The look on Elsie’s face went hard. “It pisses us both off,” she said, but her gaze slid to Theo, like Glen’s had. “But you just spent twelve hours with him, and you didn’t try to kill him once. And you’re here, waiting to see how he is, when you could have gone off to sleep in a hotel. I think maybe… maybe it’s time someone heard this story.”
She sighed and hugged the cat a little closer. “Maybe I should have Josh get one of these,” she mumbled, resting her cheek in his fur.
They were quiet, and Theo didn’t know about the others, but he felt the importance of the story with every moment she paused.
“Sexual assault happens more often in the military than the government wants to admit. Spencer knew this. He used to make the girls in his squadron spar with him and the biggest guys, teach us how to fight dirty, how to make every hit hurt, he used to say. And Spence had fought his way through basic training. By the time we got our wings, nobody fucked with him, and I started to feel invincible, even when we were on other bases where people didn’t know us.”
“Oh no,” Cash murmured. “Elsie—”
She held up a hand. “There were four of them, and I put the hurt on one, and he was down and screaming his head off, which was how Spence heard us. And he put the other three on the ground, and then he stopped. As soon as they couldn’t hurt us anymore, he stopped. Because that’s Spencer. And then he picked me up—like Richard fucking Gere—and got me the fuck out of there.”
She shook her head. “He… he hadn’t gotten there entirely on time. He took me to the doc, held my hand while they did the rape kit, told me stupid fucking jokes all the while. Told me they had to pull one guy’s tooth from my knuckles, and he was having it put on a necklace to remind me that nobody fucked with me and walked away. And then we reported it.” She snorted. “Because we still believed in fairy tales then, right?”
Preston frowned. “What do you mean? Damien, what does she mean? Why would you believe fairy tales if you told the authorities you were attacked? I don’t understand!”
“She means that the authorities don’t always do what they’re supposed to when it comes to sexual assault,” Damien said softly. “She means that sometimes they try to blame the victim, or they don’t believe it happened, or—”
“Or the guy who left his tooth in my knuckles was the son of a prominent senator, and Spencer was going to be court-martialed for assault and battery.”
“Wait—wouldn’t you be tried if it was that guy?” Theo asked, confused.
“Well, yeah,” Glen drawled, anger in his voice, “Unless Spence said he did it when he saw which way the wind was blowing.”
Elsie tapped her nose. “That,” she whispered. “And we had a good JAG defender. The best, really. But when all was said and done, Spencer was in the brig, waiting for the trial, and he was given the choice of a court-martial and probably serving time or submitting his papers and leaving without bennies.” Her voice hardened. “Our lawyer told me those were his options, and I told him to get me two sets of papers. I wasn’t going to bring them to Spence unless I had my own set to fill out.” Her smile twisted. “Josh brought three sets. We sat at the table in one of the conference rooms and filled out our discharge papers together, because it was ugly—so ugly—and we were fucking done.”
“And now we know how you met your boyfriend,” Damien said. “I’d say it was a good story, but it’s awful, and hard, and I’m so glad you all ended up with us.”
Elsie grinned at him through shiny eyes. “Me too. But you all see? I’d die for him. Glen’s blowing it off, but I know there’s a warrant out for his arrest in Podunk County or whatever, and Damien’s probably paying a fine for landing a Black Hawk in a hospital parking lot without permission. Theo needs to see that. He already knows not to listen to a thing Spencer Helmsley says about himself—now he knows you need to listen to everything he doesn’t say.” She gave Theo a watery look. “He’s going to give you hell, you know. You’re going to look at him with your heart in your eyes, and he’s going to run as fast as he can the other way.”
Preston and Cash both snorted.
“You look smart,” Preston said. “You’ll ignore his bullshit and listen to what he needs instead.”
“The thing about pilots,” Cash said, complete earnestness in his pretty-boy face, “is that they have to wear cast-iron jockey shorts just to get their damned machines in the air. They do that, and they don’t have any sort of armor plating for their hearts, you understand? So everything that comes shooting out of their mouths is a defense mechanism, because they know their hearts are vulnerable, and they don’t want to get hurt.”
“Glen,” Elsie snapped. “You need to shut him up. My ovaries are shriveling!”
“Jesus, kid,” Damien said, completely dismayed. “Are you trying to destroy us? Could you not tell all our secrets in one go?”
“Cash,” Glen said, his jaw tight, “could you maybe not strip us all naked here? We’re trying to keep a brave face.”
Cash scowled. “You all suck at it. You’re as fucking worried as I am.” He looked at Theo. “We love Spencer. All of us. And believe me, he worked really hard not to let that happen. I figure if you shared a raft with him for twelve hours and you’re here worried sick, then you’re going to stick for a while.” He shot Glen an exasperated look. “I spent almost two days trapped under a wall with this asshole here, and I thought I could walk away from that. Believe me, you can’t. You look smarter than I was, so I figure you need to know what you’re getting yourself into. Can you put up with the bullshit, Theo?”
Theo really was worried sick, and he was heartsore, and every other breath he had to check himself and remember that Glen may have offered to put him up in a hotel while they waited for Spencer to recover, but he was still homeless, townless, and pretty much alone in the world as everybody he knew was scattered to the four winds in order to find a place to land.
But all of it was worth it, if only Spencer could come through.
“His bullshit doesn’t scare me,” Theo said softly. “His heroism might give me a fit or two, but the bullshit does not.”
“Good,” Glen said, sending Damien an obscure look. Damien must have gotten it, though, because he nodded. “Because Spencer’s going to need nursing when he gets through this. As soon as we can manage after he comes through surgery—and he will come through, don’t nobody doubt it—we’re going to move him home. He’s going to need nursing. In-home would be best. And after he’s back on his feet, we’re going to need two more pilots and an office manager. It would help if he had EMT experience.” Glen gave Theo a stern once-over. “You know anyone who’s up for the job?”
Theo’s mouth dropped open, and he sucked in a breath. He remembered Spencer’s faith in these people—everyone from Elsie to Glen to Damien to Preston and even Cash, who may have been all candy and be-bop on stage but certainly seemed made of steel now.
And here they were, offering him a job—a new life, perhaps—based simply on the fact that he was so desperate to see if Spencer was okay he could almost cry with it.