Page 4 of Walking the Bird

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“Ithink Eleni is having an affair.”

Alex felt Zach flinch as the needle scraped his arm, their eyes locking for the first time since he’d sat in his friend’s chair.

Zach checked over his shoulder, relieved to see Kennedy typing away at the keyboard of her computer.

“Your wife? Fuck-hot brunette with killer legs, who survived a kidnapping by a motherfucking terrorist, Eleni?”

Alex sucked in a deep breath as he nodded his head. “Serves me fucking right as I failed her.”

Zach set his gun on the table beside him, wiping the blood and ink from Alex’s arm. He knew this conversation was coming the moment Alex stepped through the door looking like the weight of the world was resting on his shoulders. “Is that why you’ve avoided going home?”

Alex turned his face to the left, hiding the shame he was certain decorated his face. “I can’t face her, man. I fucking failed her…” He trailed off, shoving down the emotion clogging his throat.

Zach hated to see one of his friends in pain, especially Alex. Tossing the left-over ink into the trash, he cleaned his gun and put away his supplies, buying himself time to collect his thoughts on what to say to Alex. There was no way in hell Eleni was being unfaithful, he’d witnessed first-hand the love the two of them had for one another.

“For years I fucked around, sticking my dick in every girl who would let me. Now, when I want to give Eleni a baby, I fucking can’t.”

Zach spun around on Alex, it’d been years since he’d led his team into a mission, but his authoritative nature rose to the surface. “Is that what this is about? You’re hiding from Eleni over a negative pregnancy test? Come on, man. Get it together, asshole. Go home to her, because you sure as shit can't get her pregnant from here.”

Jumping to his feet, “That’s just it, LT. What if I’ve wasted my best sperm on some bitch I can’t even remember? What if the DNA for my children is sitting in some landfill decomposing inside a fucking condom?”

Zach tipped back his head in laughter, “You do realize that’s not how it works, right?”

Alex dropped his head in defeat, “Might as well. She’s given up on me.”

“Funny. You look like Alex Nakos, but the Alex I know never quit anything.” Both men snapped their attention to Kennedy who stood with her arms crossed over her chest, a disappointed look in her eyes. “And definitely not on the woman who owns his balls,” Kennedy added as she pushed off the wall, crossing the room and holding her arms open for Alex.

“Eleni doesn’t want my balls, they’re fucking useless!” Alex shouted in frustration, knocking everything off the counter behind him.

Kennedy was neither impressed nor deterred by his outburst, and she understood more than he knew of the blame he was placing on himself for their lack of children.

“Did Zach ever tell you we had issues getting pregnant with all three of our children?”

Alex shook his head but remained silent as he bent over to clean up the mess his anger created.

“I can tell you, as a woman who’s cried to herself when there was no blue line on the test, Eleni is blaming herself just as much, if not more, than you are for the lack of children.” Kennedy dropped to her knees beside Alex when her encouragement failed to gain a response.

“Zach is right, you know,” Kennedy whispered in his ear, nudging him with her shoulder. “You can’t get her pregnant if you’re not in the same state, at least not without medical intervention.”

Alex lifted his eyes to Kennedy, her heart shattering as his dark brown orbs conveyed the absolute agony filling his heart.

“I heard what you said about Eleni cheating on you. I’m a good listener, even if she is one of my closest friends.”

Alex sat roughly on the wooden floor, his head hitting the glass of the cabinet behind him with a thud. “I went home a few weeks ago, right before you guys left for your weekend away.”

Kennedy moved to the vacant chair beside her, the memory of Zach’s spontaneity in whisking her away for a long sex-filled weekend creating a fire in her core.

“I found her hugging a man I’ve never met before on the steps of her office.”

“And?” Kennedy motioned with her hand for Alex to continue.

“And according to the security tapes, he spent the night at the house.”

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