Impossible Odds: Rescue Team Nine (Book 3)

Epilogue

Cloey

Four months later . . .

"That was a shitty throw, man," Red yells while Striker runs with the ball.

"Hey, man, I'm a soldier, not a damn football player," Gunner yells back.

"Think they'll win?" Ayasha asks. She joins me on the steps of the ranch house. Handing me a glass of iced tea, we watch the team play or try to play a game of football.

"Hell no. Wildcat's on the other team, and she's a damn good player. But at least he has the cutest cheerleader."

Felicity stands on the sidelines, dancing and screaming, "Daddy!" Dice winks at her before catching the next pass. The momentary distraction soon results in a pile of bodies and groaning from every man on the field. Ayasha and I fall over in a fit of laughter, especially after a certain two-year-old thinks the situation warrants a group hug, and I'll be damned if every man and woman on the field doesn't part for the dark-haired beauty. It feels good being on break and enjoying the summer days ahead while they work on transferring my residency close to home.

"I think they need to stick with their day job." Aimee joins us. Standing quickly, I hand my glass to Ayasha and take one of the twins from the petite woman. How she manages to carry these two around all the time is beyond me. The grateful smile I get tells me she's more tired than she lets on. She's soon lounging next to us.

"How's it going with Dice and Felicity?"

"Amazing." I rock a sleeping Tyler against my chest while focusing on the two women beside me. Aimee is kind-hearted and excellent with people. I can see why Red is so over the top for the woman. She is an amazing nurse, mother, and wife. "They're inseparable. It breaks my heart that I was such a moron to keep them apart."

"You were scared, Cloey. I know how much fear Brad can provoke in a person. Losing him and then Dice walking away didn't help." Ayasha's gaze lands on her husband. He's frantically signaling to Red that he's open. The game's back in full swing. "When I found out his evilness followed him from the grave to affect you and Felicity, it brought back so many nightmares. If it hadn't been for Bear, there are times I thought I'd never sleep through the night again."

"I'm so sorry, Ayasha, for not telling you."

"No." The look on my friend's face tells me she won't accept it. "You did what you thought would keep your little girl safe from hurt. You have to quit blaming yourself. You can't bring back the past, and God knows I'm glad of that right now, but you can fix the future."

"I think mistakes are supposed to happen sometimes. Maybe they happen exactly when they are supposed to happen. If it hadn't happened when it did, the team wouldn't have caught Benjamin, Dalton would be making illegal trades with someone else, and they wouldn't have taken down one of the most ruthless criminals on the market. Triple whammy. I believe fate takes us exactly where we're supposed to go."

To hear those words from Aimee eases my heart. The woman's father had been one of the most notorious cult leaders around, and still, her faith never seems to falter. It helps that she's managed to find the one man who appears to be her perfect fit. Screw Cinderella's glass slipper. I'll take a combat boot any day.

As if hearing their names, the men and woman saunter over, grumbling about unfair tackles and lucky bastards. I smile when I feel familiar arms encircling me from behind just as Red reaches over and grabs his son.

"Now all you need is a son, man."

I raise my brow at the amusement in Red's voice. "I don't think the world would know how to handle two of him."