Chapter Seven

“ D amn that was gnarly,” Joshua said, tossing his heavy coat onto one of the twin beds in the room he shared with Travis.

The drive back to the lodge had been in silence, the only sound being the tires squelching over snow covered roads as they caravanned along behind Real’s SUV.

Everyone split when they came inside the large lodge nestled in the Colorado mountains just outside of Denver.

Dave went toward the kitchen saying something about making food.

The lodge could sleep twenty-two, or so Joshua had been told, but he and Travis had opted to share a room with twin beds.

“I think…” Travis sputtered and then suddenly ran past him and disappeared into the bathroom.

Joshua heard his boyfriend throwing up and he was inside the small bathroom in seconds. Pressing a hand gently against Travis’s back, Joshua handed the shuddering boy several tissues from a box sitting on the counter.

Travis pressed the white paper to his mouth, flushed the toilet and closed the lid before he slumped down on the seat with his eyes closed.

Joshua left the room and snatched up a complimentary water bottle from the desk near the door. He brought the water back to Travis, who rinsed and spit and then guzzled the rest down.

“Sorry,” Travis flushed with embarrassment.

“Don’t be. You have nothing to be sorry about.”

A knock on the outer door interrupted them and in another moment, Gage’s large frame filled the bathroom doorway.

“Shit.” Gage muttered and taking one look at his younger brother, he wrapped an arm around Travis and helped him up and out into the other room. Gage pushed Travis to sit on one of the beds.

His brother dealt with PTSD from a fucked-up childhood. Gaining custody of Travis had gone a long way to help with the boy’s past, but it hadn’t erased all of the damage done by their parents.

Joshua trailed after them, and Gage shot the boy a nod. “Can you give us a few minutes?”

“Sure,” Joshua smiled at Travis and then left the room.

Before Joshua could get the door shut, Hassle darted inside. Mason and Gage’s two-and-a-half-year-old shih tzu bolted across the bedroom and jumped up on the bed.

Travis held the wiggling dog in his arms and Hassle licked the boy’s face.

Joshua smiled, shutting the door behind him and found his brother waiting in the hallway.

“You okay?” Seven asked.

“Yup,” he drawled. “Travis is worse than me.”

“You have your own demons,” his brother said.

“I know.” Joshua sighed. “But Travis processes things differently than I do.”

“That doesn’t take away the abuse you went through.”

“No abuse today,” Joshua said with a small smile.

“I know that, but violence can trigger past trauma,” Seven said, placing a warm hand on his brother’s shoulder.

Joshua stepped into Seven’s embrace and let the man hold him. Seven seemed to need that, and in truth, so did Joshua.

“I heard the gunshot from outside,” Joshua admitted, having gotten out of the vehicle the minute his brother had entered the Target store along with Real and Stone.

Seven nodded and guided Joshua into a nearby room that Seven and his husband Hunter were using.

Joshua sat on the king-sized bed, and Seven dropped to sit down beside him.

“Thank God Real got to Azrael.”

“And nobody got dead,” Seven agreed.

Joshua gazed down at his hands and found them shaking slightly.

“That’s right,” Joshua murmured. “Everyone lived. I supposed I’ll have to get used to that when I join the navy.”

“I want to talk with you about that.”

“Oh here we go.” Joshua jumped up—anger quick and hot, fists clenched.

“Calm down,” Seven said, leaning back with his hands flat to the mattress. “Dave is opening a training facility here in Colorado.”

The words caught Joshua off guard, and he stared at his brother. “What kind of training facility?”

“One I think will be right up your alley. It’ll include young adults from Pegasus, Phoenix, Erebus, and perhaps some from Genesis as well.”

Seven never kept anything from Joshua. His brother wanted to be treated as an adult. So when Joshua had turned eighteen, Seven had sat his brother down. It was during that conversation that Seven listed out the specialty teams and pointed out the dangers of knowing about any of them or what they did.

“You’ve got to trust me,” Joshua had said.

“I do trust you, but you need to know that knowing this information can get you killed,” Seven responded, not mincing his words.

“Crossing the street can get me killed,” Joshua countered.

Seven grinned. “Now you just sound like Hunter.”

“Don’t worry so much bro, you both are rubbing off on me.”

Joshua had been right that day and looking at his younger brother now—anger rippling Joshua’s tall, muscled frame—made Seven smile.

“Are you trying to get me to join this new facility instead of the Navy?” Joshua squinted at him, heat glinting in his eyes.

“You can’t do both.” Seven shrugged and then sighed. “Well, I guess maybe you can…perhaps join the Navy first and then do the training or vice versa.”

“Can I think about it?” Joshua probed, wondering if this was another way for his brother to control him and keep him from joining the military. “At least give me some time.”

“Take all the time you need,” Seven said.