Chapter 28
Nathan punched in the number, waited anxiously to hear the voice of one of the men he respected the most in the whole world. Still, a weird sense of déjà vu presented the moment he heard the familiar voice.
“Dawson.”
“Hi, Cole. I was given your number by Dare Logan, in Ontario. Out in Jack’s Bay. I…”
“How the hell is he? Everyone okay?” The voice was definitely on the cheerful side but there was a hard query in it, too. As there should be. Dare and Abby were family to the man.
“Everything’s fine. They’re well.”
Relief flowed through the man’s voice. “Well, that’s just fine. You a friend of Dare’s?”
“Yeah. I knew him years ago, and I’ve just come back to Jack’s Bay. And…”
But Cole cut him off. “No need to explain, friend. You got my personal cell, and I only give that to those I trust. So if Dare gave you this number, we’re good. What’s on your mind? What can I do for you?”
“Cole, um, Sir. You might remember me. Or…not.” Damn, he was sounding like an imbecile. “Sir. It’s Nathan.” Shit, he hoped the man wasn’t irritated at his presumptuous call. He struggled to get his last name out. “Hero. Nathan Hero.”
He heard the immediate uptick in the man’s voice. “Hero? Damn it all. Intrepid?”
The pleasure he felt at hearing the nickname his fellow Spec Ops soldiers had given him rumbled through him. “It’s me, Sir. I’m back home, in Jack’s Bay, and looking for work.”
“Well. Good to hear from you, man. So damn good, I can’t say. How the hell have you been?”
Nathan’s frame relaxed, as his mood warmed. Things hadn’t exactly been going his way for a long time now, but this, this connection…had turned out well. So far.
Still. He really didn’t want to get into it, especially not with Dark Storm.
Now came the tricky part. The part he hated. But he still needed to pay his bills, and take care not only of himself, but a little, warm, lump of fur.
He snorted. More like a warm, eatin’ and shittin’ lump of fur.
“I’m well, Sir. I trust you are, too. As to the work, Dare’s got something for me, but not until later.”
He appreciated that Dark Storm didn’t belabor the topic. The man had always been savvy that way. Knew when to poke, when not to.
“Intrepid, you got family? Dependents?”
“Family?” Then he realized what the man was asking. “Um…a dog, Sir. Well, a puppy, really.”
“That’s family. Listen, soldier.”
The sounds of horses whinnying in the background rose, along with men yelling. Nathan could practically see the BC sun baking the ranch, the stallions flying around the corrals, being worked.
“There’s no work now. But if nothing pops on your end in the next few, there’s an empty bed here in the bunkhouse. You’re welcome to come out for board, and bunk too, of course. Can’t pay you anything, but if a full belly for you and your dog fit the bill, the whole Dawson Ridges menagerie are here, waiting. That’s me and my woman, Tabitha, plus the rest of the family, and our hands. Anything for former Delta North. You served your country well, Son.”
And suddenly, he was overwhelmed. At this unexpected praise, something he hadn’t heard in so long.
Dark Storm was tossing him a lifeline. He knew the man meant it. Their leader had been a breed, all on his own. Hell. All the Delta North team had been special.
Yet, with the out he now had, he realized one other thing, suddenly.
He didn’t want to move to B.C.
Though if he needed to, or changed his mind, there was a friend—a solid friend—on the other side of the country.
“That’s a generous offer, Sir. I hope to not have to take you up on it. There’s…well, there’s stuff here…”
Cole interjected. “None of that Sir stuff. Cole, Dawson, or ‘Hey you’ works equally fine. As to ‘stuff’…there usually is.” He chuckled. “We can’t see straight once they get their hooks into us.”
Yet, his voice was warm. A man that obviously loved the hooks he had in him. “Listen, I’ve got to run. Give Dare a whap on the ass for me, tell him to smarten up. And kiss Abby for me. Tell her she’s got to get her standards up. Way up. Quit slumming.”
“I will.”
“Later, Nathan. Keep in touch.”
“Yes, Si…um, sure, Cole. And…thank you.”
“No thanks needed. I’m the one thanking you. Never forget that, Intrepid. Talk soon.”
Nathan disconnected the call, tucked the wonder deep down in his heart that he’d connected with his old leader. A good moment.
Well. Back to real life.
He went to the bedroom, saw the little tan ball curled in the middle of the bed, eyes closed, little back rising up and down. Yep. An eating, shittin’, pissin’ and quite regularly, a fartin’ machine.
Drool too.
He twisted his body into the weirdest shape he could to allow for him to lay on the sliver of space the tan ball had allowed him, while still getting his weary frame onto the ancient bed.
He closed his eyes, laid his hand on the pup’s backside, and fell asleep.