“You acting all pissy and shit makes my dick hard.” I mull over my response before answering him. Does he really want to go there right now?
“It’s just like you to try to deflect my attention and avoid the issue, Kaleb.” I sneer, and he smirks. I’m beyond pissed. I’m fucking livid. How dare he keep a damn thing from me. Especially with everything we’ve been through. I know I’m making this about me. This is about how I’m going to be able to handle the shit that has been dealt this time. About how I’m going to feel if he travels out there somewhere without me, which is very likely to happen.
“I hear the clicking noises going off in your pretty little head, Jade. If you really need to know, it’s nothing. A small job; one I’ve done many times. We’ll be in and out and back home within a day.” Kaleb is lying to me. He shifted in his seat, which isn’t like him at all. That right there, along with him not being able to make eye contact, is one of the first signs I look for when interrogating someone to see if they’re lying.
He’s a pro at this job. Very rarely does he make a mistake. So why is he lying to me? I guess I should be happy he can’t be the expert he’s trained to be when it comes to lying to me. But I’m not. I will get to the bottom of this one way or another.
“Fine, Kaleb,” I concede. I’m not in the mood to argue, not here anyway. Not when we're about to land and head straight to his mom’s house.
How I wish I had time to call my superior right now. I still have a few weeks left of my extended leave. Maybe I should schedule a meeting and talk to him about my request to be assigned to work with Kaleb on all of his missions. This way, there wouldn’t be a damn thing Kaleb could do or hide from me.
I may need to reconsider that thought, if this is how he’s going to treat me. Did he forget that quickly that I was the one who saved his ass in Afghanistan? I tried like hell to save him in Mexico and forced his team to rush his rescue. Why would he even consider keeping me away from any of his missions?
With those so-called clicking noises in my head, I start to think about what I’m going to do about this. I’ve fought my entire career to be treated equal, and he seemed to be the first man to give me that respect right off the bat. Now, he’s retracting all of that and acting like I’m a piece of fucking glass that can’t handle any real pressure. What he doesn’t realize is I now have this need to protect him, when I’m sure he thinks he’s doing the same for me. I’ll be damned if he’s going to treat me like a fragile woman.
The plane ride was irritably quiet after our brief disagreement. He dozed for a bit, while I watched his handsome features. He looks so peaceful with his eyes closed, and yet I know there is a major storm brewing in his head. The eye of it is about to hit. I can feel it. That’s the only reason why I backed down from the real shit I’m feeling inside.
Kaleb may have gotten the impression I receded because he told me to, but I’m just calculating how to go about this. He’s a complicated man, who is as stubborn as anyone I’ve ever met. He knows I’m his real challenge, but I refuse to let it darken the day I meet his mom and sister. I’ll talk to him as soon as we leave their house.
I try really hard to set it all to the back of my mind, but I’m still fuming by the time we walk through the terminal and even down the stairs toward baggage claim, where we meet Kaleb’s mom and sister. It all temporarily subsides the moment I see the female with a mile-wide smile on her face once she spots her son.
“Kaleb.” She wraps both her arms around his waist in a hug one can only get from their mother. It’s a sight to behold, seeing this big, bearded man covered in tats with muscles bulging in his shirt sleeves squeeze his mom while she rests her head on his chest.
“I missed you, old lady.” I haven’t given a whole lot of thought on what to expect when I met his family, but surely not this. I feel like a damn intruder as I watch her pull away from him only long enough to look at his face through her tears, then go in for another tight hug.
“You must be Jade.” I turn to a woman I assume is his sister when I hear my name called. They look nothing alike, except those same deep, penetrating eyes. She’s free and clear of makeup and absolutely stunning.
“It’s nice to finally meet you, Amelie,” I express truthfully as my hand goes out to shake hers.
“A true soldier, I see.” She takes my hand in hers. She seems very warm and friendly, and that’s something I’m not accustomed to.
“You have no idea how happy we are to finally meet the woman who has captured Mr. Grouchy Pants here.” She punches her brother in his arm, obviously to get his attention. I love reconnecting moments like this, especially now with everything this tender-hearted yet struggling man has been through.