As if he heard my silent vow, Griffin called out, “Shay?”
“Yeah.” I didn’t open my eyes, letting tropical blue ones calm my soul.
“Make me a promise, bro?”
“Sure.”
“Promise me, that when we get back stateside, you’ll go home and make Skye yours.”
My eyes snapped open, and I turned my head to look at him. “Where’s that coming from?”
He shrugged. “On our last deployment, you almost died from a bullet to your chest. Today, you almost roasted to death in that.” He tipped his chin at the burning truck. “If I’ve learned one thing today, it’s that life’s too short not to take chances. Go home and take a chance on her and fuck what others think or say.”
If only it were that easy to. “After what I did, I don’t think—”
“There’s nothing you can do that will make that girl hate you, so don’t fucking tell me you can’t,” he snorted. “You’ve loved her all her life, nothing changed except your love’s a little deeper now. And she loves you too, so nothing stops you from claiming her as yours.”
“How would you know?” I scoffed, not sure if I was just hiding behind my cowardice as usual.
His brow shot up, his expression pure mischief. “Doesn’t take a fucking genius to see how you light up her world when you’re around. Enter a room and everything else ceases to exist for her. Plus, after what you said you did to her, I’m pretty sure she’s waiting for more.”
My laugh was caustic. I broke her heart. Hadn’t written to her for over fourteen months. “She’s probably got a boyfriend by now.” I winced at that pain circulating my chest every time I thought of her with someone else.
“Won’t matter.” He shrugged. “She’s always loved you even though you had Ryleigh around. And if you love her like I know you do, you won’t stop whether she has a boyfriend or not. How you change her mind is up to you.”
“That doesn’t even make sense.” I stood, not sure who I was annoyed with. Griffin or Skye’s supposed boyfriend we had no idea existed or not.
“Shay.” He struggled to get up and I leaned over to help him. “No matter where you are in the world, your feet will always find Skye. Her tears tethered her to you from the first time they spilled while your heart always beats a magnetic pull for her. If she’s around you, you’ll find her, without looking. If you’re around, she’ll know you’re there, for her. Boyfriend or not.” He slapped me on the back. “We survived, so that you can make a life with her. I know, I dreamt this shit.” He snorted a laugh making me chuckle then he sobered. “Promise me?”
An eerie silence settled around us and I had no idea why his plea sounded much more than just that. It was almost like his heart was unsettled. Granted, we were close and practically lived in each other’s shadows, something about his expression left me winded for a moment.
“We’re moving out!” someone called, jerking my head in that direction.
I looked at Griffin and nodded. “I promise.”
Aweek later that so-called promise went to shit as I stared at Ryleigh, shock making it harder to breathe. Everything I’d hoped for and dreamed of, washed out the door in a matter of seconds.
“Are you sure?” I rubbed my brow, my laugh nervous.
She nodded. “I’m sorry, Shay, I know this isn’t what you expected to come home to...” she trailed off, probably just as unsure as I felt.
When Griffin and I chatted, after surviving one heck of an ambush, my heart had developed only one intention. To go back home, see Skye and tell the fucking world I loved her or if push came to shove, run off with her and start our lives in another town, state or country if needed. Now, three days before I was scheduled to fly back home, Ryleigh visited with news I hadn’t anticipated would cut short my happiness with a swift kick up the ass. She was pregnant.
Note to self,never fuck while you’re piss drunk, and condoms don’t always work.
She’d visited during my return to the base for a mission briefing that got derailed. A few of the guys and I were taking a breather before we flew back to Baghdad the next day. Numb with regret, I’d fucked her.
“I could get an abortion—”
The glass of water I’d just picked up went flying across the room, crashing into the wall behind her. She flinched. “Don’t you ever fucking dare to bring up that word where my child is concerned,” I barked.
She had the sense to blanch. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I just thought you weren’t ready—”
“And what about you?” I snapped.
“You know I won’t be able to raise a child on my own, Shay.” I heard the regret in her voice, she was genuinely sorry for mentioning an abortion. Her parents weren’t exactly the perfect family material, unlike my father, who, even as a single parent, lavished us with love from day one. Ryleigh would struggle only because, by her own admission, she lacked the maternal nuance required to raise a child.
While my heart slowly withdrew into the shell it had converged inside since the last time I left home, I sighed. “I will marry you and give you and my child the life you both deserve as my family.” There was no fancy proposal or declarations of love like I’d envisioned for my future. From the moment we began dating, Ryleigh had known we were compatible as couple just not the die-hard in love type of couple. Regardless, I wouldn’t neglect her or my child. “I can’t promise I’d be the perfect husband or to love you until death do us part, but I’ll give you everything I can until I can’t. That’s the only condition I have.”
