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The icy stare I was getting from her, though, made me want to confess.“Just thinking about the test, that’s all.”
“To get into the Army?”
“Yeah, that one.”
She leaned her forehead on mine.“You’re going to do fine.But I don’t think you’re as nervous about taking the test as you are about passing with flying colors.”She brushed my lips with her own.“You’re one of the smartest people I know.”
I took a play from Deacon’s book and tried to divert her attention.“What do you say we go inside and watch a movie?”
Christina brushed a light kiss on my forehead.“I can’t.It’s already passed my curfew and my mom isn’t going to be too pleased.”
Halfway down the driveway she hollered back, “And just so you know, Colt, you may be able to avoid a question you don’t like, but you’re going to have to stop avoiding the situation.It’s happening whether you like it or not.”
Lord knew I had a choice in the matter, but it didn’t feel like it from where I was standing.It felt like I was stuck between a rock and a hard place—my dad and the Army.
“I can’t let him down, Christina,” I responded.
I could hear her sigh heavily.“I know.”
Chapter One
Scarlet
Present Day
The sun was shining so bright I couldn’t see without sunglasses, and with the windows open and no air on, I could feel the full effects of the Miami sun.Oh how I’d missed the hot weather, the warm nights, and the beaches.Miami was my hometown and now that my brother was gone I knew it was going to feel different, but his memorial service was also the perfect excuse to leave New York.It never felt like home to me anyway, but I stayed for Nick, my boyfriend of two years who I thought I knew everything about.Guess you didn’t really know a person as well as you thought you did, I mused.At least not when they’re keeping you out of parts of their life and keeping secrets from you.Big secrets, like the fact that they’ve been a successful accountant on Wall Street, one of the best really, because he’d been cooking the books.Nick had been part of illegal activity for years and had I not walked in on his private conversation with one of his partners I would’ve never known the truth.He would have happily kept me in the dark forever.
That was all in the past now, though, because what Nick didn’t know was that I was never going back.I packed my bags when he went to work the next morning and left a note for him, saying I was going home for a memorial service for my brother and that I’d probably be gone for a while to clear my head after that.I knew he wasn’t going to just let me go, but this would buy me some time while I figured out what to do next.He was very possessive and once he found out that I overheard their conversation, thanks to the clanking of my high heels on the wooden floors, Nick and his partner weren’t happy and they were going to be out for blood, or, at the very least, my silence.
Stopped at a red light, I picked my brown wavy hair off the back of my neck and tossed it into a sloppy bun at the top of my head.I guess I really underestimated the heat.I remembered it so fondly, but being in New York since I was eighteen years old, it seemed like a lifetime ago.My mind began to reel with the knowledge that it had been six years since I’d lived with my brother in Florida.After our parents died, he practically raised me, but once I turned eighteen, he told me he wanted to enlist.I was never going to stand in his way, so I waved goodbye and watched as the only family I had left got on a bus to protect our country.
“Damn it,” I cursed at the noise sounding in my car and hit the steering wheel.I hadn’t checked the gas and now I was on E.“That’s just great, Scarlet, now you’re going to be stuck on the side of the road.”Just my luck, I thought to myself.
Sitting on the side of the road while I waited for AAA was the last thing I thought was going to happen today.I’d walk to the nearest gas station, but that was miles away.I could get out of my car and wait for some passerby to be nice enough to help me, but I doubted that was going to happen—it wasn’t the midwest, after all.
My best friend, Brooke, didn’t live far from my old family home, though, and I was only about twenty minutes from there.She answered on the second ring, thank God.“Hey, girl, I was wondering when you were going to phone me.I hadn’t heard from you since you made that pitstop in Virginia.Are you okay?”
I exhaled.“I’m fine.My car, not so much.Brooke, I’m an idiot.I forgot to check the gas before I passed the last station and I’m on E.I called AAA, but I was hoping to see if you might make it here faster?”
I could almost hear the air being deflated from her balloon as Brooke responded, “I wish I could, but I’m at the salon.I’m getting my hair done.I’m so sorry, sweetie.”
“No, it’s fine, forget it.It was a long shot anyway.”
“You know, what?”Brooke continued, “Max’s friend is in town and he’s got a brother who fixes cars.He might be able to help.”
I nearly jumped out of my seat.“I just need gas, but yes, yes, that’s great.I’ll take whatever help I can get.”I waited.
“Where are you?”she asked.“I’m texting now.”
I gave her my location.“How soon can he get here?”
“Ten minutes, he says.I guess he’s close by.”
“Maybe he’s at the grocery store.I’m not far from Whole Foods.”
Brooke laughed.“Funny, you haven’t been back here in years, but still remember where the grocery store is located.I came back from my three month honeymoon and it felt like a whole new world.”
I couldn’t help but laugh.“Okay, Aladdin, I’m going to hang up now before you start breaking into song.”
