we were told you had some video of Mason that he sent days before he died.”

“I do.” I nodded.

“I know it’s a lot to ask, but would you send it to me?”

“You—” Slater began.

“I can do that, Mrs. Callahan.” I said, placing my hand on Slater’s to quiet him.

She let out a large sigh and nodded her head. “Thank you so much, Casper.”

“You’re welcome.”

I watched as Mason’s parents began walking to his final resting place. I pulled Slater to resume our walk toward the parking lot.

“Why did you agree to that?” Slater looked at me incredulously. “After everything they’ve done to you?”

“He’s gone, Slater. She was his mother, and as mean as they were to me, Mason was her son. Now she can see him the way I did those last days, full of life, smiling, laughing. She’ll never see her son again. Never get to hold him.” I looked into Slater’s eyes. “Do you understand?”

“I do,” Ramos said. “But I would have still wanted an apology from her.”

“Well, we can’t all get what we want, now can we?” I tried to smile.

We were almost to the car when I heard a throat clear behind me. Michael stood with Tiernan, both of them in uniform again. Slater gripped my hand, ready for a fight. Michael held his hands up, palms out.

“Not here to cause a problem. Just wanted to thank you for what you did for my mother.”

“Yeah, well she could have apologized for the way you all have treated Casper,” Ramos snorted.

“Who are you?” Tiernan narrowed his eyes at Ramos.

“I’m Sergeant Fuck Off,” Ramos deadpanned.

“Fucking Mexicans,” Tiernan sneered.

“I’m a Spaniard, you fucking SID.”

I had to laugh as Tiernan actually looked confused. I couldn’t blame him. I was, too.

“What the fuck is that?” Tiernan spat.