“You're all going?” Tammy asked incredulously. “I don't want ya'll going through that kind of trouble.”
“It's no trouble, I swear,” Trevor said.
While most everyone had a Southern accent here in South Carolina, Trevor's was different. He was from Texas, and his accent was that thick drawl, and his voice deep. He often sounded like a stereotypical cattle farmer, which was exactly what his father did for a living. But, Trevor was a Ranger through and through.
Nolan was standing just behind him, and to the right – quiet as usual. He was the introvert of our little unit. He was also the brains. He was an engineering geek, focused more on mechanics, than on combat during his time in the Army. He was leaner than the rest of us, and not quite the man of action and violence the rest of us were, but he was still a Ranger. His body was pure, lean muscle. Even with his black thick-rimmed glasses and clean cut, dark hair, he still looked like a Ranger. He was also the only one of us without ink, which said a lot about Nolan. He was never one to give in to peer pressure.
Then, of course, there was Sean, who was the exact opposite of Nolan. The two of them couldn't have been any different if they'd tried. While Nolan grew up in an upper middle-class family, Sean had grown up on the streets of Chicago, and it showed. A little rough around the edges, with brown hair that hung down to his shoulders now, Sean never let anything get in his way. Not even poverty.
Today, he was successful, and you wouldn't have guessed that he was once the bad boy of the group. You probably couldn't picture him, out on the corner, selling drugs on the streets back in high school. He’d had to make some pretty unpopular, and sometimes illegal, choices just to keep a roof over his family's head. He was one of the hardest working, most strong-willed men I knew.
I was more than proud to call of these guys my friends. I knew Aaron was as well. We were a band of misfits, the type of guys from totally different backgrounds, who grew up in totally different circumstances and situations, but our love for our country – and later, our friend and his family – brought us together. There wasn't a day that went by that I didn't thank God for bringing us altogether.
If only He hadn't taken Aaron from us, well, I might have been inclined to pray more. Losing him was like losing part of myself; a part of myself that I'd never, ever be able to get back. He was gone, and there was just an empty hole inside of me now because of it.
I'd been so deep in thought, I missed the rest of the conversation. Tammy and Simon were going inside, ready to start their presentation. I'd seen it countless times before, but it always brought a tear to my eye – and I typically didn't tend to cry much. None of us did, really.
Yet, we'd all lived through the same pain Aaron had. We'd all witnessed the tragedies of war, watched those we knew die, and experienced the shock of trying to return back to our normal lives. We'd all managed to bear the pain and endure it somehow.
The only difference though, was that like Aaron, we had come back fully intact. Physically, anyway.
Maybe things would have ended differently had he not lost his leg. Maybe not. He was still damaged when we were discharged and got back stateside. He hurt more than any of us, and he drowned that hurt in a bottle of whiskey and a hell of a lot of sleeping pills.
The real horror of war, however, wasn't the damage it had done to his body. It wasn't that he'd lost his leg necessarily, that was the reason he wasn't with us any longer. No, the real tragedy was that after surviving months on end in some of the bloodiest, most tense days of conflict, days when the bombs were going off everywhere, explosions, bullets, bombs, and missiles all combined to fuck him up totally and completely.
His depression was so bad, and so crippling, and exacted such a heavy toll on him, that not even his four best buds or his baby sister could have saved him from himself. Not there at the end, when he'd decided it was time for him to quiet the noise in his head the only way he knew how.
“Let's get moving,” Sean said. “I'm driving.”
“Your truck have snow tires on it?” Trevor asked, cocking his eyebrows at me.
“No, but you ever drive in the snow, Texas boy?” Sean asked.
“Oh, shut the fuck up. We all know Nolan's the most experienced in the snow,” I said, patting our friend on the back. “Ain't that right?”
“Growing up in Buffalo came with a few advantages, yes,” he said. “But I don't have a truck.”
Trevor tossed him his keys. “Drive mine. But be careful.”
“Wouldn't dare hurt your baby,” Nolan laughed.
“Damn right. She's the love of my life.”
“I've never heard anyone speak about their truck that way, you sick bastard,” Sean said. “Maybe it's time you got a girlfriend.”
“Maybe. Or maybe I'm just fine living the single life,” Trevor said.
We all climbed into the dual cab truck. It was the heftiest truck I'd ever seen, and would be perfect for driving in the mountains, given that it was especially suited for rough terrain and all kinds of weather conditions. I just prayed that Nolan's experience driving in Buffalo would translate well to driving in the Appalachians during one of the worst snowstorms of the century.
Either way, I was sure of one thing – we were in for an adventure, and we'd get to Elle or die trying.
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A Note from the Author
Thank for you taking the time to read my latest release.
I hope you loved reading my story, as much as I enjoyed writing it.
It would mean the world to me if you could take some time to leave a quick review for this book. Reviews allow me to understand how my readers truly feel, and they keep me improving.
I appreciate you supporting me, thank you so much.
- Natasha L. Black
Also By Natasha L. Black
Here are a list of my previous releases, some of which that went to the top 100 of all of Amazon.
Men in Charge : A Contemporary Romance Box Set
One Lucky Girl : A Reverse Harem Boxset
Saving Sky
Protecting Her
Forbidden Daddy
Pretend I’m Yours
Redemption
Sweet Tooth
Training the Rookie
Pretend You’re Mine
Double Trouble
The Cabin
Cuffed to my Roomies
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Double Dirty Page 13