in his own head, working through it until it went away.
Faith never got that, always accusing him of shutting her out, of being a moody bastard, emotionally distant. He could never make her understand that his feelings had nothing to do with her—or with them as a couple—and that he just needed some time and space to work it out.
Somehow, Selene got that. She could see that he was barely holding his shit together. Rather than push him to talk about it, she was simply remaining close. Letting him know she was here if he needed her. Otherwise, she was letting him deal with it in his own way.
The minutes crept by slowly as Oscar listened to Luca and Langston and their teams make their way through the buildings. He could tell from the frustrated tones no one was finding anything of use.
Finally, a decade and a half later, Oscar heard Owen tell Luca and Langston to lead them out, the bots going first, even though they’d retrace their steps.
Oscar didn’t move, didn’t even bother to breathe. He wasn’t going to feel easy again until both Langston and Luca were off that fucking compound and in his line of sight. They were in the van at the front gate, so they saw Luca first, though Oscar heard Langston’s voice through the comm, reporting his team was heading for the back rear entrance. The plan, based on the chatter, was for everyone to reconvene at the front where he and Selene were.
Oscar saw the robot, and then Luca. Rather than lead the party out, Luca stood off to the side, robot controller in hand as he watched the rest of his team steadily walk out. Only when the last person—Owen—had cleared the gate did Luca himself actually leave the compound.
When he took off his helmet, he looked completely wiped out, despondent. In addition to facing down death for the past hour, they were still no closer to finding his sister.
Owen placed a hand on Luca’s shoulder, halting him just outside the gate. Oscar couldn’t hear what the man was saying, but he could read body language well enough to know Owen was offering reassurance.
Luca nodded, but the heaviness in his face didn’t lift. Oscar suspected Luca wasn’t going to find peace until he had his sister back.
Considering the unbearable stress he’d suffered this past hour, Oscar could relate.
Owen walked on, while Luca put the robot controller and helmet down so that he could pull off his heavy vest.
Selene found her sea legs first, rushing over to Luca, pulling him to her in a shaky embrace that proved Oscar hadn’t been the only person terrified out of their wits at the van. He’d been so wrapped up in his own fears, he’d failed to see how scared Selene had been too.
Oscar rose and followed, taking a moment to hug Luca as well. After a few moments of silent reassurance, Oscar pulled back a bit to look at Luca. “Did you find anything?”
“Files, papers.” Luca sighed. “They’re going to look through it, but everything important was gone.” He looked up. “There was a box of old laptops. Would you…”
“Of course. Whatever you need,” Oscar assured him.
“We’ll find her,” Selene assured him.
Caught up in the moment, Oscar ignored the sound of a vehicle pulling up and stopping somewhere behind him. He needed to touch them again, so he wrapped Selene and Luca up in a bear hug, gripping them tightly.
They returned the embrace, the three of them locked together. If Oscar could freeze time right here, he would. They were all together, safe, alive.
“What. The. Fuck?”
And just like that, fate stepped in to kick Oscar in the teeth.
He released Luca and Selene, turning so that they were both tucked safely behind him.
God only knew what Langston was going to do. Of the three of them, Langston was the most cheerful and easygoing, but the flip side of that coin was his fucking explosive temper. And right now, Langston was pissed. Whatever his brother was about to do, Oscar didn’t question for a moment it would involve violence. His brother was gunning for Luca, but he wouldn’t hesitate to take Oscar down as well if he stood in the way.
“Langston,” Oscar said, holding his hands up in front of himself. The position was one where he could either hold Langston back or return a punch if his brother wasn’t in the mood to talk first.
They were evenly matched when it came to fighting, which meant,