Two
Piper
The taxi pulled up to my apartment. I paid and jumped out, wishing I could stay there forever. Living in the back of a cab for the rest of my life would beat going home for a week. I knew I was being overdramatic, but I couldn’t help it. My sister had a way of getting under my skin. After just one phone call she had me agreeing to an entire week in Bradberry. I didn’t know how she did it, but I hated her for it.
liked Audra better. She was the townie. Totally happy to stick around Bradberry forever. She got married at the ripe old age of nineteen and popped out three kids in five years. Me? I had other plans. And those plans definitely did not include Bradberry.
In my last year of college, I was still living at home witAfter I let myself into my apartment, I pulled my dark hair back into a ponytail and grabbed my suitcase from my closet. I sighed deeply and rolled my eyes. I still couldn’t believe I was letting Audra talk me into this. The last thing I wanted was to go back to Bradberry. Even for one week…
My entire life started and ended in that small town. I was always the girl who wanted out. When I went to college just a few miles away, it was with one goal in mind: Get the hell out of Bradberry. College was a means to an end. It was my one chance to start the life I always wanted.
If I’m being honest, that’s the reason my parents always h my parents. They were secretly hoping I would give up my dream of becoming a big city lawyer and settle for practicing family law right there in my hometown.
“Wouldn’t that be nice?” my mother asked a hundred times. “You could still help people and this way, the people you help would be the very same people you’ve known forever. What could be better than that?”
My response was always the same: “New York City, Mom. New York would be better than that.”
I never even considered staying in Bradberry until I met Logan Alexander.
Logan was in the Navy. Muscular. Brooding. Dark. Mysterious. Exactly the kind of man every twenty-one year girl wants, right? I was no exception. I fell for him. Hard and fast.
I wish I could say I played hard to get. That he wooed me or slowly seduced me, but that’s not how it happened. Logan walked into Kellan’s pub one night and boom, I was a goner. From the second his dark brown eyes locked onto mine I was head over heels for him. The more time we spent together, the more I liked him.
Our sexual chemistry was intense. It was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. There were nights when we couldn’t keep our hands off each other no matter where we were. We would collide in the backseat of his car or in the bathroom at Kellan’s. Anywhere. Any place. Our bodies reacted to each other like magnets. We were drawn together.
But, more than that, he understood me. I could talk to him about things my family only made fun of. I told him I wanted to move to New York once I passed the bar exam. I spent hours gushing over all the things I would do if I lived there. He never once told me I was being stupid. He never did anything except support my dreams.
Logan understood because he had dreams of his own. He told me all about how badly he wanted to become a Navy SEAL. He’d been in the Navy since he was eighteen, but his dream was to do something that really mattered and to him, that was the SEALs.
“It’s my purpose, you know?” he told me one night while we were sitting in our booth at Kellan’s. “I don’t know how else to explain it. When I think about the one thing I was put on this Earth to do, it’s that. I have to be a SEAL. I just have to.”
I guess I should have seen it coming, you know? All the signs were there. But at the time all I could see was his ambition. To me, it only made him that much sexier. If I had opened my eyes, I may have been able to prepare myself for it. Maybe I would have seen the signs in time for me to get out. But I didn’t and the night he told me he was leaving was the worst night of my life.
He came to me that night with a huge smile on his face. He was going to be a SEAL. He was finally getting his dream. His wish. And what was I compared to that? Nothing more than a lose end he needed to tie up before shipping out.
I took a deep breath and threw a pair of underwear into my suitcase. The more I thought about that night with Logan, the less I wanted to go home. I even went so far as to pick up my phone, ready to call Audra and tell her to shove it, but I stopped myself.
As much as I hated to admit it, Audra was right. It was time. I couldn’t hide out in New York forever. No matter what Logan did to me back then, I still had family in Bradberry and they needed me. Besides, hadn’t I done okay despite Logan? Hadn’t I recovered from the heartache and made something of myself? Wasn’t I a big city lawyer?
Hell yeah I was.
I imagined walking through downtown Bradberry. It was easy to picture the streets lined with people from my childhood. Mr. Jensen the banker. Alice Townsen, the town gossip. Margie Anderson, the prom queen who married the quarterback of the football team. They would all wave at me somewhat hesitantly. Their smiles would be a little forced because they wouldn’t know what to expect from the new Piper Prewitt. I’d spent so much time away that all they knew about me was from the town gossip. They would corner me and ask questions about my life without really wanting to know the answers. I would give the answers proudly not giving a damn what anyone thought.
I would stop at Angie’s café and order one of her famous scones. I looked everywhere, but I still hadn’t found a bakery in New York that could beat Angie’s. My mind drifted to the high school where my favorite English teacher still taught. I was sure Mrs. Peterson would be happy to see me. She, of all people, would be proud of where my life ended up. I thought about the flower shop my mom and dad owned. It made me smile to picture them sitting behind the counter together. I hadn’t realized it, but I really did miss them.
As I finished packing, I realized it wasn’t Bradberry I was dreading going back to. It was the memories that awaited me there. I didn’t want to become that heart-broken girl I once was. I didn’t want to let everything I went through back then once again define me. I wanted to stay here, in New York, where I was strong and confident.
Where I knew who I was.
Where I was safe.
I squeezed the pair of socks I was holding. My eyes closed and I breathed slowly. Just the thought of being back in that town was hard.
Still, I couldn’t help but remind myself that my life in New York wasn’t perfect. There were things I missed from Bradberry, things I could never get in New York. Like Angie’s scones. And judgmental looks from my Aunt Miriam.
I could already hear her voice, “Met any nice guys in the city? No? Well, of course you haven’t Everyone there is either a drug addict or only interested in whores!”
I smiled to myself at the thought. Thinking of my Aunt Miriam was actually the thing that resigned me to my fate. I was going back to Bradberry. I was going to spend an entire week in the company of my family. I was going to face the snide comments with a smile.
So, what if I was still single? I was kicking ass and no one could take that away from me. Not my family or my hometown and certainly not Logan Alexander.
Three
Logan
The darkness pressed down around me. I forced myself to focus. This mission was too important to fail. There was too much at stake, for me and for my team. I knew I couldn’t let them down. I took a deep breath and remembered my training. The fear disappeared from my body. My breathing relaxed and my heartbeat steadied. I took a confident step forward. I knew what I had to do.
I walked for half a mile before I heard the shot. My heart stopped beating as I whirled around to face the direction it came from. I heard the shot on my left where I knew Young was moving in the same direction as me. No one knew where we were. There shouldn’t be any gunfire. This wasn’t that kind of mission.
It took a fraction of a second, just long enough for me to question breaking my orders, before the second shot echoed around me. Then the third.
My orders were clear: if the mission is compromised, locate your team and return to camp. Without a second thought, I took off running through the darkness. My legs moved smoothly beneath me. I felt like a wild animal bounding through the forest. The only noise I made was the rustle of my pants. I moved faster than I’ve ever moved in my life. Nothing and no one would stop me.
I closed the distance in less than a minute.
My gun was raised.
I saw him immediately, but he hadn’t seen me yet.
I didn’t hesitate.
I fired.
He collapsed.
I spun around, checking for more, but everything seemed calm. My eyes were peeled as I moved slowly, trying to find Young. My instinct was to call out to him, but my training forced me to hold my tongue. Whatever happened, I couldn’t risk giving away my location.
Every noise I heard made my body tense. I felt like there were a million eyes on me. I expected to be shot each time my feet shifted, but there was no other person in sight. I hadn’t heard gunshots in almost five minutes. I knew the rest of the team would be converging on me soon. I was the closest to Young’s path, but McCullers and Hansen weren’t far either. They would be here any second and I still hadn’t located Young.
“If the mission is compromised, locate your team and return to camp.”
Our orders were clear. I had to locate Young before McCullers and Hansen arrived so we could all get the hell out of dodge. We had to leave together, as a team.
My eyes scanned the ground around me, searching for any sign of Young. I looked for blood or scattered gear. Anything that may lead me to his location, but there was nothing. Nothing at all.
I was frustrated as I continued my search. I needed to find him fast. I’d already been here, exposed, for far too long. Where were McCullers and Hansen? Why weren’t they there yet? Had they been hit, too?
As soon as their names entered my mind, they appeared beside me. I breathed a sigh of relief and moved closer to them. We spoke in hushed whispers, our eyes constantly looking around.
“Found anything?” McCullers asked.
“Killed one. Still looking for Young.”
“Split up?” Hansen suggested.
“No,” McCullers shook his head hard. “Stick together. Let’s find him. We’re dark and I don’t like not having coms on.”
We moved deeper into the woods, our guns raised and our eyes darting. I strained my ears for any sounds that may help us find Young, but there was nothing. Everything was silent except for our soft footsteps as we inched through the woods.
Finally, we heard a scuffle a few yards to our right. I raised my gun higher and crept forward with McCullers and Hansen on either side of me. I was sure the noise meant Young was close by, but we had to move slowly. We had to be careful in case it wasn’t him.
The closer we got, the quieter everything became. We couldn’t hear the scuffling anymore. We couldn’t hear anything at all.
When I saw the blood at my feet I knew the worst had happened. I raised my eyes and saw him lying with his back against a tree trunk. McCullers sucked in a ragged breath and Hansen turned around aiming, I ran to him. My whole body lurched forward and I threw my gun to the ground. All of my training was forgotten in that one moment. All I could think about was reaching him.
I grabbed him and pulled him against my chest. My fingers searched frantically for a pulse, but it was too late. He was already gone…
…I sat up quickly, my heart racing and sweat pouring down my face. I tried to slow my breathing, but I couldn’t shake the image of Young lying dead against that tree.
It had been four months since our mission failed, but not a day went by where I didn’t think about Young and wish I had done more. After weeks of counseling and conversations with my superiors, I knew there was nothing I could have done. I acted perfectly. I followed every protocol. I did everything I was supposed to.
Still, Young was dead and I couldn’t help but think I should have saved him. If I had moved faster, run harder, listened more intently, maybe he would still be alive.