Page 42 of Lifeline

“Bromance.”

“Fuck off!”

I cackled as he tried to kick me and ended up sprawling when we hit another bump that took his balance from him. “Then I guess you should just accept babysitter.”

“He…” Carter began as he scrambled back into a comfortable position to finish the ride. “It’s not really his scene. He doesn’t do music he can’t control, being out in public, crowds or, you know…people.”

He wasn’t alone; Trevor had also stayed behind, as had Xander. Cait had been asked, apparently, but like Trevor, she had answered Reno and Colin by giving them a look so dry and unimpressed that they figured they didn’t need a direct answer. Not that I blamed them; both could be scary as hell when they wanted. Xander though? No one had bothered to ask him about joining us. He had a dim enough view of our intelligence as it was; he didn’t need to see drunken proof of it.

“Don’t get shitfaced and drive back, or start any bullshit,” he had bellowed as we’d all clambered into the truck, Jake in the driver’s seat as usual. Reno and Mika had a full-blown wrestling brawl over who was taking the passenger seat. Colin had smacked both of them on the side of the head, and after Mika ‘let’ Reno take the passenger seat, he’d made himself comfortable with Colin. There really hadn’t been room between the two bigger men for someone of Carter’s size, so he’d decided the back was best. In my infinite stupidity and questionable wisdom, I thought it sounded like fun, even though as the smallest guy in a team of giants, I could have probably fit in the back seat.

“I mean it, Colin, I’m fucking trusting you with these buffoons!” Xander had finished, but the truck had already started with a roar and the radio and laughter drowned him out…almost.

Who the fuck called people buffoons nowadays?

“Mav doesn’t like people? I never would have guessed,” I said as the ride evened out and I could see the lights of the town on the horizon. It wasn’t exactly blazing lights in the sky; the town was fairly prosperous from what I’d seen and heard, but the soft glow of lights showed its presence all the same.

“Hey,” Carter said with a frown as someone finally turned the radio down. “Don’t be like that.”

I frowned. “Dude, I wasn’t being an ass. Hell, half the fucking time I can’t stand people either. I’m not going to fault him for not ‘sucking it up’ and going out with us if that isn’t his thing.”

“Good,” Carter said.

I snorted. “What’s the story with you two, anyway?”

“Story? Why’s there gotta be a story?” he asked, sounding startled.

“I mean, we all have a story, don’t we?” I wondered, repositioning to be a little more comfortable rather than steady and safe now the worst of the drive was behind us. “Doesn’t have to be a happy story or a sad story, but they’re all stories.”

I thought I heard him snort over the sound of the wind. “You sound like a guy I knew.”

“I can’t tell if that’s a good thing or not,” I admitted.

He shrugged, or at least it looked like he did; we were still bouncing around a little so that was harder to make out. “Neither, I guess. He liked to ask about people’s stories too. Pretty sure he went on to write or do, like…journalism or something.”

“Well, I’m none of those things,” I said with a snort as Jake eased off the gas and the sound of the wind also died down. I could hear loud conversations from inside the truck.

“What do ya mean?” he asked with a snort. “You’re writing all the time, and it’s kinda like journalism.”

“It’s social media posts,” I said with a laugh. “Not what I’d call writing.”

“You’re fucking stupid,” Carter said with a shake of his head.

“I’ve been called worse,” I admitted.

I was distracted by the sound of a lively debate on what made a ‘proper’ sundae. Which, for any other group, would have made no sense because who, in all good conscience, wanted to argue about something as stupid as that? Well, that group, that’s who. They were apparently trying to settle whether peanuts deserved to be on sundaes with lively arguments for and against. That was, after they all agreed that yes, it didn’t count when there was someone who had a nut allergy, which…yeah, maybe Xander was right, they were all idiots.

The thought made me chuckle, and I wondered if Xander thought of them as idiots with the same affection I felt. They were all kind of stupid, but they were good, hardworking men too. I hadn’t had to work out in the field with them, but from what I knew, I would trust every one of them with my safety and my life.

Which, of course, was accompanied by the squirming guilt of my second, more secret role at the outpost. I had been diligent in sending my reports as instructed before I left for the airport, and I…didn’t know how to feel about it. After all, it wasn’t like I was a professional in the field to assess whether they were good at their jobs and worth being trusted, not from someone with far more expertise than me. And in all fairness, I thought my reports were positive, even though I knew if I was too obvious in my praise, then I would probably be punished or yanked from my position.

I had to mention some of the less than…professional aspects of working there that stuck out to me. Such as the amount of leeway they were all given, how Jake was a borderline menace at times and interfered in other people’s work, or how Trevor could be so uninterested in proper procedure or organization with his work. I wasn’t able to speak too much about Reno and Mika’s work, which was a blessing. Bad enough that I had to report on everyone, which reflected on Xander’s leadership, but to report on Mika?

God, the less I thought about how he’d react if he found out, the better.

It was fitting that I could use the one thing Mika had always accused me of being too good at, which was shoving an unpleasant thought out of my head to deal with…whenever, if ever. Maybe it wasn’t the best thing, but what was I going to do? Stew in my own thoughts and guilt when I was supposed to be going out and having a good time with the group? Maybe I wasn’t there under the most honest of conditions, but I still liked these men and I was doing the best I could with what I had to work with. Trying to think too hard about it was a road to misery.

Thankfully, we were pulling into the parking lot. It was…a bar as far as I could see, nothing notable about it. I’d seen plenty of bars in my time, and clubs, and they all looked the same. But that made sense; it was probably one of a handful of bars in the town, which meant the competition wasn’t all that stiff and they didn’t need to stand out.