His broody stare, which seemed to go right through me, as if I wasn’t even there.
Then, the last time he came home on leave, I finally noticed how incredibly, absurdly sexy he was.
He was twenty-six. I was a freshman in high school. What was wrong with me, having a crush on him?
What are we going to do with you, Piper?
An excellent question.
The lights were off when I stepped inside my house. I dumped my backpack by the couch and marched straight to my mother’s bedroom. The door was cracked open, and the smell of vodka hit me from across the room.
“Mom?” I called out. “Are you up yet?”
A groan came from the pile of blankets on her bed. “The hell does it look like, Piper? I was out late.”
Yeah, no kidding. She’d stumbled home when I was making myself breakfast before school, even though her shift had ended at midnight.
Sunlight filled the room as I yanked the curtains open. “Time to get up. It’s almost five. You can’t be late again. You already got your final warning.”
She grumbled and cursed at me, but I finally got her moving and into the shower. Then she was out the door with barelyenough time to make it. I prayed she wouldn’t do something stupid like stop for cigarettes on the way.
With a sigh, I turned to the dirty dishes in the sink. After that, I would tackle my homework before heading to see Grace for dinner. Best part of my day.
I was halfway through my first algebra problem when there were heavy footsteps on the front porch and the door burst open. Hell. What was Mom doing back?
I got up and rushed down the hall toward the door. “Mom, you’re definitely going to be?—”
But it wasn’t my mother standing just across the threshold. It was Grace.
Tears tumbled down her cheeks, and they kept falling. There was something about the way she was looking at me. I knew. Iknew.
“Who?” I asked, voice thick.
Which of her brothers wasn’t coming home? They weren’t deployed right now, but things happened. We both knew the stories.
She could hardly get the words out. “It’s Grayden.”
No.
Oh please, no.
Guilt and fear and nausea rushed through me all at once. I hurried over and crushed Grace in a hug. Her head fit against my collarbone. She’d always been small, but I’d shot up during our middle school years. Made me feel like I was the big sister, though I was only six months older than her.
“I’m sorry,” I kept saying. “Oh God, I’m so sorry, Grace.” All the while feeling sick over the secret grief I felt. The tragic, foolish hope I’d carried in my heart.
“But it’s not…” Grace hiccuped. “It’s not what you think.”
“What? What do you mean?”
She pulled back enough to wipe her face, even though the tears hadn’t stopped. “Ashford called. Callum answered it onspeaker, and I heard them talking. That’s how I found out. Something happened with Grayden.”
“But he’s alive?”
She nodded, lip trembling. “He’s alive. He’s not hurt.”
Relief crashed over me, so strong I could hardly breathe.
“But Ashford said… Piper, he said Grayden was arrested.”
