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"You really like her, yes?"
"Don't you?" he fired back.
I shrugged. "I do, but I also like my duty. If I have to sacrifice something for it, I will."
He grunted and pocketed his hands in his fists. "Juniper has something."
"Hmm?"
"She sees me. It might sound ridiculous, but no woman has ever looked past my tough exterior and seen the human underneath. The one with feelings, desires, and a longing for connection.
"I was always a cold-blooded machine, solely focused on completing missions and taking out targets. ‘Member how they used to call meHard Chargerback in the day? I was the one packing then, not you.
"They trained me to become a marine, but I was also a person before that. I still am. Heidi never saw that. But her, she's different.
"She looks at me like I'mthatperson. Like I'm allowed to have feelings. And in her gaze, I see a reflection of myself that I thought was long gone. I feel seen, understood, and alive for the first time in an age."
"I get it."
I really did. Asher was fresh off the trail of a pretty painful relationship. The man had almost married his childhood sweetheart, Heidi, only to have her cheat on him with his brother while he was away on an op.
It had to suck. More because she ended up marrying the brother two months ago.
He slumped on the chair beside me, a restless light in his amber eyes.
I patted his shoulder. "It'll be okay, yes? If things don't work out with Juniper, we'll get three dogs next year and raise them."
"You're not getting a bulldog."
"Vete a la mierda."
Grizzly returned a while later, his expression curdled. "Spoke to the commander. It isn't promising."
"Give it to us."
"Credit card scam. She could have killed Montgomery Sr. to clear her debt."
19
Reed
Ireally, really wanted Juniper Davis to be anything but a gold digger.
This was my second glass of whiskey. I took another sharp sip, relishing in its smooth burn. Felt appropriate because everything was going up in flames anyway.
"Reed?"
I buried the curt reply in my throat. I had enough to deal with for one night. The last thing I needed was more trouble with my pre-teen. Her birthday was coming, I reminded myself.
Perhaps Juniper could help me figure out a way to celebrate Leia's thirteenth. Something that wouldn't involve her giving up the last shreds of hope she had in me. If any were left.
"Tell me."
"Can you pick me up from school tomorrow?"
I cocked my head to consider her face. She'd make a good soldier, my daughter. At the tail end of twelve, she'd learned to master her emotions like a magician preparing for the biggest show of their life.
Again, an annoying instinct rose inside me. I wanted to tell her it was perfectly OK for her to walk back home. Her school was less than fifteen minutes away from where we lived.
