Yeah, I’d been temporarily infatuated a few times when I was younger, but that shit had worn off in a hurry once I realized that the woman I was dating was more caught up in my money and status than she was in…me.
“Yeah, well, that’s Mason, not me,” Jax answered. “Personally, I think it’s irrational to think you love somebody that much.”
“Does it really matter?” I questioned. “Mason and Riley are both happy with their fates, and I’m all good as long as they’re happy.”
“I guess not,” Jax said. “Better them than me. I just hope you and Cooper never lose your shit over somebody like Riley and Mason have.”
“Hasn’t happened yet, and since I just turned thirty-four years old, I doubt it ever will. I’d like to think I’ve gotten wiser as I’ve gotten older,” I joked.
“Right behind you,” Jax said, sounding amused.
My siblings and I were all very close together in age. It was like my parents had decided to put their mind to having offspring, and they’d done it…Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Just to get it out of the way. Jax was only ten months younger than me.
“So maybe it’s time for you to go out with a woman more than once?” I suggested.
Jax grinned. “And disappoint all the gossip reporters who follow us around like puppies? Nah. They’d be bored to death.”
Luckily, most of those reporters found Jax a lot more interesting than me, so I wasn’t hounded nearly as much as he was, and they’d pretty much given up on the possibility of Cooper doing anything outrageous, too.
We were silent for a few moments before Jax asked, “You up for this mission, old man? It’s been a while.”
I kept myself in top physical condition, just like my brothers did, so I knew Jax was just razzing me. But I also knew that he wanted to make sure that I was okay with what we were going into. “I’m ready, and so damn pissed that it can’t happen soon enough for me.”
“Me, either,” Jax said in a solemn tone. “I just hope she’s still alive. I think it will completely annihilate Harlow if we lose Taylor, too.”
I quirked a brow. “You like Harlow,” I guessed.
“Have to,” he said smoothly. “The woman has been through hell, and all she’s worried about is her boyfriend and her intern. She has some balls. We need her to stay with Montgomery, and I plan on doing everything I can to convince her to stay when we get back.”
I nodded. “I agree. But you seem…personally concerned. Did you know Harlow before this whole incident?”
“Not really,” he hedged. “Yeah, I’ve seen her a couple of times when I’ve stopped at the lab, but it’s not like we’ve had a long conversation or anything. Fuck! She’s hot. How could I not notice her? I suppose I admire her tenacity now, too. I guess I feel like shit because she got hurt while she was doing work for us. We put all three of them in harm’s way.”
I looked at Jax quizzically. His admission was way out of character for him. It wasn’t like Jax didn’t have a good heart, but it was usually hidden by his cynicism. Since I was feeling guilty enough for both of us, I said, “This isn’t really anybody’s fault, Jax. Yeah, I feel guilty, too, but don’t let that shit eat you alive. Lania has been considered a safe country to visit for a couple of years now. If it wasn’t, it wouldn’t have even been on Montgomery Mining’s radar. We don’t ever intentionally put any of our employees in dangerous situations.”
I wasn’t sure who I was trying to convince; him or me. Nothing like this had ever happened to any of our crews, the remorse about what had happened was actually eating me alive.
Yeah, shit happened, but my brothers and I had never put profit over safety. Anything could happen on remote job sites, but we kept the risk factor to a minimum.
“How in the fuck did the rebels get a foothold in Lania again?” Jax cursed. “Jesus! I thought I’d never have to go back there again. My SEAL team was in Lania way too much a decade ago. I hate that damn country. Hostage situations there never ended well. The rebels had absolutely no problem lopping off the heads of anyone they considered a danger to their way of life, and they hated westerners.”