He couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t fuckingthink.And as he stared down at his friend, he did the only thing hecoulddo…
Logan begged.
“Don’t do this, Hunt.” He used a shoulder to clear his blurred vision as he begged his brother by choice not to die. “Come on, man. You can’t give up now, you hear me? Our ride’s almost here! Just a couple m-more…” His face threatened to crumble, but he forced himself to finish the damn sentence. “Just a couple more minutes, okay?”
The words had barely left his lips when the sound of an approaching UH-60 Blackhawk broke through the air. Hope bloomed, his eyes widening as he swung his gaze back to Hunter’s.
“Hear that? That’s us, man. They’rehere!”Logan looked away long enough to confirm visual. “I can see them, Hunt. So you just keep fighting, you hear me?”
“H-ayes…”
“You keep fucking fighting because they’re here! They’re gonna take out those terrorist assholes, and they’re going to—”
“D-damnit, Hayes,” Hunter growled through a set of clenched teeth. “Sh-shut up…and…l-lissen…” It was the closest the weakened man could come to yelling.
Logan shut his mouth and listened.
“N-need…know…she’s…g-going…be…ok-kay.”
Please, God. Please don’t make me do this. I can’t fuckingdothis!
“You can’t give up, Hunt.” He tried again, his eyes spilling over once more. “You have to keep fighting, goddamn, you! Fuckingfight!”
“S-Say…it!” Hunter coughed three times before finishing with, “P-please…Log…an. I n-need…”
The longer the man spoke, the more labored his breathing became. And the longer it took the Blackhawk to make its way to their position, the more hopeless Logan felt.
He was losing him.
The man who’d fought by his side from the very beginning. A man who knew him better than he knew himself. Who’d saved countless lives during his time in the Navy…including Logan’s and every other member of Black Squadron One. But what Hunt was asking him to do now…
“You know I’ve got her, man,” Logan choked out the solemn vow.
His nose burned, the roof of his mouth tingling with pressure as his sinuses became flooded with yet another rush of tears. The muscles in his lower gut clenched, his heart—his very soul—feeling as if it were being ripped from his body piece by devastating piece.
“N-need…hear…the…p-promise.”
The man was using the last of his breaths to beg Logan to repeat a promise he’d spent years praying he’d never have to keep. A promise that, at the time, he’d been more than happy to make.
Not because he wanted Nat for himself. That shit was hell and gone, as far as he was concerned. And it wasn’t ever coming back.Never!
No, Logan hadn’t given the wedding day promise a second thought because he never believed the time would come when he’d have to make good on the damn thing. Never thought something like this would happen.
Not to Hunter.
You have to say the words. You owe this man that much.
That wasn’t true. He owed Hunter more than he could repay in ten lifetimes. But yes, he would—could—do this. Because his brother deserved nothing less.
Logan wiped his face dry. Every muscle in his body was taut, his throat physically hurting with its effort to keep from completely breaking down. And with dust and bullets flying around them in the middle of a country none of them wanted to be in, he gave his closest friend one final gift.
“I’ll take care of Natalie,” he vowed with a shattered heart. “I’ll watch over her, and…” His voice cracked, and it took every ounce of strength he possessed to get the rest out. “I’ll keep her safe, brother. I promise.”
A peaceful expression fell over his fallen friend, Hunter’s lips curving into an unexpected smile as he stared up at Logan and said, “Th-thank…you…”
“Never have to thank me for that.” Logan sucked in a hitched breath. “Goddamnit, Hunt. I love ya…you know that, right?”
Hunter’s grip on Logan’s fist tightened as much as the other man could manage. He opened his mouth, his lips clearly forming a run of intended words. But the helicopter’s mounted machine guns chose that exact same moment to open fire on their enemy.