Bound to Break: Men of Honor, Book 6 (24 page)

Cooper poured the water in to shut him up. Lucky heard the silence, the sputter, then the coughing.

And then the laughing.

Yeah, he really fucking liked Sawyer too.

“Cooper had a boat,” Jace said. “I just ran it through motor vehicles. It’s parked at the Marina with Rex’s.”

Clint cursed as they drove to the marina, muttered something about never wanting to be a squid in the first place, and Jace dragged him on the boat.

The weather had turned, violently so.

“I’ll give you a life preserver,” Jace told him as Rex piloted the boat through the waters. It was dark and stormy, which had them rethinking their decision not to call for help. The Coast Guard was already searching for the boat by air and sea. They’d also warned Rex not to go out, but they knew he wasn’t going to listen.

“He couldn’t have gotten far in this,” Rex said.

“Neither will we,” Clint pointed out.

“We will if we follow them.” Jace motioned to the helo overhead that dragged a light through the water ahead of them. “That’s Glen. He knows we’re here. He’s going to help guide us while he looks.”

Lucky heard the chopper before Cooper did. Sawyer started to sing louder, probably to cover that up too. Needed them to get closer as the boat rocked in the choppy water and Cooper kept cutting him.

Lucky could only see the knife going up and down, a sharp glint in the dark. And through it all, Sawyer kept singing. Dirty sailor limericks.

“Soon, you won’t be laughing. You have no idea how many men I’ve turned,” Cooper said.

“How many?” Sawyer asked. “I’m genuinely curious about what number you’ll think I’ll be. Because I’m thinking you thought Lucky was turned too. Maybe he never was. Is that why you’re so pissed now?”

At Sawyer’s words, Lucky was up, brandishing the razor. He moved forward, clicking open the outside lock on the box Sawyer was held in. And then he knocked the gun from Cooper’s hand and had him on the floor, the razor over the man’s carotid.

“One strong rock of the boat and you’re gone,” he warned.

“You took a chance. How did you know you weren’t the trigger?” Cooper asked with a sick-looking smile that twisted Lucky’s gut.

“He was the trigger.” Sawyer was climbing out of the box as a sudden, small explosion from the bilge toward the back of the boat made it shake and then list. It wouldn’t take much to punch a hole in the bilge, which would cause the boat to sink at a rapid pace. “And now we’re fucking sinking, so let’s get on deck.”

“You are fucking coming with us,” Lucky told Cooper, who lunged up so the razor cut him deep. Blood spurted everywhere as Lucky ripped off his T-shirt and tried to staunch the flow. “Fucker.”

Sawyer was running upstairs, no doubt going to signal for help and try to steer the rapidly listing boat. Lucky pressed his shirt to Cooper’s neck. Then he tied the guy’s hands and dragged him up onto the deck that already had water up to mid-calf.

The front of the boat was billowing smoke, and already half submerged.

“You couldn’t have thought you’d survive this,” Lucky said. But from the look in the man’s eyes, it was apparent he had.

“Lucky, come on—they’re sending down a basket,” Sawyer shouted.

“You go—you’re hurt.”

“No way—put the asshole on it. Let’s let him live so I can kill him.”

As the helo hovered overhead, bright lights flashed across the deck.

“Tell me that’s someone for us,” he called.

“It’s Rex’s boat,” Sawyer yelled back.

They’d be saved, but Cooper was obviously dying. “And I still don’t have my fucking memories,” he yelled to him.

“If this didn’t…do it,” Cooper gurgled and Lucky had to put his ear so close to the dying man to hear him. “Never…happening.”

“Cooper, come on, just fucking tell me…was I lying? Or was I really brainwashed?” Lucky yelled over the wind again into Cooper’s face.

Cooper stared up at him. As he spoke, Lucky leaned in once more to hear his last words. “You were…so good, man. I wasn’t…ever able…to tell…the difference.”

When Lucky pulled away, Cooper’s eyes held that blank stare of the dead. And then the boat shifted violently. He was slammed away from Cooper’s body, nearly went overboard. He managed to hang onto the deck with one arm, yanked himself up as the waves threatened to pull him under.

“Not letting you go that easily.”

It was Rex. Holding on to him. Pulling him back onto Cooper’s boat, then helping him across the sinking deck and onto the boat where they’d already pulled Sawyer. He took Dash’s arm and heaved himself over onto the safe boat. Rex jumped in behind him, hugged him hard. And then they all went to Sawyer.

Jace grabbed Sawyer. “Are you okay?”

“I just want to get out of the fucking water!” he yelled.

Jace pulled Sawyer tight against him.

“We’ll be fine if we move. Glen will spot us,” Rex said as the boat listed along with the waves. “Sawyer, you hang on.”

“Tell him I’m fine,” Sawyer said to Jace, gritted his teeth as Jace pressed the bandages hard to his wounds as Clint held them both steady.

Lucky helped hold the lights, along with Dash. All of them were soaked. Most of them were in shock. But they were all alive.

Chapter Twenty-Five

“Never. Leaving. You alone. Again.” Dash’s words were punctuated by his thrusts. Lucky lay under him, and for the past half an hour and for the past two days, his only basic choice had been to agree with whatever Dash said.

“Yeah, Dash,” he said now.

“You might think you’re humoring me. But I’m fucking serious.”

“Yes, Dash.”

Dash pinned him, hands overhead, his thigh splitting Lucky’s legs open. Cock against cock. Kissed the hell out of him, until Lucky moaned into his mouth.

“Want to take you away with me, baby.”

“On a job?”

“Photography.”

“And that’s code for…”

“Photography.”

Lucky shivered as Dash’s fingers brushed his gland. “I’m in.”

“That would be me.”

Lucky rolled his eyes. “I meant the trip.”

“We’ll be gone for months.”

“Good. And you’ll teach me what you know about taking pictures.”

“And more.”

Sawyer watched Rex from the hospital bed. The man was fucking fluttering. Fluffing pillows. Pouring water. Talking to doctors and nurses. Checking on Sawyer without actually talking to him.

When he asked the nurse about the bedpan, Sawyer lost it. Pushed the tray away and forced himself to sit up, despite the screaming pain that had set in.

Some of the wounds were deeper than others. Some would scar, some wouldn’t. Rex got a plastic surgeon in so that would minimize any issues.

There was one up the side of his neck and one under his chin—Cooper had been waiting to cut his face up last. At least that’s what he’d told Sawyer.

“That’s enough,” Sawyer said calmly.

“That’s not enough. Lie back down and heal.” Rex paused, like he knew how ridiculous that sounded.

But Sawyer was up and in his face. “Can you look at me, Rex? Can you fucking look at me?”

Rex was having trouble with that. Sawyer, not so gently, took Rex’s chin in his hand and forced him to. “I’m okay.”

“I know that. I was there.”

“No, you weren’t. And that’s okay that you weren’t.”

Rex’s nostrils flared. He ground his teeth together. Finally managed, “No, it’s not,” before he jerked out of Sawyer’s grasp.

“Sawyer.”

“God, no,” he muttered at the sound of his mother’s voice. He stood in the hospital gown with his ass hanging out and watched her come in—and she wasn’t even fluttering as much as Rex—before she hugged him.

Or tried to. He held back and it took her a moment to realize why. “Oh, honey, I’m sorry. You’re out of bed so I thought…”

“He’s a strong guy,” Rex said.

Sawyer’s mom turned to look at him. “Oh, hello. I’m Jude Kirke, Sawyer’s mother.”

“Mom, this is my CO,” Sawyer said and Rex shook her hand and said, “I’ll leave you two alone.”

But Sawyer wasn’t done talking. “And he’s also Rex, the man I’m in love with.”

She looked between the men. “But you brought Jace to the party. Are you broken up with him?”

Sawyer’s mouth hung open and then Rex began to laugh. And laugh. And he didn’t stop until Sawyer joined him.

“I’ll just give you two a moment,” Sawyer’s mom said as Sawyer moved toward Rex. He leaned into the man’s chest with his shoulder and Rex buried his nose in Sawyer’s hair.

“I fucking thought I lost you.”

“But you didn’t.”

“I’m sorry, Sawyer. I’ve been here for you.”

“I know. But now you’re really here. And I’m all right. I’m tougher than you think.”

“You’re not that tough, which is good. I don’t want you to pretend. If there’s fallout from this…”

“What? You’ll put up with my nightmares?” Sawyer asked, half joking.

“Hell yeah.” Rex gave a small smile. “I love you, Sawyer. Sometimes, it feels like too much, but I know there’s no such thing.”

“Love you, Rex. Really fucking love you.”

“When you love someone, you tend to listen to them.”

“When you love someone, you don’t mention the word
bedpan
.”

Rex snorted and Sawyer started laughing again, even though it hurt, and they stayed that way until Sawyer’s mom came back in, trailed by his nurse, who yelled at them both.

Rex watched the video, hunched forward, his hands fisted on his thighs. He looked so tense, like he could snap in half. Nate stood behind him and Uncle refused to watch it.

He was waiting in the other room.

Sawyer stood next to Dash, unable to look away from the man on the screen.

And Lucky stood at the window, unwilling to watch the damned thing again. It played in his mind, a continuous loop, and he wondered if he’d ever rid himself of it.

He hadn’t wanted Dash to show this to anyone, never mind the men who were actually now watching it. But after what had happened with Cooper, finding out that he’d been the one who’d really been the traitor, Dash had felt Rex, Nate and Uncle had a right to know everything.

The Navy obviously agreed. They were granting Lucky a discharge, with several conditions that Dash promised to help fulfill, the least of which were continued therapy visits. With a therapist of Lucky’s choosing this time.

And, based on the intel they’d gotten from Cooper’s files, the Navy had sent in a team to infiltrate Gonzalves’s secret compound. They’d done so, figuring that once Gonzalves discovered his half brother had been killed, he would be looking to retaliate.

According to the SEAL team that took him down, his plans were in motion to do just that.

Lucky guessed that Cooper had decided that if he went down, he was taking his half brother with him. Jace was pissed that his team wasn’t allowed in, but after all that had happened with Rex, there was no way they’d have been assigned that.

The video had ended. The room was so goddamned silent. Lucky put his forehead against the cold window, closed his eyes until he heard Rex say, “Lucky,” in a hoarse voice.

Fuck, he didn’t want to answer, didn’t want to know what he thought of him.

Rex knew him better than probably anyone else in the world at one point in time. Lucky knew that Dash was hoping Rex could give them some closure on this.

Lucky wasn’t sure he believed that one man could be granted that many miracles in a lifetime, but he felt he had surely been.

“Lucky, look at me.”

Rex, again. Lucky didn’t turn around, or maybe he couldn’t. It didn’t matter anymore.

When Rex came close to him, Lucky whispered, “Just say it, Rex. I can take it. Just fucking tell me what you’re thinking.”

“You were lying on the video.”

He turned around like a shot to face Rex. “How do you know? You can’t know that for sure.”

“Yeah, he can,” Nate said after he cleared his throat. “We had…contingencies for shit like that.”

“What are you talking about?” Dash asked, and Uncle came through the door, asking, “Did he make the sign?”

“Yeah, he did,” Rex said, without taking his eyes from Lucky.

“The sign?” Lucky echoed.

“Yeah. Like a safe word only we know—you’re in trouble and you’ve got to pretend to go along with them. It’s something to let us know that you were just fucking with the enemy,” Uncle said. He rewound the tape and pointed to the cup of water Josh had handed back to the men and then to Josh’s fingers on his other hand, the way he touched his middle fingertip to his pointer nail, a fast, subtle movement that Lucky wouldn’t have noticed. No one would’ve…