King cleared his throat, snapping Leo back to the present. He really needed to stop daydreaming about the guy.

  “I’m sorry, what?”

  “I said the bathroom is all yours if you need it.”

  “Oh, um… thanks.” Leo went into the tiny bathroom and closed the door behind him. When he finished his business, he washed his hands, brushed his teeth, and splashed cold water on his face. How was he supposed to get any sleep with King mere inches away?

  Okay, get ahold of yourself. It’s no big deal.

  He was supposed to be keeping his distance. Squaring his shoulders, he stood tall and left the bathroom, his resolve flying out the window at the sight of King on his hands and knees, his ass in the air as he tried to get something from under the bed. God bless America. Why did he get the sudden urge to salute? He must have made some kind of noise, because King gave a start, and Leo winced as King hit his head against the underside of the bed. Cursing under his breath, King crawled back out. That image was forever seared into Leo’s brain.

  “You okay?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “You keep saying that, and yet….”

  King rubbed the back of his head. “Did you need something?”

  Leo tried very hard not to smile. The guy was an adorable grump. “I finished with the bathroom and was just going to get into bed. As much as I appreciate you checking under my bed in case Bowers is lying in wait to smother me in my sleep, it’s not necessary.”

  “I dropped my phone. It bounced off the mattress and skidded under the bed.” He waved the cell phone at Leo before placing it on the nightstand. “Ready to go to bed?”

  Leo’s stupid heart skipped a beat, and he didn’t trust his voice to be steady enough to speak, so he simply nodded. He climbed into the tiny twin bed with creaky springs. Man, he missed his king-size mattress. King-size. He snickered.

  “What?”

  “Nothing. It’s dumb.”

  “I’m sure it’s not,” King said as he lay down, his head facing the direction of Leo’s feet, so Leo had an unobstructed view of King’s face.

  “I was just thinking about how I missed my bed, and how it’s king-size.”

  King’s brows shot up near his hairline, and Leo’s face burned.

  “Wait. That came out wrong. I wasn’t implying I want you in my bed,” Leo said quickly. “Not that I wouldn’t want you in my bed, because who wouldn’t? I mean, look at you. Oh God.” Leo pulled his blanket over his head with a groan. “That sounded way different in my head.”

  “I’m sure it did.”

  King’s voice sounded… off. Taking a chance, Leo sneaked a peek from under his blanket, then threw it off with a gasp. “You’re laughing!”

  King lay on his side, turned away from him, his shirt stretching over his impossibly wide shoulders, shoulders that shook with laughter despite him very clearly shaking his head. “Nope.”

  “You totally are.” Leo grabbed a pillow and hurled it at King’s head, but all that did was make the handsome jerk laugh harder. King rolled onto his back and wiped a tear from his eye. Leo arched an eyebrow at him. “It wasn’t that funny.”

  “I’m going to have to disagree with you on that. It was cute.”

  Leo sniffed. “Because that’s what every guy wants to hear.”

  “You don’t like to hear that you’re cute? What’s wrong with cute?”

  “Has anyone ever told you that you’re cute?”

  King seemed to think about it. “In a nonsarcastic way?”

  “Yes.”

  “No.”

  “See?”

  “But I’m not cute. I’m scary.”

  It was Leo’s turn to burst into laughter. “What?”

  King stared at him. “I am.”

  Leo’s snort was not delicate. “Okay. If you say so.”

  King sat up. “Wait. I don’t scare you?”

  “Why would you scare me? I mean, you’ve got this whole pouty, grumpy thing going on, but it’s hardly scary.”

  “I don’t pout.”

  “Oh my God, you so do! You’re doing it right now.”

  King scoffed. “I think you’ve been staring at that computer screen for too long.” He lay down, rolling his eyes at Leo’s snicker.

  At the silence that filled the room, Leo turned to check King hadn’t fallen asleep. He was gazing up at the ceiling, lost in thought.

  “I really don’t scare you?”

  “You can be intense at times, but usually that’s when someone’s being an ass-hat. I feel safe around you. Isn’t that part of your whole reason for being here with me? I don’t think my dad would send someone to look out for me who scared the crap out of me. He knows me better than that.”

  King’s lips spread into a wicked grin. “Like the time he sent one of his men to pick you up from his office after his meeting ran late, and you punched the guy in the balls.”

  Leo barked out a laugh. “Oh my God! Poor guy. In my defense, I was twelve, and my dad sent freaking Sven the Gargantuan Viking to pick me up. I mean, the dude walks up to me and growls ‘Leopold de Loughrey?’ And my little twelve-year-old brain goes into overdrive, thinking this guy’s about to kidnap me and sell my organs or something, so yeah, I screamed and punched him in the nuts.” King was laughing again, and Leo joined in before turning to face King. “Wait, my dad told you about that?”

  “Does it feel like we’ve known each other longer than we have?”

  “Now that you mention it….” Leo hadn’t wanted to bring it up, thinking it was just him being stupid.

  “My familiarity with you, Leo, comes from years of your dad telling me stories about you.”

  Leo bolted upright. “What?”

  “Yep.” King smiled warmly, his gaze on the ceiling. “Your dad and I used to talk all the time, especially when I got back. He’d call to check on me and the guys, and I’d mostly listen. I think it started because I didn’t want to talk about what happened, or anything else, for that matter. I think he felt I needed to hear… something. So he’d start talking about you.”

  His dad had talked about him to King? “I’m not quite sure how to feel about that.”

  “Far be it from me to tell you how you feel, but if I were you, I would feel pretty damn good.”

  “Oh?”

  “You helped me heal.”

  Leo lay down, his hand under his cheek as he studied King. He couldn’t imagine the guy being anything other than fearless. Indestructible. How had hearing about Leo’s weirdness helped? As if reading his thoughts, King spoke up, his words low and rough.

  “Could you turn off the lamp?”

  “Sure.” Well, guess that’s that. Leo turned off the light, and after a moment, King spoke up again.

  “When we got back, it was rough. We were all so angry, in a world of pain, on our own. I knew I had to do something. Watching my brothers tear one another apart, tearing themselves apart, was too much. I’d already lost men I cared about. I wasn’t going to lose my best friends. I went to each of their places—had to actually break into Ace’s apartment because he wouldn’t let me in—and pack their shit up. Red tried to punch me in the face when I showed up at his place.”

  Leo cursed under his breath but remained silent. This couldn’t be easy for King to talk about, and Leo had a feeling he didn’t open up about those years with just anyone. His heart squeezed, knowing King was telling him.

  “I went one at a time, forced them into my truck, and drove them to my house. I made my sister stand guard at the door, because as angry as they were, I knew they would never hurt her. According to Ace, she’s the real scary one. Anyway, I got them all in my house and told them if they tried to make a run for it, I would shoot them in the leg. I wasn’t kidding either. Red was a medic; he could patch them up.”

  King let out a heavy sigh Leo felt down to his bones. He blinked back his tears, unable to imagine what it must have been like.

  “The months that followed were some of the hardest in my life. Maybe even harder than our time in the service. Red’s PTSD was getting worse, and he was refusing treatment. Ace and Lucky were at each other’s throats all the time. Joker was a ticking time bomb waiting to go off, and when he did, things got bloody. He’s small, but he’s dangerous. Jack got quiet. Too quiet. He’d lock himself in his room and not come out. It terrified me that he’d try and hurt himself while I was trying to keep the other four from killing one another.”

  “What changed?”

  “I took them to see the families of our fallen brothers. Don’t get me wrong, they were livid with me about it, but at that point, I’d had enough. Months of burying what I was feeling was taking its toll. I told them that we didn’t leave our brothers behind while they were alive, so what made them think we’d leave them behind in death?”

  Leo wiped at his eyes and sniffed. “What did they say?”

  “I think that’s when we realized that we may have survived, but we weren’t living. Our brothers were gone, their families grieving, willing to give anything to have them back, and what were we doing with the gift of life we’d been granted? We were hurting each other, cursing the world and everyone in it. After that, Red let me help. He still wasn’t happy about it, and tried to quit several times, but I wouldn’t let him. The rest of the guys started getting help as well, and we were finally using our words instead of our fists. From there, life improved for us. During all that, your dad would call, usually when I was at my lowest, as if he knew, and he’d talk about you.” King’s voice was so soft Leo had to strain to hear him. “When it felt like the darkness was closing in on me, there you were.”

  The room went quiet, and Leo knew King had fallen asleep. He closed his eyes, his words a whisper in the darkness.

  “I’m still here.”

  Blaring alarms and a beaming red light startled Leo awake. He would have fallen out of bed had two strong hands not grabbed his arms. Not fully awake, Leo opened his mouth to scream when King put a hand over his mouth and leaned in, his now familiar scent soothing Leo.

  “Shhh, it’s just me,” King whispered hoarsely, turning the lamp on. He handed Leo his sneakers. “Quick, put these on.”

  “What’s going on?” Leo’s heart pounded fiercely in his ears as he grabbed his sneakers from King and pulled them on, his eyes going wide when King lifted the gun Bowers had given him and checked the magazine. Why would King need a gun? “What’s happening?”

  “I don’t know, but we need to get you out of here.”

  “What? Why?” Gunfire made Leo jump, and he scrambled out of bed, nearly tripping over the blanket he was tangled in. King caught his arm and steadied him, then pulled Leo behind him. He edged them to one side of the door before turning and putting his free hand on Leo’s shoulder.

  “Stay close to me, and whatever happens, you do exactly as I say, okay?”

  Leo nodded fervently, his pulse skyrocketing when King raised his weapon. This couldn’t be happening. Swallowing hard, Leo stayed close to King as he cracked the door open, the terrifying sound of gunfire and screaming meeting Leo’s ears. King put a hand to Leo’s chest and gently pushed him back. Taking the hint, Leo moved farther into the room.

  “What is it?”

  “It looks like they’ve gathered the analysts into the boardroom. There’s an armed guard keeping watch. He’s not one of ours. Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

  “King, stop,” Leo urged, grabbing King’s arm. “You can’t go out there.”

  “It’s okay, Leo. This is what I do, remember?”

  “That right? People shoot at you all the time at the day job, do they? I bet your vibranium shield comes in real handy when you take that slow-motion swan dive into a shower of bullets. Must be nice being an enhanced supersoldier. Oh, wait.”

  King arched an eyebrow at him. “Sarcasm. Really?”

  “It seemed appropriate. You’re not going to listen to me, are you?”

  “I promise you, I’ll be right back. Lock this door behind me, and don’t open it for anyone but me.”

  Before Leo could protest further, King took off. Leo should have listened, but he couldn’t stand the thought of King going out there on his own. Peeking out, he watched, mesmerized as King placed his gun in the waistband of his pants. He ran in a crouch while the gunman was turned away, then hid behind the covered section of the boardroom’s outside wall. After edging closer to the door, King opened it and paused as if to check whether the guy had seen and would charge out to investigate, but the guy was still turned away. King peeked in, then moving silently, he sneaked up on the guy and grabbed his head. In a violent move Leo had only ever seen in the movies, King snapped the man’s neck before the guy even knew what was happening.

  Leo stifled a gasp as King caught the dead man and dragged him off to the side so he couldn’t be seen from the open door. He snatched up the automatic rifle, said something to the analysts, locked the door, closed it behind him, and hurried back to Leo, his scowl deep.

  “Didn’t I tell you to stay inside and lock the door?”

  “I was worried about you.”

  King sighed. “Leo—”

  “What about them?” Leo asked, motioning toward the roomful of analysts.

  As King removed his cell phone from his pocket, Leo wondered who he was calling at a time like this.

  “Bowers? We can argue about it later. The analysts are in the boardroom. The guy guarding them is dead. Of course he wasn’t one of yours. Because I know what I’m doing, and that includes getting Leo out of here. I need you and your guys to cover us. You’ll see us.” King hung up, then tucked the phone back into his pocket. He motioned for Leo to follow him into the empty corridor.

  “You killed that guy.”

  “Before he could kill any innocent civilians.”

  “Why didn’t you just put him in a choke hold or something?”

  “Because I didn’t want him firing his weapon, sounding the alarm, and getting people shot in the process.”

  Made sense. What the hell was happening, and why were they going toward the shooting?

  “King?” Leo asked, feeling like he was going to be sick. It suddenly registered why they were heading toward the danger. The evacuation exit was on the other side of the command center. But King wasn’t wearing a vest or any kind of protection. What if he was hurt protecting Leo? What if he was killed?

  Leo tried to push down the fear that threatened to cripple him. He followed King as he moved toward the command center but made the mistake of peeking around King’s shoulder to see the group of armed men flooding through the main door. Oh God, those men were here for him. The reality of what was happening was enough to freeze Leo in his tracks. If those men took him, he’d never see his family again. He’d never see King again. Hell, he would never see the light of day again. They would torture him or find a way to force him to do what they wanted—like use people he cared about.

  “Leo.” King dragged Leo against the wall. “Breathe, sweetheart. We need to get you out of here.”

  Terror spread through Leo. “I won’t go with them. I’d rather die.”

  “That’s enough,” King snapped, startling Leo. “I won’t let them take you, but I need you to help me out here.”

  “There’s so many of them.” Leo closed his eyes and tried to breathe. How had they gotten in? It was wrong, all wrong. This wasn’t supposed to happen. They’d given him their word, stated that this was the most secure place for him. He should have known better. How many times was he going to fall for their lies? Then it hit him.

  Someone had betrayed them.

  It was the only explanation. No one could have bypassed their security. They’d received no alerts until it was too late, and the facility had been breached.

  “Bowers and his men will take care of those guys. I’ll take care of you.” King cupped his face, stroking his thumb over Leo’s cheek. “Look at me.”

  Leo forced his eyes open. He wrapped his hands around King’s wrists, needing to feel him, his strength. “King….”

  King swallowed hard, his eyes intense. He dropped his gaze to Leo’s lips before moving it back to Leo’s eyes. “Stay with me.”

  Leo nodded at the soft plea. He couldn’t give any more thought to the meaning behind those words outside of their current situation. King turned, peeked around the corner, and seeming to make eye contact with someone, motioned straight ahead and nodded.

  “Bowers is going to cover us. Ready to run for it?”

  “No, but surviving sounds really good to me, so let’s do it.”

  King took Leo’s hand in his, their fingers laced together, as he raised his free hand and the gun he held. They darted out from behind the wall to an uproar of deafening shouting and shooting, but Leo stayed by King’s side and ran. He caught a string of shouting, stunned when he recognized it as… Russian? Armed men had taken cover behind the analysts’ workstations while Bowers, his men, and military personnel took cover behind the remaining workstations opposite the intruders, as well as behind the server wall. As per his word, Bowers and his men covered them.

  Two men jumped in their path, but before they could take aim, King had taken them down—one shot each to the head. He hadn’t hesitated, just pulled the trigger. They rounded the corner of the command center toward the emergency exit that led to another gray corridor and a set of concrete stairs that would take them to street level.

  “Holy shit!” Leo stumbled, nearly plowing into King from behind when he stopped abruptly.