Page 105 of The Team

And maybe that was a sign of growth; maybe it was a sign of who he was now. The Tao that was in Milvus. The Tao that had nothing to hide. It was a lot to get his head around.

He changed quickly and ran a comb through his hair.

“Is this good enough?” Jun-mei asked as she looked in the mirror, flattening her hands down her dress. It was a pretty yellow thing with thin straps, and holy hell, if she didn’t look stunning.

Tao came to stand behind her, his hands on her narrow waist. He pressed a soft kiss to the top of her shoulder. “You take my breath away,” he murmured. “I cannot wait to come back to our room later.” He kissed her shoulder again, then her neck. “And I can take this dress off you.”

She giggled, her cheeks flushing the prettiest pink, and she turned around so she could swat him. “Have you not had enough of me?”

He pulled her close and kissed down her long neck to her creamy shoulder. “Never.”

She laughed and pulled away, leaning up on her toes to peck his lips. “We have guests. We mustn’t be rude in Yunho and Lucas’s house. Dinner first, and you can have as much of me as you want later.”

Tao sighed, but he knew she was right. “Okay,” he relented. “Let’s go.” He took her hand and laced their fingers as they went downstairs and made their way to the kitchen.

Yunho, Hanyu, and Asher were discussing the seafood,somewhat loudly, while Jay requested Jun-mei help him with the salads, and Rhett gave Tao a grimace. “I’m gonna leave that to them,” he whispered, sneaking out the door.

Great idea.

Tao joined him at the large patio table where Harry was sitting with Lucas, facing the pastel sunset. Rhett grabbed some beers and handed them around, then fell into a chair with a sigh.

“Kinda deceiving, huh?” Rhett said. “How the world can look so beautiful and peaceful.”

Tao agreed with him because it was deceiving that it could look so peaceful and serene when, in reality, darkness and turmoil lurked in every corner.

But Harry studied him for a long few seconds, his brow furrowed. “That’s not good.”

Rhett shot him a look. “What’s not good?”

Harry took a long pull of his beer and slid his bottle onto the table. “When someone in our game starts with the introspective shit, it’s bad.”

Lucas sighed. “It speaks of disillusionment and cynicism of your purpose, Captain. You’re questioning what you do.”

Rhett scoffed. “I just thought the sunset was pretty.” But then his brow furrowed, and he scratched at the label on his beer bottle.

“Out with it, Ouston,” Harry said.

Rhett let out a sigh, and when he looked up, his gaze went straight to Harry’s. “You were right. Not what you said just now, though maybe you’re right about that too, I dunno.”

Everyone waited for him to gather his thoughts.

“In the chopper the day we met,” Rhett said. “Whenyou first learned of the Milvus Division. You said that kind of power wasn’t good, that no good would ever come of it.”

Harry nodded. “Correct.”

Rhett nodded before taking another sip of his beer. “We got sold out by one of the Milvus HQ; and a good man on my team died because of that, and another is fucked up for life. You got sold out byourgovernment. Yin here got sold out by his in South Sudan. Someone’s always gonna want their payday, be it for information, money, weapons, war. Revenge.” He shook his head. “We were supposed to be above the bureaucracy, the politics. But if I’d have followed all instructions, my entire team would be dead. If I hadn’t had Yunho’s intel, we’d all be dead. I shouldn’t have to look my director dead in the eye and tell him how shit’s gonna go down. I shouldn’t have to disobey orders or threaten bodily harm to do the right thing.” He finished with another sigh. “I dunno. Maybe disillusioned is right.”

“For what it’s worth,” Tao added, “I’m glad you stood up to him. I’ll stand with a captain who chooses right over wrong all day long.” Then he smiled at Rhett. “Truthfully, the first time you told Director King you were doing your fucking job, I thought it was over for all of us.”

Rhett snorted and tapped his beer bottle to Tao’s. “When he said the mission needed to be a success by any means necessary, I don’t think he thought that meant disobeying his orders.”

Lucas nodded thoughtfully. “So, what are you saying? You want to go lone wolf like Harry was? To shirk off the political strings, so to speak?”

Rhett baulked. “Solo? No. I couldn’t. I need my team. All of us.” That made Tao smile. “But we are supposed tobe kites, right? That was our original purpose. Now it seems we have strings from every government.”

Yunho put a large tray of fresh seafood into the centre of the table. “For what it’s worth, Captain, I think there are some changes being implemented at Milvus council.”

“What kind of changes?” Rhett asked.

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