She rolls her eyes. “You just seem like you were that popular kid. You know, the one everyone wanted to be friends with.”
“Hardly. I was the foster kid nobody wanted, and even when I got sent to military school, every one of my peers refused to let me forget that fact.”
“That’s horrible.”
I shrug. “Once I was tired of getting beat up, I decided to make a change. I started running everywhere. To morning formations, the barracks, the dining hall—wherever I went, I ran. I got up early and went to the gym. I poured everything I had into making myself bigger.”
“Did it work?”
“Nah. By the time I was big enough, I’d already graduated and joined the Navy.”
“Did you go in straight out of school?”
I nod. “Didn’t see the point in wasting time. There was no chance I was getting out of California without them.”
“Did you always want to be a soldier?”
I take a deep breath and shake my head. “When I was a kid, I wanted to be Superman.”
Anastasia laughs. “I mean, you didn’t hit too far off that mark. You’ve helped a lot of people, Sawyer. You’re still helping them.”
“After we were blacklisted and Brenda took over, it was the first time I really pictured what my life might look like without the Navy.”
“My brother told me that he was the one who took the heat. That it was him who was on the hook with Brenda, not you guys.”
“We’re a team.”
“He told me you guys chose to stay with him so he wouldn’t have to deal with it alone.”
“I guess technically that’s true, but there was never really an option for us. No chance we’d have left him on his own.”
She smiles over at me. “Thank you for being there.”
“No need to thank me. Plus, by staying with him, I got to meet you. And that’s worth every bullet or blade I took in the six years we worked for Brenda.”
Her smile fades just a bit. Is she thinking of all those times we came home wounded from a mission? One or more of us bruised and battered? “I always looked forward to you guys coming home, but every time you were gone, I feared you’d never come home.”
“Me specifically? Or just Zane?” I joke.
“You do have the biggest mouth.”
“It’s all part of the charm, baby,” I reply with a wink. “How about you?”
“I can’t say I ever dealt with bullies. But that was probably because everyone was too afraid of Zane and Weston.”
“Fair enough. What else? Tell me something I don’t know about you.”
She falls quiet, her expression focused in the distance. Is she thinking about times with Violet? Or something else?
“My first kiss was Rich Travers outside the community center when we were sixteen.”
“Rich Travers? Who is this guy? Where is he now? I think he needs to be dealt with.”
Anastasia laughs. “Last I heard, he’s happily married with four kids and is a CPA out of Charleston.”
“Still. Sounds like he needs a firm talking to. What did Zane have to say when he found out Rich was putting the moves on his little sister?”
“Not much since I never told him. Since he graduated early, I didn’t have to worry too much about him knowing what was going on in my life.”
