Page 18 of Love and Chaos

“Had?”

Soren’s smile became a little crooked, and he shrugged. “The CIA recruited me because of my linguistic skills. When I joined them, I spoke six languages fluently, all of them Eastern European and Middle Eastern. After some training, they decided they wanted to make me a field agent but were worried about my family ties. A few weeks before I was supposed to join my team overseas, there was a car accident in my hometown. They tossed my wallet into the wreckage along with the dead body. I didn’t know what they’d done until two years later. My family had already mourned my supposed death and moved on.”

“Are you shitting me? Weren’t you pissed?” Alexei shouted, his face flushing.

“Some. Maybe not as much as I should have been. I wasn’t particularly close to my family, and this way, they weren’t worried about what I was doing with my life. I could focus on my job. Plus, if someone dangerous tried to trace to my birth identity, they would hit a dead end. My family was safe from the people I was dealing with.”

Alexei frowned, not seeming appeased at all. “True, but you were now disposable. There was no one who would look for you if you disappeared, no one to demand justice for you.”

“Yeah, but that’s how the Company looks at all its agents. We’re all disposable. The only thing that matters is the job.”

“Fuck that shit,” Alexei snarled. His hands tightened on Soren almost to the point of bruising. “You’re mine now. Not disposable at all. And I will fight Hell itself to keep you safe.”

Soren’s grin was a big, beautiful thing as it spread across his face, sending Alexei’s heart soaring.

“No one is ever going to separate us, Angel. It’s us against the world.”

“Well, us and our little family of mercenary misfits. I think Charlie, Kairo, Ed, and West would fight pretty hard for you too.”

Soren lifted his eyebrow. “Even Gabriel and Justin?”

“Of course!”

“Ha! Now I’m calling bullshit!” Soren jumped up, pulled Alexei to his feet, and tossed the smaller man over his shoulder. Alexei squealed, his wild cackles trailing after them as Soren carried him up to their bedroom.

They might have each lost the family that raised them, but they’d found something even better—a crazy family of mercenaries, hackers, and assassins who would go to the ends of the earth to keep them safe and happy. No one could ask for more.

REVENGE: A CHARLIE AND WILL SHORT STORY

The door slammed shut, followed by stomping feet. Charlie’s brow furrowed as he walked out of the kitchen while drying his hands on a blue and white dish towel. He’d just finished washing up the few dishes they’d used for breakfast while Will had taken Oscar for his morning walk.

Oscar was their new orange tabby cat. Recently, they’d started spending six months in Gaoxing and six months in Paris each year. As part of their desire to grow more established as a couple, Will had talked him into getting a pet. Charlie had thought it would be a dog. What he’d not realized until he was already in love with Will was that this man was a cat guy.

Luckily, Oscar turned out to be more of a dog than a cat in a lot of ways. He was friendly, outgoing, loved to play fetch with his little gray mouse, and demanded daily walks on a harness and leash. The cat might have had only a few of working brain cells in its entire almost-empty head, but he was extremely lovable. But the most important thing was that Will adored him.

The good doctor had spent too many years moving around and had never felt secure enough in his situation to allow a pet into his life. He hadn’t wanted to worry about uprooting it or, worse, leaving it behind when he left for another job. But things were steady between the two of them, so he’d given in and gotten the cat he’d longed for.

As Charlie strode into the living room of their Paris apartment, he spotted Will leaving the foyer with Oscar clutched to his chest and a scowl digging deep lines in his face.

“Baby, what’s wrong? Is Oscar okay?” Charlie asked, trying to decide whether he should pry the cat out of his arms before he wrapped Will up in a hug. The cat seemed fine as he stared up at Charlie with his big yellow eyes, a placid expression on its furry face as if it didn’t mind being held in a death grip.

“A giant asshole insulted Oscar! His honor has been impugned! His intelligence maligned! Fucking American tourists!” Will shouted only to lift Oscar up to his face and rub his lips against the top of the cat’s head as if trying to either soothe Oscar’s so-called wounded pride or apologize for losing his temper.

Charlie took a moment to find the right words. Both he and Will had more than once mocked the dimness of Oscar’s bulb, but they were allowed as Oscar’s loving guardians. A stranger doing that was a step across the line. Charlie also wisely sidestepped the entire “American tourists” slur, choosing not the remind Will that they were also Americans.

Instead, he slid an arm around Will’s tense shoulders and guided him and the cat to the sofa. When they were settled and Will’s arms loosened enough to allow Oscar to climb free and headbutt Charlie, he prodded. “Why don’t you tell me what happened?”

“We went for our normal walk. We said hello to Madame Allard as we went by her shop. Oscar hopped up on that stone wall he likes and made his little noises at some finches. Then we made a pass at the park. At that one bench under the oak—you know the one⁠—”

Charlie nodded. “The one where I kissed you senseless, and the cops had to get us to move along before we did something that would make even the French blush.”

Will gave him a look, but it wasn’t too angry. Just a mild warning, which meant he was calming. “Anyway, Oscar was laying on it and batting at his tail through the wooden slats, being adorable. While I was taking his picture, some stupid guy walked over and announced—as if I gave a shit about his opinion—that you weren’t supposed to put cats on leashes. I was polite.”

Charlie bit down hard on his tongue. He could imagine what Will’s “polite” was like when someone was talking about his baby.

“I told him that Oscar was just fine on his leash and that he loved going for his daily walks. We’d trained him to walk on a leash so he could get regular exercise and stimulation outside.”

Okay, that didn’t sound too bad.