Jairus
Cordova’s nightmares continued to feed his paranoia despite being back in the
states for almost a year. His PTSD was getting worse, not better as his
therapist said it would. Of course, he hid it well to keep the job he had. He
had been a pilot in the Air Force and he damn well would be a pilot in his
civilian life.
He
was grateful to his buddy and fellow soldier, Forrest, for managing to bury his
records enough that the background check Coralline Airlines required didn’t
pick up his unstable psyche, or the injuries that required a large amount of
pain medication. If Jairus couldn’t fly, he had nothing to live for. And he
couldn’t fly EMT ‘copters…too many terror filled memories and a huge trigger
for flashbacks.
What
enraged him was the interference of an AVS agent with the FAA. He’d thought he
was under the radar, but the stunningly gorgeous man was too perceptive and too
wickedly smart for Jairus to hide much longer.
He
also didn’t understand his attraction. He’d been straight when he entered the
Air Force, then been forced to rely on fellow men to satisfy his sexual
appetite, not something he was proud of. Not something he thought would follow
him into his civilian life. But there was no denying he felt—something—for the
agent…and it scared him to death.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Darian
McCarthy loved his job in the FAA AVS LOB. He never aspired to be a pilot
himself, but enjoyed the paperwork in certifying those that did. Rarely had he
ever had to suspend or revoke a certification, which looked good on his
government portfolio.
But
disturbing information was coming in on a pilot with Coralline Airlines and
Darian couldn’t ignore it. Twice there had been reports of flight deviation,
the pilot straying from his registered flight plan with no reasonable
explanation.
In
his investigation, Darian was puzzled as to the limited amount of information
on the man. He hadn’t been the one to certify him, and was even more stumped
that his background and certification package did not list who did certify him,
though it did note he’d passed the required 1500 hours of flight time and was
signed off by his instructor.
The deeper he dug, the more concerned he
became until he finally requested a meeting with the pilot. Beyond the hostile
exterior, Jairus Cordova seemed—tortured. It was the only word that Darian
could come up with. But it was clear his certification needed to be withdrawn.
Darian
was floored that his actions had him out of sorts, and he was spending an
inordinate amount of time with the handsome man. That he was attracted to
Jairus wasn’t the issue, it was the overwhelming belief that Jairus was broken,
and dying inside. And Darian found himself wanting to fix him, to offer
comfort—to love the man.
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