"Yeah, definitely didn't miss this...", your fingers were wrapped around the handle of the metal door of the helicopter as if your life depended on it while the weight of a fully stacked bulletproof vest and a fully automatic gun was pushing down on you. "Shit..."

Mason offered you a bottle of water.

"Still get sick when air travelling?", he asked worried, but couldn't hide the smirk on his face.

You took the bottle and chugged half of it down in one go.

The feeling of the cold water running down your throat calmed the illusion that the world was spinning under your feet.

"Yeah...", you took a deep breath in. "But it's better than it was."

A huff escaped Woods.

He was sitting at the other side of the helicopter, his arms crossed in front of his chest, legs spread and his gaze turned out the window.

You pulled a face.

"You got to tell me something, old man?", you asked, already a bit pissed by his attitude.

He was trying with all means to be as unwelcoming and rude without actually doing something.

You felt unwanted. Yet again, you weren't happy to be this close to him either.

His eyes moved to you. He curled his lips and shrugged.

"Pussy.", he just said and looked away again.

You rolled your eyes.

He knew exactly that you had your troubles with flying because you had crashed with a helicopter once. You had been the only survivor of that unit. Ever since then, your stomach turned and nausea tied your throat whenever you were flying.

It was a bit tasteless of him to comment on a fear that was rightful to have. But it wasn't surprising.

Back as your boyfriend, he had been the most caring and supporting man to ever exist. But once someone fell from his grace, he was playing kind of dirty.

A classic Woods move.

But you didn't feel like fighting him. Not as long as you didn't have solid ground underneath your feet.

"So, Kiew...", you took another sip of water. "What's the mission?"

"Shouldn't you know?", Woods barked. "You're the smart one here, aren't you?"

Mason gifted Woods a warning gaze to make him shut up. Then he cleared his throat.

"We need to get our hands on a person.", he said and handed you a photo of a man in his early thirties. "Orders are we can kill him if necessary. But pulling him onto our side would be better."

You examined the man's face.

"So that's my job.", you raised an eyebrow.

"If possible. He's part of Perseus second in command, but spies told us he's faltering in his believes."

"Easy target?"

"Yes and no. Telling him what he wants to hear won't get him to throw everything away and work for the CIA. You need to convince him."

You shrugged and handed back the photo.

"Shouldn't be too hard.", you mumbled.

Again, Woods huffed.

"Yeah, you're good in making people believe they want to do stuff.", he said, grumpy as ever. "You always know what to say."

Mason kicked his shoe.

Woods let out an annoyed sound.

"It's fine...", you leaned back, your head hit the cold metal of the helicopter walls. "He's all talk and no bite anyways."

"Watch your mouth or I'll show you how hard I can bite.", Woods hissed and shifted in his seat.

A snort escaped you.

"Is that a promise? I'm dying to finally experience your rough side. You've always just been vanilla with me."

Next to you, Mason frowned while smiling uncomfortably.

You had to smirk about his prudishness. It made him seem cute and innocent, probably the biggest reason why you would never want to fuck him. He was a nice man. But you didn't fuck nice.

At least he was smart enough to keep his mouth shut in that moment. He knew that, in the heat of the argument, both you and Woods would turn against and absolutely demolish him.

Woods let out a displeased sound. His eyebrows pulled together and the cute wrinkles on his forehead reappeared.

In that moment you realised that there were more wrinkles than you remembered.

The side of his hair and the tip of his thick beard was also slowly turning silver.

He was getting old.

Unfortunate, it suited him all too well. He looked better than he did a few years back, like a giant black bear.

And to your misfortune he would probably continue to age gracefully.

"Strange...", he leaned forward, an evil expression shimmered inside his eyes. "Back then my vanilla side made you scream my name anyways."

You laughed.

But the memories made something between your legs twitch.

Thankfully, he didn't notice.

"Oh please!", you did a gesture to give yourself time to sort your racing thoughts. "I wouldn't call that screaming. Ever heard someone scream, old man? I was barely raising my voice."

Mason cleared his throat, desperate to get this conversation to an end.

But you two ignored him and continued.

With restrained anger burning inside his bright blue eyes, Woods switched seats to be closer to his enemy.

All you could do was grin challengingly.

"I can still make you scream.", he warned. "In pain, not pleasure though."

Rolling your eyes, you leaned towards him.

Your gazes locked. Neither of you was willing to back away.

"You only ever made me scream when meeting you in the dark.", you purred and flicked two fingers against his forehead.

Surprised, he pulled back and blinked.

"One more word and I'll punch you in the face.", he warned.

You leaned back and let out a deep sigh.

"Again? Don't flatter yourself, old man. I never make the same mistakes twice.", you grinned. "You always hit with your left first. It's your weak one too."

Woods smirked.

"You fell for my dick twice.", he said.

Unimpressed, you checked your nails for dirt and shrugged.

"Yeah, the only small mistake I've made in my time. Happens to the best of us."

Swallowing hard, Mason squeezed his eyes shut and had to massage the bridge of his nose.

"When are we fucking landing?", he whispered to himself.