Page 4 of Dozer

"Kenzi." It’s like the damn man knows when I’m not telling the entire truth or something.

"...Mostly."

Hunter sighs.

It isn't an exasperated sigh.

It's the sigh of a man who's spent over twenty years leading stubborn people into dangerous places and long ago accepted that half of leadership consists of choosing which battles are worth fighting.

"I assume you're working on something. Freelance?"

"I'm always working."

"That isn't healthy."

"It pays the mortgage."

"It also keeps you inside for days."

I look toward the window.

He isn't wrong.

"I've seen sunlight this week."

"When?"

"This very morning, thank you very much." The light from the windows count. I get a lot of beautiful sunlight streaming into my place after all.

"You looked outside."

"I made eye contact with it."

Hunter actually chuckles. It's brief and barely audible. The sound surprises me enough that I stop typing.

There it is.

Proof!

The man is, in fact, human.

"You laughed," I observe.

"I didn’t."

"You literally just did."

"I exhaled."

"It had joy in it."

"No, it didn't." His tone is grumbly and I grin. Victory. Small, but still a victory. Our conversations always work like this.

Ryan once described Hunter and I as two siblings separated by twenty years and entirely too much emotional damage. I liked Hunter the first time I met him. Not in a sexy man way, although his new girlfriend Amber finds him that way, but in a brotherly type of way. He and Ryan could have been twins. They had a similar personality, the same dry humor and alpha male bossiness, but underneath it all was a heart of gold. I remember a conversation with Ryan when he’d brought Hunter home with him for leave.

"You know Hunter isn't actually your brother, right?"

"Obviously."