Toy Soldier {ManxManxMan}

CHAPTER 44

"How do I look?" I asked, pointing at the scarf around my neck, "Does this look too suspicious?"

"Well you're wearing a scarf inside," Orion noted, holding a hand out to motion at what I was wearing, perched on the arm of the seat Beckett was sitting in, elbows on his knees, both watching me, "That's a tiny bit suspicious."

I groaned and shuffled further into the bedroom from the bathroom, "What am I supposed to do then, huh?" I asked, tugging the scarf down enough to show my off neck and jabbing a finger towards the hickeys that were littering my throat and neck, "This is kind of hard to explain!"

Orion just grinned like he was way too proud of himself for making a mess of my neck, shrugging, "You weren't complaining last night," he argued, and I grumbled as I walked over to the bed and flopped onto my face.

"I hate you both. Demi is gonna give me a lecture, and he'll probably try to kill you," I rolled my head to the side and squinted at the two men on the armchair, "I might let him."

Orion laughed and Beckett shook his head a little with a small smile on his lips, leaning forward and reaching back to tug his sweatshirt over his head, holding it out towards me, "Here, wear this. It'll hide your neck."

I pushed myself to my knees and reached out to take the sweater, humming and staring down at the rather cliché NASA logo before tugging it over my head and pushing my arms through the dangling sleeves that covered my hands. Like Beckett had said, it was so big it bunched up to my neck and hid the bruises perfectly. Plus, it smelt like Beckett, which was a bonus, so I held up my hidden hands and smiled at him.

"Yea, this'll work," I decided, and Orion pouted a little, looking down at Beckett.

"Can I wear one of your sweaters too?"

Beckett shrugged with his hands, "Sure, I don't mind."

"Do you wanna wear one of mine?" Orion asked, and Beckett leaned back to smile up at him.

"I don't think your clothes are big enough for me," he said, and the tone of his voice held an edge of teasing to it that had Orion pouting while I laughed.

It was almost noon, which was exactly when Cass had revealed the briefing would take place. After letting the soldiers relax for a while, it was time for us to get back to work, and now that I was fully healed, I was all too happy to jump right in. Granted my hips were a bit sore, and my ass was aching because of the two idiots currently cuddling in the armchair in our room, but it wasn't a bad pain, and I could easily ignore it so I could focus on other things.

When I had my shoes securely on my feet I hopped up and stepped over to the armchair, pulling Orion to his feet before yanking on Beckett's arm, "Come on you two, we have to be present during the briefing," I said, "Cass, Malachi, and Kailas, have been working out what to do about Manuela and Blu with Lailani's help, and they're supposed to be giving us the short version of their plan today, so we need to be there."

"You're pretty enthusiastic," Orion noted, and I held my left arm up, rolling my shoulder and grinning.

"Hell yea I am, are you kidding? I finally have that stupid sling off, my shoulder is healed, so I can get back to field work," his lips twitched down into a frown, hands on his hips, and hummed, obviously displeased about something, so I just folded my arms in challenge, "You don't want me going out on patrol, do you?" I guessed, and Orion shrugged.

"It's not my decision," he said, and he seemed to be forcing a passive expression onto his face, acting like he didn't care one way or the other, but that just served to annoy me as he lifted a hand to the back of his neck, "You're a soldier of the rebellion, you're strong, you can take care of yourself."