She, along with Griffin, were meant to have nothing but the best. I’d been the biggest fool not expressing the truth of my feelings a long time ago.
Now it was too late.
I’d never be able to fully give my heart, body, and soul to the woman I loved when I knew I was damaged goods. How could I tell her that she was my everything, and had been since the moment we’d met,when I would never be enough? Not for her or for Griffin, who I loved as if he were my own.
But he didn’t need a broken man for a father.
And yet, even though I knew this, they were still the ones keeping me alive.
As the sounds of another marine—one I consider a friend—being tortured somewhere nearby ripped through the old, deserted building, I squeezed my eyes shut and conjured one of the best memories of my life. Something I could get lost in to drown out the horror around me.
The kiss.
It was at the stroke of midnight, surrounded by everyone we knew. I’d laid my lips to hers, the first and only kiss we've shared—unable to control myself any longer. I could practically feel her pillow-soft lips pressed against mine as she hitched in a surprised breath before sinking into the kiss.
Remembering the soft rhythm of her heart—so full of love—picking up speed as our breaths mingled, had my soul settling just as I’d hoped it would. It had been everything and still not enough. I wanted more. For years, I’d been her best friend, her champion, and her supporter.
But there was one thing I hadn’t been.
One thing I’d always longed to be…
The man she loved, the one she went to sleep with every night and woke up next to every morning.
At first, we were too young, then it was hard because I joined the military and left. After that, it never seemed to be the right time to confess my feelings. But after the kiss, things started to change.
Our conversations, when we got a chance to talk, seemed more intimate and flirtatious; the longing in her voice when she told me she wished I was there with her suddenly held a deeper severity.
I groaned, realizing I didn’t even sound like me. Maybe Ihad taken too many knocks to the head, but I knew without a doubt my feelings for Patience went deep. And I thought she felt the same.
That’s how I’d known the plan I’d put into motion, the surprise nobody knew about yet, would have been the right one. It would have taken me home to Patience and Griffin. To all my family.
Forever.
But that plan died when I was captured.
Possibly buried for good.
Maybe along with me.
Deep, agonizing screams yanked me from my thoughts as the sounds coming from my buddy tore at my heart. Then in a flash, everything went silent.
And I knew.
My friend was gone.
A light whimper came from beside me, and my battered body tightened.
“I’m not going to make it,” the last of my group besides myself whispered. “I need you to tell?—”
I couldn’t listen to it.
“Stop. You are going to make it home!” I demanded. “You hear me, Dusty. You fight!”
A huff of pain echoed through the stinky, damp space we resided in.
“Jett. You know the only reason that I am alive is because you saved me back there after we were ambushed, and because you keep taking the heat off me when they come to get one of us.”
Ragged breaths, full of agony, filled the small space. “But it’s only you and me now. You can’t keep doing that any longer.”
