Renegade: The Alliance Chronicles, Book Six

Chapter Five

Mark

"Faking friendship is hard. His happiness is proof of what I'll never have."

—from "It Happens: When Friendship Turns to Love," by Dr. E. Rich

Not much has changed on the compound. A special force team patrols the premises. Most of them worked alongside Steve Winters, a former SEAL, back when the United States existed. He salvaged the defunct special operations units of the military, formed a new base of operations, and now deploys operators whenever and wherever they're needed around the globe.

We exit the Jeep, and Asher points to a three-story stucco building sitting at a distance from the main house. "That's the new barracks Steve built. I moved Rihana and the kids out of the guest house. If you don't want to stay with all the other men, like, the house is yours."

Uh... nope. I don't need to be that close to him. "The barracks will do. Wouldn't want anyone to think I'm getting special treatment."

"Suit yourself," Asher says and then a smile so fucking wide breaks out on his face.

I turn and look for the source. My eyes land on a very pregnant Rihana waddling toward us. Asher crosses the distance between them in a couple of steps and wraps his arms around her. I lower my eyes, attempting to give them a little privacy.

"Mark?" says a soft voice.

I really need to stop tuning out. "Hey, Rihana."

She cocks her head, and her eyes dart between me and Asher. "How was your flight?"

"It was good."

I'm not in the mood for small talk with the beautiful woman. She makes me think about Ko.

Strange.

I never imagined missing her. Last time I saw her she was insistent on traveling to some country to help poor people. I tried to talk her out of it, told her it was too damned dangerous, but she wouldn't listen. The girl never listens. At times, Ko's more of a renegade than I am.

Rihana squints against the sun. Either that or she can sense my bullshit. Once again fate intervenes, and Steve waves to us from the covered walkway between the two wings of the house.

Asher pecks his wife. "We need to talk to Steve and then I'm all yours."

Love flickers in her eyes as she takes in my best friend. "I'm looking forward to it."

"Ash?" I tap his shoulder. Asher's expression goes slack. "Can we go now? Steve's waiting."

"Yeah, sure," he mutters.

His love for Rihana is so obvious. If I didn't need Asher to run interference for me, I'd leave him to handle his business. I understand how he feels.

I wish I didn't.

§

Steve Winters has aged a bit in the last couple of years. A few more wrinkles and folds line his face. More gray has taken over his brown hair. I hate to admit it, but the man is aging gracefully. We should all be so lucky.

He leans forward and places his arms on the desktop. The man studies me like a bug under a magnifying glass. Something tells me I don't want to know what he sees or what he thinks of me.

Asher's voice cuts through the gut-wrenching silence. "Steve, you don't have to convince Mark. We've talked. He's willing to come work for you."

I wouldn't go that far. Asher let me know I didn't have any other choice. I let him believe it.