I peered down at my brother with renewed eyes. Slowly, it came to me. I’d been looking at the world through bullshit-colored glasses.
“She’s not coming back.” My knees weakened as I said the phrase out loud. It almost broke me to say it, but I remained standing.
“So, fuck her.” I clenched my fists tighter, nearly drawing blood. With a shake of my head, I made my decision. Everything I had planned for my life was still in play.
I’d go to college, join the Air Force and fly fighter planes, just like I planned. I’d become the best damned fighter pilot I could be. And I’d do it without a thought of Savannah or any other woman.
“Fuck her,” I repeated through clenched teeth. I pivoted on my heels to head to the bathroom to take my first shower in days.
It was time to get my life back.
CHAPTER1
Present
Savannah
My hands tightened around the steering wheel of my rental. A long, drawn-out breath spilled from my lips. Of course, I would get a flat tire at almost eleven o’clock at night.
With my nine-year-old son asleep in the backseat.
Luckily, I spotted a bar on my side of the road and was able to pull into the parking lot. We were only fifteen minutes from our hotel, but there was no way we would make it with this flat.
“Aiden, sweetie. Wake up.” I shook him by the shoulder, though I hated to wake him from his deep sleep. But I couldn’t leave him alone in the car.
“Hmm,” he moaned and turned his head, nestling his body into a tighter ball, curling his arms around his tablet.
I ran my fingers through the dark brown curls at the top of his head. The poor thing was exhausted. As he should be. It was approaching midnight. We had a long travel day, accompanied by the fact that our second flight, which was supposed to land in San Antonio, had gotten diverted to Houston due to heavy thunderstorms.
Once we made it to Houston, the airline decided to cancel our flight for the evening and book us out in the morning. That solution didn’t work for me, however, considering I had a crucial early-morning meeting with my grandmother’s estate attorney.
I settled on renting a car and making the more than three-and-a-half hour drive. As I sat in the front seat and looked down at my sleeping son, I wondered if I’d made the right call.
“I swear if I didn’t have bad luck, I’d have no luck at all,” I murmured.
In the past month, the hospital where I worked as an emergency room physician assistant had been closed down, leaving me without a job.
Not even two weeks after that, I opened my door to a man holding a gun and threatening to take my son away from me. Which was why I had made the trip back to Harlington in hopes of getting enough money to pay the bastard off.
I pushed out a harsh breath. “Not now, Savannah.” I couldn’t fall apart. I was back in Texas to get the solution to my financial troubles and save my son.
I peered at Aiden’s sleeping body, and despite how tired I was, I let out a faint smile.
I would have to eat my words about lousy luck. Aiden was the best thing in my world.
“Come on, sweetie. Mama can’t leave you alone in here.” I shook him again.
His eyes opened to tiny slits. “I don’t wanna go, Mama,” he whined.
“I know, but I can’t leave you outside by yourself.”
I glanced out of the passenger side window. It was pitch black outside, save for the overhead lights in the parking lot and streaming from inside the bar. I made out the name of the building: The Rustic.
The restaurant on the far side of the bar appeared to be closed. There were a few other cars in the parking lot, which helped me feel not as alone.
We weren’t in a completely isolated part of town, which was good. But I still needed to contact AAA to have someone come and change my tire. And I’d drained my cell phone battery down to nothing to use the navigation system to get me back to Harlington.
The damn charger I bought not long ago wasn’t working. Again, I wanted to curse my luck, but I didn’t have time to fall into self-pity. All I wanted was to contact AAA, get my tire changed, and make it to the hotel where I’d made reservations.
