AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Yeah, that would be pretty damn on the money. Maybe she was right and maybe it was about time that I stopped worrying about what others would think, about Morgan, and just went after what I wanted.
And what I wanted was Pike.
25
Pike
Christmas season was upon us the second that Thanksgiving was over, and everyone around us was cheerful. It was cold and snowy out, and I could feel myself getting into the holiday spirit as well.
Christmas back in the army hadn’t really been something to get excited over. Oh, sure, we tried to make the best of it. Guys with families would get care packages and letters, and they’d try to Skype with their family and friends. I never had anyone and so the guys around me would try and get me a little something so that I didn’t feel left out. Sometimes their spouses or their parents would send something for me along with the rest of the care packages. But overall, really, it wasn’t exactly something to get all happy about.
But now that I was home? It felt so much better. People were putting up decorations outside of their houses and in the windows of their businesses. Everyone had an extra bounce in their step. Christmas music was everywhere. Even Jones hung a Christmas wreath over the door to his office, a little something for the season.
I hadn’t decorated my apartment just yet. I wasn’t sure if I would. I wanted to do something to brighten it up and make it nice, feel homey, but I was kind of occupied with something else—or someone else, rather.
Billie was pretty down after Thanksgiving, which was only the day after Morgan came and tried to fight me. I figured he must’ve said something to her too, and she admitted that he’d been extra cold to her on the day of the holiday.
“My mom noticed that something was wrong,” she admitted to me at one point. “It’s bad.”
I wanted to track Morgan down and punch his lights out. Couldn’t he see how selfish he was being? How he was ruining his sister’s happiness? I could hardly believe that I was the source of that happiness, that I was the one who was doing that for her—but if I was, then who was Morgan to judge? He had to let Billie live her life.
With that in mind, I planned a special getaway. It was only a couple weeks before Christmas, and so local hotels and such were offering deals for the holidays and I scored a sweet one. It wasn’t Paris or somewhere fancy, hell, it wasn’t even Los Angeles, but it was going to be a nice little weekend, just for the two of us, able to be open and together.
“Pack your bags,” I told Billie one night after I’d picked her up from the bar and taken her back to my place. “Get the weekend off. I want to take you somewhere.”
“Oh?” Billie grinned at me from the bed. She was wearing nothing but one of my shirts, and it stirred something primal in me, made a tiger inside of me wake up and roar in approval.
I nodded.
“Do I get to know where we’re going?”
“Nope.” I shook my head. “This is a surprise.”
Billie had been good and hadn’t tried to guess, had let me plan this surprise for her. I told her to manage her expectations, but I was excited to do this. Finally we could be away from prying eyes and could just be together as public and ridiculous as we wanted. I could hardly wait.
When I picked her up after her shift, Billie slid into the passenger seat of my car with a duffle bag. “You going to tell me where we’re going now?”
“Where do your parents think you are?”
“Going on a little girls’ weekend with Michelle. She’ll cover for me.”
Michelle knew about us, because how could she not? Billie had to speak to someone about our relationship and Michelle had known everything before we even officially got together anyway.
“So,” Billie asked as I peeled out into the road and started heading west. “Where are we going?”
“I booked us a weekend away at this little bed and breakfast in Albuquerque. It’s not too fancy, but it’s romantic. The pictures online were really nice. Cozy.” I winked at her.
Billie gaped at me. For a moment, I thought that I’d done the wrong thing, that she was upset, but then she grinned at me. “And here I thought you’d schlep me to Amarillo and parade me around the Cadillac Ranch.”
I cracked up. “Hey, you’re not the only person who appreciates the finer things in life. Like the Unser Racing Museum.”
Billie laughed as well. “I knew that cars would be in there somewhere.”
“What can I say? I’m a simple man with simple tastes.”
