With a frustrated huff, I spin the laptop back around and slam the screen shut. “Younger people? I’m only fourteen years younger than you. Will you at least listen to my ideas?”
When my brother says nothing and turns to the door, my frustration reaches its boiling point and I shoot up out of my chair. “You know what? I have a lot of good ideas, but you wouldn’t know that because none of you ever bother to listen to me. It’s too bad I wasn’t born with a dick, maybe then you guys would let me get a thought in every once in a while.”
“Lettie,” Sawyer starts to say, but I move him through the door, every fiber of my being itching with anger.
“If you’ll excuse me,” I spit out. “I have a security system to investigate.” With that, I slam the door in his face and stalk back over to my chair, plopping down hard with my head collapsing in my hands.
My breathing is ragged as I try to reel in my emotions. The fact that my brother wouldn’t listen shouldn’t surprise me, but it hurts all the same. I love my brothers, I just wish they could look past my age and see that I am a grown woman now with hopes and dreams of her own, dreams that include finding a man that believes in me and listens to my ideas, one that I can raise a family with.
My eyes move around the small office as a plan starts to form in my mind. My brothers don’t want to listen to me? Fine. Then maybe it’s time I stop listening to them.
I open my laptop and click over to the search engine, typing in the name of a bar I’ve been dying to go to but that my brothers keep warning me off of.Wild West. It sounds like a fun time, and as I click through the gallery online, it doesn’t look nearly as bad as my brother’s made it out to be. It’s in Juniper Hollow near the base of the mountains, only a quick thirty minute drive from here.
Maybe I’ll call Stewy, the local ride share guy, and see if he’s up for making a trip out there. It’s probably not the smartest call to not take my own vehicle with me to an unknown area, but since my brothers think I’m so dumb, maybe I’m done making the smart call.
With a plan in place to finally get myself a little freedom, I get back to finishing up my work. Tonight, I’m finally going to start living my life the way I want. Hopefully, it turns out better than I expected.
Chapter Two
~Ryker~
The cool wind whips across my body as I ride through the desert like landscape just outside Amarillo, Texas. The motel I stayed in last night left a lot to be desired and the town didn’t have anything that really called at me to stay there, so I hopped on my bike this afternoon and headed off to the next town.
The engine of my Harley motorcycle revs as I kick it into a higher gear, eager to put some distance between myself and my last failed attempt at finding a home. This cross country trip is starting to seem like the worst idea I ever had. The last twenty years of my life have been dictated by the Marine Corps, so a little spontaneity seemed like the right idea. With no job lined up post-military and no home to go back to, I figured why not?
The reason why not has become more apparent with every town I visit. My bike has taken me up and down the west coast and through the southwest, but nothing in any of those places has beckoned me to stay or seemed like a place to call home like I had hoped it would.
Missouri isn’t an option despite my parents still living there in the small two bedroom house I grew up in. That placewas never a home to me, only a space filled with memories of constant fighting and alcohol abuse. The minute I turned eighteen, I enlisted in the Marine Corps and haven’t looked back.
After doing my time, working hard to save up and earn a pension so that I could retire from duty and move onto something else, I finally retired. What that something else is, I have no idea.
During my time in the corps, my unit and I worked in security forces, training other militaries or providing protection to embassy members, things like that. It was a high risk job, but the reward was knowing that we were protecting others. The hazard pay wasn’t too bad either, hence my ability to ride around the country, jobless, aimless and already discouraged that I’ll never find what I’m looking for.
The roar of my engine helps drown out my despondent thoughts a little, but not entirely. I had high hopes that one of the towns I’ve stopped in over the last few months would have provided me with some clue as to how I was supposed to spend my time now that my service to the country was over, but so far, no such luck.
There hasn’t been one town that seemed like a place I might want to settle down in, maybe think about starting a family. That last thought has me snorting a bit. The only real family I have ever known was the one I left behind in the Marine Corps.
The rag tag group of rough and tough guys who did nothing but bark orders at one another and or give each other shit for their mistakes is hardly the blueprint for the ideal family, but no matter what, we always had each other’s backs and that’s all that mattered. I miss it, and them, but I was done being told what to do and where to be all the time, so I got out.
My contact with my old unit has been more sporadic since my retirement, but I still make time to call every chance I get and always accept when one of my guys reaches out. A few of the other fellas were thinking about getting out shortly after I did, but I think hearing me bitching about having nothing to do and no one to talk to has them rethinking their plans, which is too bad. It would be nice to have someone to hang out with.
The towns I’ve been to have provided little more than the single serving friends you have while you grab a drink at the bar. None of the women in the towns have interested me either. It’s been a long damn time since I’ve been with a woman, almost as long as I’ve been in the military, so you’d think I’d be jumping at the chance to be with anyone.
It’s not like I haven’t had offers, it’s just that I don’t want to bother with a meaningless hook-up. At this point in my life, I want something more than that. I want forever.
Forever might be a tall order for some women, but I’m willing to wait it out until I find the one who’s perfect for me. Someone feisty and not afraid to speak her mind. I can be a forceful son of a bitch, so I need someone who can put me in my place every now and then. A woman with plenty of curves would be nice too.
At six foot five and two hundred and thirty pounds of pure muscle, I need a woman that a big man like me can grab onto and not worry about breaking, a woman with wide hips, thick thighs, and an ass big enough for my meaty palms to grab onto while I drive into her would be ideal. Just thinking of my dream girl has me thickening in my pants, so I try and turn my mind to something a little less arousing.
Seeing my gas gage looking a little on the low side does the trick, so I pull into the nearest gas station to fill up my tank.After getting the pump going, I turn to head over to the restroom when my phone rings. No one calls me other than my old unit, so I answer immediately, hoping that none of them are in trouble.
“What’s going on Phoenix?” I ask to my second in command, Lincoln “Phoenix” Merrick. His call sign is the Phoenix because no matter what happens to him, he’s never down for long and always rises from the ashes.
A chuckle over the other end of the line eases my tension. “You can relax, Skipper,” he says, using my own call sign. I’ve never loved it, but everyone knows the more you complain about your call sign, the worse it gets, so I accepted the moniker without putting up too much of a stink. “We’re all good. Just missing our commander and bored as hell with this new assignment .”
I don’t bother to ask for details because I know he can’t give them. “Well, I know all about being bored,” I say, scratching at the stubble on my face. After so many years of having to keep a clean face, I don’t love the feel of my beard coming in.
“Road trip not turning out like you’d hoped?” He asks. Phoenix knows all about my plans to find “my thing” after the military and how poorly it’s gone so far.
