“Why?Because I want to find some happiness in this life?My job is important to me.I have never lied about that.”
“Fucking a teammate is a good way to lose it.”
“Do you think we both don’t know that?”
“I don’t think I know you very well at all right now to make that assumption.”
Leah stared at him, her expression the blank, cool mask Jamie was used to seeing when she faced the public or the media.Not her own family.It hurt that he’d driven her there.Jamie pressed his lips together, swallowing against the painful lump in his throat.He loved his sister, and he’d never wanted to hurt her, but he unintentionally had through wanting to find his own bit of happiness.Choosing between his family and everything he wanted had never been so starkly shoved in his face before tonight.
But Jamie was a Marine, and a Marine never ran from a fight.
“You know I do what’s right,” Jamie said in a low voice.“I have always done what’s right.For the country, for the family as much as I can, and for myself.How Kyle and I go about our relationship may not be by the books, but he’s who I want to be with.I’ll leave you to decide what you want to do with that information.”
“You’re honestly not going to tell me not to talk?”Leah asked, her mask cracking a bit.
“I don’t think it would make a difference if I did.And I’m not going to ask my family to lie for me.”
Leah had always been one to toe the family line more than he had, but she’d had her own ways of acting out.Leah’s resistance just never almost got her killed.She was more apt to live her life on social media with her friends around what duties their parents deemed her old enough to handle for their various charity sponsorships and the businesses the family collectively oversaw.
“You should have told me,” Leah said after a strained moment of silence.“You told your team before you told me.I feel that says everything about our family relationship right there.”
“They found out because Kyle and I couldn’t keep this a secret from them.We’re in each other’s pockets too much for us to hide it.”
“And they were okay with lying about it?”
“We didn’t ask them to keep quiet.They offered on their own.”
“So they’re complicit in hiding your relationship as well?Isn’t that everything you’re against, Jamie?How can you just throw all that you say you want away for one person?”
The words Jamie wanted to say weren’t for his sister to hear, so he didn’t give voice to them.“Where else would I find someone who understands what I’ve lived through if not a fellow soldier?Wanting that connection isn’t a crime.”
“Except when it is.Yououtrankhim, Jamie.”
“Do you honestly think we went into this relationship blindly?We both know the risk involved here.”
“I sure hope you do because this is absolutely the stupidest decision you’ve ever made.”
“I’m not changing my mind.”
“I’m well aware of how stubborn you are.”Leah huffed out an angry sigh and reached up to fiddle with the dainty gold necklace hanging around her throat.“You’re really not going to ask me to lie for you?”
Jamie shook his head, never looking away from his sister’s face.“I won’t ever ask that of you.”
It would be easier if he did and she agreed, but they were past that point now.Leah knew, and she was just one more person who had the power to ruin Jamie’s life.It would hurt more if she did because she was his sister, but he wasn’t going to put her in the position to keep his secrets for him.Leah would talk, or she wouldn’t.He and Kyle had always known being together was a risk.Jamie just thought maybe they’d get more than seven months together.
“You make it so fucking hard to stay angry with you,” Leah finally said.
“I’m sorry.”
She stared at him, eyes still bright with accusation, but the anger was fading.“Is he worth it?”
Jamie only had one answer to that, and the honesty came out raw in his voice.“Yes.”
Leah nodded, more to herself than to his declaration.“I’m hungry.”
Jamie didn’t dare ask about her intentions and merely took the change of conversation as a break from an argument he knew wasn’t finished.“Okay.”
“When this is over, I’m visiting you in DC.Bothof you.”
