AllFreeNovel
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“Sorry. Poor choice of words.”
A vision of Lindsay bound and tied by those animals makes my blood race. The twitchiness overcomes all the alcohol in my system and I start to breathe hard. Grabbing a glass, I pour myself water from the pitcher in my fridge and guzzle it down.
Mark just watches me.
“You really love her.”
“Of course.” My voice comes out like ice chips, one piece per syllable. “You knew that.”
“It’s one thing to be told something. It’s very different to watch it.”
“That obvious?”
“You might as well wear her panties on your head.”
I’m in the middle of a swallow and come out choking, hard. That image is way better than my previous one, so I’ll go with that.
“Doubt the senator would appreciate it,” I cough out.
“You’d get fired. Surprised you’re not. And if you keep it up, Drew, you’ll be arrested for assault.”
“You’re playing the puritan with me? The guy who broke into his own father’s motorcycle club compound so he could rescue his brother’s girlfriend from a drug dealer who planned to take her virginity to cure his HIV/AIDS?”
He nods slowly. “When you put it that way, I’m a hypocrite.”
“When I put it ANY way, you’re fucking crazy.”
He claps me on the shoulder. “We both are. We know that. Always have been, especially since Afghanistan.”
“And since both of us had parents who died in mysterious car crashes.”
Mark’s eyes go dark. “And that,” he spits out. The coincidence was too pat to be anything but a careful targeting. Mark was already my commanding officer and delivered the news, followed by his own hollow story that mimicked what happened to my mom and dad, only it was his mother and stepfather.
Grief has a funny way of going underground when you’re in battle. They sent me home for the funeral. I grieved with my sister in private, handled a few legalities, and requested to be sent back to the front lines.
Lindsay was still on the Island.
I had no one to talk to back home.
Combat was a better place to express my emotions. Sniper training proved cathartic.
“Between my parents, your parents, and Lindsay’s brake line failure, looks like we’ve got someone in high places targeting all of us.”
“Us?” Mark grabs a glass and fills it with water, our conversation obviously not over. “You think I’m still some kind of target?” His eyes flicker with worry, then settle back into a blank stare.
“Not sure.”
“You think Carrie -- ”
“You live next door to your brother now, right?”
“Right.”
“He’s good?” Mark knows what I am really asking.
“He’d shred anyone who tried to touch Carrie or Allie. No training, but solid instincts.”
“He looking for a job?”
