Page 38 of Back To Our Beginning

“Beau, I’ve been waiting to see you again. At least the real Beau Beaumont.” Roan chuckled as he held out his hand.

“Roan, you old bastard. How are you doing? Last I heard, you were at Walter Reed and kicking ass.”

“Damn right I was,” Roan grinned. “They told me I wouldn’t walk again. Nobody should bet against a Marine Raider.”

“Damn straight.” I looked over at my twin, then at Roan. “So, you saw Kai and mistook him for me, did you?”

Roan nodded.

“When he explained, I was excited to know you were in town. It’s really good to see you, brother. I thought you were never going to step foot in Jasper Creek again.”

“It’s good to see you again, too.” And it really was. It was good to see him upright, and it was good to see him here in our hometown. “When I found out about Kai, i.e. Brady, nothing would have stopped me from coming home.”

“I imagine. So, are you here to stay?” Roan asked me.

“No, I’m going back in a couple of weeks. Are you running your dad’s place?”

“Nope. I work with Simon. We own Onyx Security here in town. I sometimes turn a wrench at the shop when they’re backed up, only because I like the management.”

Kai came over and chuckled. “He makes it sound like they handle all the jaywalkers here in Jasper Creek. They actually work nationally to⁠—”

“Regionally,” Simon interrupted. “We currently work regionally to handle a few things that fall under the arm of security.”

I looked over all the men on the deck. “Are you all former military? Except for Drake?”

“The men who work with Onyx are,” Simon answered.

“The last man in our group here is Jase Drakos. He recently transitioned out of his SEAL team in Little Creek and settled here.”

Jase was the biggest man in the group, even bigger than Drake. He’d winced when Simon said he’d left his team. I knew what that meant. He’d been discharged against his will, just like my brother Kai, most likely due to an injury.

Jase stepped forward to shake my hand and give a half smile. “Good to meet you, Beau. I think I’ve seen you somewhere before.”

“Lame joke,” Kai and I said at the same time. We turned to one another and laughed. Shit, we were acting like twins who had grown up together.

How fucking cool was that?

“So why am I out here?” I asked Simon. I instinctively knew it was his idea to have Kai drag me out to the deck.

“Could just be a military circle jerk,” Drake offered.

“Shut it, Drake,” Simon ordered. It was then I remembered Simon used to be a Lieutenant Commander of SEALs. He’d probably been Drake’s boss’s boss. It didn’t stop Drake from rolling his eyes at his brother-in-law, but Drake stopped talking.

“You’re here because I wanted to let you know that there would be a place for you here at Onyx if you were thinking about leaving early and settling down here in Jasper Creek.”

Now this I hadn’t been expecting.

“So, what is it again that Onyx does?” I asked.

Simon nodded to Roan, who was leaning against the grill. “About three years ago, when I came back home, Simon had already started Onyx Security.” Roan explained. “Simon had done a couple of jobs. When we got together, we thought we might do some low-key consulting, maybe a few high-end protection gigs. But it didn’t stay small for long. Word got out after a couple of tough rescues, situations that needed creative problem-solving and quiet extractions, not red tape. Most of our work comes through referrals now, former clients, law firms and private security networks. It got out of hand fast.”

“Like what?” I asked.

Roan turned to Simon, who nodded.

“Our latest was such a pain in the ass. We had to go after a guy.”

“You take skips?” I was surprised they went after people who didn’t show up to their court dates.