"Hey," Brandon sits up and laughs. "You remember that time I tricked you both into taking that shortcut to the camp, you know, through the swamp."
Connor chuckles. "You have always been such a little shit."
"Ma was so pissed when we rocked up soaking wet and covered in mud. God, poss was so sulky about having to wear my Transformer undies while her My Little Pony knickers where strung up on the clothes line to dry." He laughs.
"No, what I was mad about was that Arnold ate them and then I had to walk home in your skanky Transformer's undies."
"What about that time I took you to confession?" Connor asks.
"I talked to Jesus," Brandon says with a snicker.
And here we lay, the three of us talking until we fall asleep.
I wake in the morning, still groggy. Connor's rustling around, shoving stuff into his bag. He kicks Brandon in the side and he groans. "Fuck's sake, Con. You trying to kill me?"
"Fucker, I'm just trying to toughen your lazy ass up for the army."
My chest goes all tight and I glance at the clock. Its eleven. They have to leave in an hour.
"I already got the car packed, Bran." Connor says. "Did it before I drove over last night."
"Jesus, you're a fucking genius."
And for the next hour, I walk around in a daze. Numb because, if I let myself feel, I'm going to fall to pieces. I hold it together while we eat brunch. I smile. I laugh. But the moment we walk out to Connor's car, everything inside of me crumbles. Tears stream down my face and I fall against Connor's chest, dragging in uneven breaths. My chest is so tight; I can see now why they call it heartbreak. It physically hurts.
"Hey, hey," he says, cupping my cheeks and tilting my head back. "I'll be back."
"I know, I'm just gonna miss you."
"Aw, poss, it's not like we're dying or anything," Brandon says, placing his arm around my shoulder and giving me a quick kiss on the cheek.
Connor presses his lips over mine and that serenity I find only with him fills me for the briefest of moments. "I love you."
"I love you, too."
He pulls away and smiles sweetly at me. "This isn't goodbye, babe. Only see you later."
And I watch those two boys who became my entire world ride off, leaving me alone for the first time in my life.
Follow their story into the original story of WAR POPPY
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Poppy
Love and war. Two words that should have little association, but to me the two go hand in hand. Both are a tragedy. They rip you open and spit you out. The war killed my husband, Connor, shattered my will to live, and took my best friend. Brandon may not have physically died in that war, but his soul did. And now we're left to pick up the wreckage. Expected to move on when all that is left is the ruins of a life we once had.
Brandon
War. It took everything from me, even myself. When you're only able to exist, death seems like a blessing. Pain...a welcome distraction. I ran from everything associated with my past, and then she found me, fighting, drowning myself in whisky, trying to forget. She reminds me of Connor, of what I've lost—what we've lost. In the midst of destruction, she's a salvation I don't deserve.
I shouldn't love him.
I shouldn't love her.
Love is a war we never should have fought.
War Hope is releasing in May 2017.
PRE-ORDER HERE.
Pre-war: A War Series Novella Page 12