Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 72669 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72669 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Sobs wracked my frame as I opened the door of my Jeep, then promptly busted my ass on the concrete due to the slickness of it.
And so I sat there, in my driveway, with rain pouring down on me, and cried.
Chapter 3
Real men don’t have beards. Beards stop their masks from sealing properly.
-Firefighter’s do it better
Booth
“She’s the one, isn’t she?” Emily asked softly.
I looked up from the bottle I was peeling the label off of.
We were sitting at a booth in the Applebee’s on the main drag in my hometown of Kilgore, Texas.
It was exactly like it used to be eight years ago.
Fuck, but even the booth we were sitting in still had the same shit up on the walls as it did the last time I’d been there.
I looked down at the table and saw the scarred wood where I’d carved mine and Masen’s initials into it on our first anniversary.
We hadn’t been the first, and we hadn’t been the last.
But I knew the instant that the hostess sat us in the booth that it wasn’t a good idea.
Too many memories had been made in this booth.
“You should go talk to her,” Emily said.
I looked up at her and grimaced.
“I don’t want to,” I lied.
I did.
Very much so.
We’d both been young and stupid when that thing with her sister had taken place.
Emily laughed, catching the attention of a very pissed off woman that was sitting at the bar next to Masen.
Mia. Her best friend.
I was only married because Emily was pregnant with my best friend’s baby and was losing her insurance coverage. To help her out, I offered my name and my benefits. Both of which she took me up on while she had her baby and then got back on her feet after losing her boyfriend to an IED.
One of my very good friends that I missed with all my heart; a day didn’t go by that I didn’t think about him.
And, had I been in his shoes with a baby on the way and leaving behind a woman that struggled to pay for my funeral costs, I would’ve hoped he’d do the same for me.
There was no love between Emily and I.
In fact, she’d divorced me the moment that she didn’t need me anymore. Which was fine with me.
The whole ‘hubby’ thing she did was a joke, and she’d been doing it for a very long time now because she thought it was funny.
She only did it sparingly now, though.
Ever since she met her new man.
A man that treated her like she was a piece of spun glass, and loved her daughter like she deserved to be loved.
And I was so happy for her.
I watched as Masen got up from the table, giving me a full unencumbered view of her attire.
She’d changed since we were together.
Before I’d gone on my deployment that led to the worst time of my life, she’d dressed as girly girl as one could get.
Dresses. Skirts. Heels.
She wore it all, then piled jewelry on top of that.
Now, I didn’t see a single piece of jewelry on her.
And she was in sweats.
At a restaurant.
I’d never once seen her go out of the house in that.
Not that she didn’t look good in the sweats.
They were tight and cupped her ass nicely, which had rounded out beautifully since the last time I’d seen her, but she still never would’ve been caught dead in that when she was seventeen.
What hadn’t changed, though, was her temper.
A temper that was clearly on display as she slammed out of the bathroom moments later, anger tight on her face.
Masen had always had a temper.
And I’d missed seeing it, even though she’d used it on me, which had backfired on me in more ways than one.
Emily laughed.
“What?” I asked, turning my attention back to her.
“Oh, you have it bad,” she giggled.
I shrugged and crossed my arms over my chest, completely dissatisfied with the appetizer Emily had ordered for the two of us.
Food wasn’t what I wanted.
Hadn’t been what I wanted for a very long time now.
“So why’d you come by the station?” I asked. “Thought you were getting married this weekend.”
Emily grinned.
“I am. At the end of the month,” she answered. “I just wanted to make sure that you got the papers.”
I nodded. “I did. But I told you I didn’t need any money.”
Emily rolled her eyes. “It wasn’t my decision to give it to you.”
I sighed, my eyes going back to the bar area once again when I saw movement out of the corner of my eyes.
I watched as Masen moved, hugging around the pole that led to the bar and crouching down until she could sneak out the pick-up door.
Then I turned in my seat so I could watch her walk to her Jeep.
The same Jeep that she’d had for a very long time now.