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Kamryn exhaled, and her eyes shut in relief as Kinlee’s voice slipped deeper into the condo. After buttoning her pants, she walked quickly to where I was standing in the doorway to her closet and threw her arms around me. “I forgot she was picking me up today, I’m sorry, I have to go.”
“I know, have a good day, I’ll call you when I can.”
Pain covered her worried expression, and her hands slid around to press on my chest. “When do you think that will be?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted, and an unsettling feeling unfurled in my stomach. “Just know that every moment I’m not with you, I’m counting down the minutes until I can see you again. You’re all I think about, Kamryn, and I’ll do anything so I can see you again.”
She bit down on her lip and nodded resolutely, but it didn’t mask the sadness in her eyes. “Okay.” Taking a deep breath in, she started to leave, but turned back to kiss me soundly. “Until then.”
“Jesus Christ, how long does it take you to pee now?” Kinlee’s voice was back, and Kamryn stilled against me.
“There’s an extra clicker for the garage door in a drawer in the kitchen. Take it.”
I nodded and slipped into her closet as she walked toward her bedroom door, bending down to grab her Converses as she left.
“Shit, I thought I was going to have to send a search-and-rescue team to get you out of the toilet.”
Kamryn laughed. “You’re early, you can’t expect me to be ready for you when you’re not running an hour late.”
“Whatever.” Kinlee snorted. “Don’t judge me.”
I released the breath I’d been holding when their voices faded, and then waited for a handful of minutes after I heard the door shut before moving from my spot. G
oing into the kitchen, I searched the drawers until I found one full of random stuff and pulled out the garage door opener. But after what had just happened, I didn’t know how often I would be using it. That had been too close. Kamryn and I needed to find a place where something like this couldn’t happen.
7
Brody
May 29, 2015
DRUMMING MY HANDS on the steering wheel, I took a few breaths in and out before shutting off my SUV and stepping out. This time of year was always bittersweet for me. With Tate’s birthday came sorrow, guilt, and wonder at what could have been. Knowing that I was struggling with the grief worse than I did the rest of the year, my two closest friends from the Army were never far behind. No matter what was happening in their own lives and with their families, both Coen Steele and Keegan Hudson came here from Colorado to remember Tate. Well, and I’m sure they were making sure I wouldn’t do anything stupid.
I’d never asked them to come. They both just showed up on what would have been his first birthday and had come back every year since—either on or near the day. I couldn’t begin to explain how much their yearly visit meant to me. It was something to look forward to rather than focus on the fact that Tate was gone and not living his life.
But in the last few weeks since his birthday, I’d been terrified about them coming. These two knew me better than anyone—even better than Jace—and I couldn’t lie to them if my life depended on it. Not only that, I didn’t want to lie to them. We’d been through a lot together in the Army, and there had been times when we were all each other had. Lying to them was never an option. I just didn’t know how they would react to what was going on between Kamryn and me. I had no doubt they would find out something was up, and I wouldn’t deny what it was when they did. We had to keep our relationship hidden from everyone for numerous reasons, one of them being that Kamryn didn’t want to be seen a certain way. So the fact that two of my friends would soon know had me on edge.
Walking into the restaurant, I looked around until I spotted them and began walking toward them.
“Saco!” they yelled in unison, and stood to greet me.
“You both look ancient,” I said as we all sat down.
“Fuck you, man,” Hudson snorted and signaled the waitress.
I shrugged and flipped open the menu. “I’m just saying. And are you getting fat, Hudson?”
Hudson grinned and ran a hand over his stomach. The guy practically lived in a gym—he couldn’t get fat if he tried. “Aw, don’t get jealous now.”
“How’ve you been?” Steele asked as he hit my arm with his menu.
“Good. Work, avoid Olivia, watch as she spends all my money. What else is new?” I shrugged.
Steele eyed me curiously before nodding. The three of us had all been close, but he’d been my roommate, and the one I’d called the day Tate died. To be honest, I think he was always waiting for me to go off the deep end. I almost laughed. If he wanted to see someone going off the deep end from Tate’s death, he should have come to my house for one of Liv’s fits.
“What about the two of you?” I asked after we ordered food and beers. “What’s going on with the families?”
“Well, this fucker can’t figure out how to put on a condom apparently,” Steele said with a laugh.
