“That was the funniest shit I've seen since Roar got his dick stuck in his zipper.” Raid whooped as he climbed back in the truck.
Dillon smiled and it made Nasa's heart feel lighter to see it. “Modern problems require modern solutions.”
*****
It was just after midnight by the time they pulled through the gates of the compound, and Nasa was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.
Despite the lateness, Ever came out to meet them with Top, smiling in welcome.
“You look like shit, Dillon,” Ever greeted warmly. “The boys talked your ear off the whole way back, didn't they?”
Nasa saw the smile Dillon tried to give, but it was obvious she was exhausted.
“Only a little bit. Damon has issues with sewage, Nasa has a thing about satellites and public bathrooms, and Raid is shit scared of the Paleo diet.”
“I am not!” Raid hollered. “I just wanna drink beer and eat some goddamn toast with my eggs in the morning.”
“Fuck me, not again,” Top groaned piteously. “What the hell did you do to piss off your wife this time?”
Raid scowled at Top in outrage, “Me? You're the one who opened this can of worms in the first place, old man, and all of the sudden, I'm Test Subject Number One!”
Ever cracked up while Raid and Top tossed blame back and forth as to which one of them had created a health-conscious monster, opening her arm to Dillon.
“Never a dull moment. Come on, I've got a room all fixed up for you.”
Nasa watched the two women and the big-ass dog disappear into the fortress he'd spared no expense in creating, tapping the surface of his tablet to activate all the security protocols around the building.
“You good?” Damon asked quietly from beside him. He knew how difficult it was for Nasa to leave the safety of his lair, and for all the shit Nasa got about his paranoia and behavioral quirks, his brothers were tolerant, accepting him as he was.
Nasa gave a jerky nod. “Fine. Just been out in the open too long. I'll be in the basement if anyone needs me.”
He didn't give anyone the opportunity to delay him, needing to be at his command center. Needing to have eyes on Dillon.
The room Ever prepared was to Nasa's specifications, and he wanted to make sure Dillon felt comfortable enough there to sleep.
He jogged through the compound and leaned in to let the retinal scanner take the shape of his eye, pushing through the heavy steel door and down the stairs where his system was already awake and waiting for him.
Planting his ass in his command chair, he tapped up the security camera feed and immediately chose a full screen view of Dillon's room.
She stood there, just past the threshold with her back to the wall, taking it in while Ever listed off the amenities and where to go if she felt like she needed a warm glass of milk.
Just like the master in her home and the bedroom she'd woken up in at the commando's safe house, there were no windows someone could crawl through.
The walls were painted a pale slate gray; an extremely realistic painting of a full, glassy moon hung over the king size bed, draped in navy blue and white bedding.
A thick gray rug covered most of the concrete floor, the nightstand beside the bed had some books Nasa thought Dillon might like, and the pot of lavender must have been either Ever or Athena's feminine touch.
The en suite bathroom had fluffy blue towels with a whole basket full of candles and girly shit from Athena's Apothecary if Dillon got the urge to use the deep soaking tub. Raid came up with the suitcase of clothes and toiletries Nasa arranged for, and finally, Ever shut the door, leaving Dillon alone with her dog.
With a weary sigh, Dillon opened the suitcase for her bag of new toiletries and said, “There better not be any cameras in the bathroom, Nasa.”
He smiled slightly, appreciating the fact she assumed she was being watched at all times. There were indeed cameras in the bathroom, but he kept them off to at least give her that much privacy. She came back out not long later, wearing one of the comfy nighties he'd picked out for her, tossing the extra pillows to the bench at the end of the bed. It wasn't lost on him that she left the bathroom night light on with the door cracked.
“You thought of everything,” Dillon whispered as she slipped beneath the sheets and snuggled down with Elka.
That night, a nightmare woke Dillon up not long after falling asleep. He checked on her via the video feed and saw she was sitting up with her elbows braced on her knees, her head in her hands while she sat there gasping for air, trembling so hard the sheets shook around her.
While Nasa battled with the urge to go upstairs and help her, Dillon got up, ran herself a bath, soaked for almost an hour before reluctantly climbing back in bed.
The next morning, Nasa quietly approached her in the kitchen to ask if she was alright, but Dillon acted as though nothing had happened.
Thinking she just needed some privacy to talk about her nightmares, he tried to engage her by inviting her down to inspect his system.
Dillon made it as far as the open door of the basement, turned white as a sheet, and spun on her heel to practically run from him.
“It reminds her of the black site,” Tobias told him as he appeared out of nowhere, looking worse sober than he had after drinking himself into a stupor.
Nasa tried to see the doorway as anything other than the entrance to his space.
“It was in a basement?”
Tobias shook his head solemnly. “Warehouse.”
“Then why?”
“No lights. Just a deep, black hallway she can't see the end of.”
Without another word, Tobias
