Page 61 of Boomer
The woman he’d have died for, who he’d handled wrong, was now completely out of his reach. His bloody fault.
When he found out he was being assigned here, he thought there might be a second chance. A moment to tell her he’d made a mistake not letting her in. Not letting her see a man who wasn’t exactly whole.
But Taylor only had eyes for one special operator, and it wasn’t him. She’d leaned toward that bruised and bloodied SEAL earlier, cleaning his face with the kind of reverent tenderness that made Bash’s jaw tick.Mein Hübscher Sprengmeister, she’d said. His eyes stung, and it wasn’t the leftover smoke.
Jesus Christ.
He’d watched the others fall apart around them. Skull’s crude jokes. Breakneck’s wheezing laughter. Kodiak with the occasional medical nudge. But Taylor didn’t even blink. She was locked in on Boomer. Like the rest of the world didn’t even register.
Boomer let her. No deflection. No jokes. Just…open.
Likeheshould have been.
Boomer breached reinforced doors with less effort than it took him to meet her eyes. It was easy to see the same kinds of things in Boomer that he knew lurked in himself. Maybe that was why he’d kept the man at a distance.
SBS were gung-ho, but they weren’t like Navy SEALs. When their day was done, they went home. The training was intense, but the brotherhood wasn’t a blood oath. It was a job.
He would have to admit, he envied that.
The worst part? She’d bent down. Set her hand to Bash’s chest in a sisterly way, murmuring,“I’m so thankful you're okay.”
Boomer, the fucker, didn’t even react. Not even to gloat. Damn, it was hard as hell not to give the man respect. Whichmeant…he was already irrelevant. Outplayed. Outgunned. Out-loved.
His hands tightened on the edge of a warped shipping crate, knuckles white against rusted steel.
“Didn’t the EMT, your medic, and mine say to rest?” Boomer’s voice was lower than usual, dusk-thick and bone-tired.
Bash rasped, his voice still raw. “I’ll rest when I’m dead.” He almost said,Dixie, but caught himself. Instead, he added simply, “Mate.”
The word sat between them. Not a challenge. Not a peace treaty. Something else.
The yank didn’t answer at first. Just moved beside him, shoulder to shoulder, his gaze tracking the same horizon.
Boomer cleared his throat. “The other day, in the kitchen, what I said…I went too far. The patriotism. The rivalry. The ghosts behind both of our flags.” Then quieter. “Look… I’m sorry.”
Bash just stared at the sea, voice low and scraped. “Why? It’s true.”
Boomer shook his head. “Not exactly.” He took a long breath, scanning the wreckage. “Your ancestors were one of the most powerful empires on the planet. Mine conquered a new world…hell…ya’ll conqueredtheworld. You built it with the basics. Ships. Grit. Courage. When the Nazis came to power, you and France held the line.” He looked at Bash, and damn if it wasn’t hard not to like the guy. “You held hard while they bombed the shit out of you.”
Bash gave a short laugh, but it came out broken. “Ha. My family got rich rebuilding England.”
Boomer shook his head. “Truth be told, we were itching for a reason to join that war. Waiting for it. When we did, we stood side by side, and we ended it.”
Bash didn’t answer right away. Just nodded. Slow. Like something old and heavy was finally settling in his chest.
“Fucking yanks,” he said at last. No venom in it. “We were praying for you to come in. Our backs were against the wall. What was your worst bloody day became our best bloody day.”
Bash thought of the graves. The silence after a breach. The cost no one could repay. Boomer’s gaze was solemn, and even though that war was in the distant past, what it stood for rang down through the years into each one of them.
“I expected my guys to come for me. But not you. I didn’t expectyouto come for me. Not after all the crap I’ve slung your way.” His voice dropped. He shifted because there was a hollowness inside him that even his team couldn’t fill. He loved the guys, but…
Boomer didn’t move. “We don’t discriminate between our brothers. Special forces. Allies. Military complements. It’s all part and parcel of the bigger picture.” His jaw clenched. “You guys helped us in Afghanistan. Saved our asses more than once.” He kicked at a dented steel sheet, dislodging a charred binder wedged beneath it. “Coming for you wasn’t just duty.” Boomer crouched to retrieve the half-burned object, flipping it open with practiced care. “It was brotherhood.” He looked up, green eyes unwavering, and chuckled. “I get to bust your chops about it.”
Goddamn this guy.
Bash looked away, but there was no edge to it now. Just something aching in his chest. Maybe, fucking maybe, this was the right man for Taylor.
He exhaled hard. “I-um…come from wealth, but you probably already guessed that.”
