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Laurie launched into the details. Was it wrong that I felt more at home talking about comic adventures with a ten-year-old kid than I would when I was forced to make small talk? Maybe. But in that moment, with Laurie and Archie beaming up at me, it didn’t matter.
I was gutted when Rachel called time on our chat and encouraged everyone over for cake, which lured the boys from my side. I stuck to my plan, hanging around behind Noah until the massive chocolate cake was cut and served, and we did the whole happy birthday singing thing. I had a slice, complimented Noah’s baking, and edged toward the door.
As I moved, I caught snippets of conversation about old times, new ventures, and plans for the future, and it all felt a world away from my current limbo. Not that I wasn’t happy—nope, I was settled, had a roof over my head, and wasn’t having bad dreams anymore. Yeah, I was a little lonely, particularly since Quinn had married Levi, and they’d moved to their new place. He didn’t need my stringent security. He didn’t want it, but I was still in charge of his team.
His team consisted of me and his best friend, Molly, who maintained the social media side of Quinn’s charitable foundations.
“You’re not leaving, right?”
I stopped dead and faced the man himself, Quinn staring up at me, his lips in a perfect pout, his pink hair soft and fluffy, and his eyes rimmed with kohl.
“I just need to … y’know.”
He shoved at my chest, this itty-bitty man who couldn’t push me if he tried. “You’re escaping the party, and I know it.”
“I just…” What? What could I say about Quinn’s extended family? Just that it washisand not mine, however friendly everyone was, and however much I loved talking to Laurie and Archie. My family was what I’d made when I’d joined the Navy—my parents out of my life. My former team was growing smaller with each death, and my cousin Natalie, more like a sister after my parents had done the whole disowning-because-I-was-queer thing, was dead.
Quinn was about the only person I could call family, but even being with him didn’t make me feel like hanging around.
“Jesus, Con, you look so serious. Go, I’m just teasing,” Quinn announced as he pulled me in for a hug, which I leaned into, complete with back pats.
Quinn was tactile, and I might not be that way inclined, but it felt right with Quinn all happy in my arms. I opened the door, and the sound of the torrential downpour and heavy storm was deafening, with the relentless pounding of the rain on the roof and windows creating a constant roar. I stepped outside when the ground shook.
A screech of wind tore through the air, followed by a crack of thunder so powerful it made the door vibrate.The earth moved with a sudden, terrifying force, a deep, rumbling growl that grew louder, almost like a freight train barreling toward me. The ground beneath my feet began to tremble, then shift, as if the very earth was being torn apart. The noise was deafening—a chaotic mix of crashing rocks, snapping trees, and the relentless roar of water. I felt the vibration through my boots, the earth shuddering and sliding, shifting in a violent, unstoppable wave.
I dropped into a crouch to steady myself.
What the fuck?
Levi shouted behind me, and I glanced back to see him talking fast and low to Micah, both shrugging on coats as others joined us—Scott checking his phone. What had I missed?
“What’s up?” I asked because whatever they had going on might be an excuse to get me out of there and into some action.
“Landslide,” Micah announced.
“Need to check,” Levi muttered, and Micah nodded as if they’d had a complete conversation.
“Flash flood,” Levi added.
I headed straight to the pile of ranch wear in the boot room, snagging the largest coat right from the rack, zipping and buttoning as Micah’s husband, Daniel, and his brothers joined us, Noah not far behind, wearing slickers. It seemed like this was an all-hands-on-deck situation, mainly when Quinn made to follow us outside.
I blocked him. “No fucking way, you need to stay here, Quinn?—”
“Don’t you stop me,” Quinn warned.
The last thing I wanted was for him to put himself in danger, but then again, he had me right alongside him.
“Then you stay right next to me,” I snapped, and he rolled his eyes.
“Okay, listen up,” Levi spoke over both of them. “The second stream broke its banks yesterday.” He gestured toward the looming Wind River mountain range. “We were expecting the storm to hit us again tonight. It’s mostly the west side of the property at risk, but the natural barrier stones from the last landslide have moved. We did what we could today, but they never told us the storm would stick here…” He shook his head and pinched the top of his nose, clearly worried about what to get the rest of us doing.
The place emptied. The only ones staying behind were Chris, Rachel, and the kids. Chris because there was no way he could get up the mountain after a recent operation on his hip, and Rachel only stayed after her husband Scott reminded her that the kids were scared and, oh yes, she was pregnant. Rachel went scarlet, and given the stunned silence from everyone else, this was news to them all.
Micah gasped and went to hug his sister, but she shoved him away.
“No time for that!” she said with an eye roll. “Get out there.”
“I’ll call 911!” Chris called after us.
