The Only One Who Cares: The Only One, #3

By Cat Grant

Committed couple David Flint and Josh Walker are long past the injuries, separation, and chain-of-command issues that plagued their early years together as Navy SEALs. Now, with David embarking on a new career as a therapist, the future looms bright and promising…

Until Josh, now recovered from the post-traumatic stress that kept him sidelined for two years, returns to active duty. David dreads the long weeks of sleepless nights and radio silence ahead—and wonders if Josh is really as recovered as he claims to be.

Counseling other traumatized vets fills David’s days and helps him find a new purpose, but it’s his act of kindness to a homeless teenager that may end up changing everything, for him and for Josh.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cat Grant
• Release date: Feb 2, 2015
• ISBN: 9780986309915

Cat Grant

Two-time EPIC Award winner Cat Grant lives by the ocean in beautiful Monterey, California with one persnickety feline and way too many books and DVDs. You can usually find her listening to Dan Savage's podcast, hiding behind her couch while The Walking Dead's on, or - most likely - writing while listening (and singing along - badly!) to Verdi or Wagner on her earbuds. Contemporaries get her creative juices flowing - featuring alpha male Marines and Navy SEALs, MMA fighters, hot musicians (rock stars and classical violinists), a transgender dominatrix (in BREAKING FREE, winner of the 2014 Rainbow Award for LGBT erotica), and a six-book series spanning thirty years, two generations and three genres (menage, m/m and new adult). Drop by her website at: http://www.catgrant.com Or her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/cat.grant?ref=profile Follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CatGrant2009 Read her blog: http://catgrant.com/cats-blog/

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The Only One Who Cares

Cat Grant

The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized editions and do not participate or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated. Permission is granted to make ONE backup copy for archival purposes.

THE ONLY ONE WHO CARES

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Originally published in the UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER anthology

This edition © 2015 Cat Grant

Cover design by Lou Harper

ISBN: 978-0-9863099-1-5

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

This work contains graphic language and explicit sexual content between two consenting male adults. Intended for adult readers only. Not intended for readers under the age of 18.

About The Only One Who Cares

Committed couple David Flint and Josh Walker are long past the injuries, separation, and chain-of-command issues that plagued their early years together as Navy SEALs. Now, with David embarking on a new career as a therapist, the future looms bright and promising…

Until Josh, now recovered from the post-traumatic stress that kept him sidelined for two years, goes back to active duty. David dreads the long weeks of sleepless nights and radio silence ahead—and wonders if Josh is really as recovered as he claims to be.

Counseling other traumatized vets fills David’s days and helps him find a new purpose, but it’s his act of kindness to a homeless teenager that may end up changing everything, for him and for Josh.

Table of Contents

About The Only One Who Cares

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Do you crave...

Excerpt: Once a Marine

Excerpt: A Year in the Life

Also by Cat Grant

About Cat Grant

Chapter One

David

Don’t you think you’re jumping the gun? I said, laying my hand on Josh’s shoulder. Whenever we paid one of our Sunday visits to the mall, he headed straight to Gymboree to paw through the latest collection of tiny shirts, shorts and onesies. The agency said it could be a year or more before they call us.

Or it could be next week, he pointed out.

How likely d’you think that is? There’s dozens of straight couples ahead of us in the queue—

We could still get chosen first, and I don’t want to be… The sales girl shot us a wary need help? smile. I shook my head and tried to steer Josh toward the door, but he squared his shoulders and stood firm, every inch the tough, determined SEAL I’d helped train. I don’t want to be unprepared.

You probably won’t even be here when it happens, I said, unless you change your mind about going back to active duty.

David. He was using that tone again—that flat, don’t fuck with me command tone that, even two-plus years past my retirement, brought me instantly to attention. Let’s not talk about it here, okay?

Well, when—and where—do you want to talk about it? Coming home and telling me it’s a done deal doesn’t exactly—

Oh, fuck this. He wasn’t listening to me. And I wasn’t about to stand here in the middle of a store full of harried mothers and screaming kids—Jesus, that last shriek hit me like a fucking axe between the eyes—pretending to look at baby clothes like nothing was wrong.

I’ll wait outside, I said, dodging an oncoming stroller on my way to the door. It was a nice day, sunny and warm despite it being the end of October. I leaned against a pillar, catching a glimpse of the Apple Store in the distance. If I hurried, maybe I could get down there to pick up that new laptop battery I’d ordered before Josh…

Too late. Here he came, a plastic shopping bag tucked under his arm, one hand raised to hold off the protest floating to my lips. I only got a couple of things, okay? They were so cute, I couldn’t resist.

He opened the bag so I could take a look. Yeah, that pink onesie with the cupcake appliqué was pretty damn adorable. So was the blue one with the dinosaur on it.

Nothing like covering the bases, huh? I said with a chuckle. We wouldn’t know if we were getting a boy or a girl until some unknown, faceless birth mother chose us as the new parents for her child. It’d sounded like a great idea six months ago, but after all the interviews and background checks and home visits and parenting seminars, plus finishing my master’s and starting my internship at the clinic, I was exhausted. Just contemplating how much more work an actual baby would entail made me want to crawl in bed and sleep until next spring.

We linked arms and started walking toward the Apple Store. Funny how we did this PDA stuff now without even thinking about it, when a few years ago… Well, I wasn’t Josh’s instructor anymore, or a member of his team. I was his husband, his partner, out and proud for the whole world to see. Some days—okay, most days—it was enough to make up for not being able to serve alongside him anymore.

The breeze was kicking up, the sky going misty. Typical California coastal weather, foggy in the morning, burning off by noon, rolling back in by five. The damp chill was already creeping into my muscles, making my bad leg cramp up. Fuck. I shouldn’t have left my cane in the car.

Josh fooled around with one of the new iPads while I paid for the new battery. This is pretty cool, he said as I walked up, my own plastic bag tucked under my arm. Ever thought of using one of these in your practice? I bet you could take notes a lot quicker.

Let’s wait ‘til I actually have a practice. If that day ever came, which I was starting to doubt. I’ve still got a shitload of clinic hours to put in before I’m licensed.

Then why not let me buy it for you as a gift?

Let’s leave it ‘til Christmas, okay? Who the hell did he think he was fooling? I’d know that sharp, animated spark in his eyes anywhere—the mark of a die-hard techno-geek who couldn’t wait to get his hands on a shiny new toy. C’mon, let’s get out of here. My leg’s stiffening up on me.

It was throbbing in earnest by the time we made it to the car. I climbed into the passenger’s seat while Josh took the wheel. We eased out of the lot and swung onto the freeway, the car silent except for the traffic report droning faintly on the radio.

At last Josh switched it off. What’s the matter? Having second thoughts about the adoption?

Should I say it, or keep my mouth shut? Talking about it wouldn’t make a damn bit of difference. Once Josh made up his mind, that was it.

On the other hand, I could be pretty stubborn too. I’d be a lot less nervous about it if you weren’t about to leave for God knows where for fuck knows how long—

Jesus, David, how many times do we have to hash this out? I told you, I don’t intend to spend the rest of my career teaching other guys to do what I—

Why not? You’re a great at it. Maybe even better than I was.

He gave me a crooked smile. Nice compliment, but you’re not dissuading me. I want to get back out in the field. I need to, before I’m too old.

"Too old? You’re thirty-five, for fuck’s sake!"

And how old were you when you took that bullet?

Thirty-eight. And fuck you very much for reminding me.

I glanced out the window at the sun glittering on the bay, the familiar bulk of NAB Coronado in the distance. I’d spent several years there off and on during my naval career, as both an active-duty SEAL and a BUD/S instructor. Best fucking years of my life. That is, until a North Korean bullet tore through my leg on Josh’s and my first—and only—mission together. Hello, early retirement.

Which had just about killed me. Without Josh, I wouldn’t have made it. And without me, Josh wouldn’t have made it through his own ordeal a few months later. He’d come back from a mission traumatized, nearly broken by… Well, I still didn’t know the exact details, but it’d hit him and two other guys on his team pretty hard. Hard enough that he’d taken an extended leave of absence from the field.

A leave of absence I’d hoped to convince him to make permanent, but that wasn’t for Josh. I could see the toll it took on him every time he had to stand idly by and watch the team he used to command take off on another mission. I knew how much he wanted to be with them, trauma be damned, because I felt the same way. Even now, I still sensed that magnetic pull, the siren call of the one job in this entire world Josh and I had both been born to do.

I get it, I said, but if we’re really planning to go through with this adoption—

What d’you mean, ‘if’? I thought you were on board with it.

I took a breath. That’s when I thought you were considering staying on as a BUD/S instructor permanently. I’m not ready to take care of a baby by myself, and with you gone most of the time—

I never said I was going to stay on as an instructor. You were just hoping I would.

Okay, he had me there. Not such an unreasonable hope after what happened on your last mission, is it? Look, I only want you to be—

Safe. He slid his hand over to clasp mine. And I love you for that. But being in harm’s way is part of the job, and I want to do it as long as I’m able.

I knew he didn’t mean it as a dig about my own disability, but still…ouch.

We drove on in silence until Josh turned up our street and swung into the driveway of the second house on the left. I climbed out and hobbled for the back door while Josh pulled in, his Mustang practically kissing the bumper of my Crown Vic.

Major was waiting on the other side of the door, eighty pounds of bouncy, furry energy. His tail thump-thumped the floor, but he waited until I stepped inside and waved him over. All those obedience classes had paid off. A few months ago he would’ve pounced before I even got the door open. Good boy, I said, scratching his ears. Missed us, huh?

He followed me to the bedroom, waiting in the doorway while I kicked off my shoes, took off my jeans—my bad leg was swollen enough to make peeling them off tricky—and flopped on the bed. A pat on the mattress, and Major bounded over to curl up next to me.

I closed my eyes and started to doze off, until the persistent ache in my leg flared up again, dragging me back to consciousness. Fuck. Better go find the heating pad…

Then the mattress dipped, and Josh gazed down at