Page 141 of Caged

“Hey, Chase.” I said, lowering to a knee.

“What happened to your face?” He scrunched up his nose.

Our faces still had plenty of color, but at least we looked better than we had a few days ago.

“Chase!” Beth scolded him.

“It’s okay, Beth, I’m sure it’s a bit of a shock,” Cate said. She used my shoulder for support as she lowered to a knee. “We got in a fight with some bad guys.”

“Did you win?” he asked, stepping closer so he could examine our cuts and bruises.

I looked up at my dad. We, as in Cate and I hadn’t, but we, as in SSI, had. I didn’t think Chase would appreciate the distinction so I said, “We did, with help from your Uncle John and everyone else.”

“Including my dad?”

It took a hot second for me to remember he’d started calling Doug dad, even though Doug and Beth weren’t married yet. They’d marry eventually, and when they did Doug wouldsign the adoption papers before the ink on the marriage certificate dried.

Doug sent Chase to hang out with Beth and the other spouses at Meg’s desk.

“So, you two are finally an item?” AJ asked Cate.

Cate hesitated, but I didn’t. “Yes.” It wasn’t like they didn’t already know.

But I understood why. She was still nervous they’d judge her for having a workplace romance.Who can blame her after what Gavin put her through?Sooner or later she’d realize I wasn’t Gavin, and let go of her fear. I just had to be patient.

“You’ve built an impressive business here, John,” General Maxwell said as they came back downstairs.

“Thank you. I’ve had a lot of help.” My father indicated the team.

“Having the local LEOs help cover the cost of the training range helped too,” Jamie added. “We’re looking forward to the day it opens.”

“How much longer?” General Maxwell asked.

“If everything goes according to plan, it should be fully operational in two months,” Dad answered.

“You’ll have to come back and see it,” Cate said. Her tone hinting she didn’t expect him to come back so soon.

“That I do. Maybe for your birthday.”

“Which is?” I asked, looking down at Cate.

“Dude, you’ve got to step up your game.” Jack said, shaking his head.

“What, unlike you, I can’t read her personnel file.” It was bad I didn’t know her birthday, but in all fairness we’d just gotten together and our courtship wasn’t exactly normal.

“True, true, but still, it looks bad,” Jack said.

I should have waited until we were alone to ask her.

“Cate?” I asked.

“August 14th,” she said, putting me out of my misery. “Yours?”

No one gave her shit for not knowing mine. “July 23rd.”

“Not long after Jamie and Emily’s wedding,” she said.

“Yup.” I popped the p. I put my arm around her shoulders. “You’ll get to meet my sister, Madi. I think you’ll like her.” I didn’t bother asking if Cate was coming to the wedding, trusting she’d be there with me to celebrate.

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