Derick sighed, swiping his forehead with the back of a hand and grabbed the base stock. He blew into the latch, getting any last bit of dirt and snapped the barrel assembly into it. He thought putting the work into cleaning the damn thing would get his mind off everything, but it hadn't. Instead, he'd gone right back to the scene, arriving to find Ren out of it and a plant spear protruding from her leg.
Damn if his heart hadn't stopped and then sank into his boots while he watched Mayday work on her. Goddamn. Ever since day one, when she was a new private under his newly tagged sergeant, they had 'clicked'. Now, five or six years later, they finished each other's sentences, could exchange a look and just know what the other one wanted. They were friends, who entertained a kind of flirtati
