Page 30 of Beehives and Broken Heroes

“Yeah, he came for dinner at my aunt’s house back in December.”

Pete’s gaze laughed at Brandon again. “Andy went to your aunt’s house, did he?”

Allie grinned. “My brother-in-law’s ego was off the scale for weeks after the way Andy went on about his cooking.”

“Andy’s codename is the Pitbull.”

She laughed. “Pitbull? That’s hilarious.”

“You’ll have to tell me more about his visit,” Pete said.

Brandon cleared his throat and, feeling supremely uncomfortable, changed the subject. “We also have Chris Spencer—he’s Maverick—and Joseph Murphy is Old Blue Eyes.”

Allie scrunched her nose. “Because he like Frank Sinatra or because he has blue eyes?”

Pete grinned at him, knowing exactly why he’d changed the subject. “Both.”

“So, just the five of you?” Allie asked.

Both Brandon and Pete nodded.

“You do this every year?” She glanced back and forth between the two of them.

“Yep,” Brandon said.

She turned toward him in her seat, the old leather of the bench squeaking as she did. “And you win every time?”

“Your man is a machine,” Pete said.

She didn’t argue with him, didn’t say a word, just stared at Brandon. And Brandon felt her stare all the way through. She stared as though she were seeing him for the first time. Brandon rolled his shoulders forward at her scrutiny. He’d been held captive before and hadn’t felt this nervous under their glares. He took a drink from his coffee—not because he wanted to hide or anything . . .

“So, how did this all start?” Allie asked.

Brandon and Pete locked gazes. Of course she’d ask that. Brandon hated talking about it. But doing it and the reason why they did it were part of the reasons Maryanne had left him. She hated it. She hated that he was always on his guard. Couldn’t believe that there was a good reason for it. And on top of that, she hated what he did for the military—hated that he would up and leave without saying goodbye, often in the middle of the night, and the necessity for secrets.

He couldn’t tell Allie everything, but he could tell her why they’d started the game. He could do better and be more transparent. “When we started all this, we were all green M.P.s. Major Braddock—”

“Our boss at the time,” Pete added, helpfully.

“Was killed by one of the men he put away,” Brandon said.

Allie’s blueberry eyes went wide. “What? How? Did the guy who killed him escape?”

Both Brandon and Pete shook their heads.

“Finished his time and was released,” Brandon said.

“First thing he did was find Jackson.” Pete grabbed his water and took a gulp. “The major never saw him coming.”

The group went quiet as Allie digested the new information.

“So, this is what,” Allie asked, “a way to help you stay sharp?”

“It started that way,” Brandon said.

Pete laughed. “Now it’s morphed into something else.”

“Mostly just a game.” Brandon hoped Pete would leave it at that, but no such luck.