Only Her (A K2 Team Novel)(4)

Cody crammed the cell phone back into his pocket. He got the sub-message. We hope you’re not still drinking. If he answered his father before he managed to cool off, he’d say something he’d regret. He’d come late to his college professor parents, and they had never quite known what to do with him. Academia was their life, and for that reason, along with not wishing to add to the world’s population, they’d elected not to have children. He could just imagine their surprise when at forty-two, his mother had found out she was pregnant.

Someday, he’d tell his father that he hated the nickname Sonny Boy. And someday, he would make them proud of him. That happening had been set back at least ten years when the professors had shown up unannounced a few months before and found him drunk out of his stinking mind. They were one-glass-a-day wine drinkers, anti-war, anti-killing anyone for any reason. That his country considered him a hero for his high kill count embarrassed them.

After witnessing his slurring, they had tried to convince him to return home where they could get him help. The dogs, they’d said, could be taken to a no-kill shelter since his mother couldn’t tolerate animal hair. To keep from lashing out at the two people in the world he loved but didn’t understand, he’d called on the training and discipline he’d learned as a SEAL sniper and had calmly asked them to leave him alone. What they hadn’t understood and still didn’t was that the dogs gave him a reason to face another day and another day after that.

A few weeks after his parents had visited, his former commander, Logan Kincaid, had shown up unexpectedly. The next thing Cody knew, he was at a secret location learning all about the Sealion, a stealth boat that had only been whispered about among the SEAL teams. Soon after, he’d participated in a K2 mission and hadn’t touched a drop of liquor during the operation.

Since then, he’d cut out drinking during the day. Although he’d tried to make it through the nights without the numbing effects of alcohol, the nightmares had driven him back to the scotch bottle. Yet last night, he’d managed a few hours without the dreams. Well, he’d dreamed, but it had been of her, his neighbor with no name. He’d woken up with a massive hard-on, and he’d take that over the nightmares any day.

He pulled into the K2 parking lot at the same time as Ryan O’Connor, the team’s medic. The last time he’d seen Doc had been three months before in Helsinki when they’d gotten a defector and his family out of Russia using the Sealion.

“Heard you’re getting married,” he said, bumping Ryan’s shoulder hard enough to send the man sideways. “And I thought I was crazy.”

His friend came right back at him. “You are a crazy son of a bitch.”

Fully expecting it, he braced his body against the hard hit. “Oomph.”

Ryan laughed. “I heard that. You’ve gone soft, old man.”

It hadn’t been that long ago when his body wouldn’t have given way, and he sure as hell wouldn’t have made a girly sound. Although any civilian looking at him would think him in excellent condition, he’d gotten lax on his training regimen and wasn’t in the fighting form that was critical to their job. Time to get back in shape, in more ways than one.

If he didn’t get his head screwed on straight, Kincaid wouldn’t fire him, but he would ground him and send him to a head doctor. Cody knew this because the boss had been up front with him about his concerns. He appreciated the man’s honesty, but Cody would quit before reliving his nightmares with a shrink. That meant he had to get a grip because his sobriety depended on keeping the job and being back with his teammates.

After he spent a half hour with Maria Buchanan, Kincaid’s sister and team member Jake Buchanan’s wife, getting all his new hire paperwork in order, Maria took him on a tour of the facilities. He was impressed with what his former commander had achieved. K2 Special Services was a state-of-the-art operation, and Cody itched to be included as a valued member of the team. Because Kincaid knew he’d gone a little crazy—more crazy than normal—he’d have to prove he had his act together. He just wished that was actually true.

“Everything’s going to work out,” Maria said, placing a gentle hand on his arm.

How much had she heard about him? His cheeks heated, and Cody glanced away, pretending to study the open war room where support staff was gathered around Jamie Turner, known as Saint to the team because he didn’t drink, cuss, or brag about his conquests. He’d heard Saint had recently gotten married. What was with all the love crap going on with his teammates?