“All I have to say is that you better get your shit together and make this right.” Levin planted his fists on the table and leaned in to glare at them. “I didn’t save her from that asshole just for you two to play with her then toss her aside like your trash.”
“That’s not what’s happening.” Legend held his hands up. “Tavish has issues. We’re working on it.”
Jordan hummed. “Good.”
“Before we get started again…” Legend turned to Aven. “If it’s okay with Jordan, would you make a personal flight for me when we’re done here? I have some ideas about how to fix this.”
“How long would it take?” Jordan asked, his brows raised.
“An hour? Maybe two?”
“Sure, that’s fine with me.” Jordan nodded. “As long as she has enough time for a full night’s sleep. We’re going to need her to fly all day tomorrow.”
“Would you be up for that? I’ll pay you myself, of course.” Legend was prepared to beg. He knew it was going to take something substantial to repair the damage Tavish had done, whether he could help it or not.
“Wow, am I hearing this right?” Sola teased him. “Mr. Save-All-My-Pennies-For-A-Rainy-Day wants to splurge? On a woman?”
“It will be a damn rainy day if she doesn’t understand how important she is to me. To us.”
Tavish dropped his face into his hands. “Please help so I don’t fuck this up entirely.”
“It might already be too late.” Levin frowned. “She wasn’t mad, she was hurt. And she’s had enough of that in her life already. Fix it.”
“So yeah, I’ll do whatever it takes. Spend whatever it costs—money or my pride, it doesn’t matter.” Legend shrugged.
Jordan sighed. “You know I hate thinking about the past, but sometimes you have to enjoy the sun while it’s shining. Because when the real stormy days do come, you want to know you took advantage of every chance you had to make the people who matter happy.”
Legend understood Jordan was referring to his first love. His partner at ICE, who’d been killed on the job. Bled out in his arms. He and Wren had nearly lost each other after that.
“Especially us,” Liam piled on. He would. After Ace had been wounded in the field, he’d been terrified of getting too invested in a relationship with his partner but he’d overcome his fears, with Ruby’s help.
“I get it.” Legend truly did. Before they headed to Russia in the morning, he was going to have to make sure they left on good terms with Karolena.
Legend looked to Tavish, who nodded then hung his head. “I’m sorry I screwed this up for you too.”
“Just make it right.” Legend was relieved Tavish wasn’t backing away entirely. It had been a reflexive instinct to protect his heart even if that was no longer necessary. Not with him and not with Karolena.
“What do you have in mind?” Tavish asked.
He conveyed his vision and counted on his friends to help bring it to life. James fired off a bunch of texts and assured him everything would be taken care of while Aven filed a flight plan. It was things like this that helped carry them through their more somber duties.
By the time they were done, even Levin cracked a smile.
Jordan turned his attention to more serious matters. “Let’s get back to this.”
“You’re proving I’m doing the right thing here.” Levin drew a deep breath. “This is the kind of place I thought our organization was once. One I would have liked to belong to, if things had been different.”
“Things can always be different.” Tavish shocked the hell out of Legend when he said it, reaching over to rest his hand on Legend’s leg beneath the table. “When you find the right people, everything changes. For the better. As long as you don’t forget and fuck it up by being stuck in the past.”
“We’ll fix it,” Legend promised.
“After,” Jordan said, then instructed Ruby to pull up a map of Vladimir’s compound.
Then they concentrated on ensuring that their woman and her friend and his man would have a chance to build futures like the one they finally had within reach.
16
Legend studied himself in the mirror and adjusted the bow tie of his tux one final time.