Stitch by Jaime Lewis (ebook reader online .txt) 📗

the rifle over her head.  Irish was there in an instant, taking the rather large weapon from her shaking hands. When nobody said anything, she said, “What?” Irish’s eyes widened at first, but quickly narrowed as he found his voice.

“Why in the hell do you have my rifle?” When she grinned and her cheeks pinkened, Stitch wanted to laugh out loud. Hell, even he knew nobody ever touched Irish’s rifle unless there was a damn good reason. For a while, until Irish found Bailey, the team was beginning to think that the only marriage Irish would have would be to his rifle. Stitch just shook his head as the little sprite batted her eyelashes at her husband.

Sheriff Prescott stepped forward and rested his hand on the butt of his gun. Stitch didn’t miss the amusement in the Sheriff’s voice when he spoke to Bailey as serious as the situation was.

“Darlin, would you like to explain why you are hiding out in the bushes with your husband’s rifle?”

“Well, when the bad guys came into the house, I saw Mia slip out the back. I knew she was trying to protect the rest of us by leading those two guys away from the house. I knew Alex could take care of herself and Tenley and Autumn.”

“So, you decided to follow her.” Irish blurted out.

“Christ, don’t get your flippers in a twist, husband of mine.” Stitch was biting his cheek to keep from laughing, but the coughs covering the laughter he heard from the others didn’t go un-noticed. He even saw Mia crack a smile.

“Anyway, I couldn’t let her go off by herself without backup. I didn’t know where you guys were or when you’d be back. I remembered when Irish brought me up here for a weekend, and we had spent a lot of the time hiking the trails. I wasn’t really sure where Mia was leading them, but I remembered Irish taking me up to a deer stand that overlooked Stitch’s property. You could see almost any spot from that vantage point.”

“Sweetness, do you care to share how you even know how to shoot my rifle, let alone hit a perfect shot?” Even though Irish pretty much growled out his question, Stitch could also hear the pride in his tone. He knew deep down Irish was proud of his wife, but on the other end of the spectrum, she had taken someone’s life, and they all knew the toll that could take on a person.

Stitch saw her lip start to quiver. Shit, he hated tears. Especially tears that belonged to his and his team’s women.

“Are you mad at me?” She asked Irish just as the first tear breached her lower eyelid and slid down her cheek. Irish was a hard man. They all were, but Irish more so than the others and probably due to the fact he had racked up an impressive kill list, though he would never admit it or be proud of it.  But, doing so, it takes what is inside to get through the guilt of having to take another life. But, seeing now how his face melted as his wife stood there asking if he was mad at her showed the true man Irish was. He was a true softy at heart.

Irish grabbed the front of her sweater and pulled into a crushing hug.  “No, baby. I’m not mad at you. I’m damn proud of you for your quick thinking. Without you there to help Mia, we could be dealing with a whole other situation.  But, you never answered my question. How do you know how to handle my rifle?”

“Well…Alex and I have been going to the shooting range the nights we have kickboxing. I expressed my interest in learning to shoot, whatever that is called. I told Alex I wanted to learn to shoot the same type of gun that you have. She laughed at me at first, but then she thought it was a great idea. I tried asking you, but you kept telling me that it was too much for me.”  Stitch heard Ace groan at the mention of Alex’s name. Alex loved handling all types of weapons and could probably handle with ease any weapon put in front of her.

“We will be talking about yours and Alex’s extracurricular activities later. I’m just glad you’re safe. I was so damn worried about you.”

The Sheriff chuckled. “You guys are some lucky bastards, I tell ya.  My men and I will handle this scene. You all head to the hospital. Potter and Alex took Tenley. From what I heard, she was in labor, and as my deputy put it, the woman can give a sailor some competition when it comes to her language. Frost and Autumn are waiting for you guys at the cabin.”

Stitch took Mia’s hand as the ATV started to move.

“What do you say we go say hi to the newest members of Team 2 and then head home?”

She smiled, “Home sounds good.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Standing by Tenley’s side, Alex took deep breaths along with Tenley as she endured another contraction. By the time they arrived at the local hospital, she was already too far along for an epidural. Unfortunately, because of the delay from the fiasco back at Stitch’s caused, they had no other choice than to admit Tenley to the closest hospital or risk delivering the twins in the back of their car.

She had gotten a message from Ace telling her that the cabin's situation had been defused, and they were on their way to the hospital. Thank god because she had been torn between going to the hospital with Tenley and staying to help look for Mia.

Alex had to bite the inside of her cheek to conceal her amusement when Tenley turned to Potter and spouted off the next verbal beatdown on the poor guy. But, Potter, because of the Special Forces soldier he was, took it all in stride, knowing that Tenley didn’t really meant anything she had said.

“Potter,