Cole: The Wounded Sons, Leah Sharelle [the reading list .TXT] 📗

an hour to get your gear in order and ring your women before we leave. We are catching a ride to Darwin, then straight to Africa.”

“Official or under the table?” Rafe enquired, his phone in his hand.

“Totally black, no contact, no record.”

“So, no help either,” Bastian surmised correctly. I hated these kinds of covert missions. Not that we couldn’t handle them, but they were getting annoying. The brigadier and major general busted our arses not an hour ago, practically putting us under the microscope for what he called our privileged and favoured treatment, and yet who gets called up to go under the radar? Fucking Team FIVE. Again.

“Five weeks, taking out some militia causing civil unrest, and generally pissing off the peacemakers.” With a roll of his eyes, Gabe picked up his laptop and headed for the bathroom.

“If I am going to tell Devon we might have to postpone the wedding, I’d better do it on Skype. That way, I can look at her while she calls me every name under the sun,” he muttered, disappearing into the bathroom.

The rest of the team dispersed to various corners of the room to make their calls, Kodah stalking out of the barracks slamming the door behind him.

“We’ve got trouble brewing, Ghost,” Rafe said quietly, looking at the door with a foreboding expression. My gut was telling me Rafe was correct in making that assumption, but there was more than just trouble brewing with Deke, something worse.

“Let’s not worry about something that may not happen, mate, just what is going on now.” Grabbing my phone off my bunk, I swiped it open and found my Temptress in my contacts. Making the first call to her to inform her of a mission was not going to be fun; while I was used to shipping off to war-ravaged parts of the world, Oaklee was yet to experience a deployment as my girlfriend, and that’s what was making me nervous.

How was she going to cope in my absence?

Will it trigger a setback in her eating disorder?

That was my biggest concern, that and my father.

Putting the phone to my ear, I listened as it rang three times. Then the sweetest voice in the world hit my ears.

“Hey, honey. I miss you.”

And just like that, there was light again.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

OAKLEE

“I’m telling you, Thayer, he knows!” I whisper yelled into the phone.

“How does he know? Did he say something to you?” Thayer asked, in the background I could hear the Eagles playing. Thayer was a throwback; she loved old school music, doing her washing at laundry mats, eight-track tapes … and, of course, bikers.

“Well, not out loud, but I know he knows something Thay. He looks at me all the time, and his scowl is scarier than normal.”

I was sitting in the breakroom at the bookstore, and my most reliable worker was looking after the customers, which there was a steady stream of thanks to the new Willow Rose release. Readers have been filtering in all day to purchase a copy of Love Gone Wrong, as well as hoping for a glimpse of Willow herself. Unfortunately for them, my boss liked to keep a low profile the majority of the time, only making an appearance at scheduled signings.

“If his scowl is anything like your hunky boyfriend’s, then I understand your fear,” Thayer joked. “But, babes, you do have a solution, you know, like telling Creed.”

“Yes, Thayer, I am aware; Cole will tell him when he gets back. Creed and Memphis would already know by now, but Cole got called up and pushed that conversation back,” I explained again for the hundredth time.

A low growl came over the line, followed by a string of colourful and Thayer-inspired curses. “Hell’s bells Oaks, that is bullshit! You are grown-ups, aren’t ya? I don’t get why Cole is so worried about his father’s opinion on this.” Thayer’s voice reaching a record level of screeching as she let her view on the matter known. Again.

“We don’t have the same type of parents as Cole does, Thay,” I replied, trying to placate and steer her off one of her rants. That wasn’t what I needed right at that moment. “His father actually cares about his sons and daughter, not something either of us is accustomed to or understand.”

Sighing, Thayer hummed in agreement. “I get that, I do. And in a way, I understand Cole wants to speak to his father in person. But Oaks, I won’t lie to you, I don’t like it, and I am worried about you.”

“Why?”

“Oh, come off it, Oaklee,” Thayer scoffed, “Cole has been gone only two weeks and already I have noticed a weight loss on you. Him leaving you with everything up in the air, dealing with it on your own, what are you going to be like when his deployment is up? Hell! What if he has to stay longer? You did say that was a possibility.”

Trust Thayer to hit the nail on the head, to see the bigger picture, and generally be a pain in my arse.

Tossing a scowl at the uneaten sandwich, I reached for the water bottle and chugged down half of it. Stalling before answering my friend and filling my stomach to get rid of the hunger cramps.

“Don’t think you are fooling me, Oaklee Jane Banks,” Thayer growled, working herself up into lecture mode. “I know you better than anyone, so don’t try and hide your fear from me. I also know that somewhere there is an uneaten lunch, and instead, you are filling up on water.”

Immediately, I looked around for either a hidden camera or Thayer herself.

“Damn it, Thayer, will you get out of my head!” I seethed, annoyed at her and myself. Her for seeing too much and me for being so bloody transparent.

“I will if you will!” she shouted back at me, her voice almost at shrill volume.

“This is not the way to deal with your problems, Oaks, and you know that. Your health isn’t something