Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 84544 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 423(@200wpm)___ 338(@250wpm)___ 282(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84544 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 423(@200wpm)___ 338(@250wpm)___ 282(@300wpm)
But after Charlie had been forced to walk away from Will, it was as though a large chunk of the man’s soul had been missing. He’d gone through the motions for years—partying, drinking, and sleeping with plenty of willing people—but it wasn’t until Kairo spotted Charlie looking at Will that he noticed the light was back in his eyes. He was lit inside by pure love for this man, and maybe Kairo was a tiny bit envious.
Who didn’t want to find love like that?
It was why none of them had felt any anger when Charlie stated that he was willing to leave the team for Will. The doc made Charlie happier than any of them ever could. There was no way in hell they would stand in the way of that.
But Kairo wasn’t going to deny that he was glad Will was joining them. Not only would the man make their oldest friend happy, but he’d probably help to temper some of Charlie’s crazier impulses. There was no sense in being utterly reckless when you had a hot doctor waiting for you to come home.
“What’s next for everyone?” Will inquired when the conversation had fallen quiet. He leaned into Charlie, his head partially resting on his lover’s shoulder. “Charlie says we’re escaping to an island, but he won’t tell me which one.”
“Knowing Charlie, it’s probably Alcatraz,” West called out with a smirk.
“Hey!” Charlie snapped, pointing a finger at the sniper. “Don’t ruin the surprise.”
Will snorted and elbowed Charlie. “Idiot. As long as it has a beach, I don’t care.”
“Home to North Carolina for me,” Edison announced. “Thought I’d get a little of my sister’s cooking and a few weeks of PT. I’ve got a friend who’s a licensed therapist who can help get this shoulder back in shape.” He lightly lifted his left arm, which was still in a sling.
Will sat up, his expression turning serious. “Definitely get an MRI while you’re in town. Have an orthopedic surgeon look you over to make sure I didn’t miss anything.”
Ed winked at him. “No worries, Doc Will. I’ll be good. You just keep an eye on that one,” he finished with a jerk of his chin to Charlie.
“We’ve got a line on a possible job in Geneva,” Soren broke in. He motioned with his thumb toward West. “We thought we’d drag this one along for the fun of it. We’re worried Charlie isn’t exercising him enough.”
“Asshole,” West muttered, glaring at Soren from across the table.
Alexei leaned forward, a wide grin on his beautiful face. “Come on. It’ll be fun. We promise to find lots of interesting things for you to shoot. We might even invite my uncles. Gabriel gets cranky if he’s not shooting or stabbing enough bad people. He starts using my other uncle as target practice.”
To Kairo’s surprise, West’s scowl softened and a hint of a smile perked up one corner of his mouth. It wasn’t hard to warm to Alexei. The young man was full of boundless energy and mischief. Of course, he was also deadly, ruthless, and scary when he wanted to be, but there was zero doubt in his mind that Alexei would keep Soren and West safe.
“What about you, K? Any plans yet?” Will inquired and Kairo inwardly flinched, wishing the sweet man had forgotten about him completely.
“Back to see my mom, actually,” he admitted with a sigh.
“Where’s that?”
“She’s still in Boston, right?” Ed supplied.
Kairo shook his head. “She’s teaching at the University of Cambridge right now. They’ve got her on loan or something for the next few years.”
“You don’t sound excited…” the doctor hedged cautiously.
Kairo shrugged and forced a grin he didn’t feel. “My last memories of the UK aren’t the best, so I can’t say I’m all that eager to return. And my mom wishes I’d devoted my life to academia rather than what I’m doing now.”
That was a fucking understatement. Dr. Janet Jones was the foremost expert on Egyptology and no matter how many years passed, she still went out of her way to express her disappointment that her only son failed to follow in her footsteps. Her favorite argument was that it was part of his heritage, but she didn’t care to recall that he was more than a bunch of people who had been dead for millennia.
“Should I ask what she thinks you do now?”
Okay, so that brought about a much bigger grin. “IT specialist.”
Will tipped his head into Charlie’s shoulder and groaned loudly while several people around the table laughed.
The trip to see his mom wouldn’t be so bad once she got her needling and harping out of the way. It would be nice to kick back and relax for a bit. And if he got bored, it wouldn’t be hard to jump onto a plane and head off to somewhere more interesting.