SWNOVELS Chance: Chapter 7
Chance woke a little before six.The sky was already lightening and sunrise was imminent. He lay on the couch, listening to the sounds of the house and the birds chirping outside.
It was peaceful in the country. That was one of the things he liked about living at the range with the guys. The range was on an old farm, much like this one, and there were two farmhouses on the property, one smaller than the other. They’d planned to live three and three, but Blaze had wanted to live in town so Chance shared the bigger house with Ghost and Seth while Kane and Ethan lived in the smaller one.
He’d miss the quiet and the slower living when the mission was over and he was gone. Not completely, but part of him would. Missions could be quiet too when they were somewhere remote, before they’d made contact with their enemies.
It wasn’t the same thing at all, but it was funny how two different situations could share the same peaceful feeling for a brief time. Typical missions were anything but peaceful, though. This one wasn’t typical, but he didn’t mind it.
Chance sat up and yawned. He knew from experience he wouldn’t go back to sleep, so he might as well get up and shower, fix coffee, and wait to wake Rory until he had to. He could always take the key and leave her a note, but he wasn’t sure it was worth the fight that would follow.
Rory didn’t want to pursue a relationship with him, physical or otherwise, and he wasn’t the kind of man who stuck around where he wasn’t wanted. He wasn’t going to take her key and let her think he was determined to be in her life.
He thought of Colleen saying he was obsessed with Rory and his gut burned. Not obsessed. Concerned.
There was a difference.
But yeah, he didn’t understand how she couldn’t want more of the kind of sex they’d been having, though maybe he was the only one with an endless appetite for it.
He went upstairs as quietly as possible to shower there. He didn’t want to wake Rory by using the bathroom next to her room. The pipes for the upstairs bath went down a different wall than her bedroom so she wouldn’t hear the water running. He turned on the shower and stripped out of his clothes, frowning as he sniffed the underarm area of his T-shirt.
He had a One Shot Tactical polo hanging in his truck so at least he wouldn’t show up at the client’s today smelling like he’d been to the gym. Not to mention the questionable professionalism of wearing a shirt that had a taco on it to a business meeting.
Even if the object of the business meeting was to test their security and see where the vulnerabilities lay. Yet another way in which the Ghost Ops team was infiltrating the local scientific and Department of Defense contractor community. It seemed like nearly every company in Huntsville, from big to microscopic, had something to do with the nation’s defense. Most of them weren’t involved in the Athena Project, but it was still a lot of ground to cover before the system was live.
Aside from the mission to infiltrate Royal Shipping and destroy the microprocessors they’d discovered, things had been quiet. There’d been no more covert infiltrations of companies since then, but they were plenty active in other ways. Their security training and testing was a big way they were involved in keeping tabs on the organizations involved.
The range was thriving now, and they’d hired an assistant to take care of scheduling and front desk duties. Daphne Bryant was perfect for the job. He didn’t know how they’d done it without her for the first few months.
She lived in the Sutton building, same as Blaze and Emma, and often rode to work with Blaze since her car had crapped out last month. Kane had taken it upon himself to find her a good used car she could afford. He was still looking as of yesterday. Chance didn’t know what the situation was there, but Kane had taken it upon himself to treat Daphne like the little sister he never had. She didn’t seem to mind it, though sometimes she appeared more annoyed than thrilled with his interference in her life.
Chance finished his shower and dried off in front of the half-window with a view of the woods and hills. Alabama was hilly in the north of the state and flat in the south. Sutton’s Creek, and Huntsville in general, were situated in the Tennessee River Valley, but they were also part of the Cumberland Plateau, which made for beautiful rolling countryside.
He could understand why Rory was partial to her home when he stood here and watched the sun rising over the hill to the east. A herd of deer grazed there, just outside the tree line, and there was patchy fog that rose off the grass. He cast an eye over the ground he’d covered last night and saw nothing out of the ordinary.
The barn was visible through the trees, though he couldn’t see the smaller buildings where her grandfather had kept his collections. Chance had opened those doors and peered in. If somebody had stolen something, it’d be hard to tell. Chance would have called it hoarding, but he knew the politer term was collecting. At least the old man had kept it in sheds away from the house.
He pulled on his clothes, except the shirt, and went downstairs to the kitchen. He knew where the coffee was and how many scoops to measure into the basket. He even knew if there were no eggs on the counter he could go to the coop and find fresh ones there.
Theo had a garden plot for growing fresh produce for the Dawg, and he and Rory had rebuilt their grandmother’s chicken coop. There was a big run that was fully enclosed, though not roofed, and motion lights to help keep predators at bay. A neighbor came over at sunset on the days Rory worked and closed the coop so the chickens were protected at night.
In fact, Chance figured he should probably go out there after starting the coffee and open the coop so the girls could get out to peck and scratch. He could scatter the feed for them too. He’d done it while Rory had been recovering so why not?
She was determined not to need anyone, but he could take care of the chickens for her and make this day easier at least. He poured water into the pot, flipped the switch, and headed out the back door. The chickens were happy to see him, assuming chickens were ever happy. He scattered feed, collected eggs, and locked the enclosure, thinking how different his life was from how it’d been growing up. Once his parents were gone, he’d endured a revolving door of foster homes until he’d ended up in juvenile detention.
He’d been an angry kid, rebellious, and there were people who’d thought he’d be dead before he reached twenty-five. He’d thought so too, until a military recruiter mentored him and taught him about personal responsibility and being an asset to his country. Sergeant Major Thomas was gone now, but he’d probably never have pictured Chance on a farm feeding chickens.
It was enough to make him smile as he walked back to the house. He set the basket of eggs on the counter and poured coffee for himself. The house was quiet so Rory wasn’t up yet. He still needed to get his shirt from the truck, but he’d might as well take the trash out for her while he was at it.
Look at him being all domestic and shit.
He went over to the can and lifted the lid to get the bag. There was a flattened box on top of the trash. A pink box. He wouldn’t have paid any attention to it if not for the giant words that leapt out at him.
Pregnancy Test
Chance lifted it in two fingers, staring at it as a riot of emotion began to boil inside him. He told himself there could be a simple explanation. He couldn’t imagine what it was though. Rory was the only person living here, and there was a pregnancy test in her house.
And they’d been having sex just a few weeks ago.
The floor creaked in Rory’s room, which meant she was up. The bathroom door opened a moment later. Chance went into the hallway and stood there with his heart hammering in his chest, wondering what the fuck he was going to say to her.
Then he heard the sound of retching.
Fear and fury rolled over him in equal measure. He was still telling himself there was a simple explanation, but the animal part of his brain didn’t believe it. He thought back to all the times he’d been inside Rory. They’d used condoms at first, and then they hadn’t when she’d told him she had an implant.
He’d loved going bare inside her. Best damn feeling in the world.
Had she lied about the implant? Or had it failed?
He didn’t know, but he was about to find out.
Because he wasn’t fucking leaving this house until he had the truth.