by MC Lee
I gave a halfhearted grin. Looking back now, it was hard to believe I’d been so stupid; that I’d wasted what little time we had left. If I’d known he would be leaving so soon….
But hindsight is twenty-twenty, and at the time it had seemed like there was no choice, and that what I’d done was the best thing for both of us.
We both froze when the library door slammed open and a voice called, “Noah? You in here, man?”
He put his finger on my lips, and we stood still and silent until a moment later, we heard the door swing shut, and peace once more descended.
“Guess I should go,” Noah said. “You’re sure you can’t—”
“I’m sure,” I said quickly. “Look after yourself, Noah.”
I stepped forward into his open arms, and he gathered me in close and held tight. I felt his heart beat against mine as I buried my face against his shoulder, and my arms came up to wrap around his waist.
He cupped a hand around my neck and brushed a soft kiss against my temple.
“Take good care of yourself, Emmett,” he whispered. “I hope things work out for you. I really do.”
I clung to him in silence for long minutes, reluctant to return to a world without him. But when he sighed and shifted, I found the strength to let him go and take a step back.
“Look me up if you’re ever back in the States.”
“Count on it.”
We walked side by side until we reached the door. Before we pushed through it, Noah grabbed me and gave me one last kiss, and then we walked out together, our footsteps echoing in the hallway as we went our separate ways.
TWO DAYS later I was wrestling my bike from the stand when a voice behind me said, “Throw that piece of shit in back and let me give you a ride.”
I turned to find Cal looking at me, his head cocked to one side.
“I’ll scratch the paintwork—”
“On this shitbox?” he said incredulously. “Move your ass, Easy. I don’t have all day.”
After another moment’s hesitation, I lifted the bike into the trunk of his car and slid into the passenger side seat.
“Sorry to hear about you and Melissa.” They’d broken up the week before, to nobody’s surprise.
He shrugged. “It was going nowhere. We both knew it.” His eyes slid over my face. “You get a chance to say goodbye to Noah?”
“Uh-huh.”
I didn’t elaborate. It was still too painful to think about. I told him instead about walking down the hallway after we’d parted and then hearing a voice call my name. I’d turned to find Hannah barreling toward me, and I only just managed to keep my feet when she threw herself into my arms.
“I couldn’t leave without saying goodbye,” she said breathlessly.
“I thought you hated me,” I replied, holding her at arms’ length.
“You’re a dumbass, and you broke my brother’s heart, but I don’t hate you, Emmett.”
She looked so unhappy that I pulled her back in for a final hug, dazed when her warm tears soaked my T-shirt.
“I’m going to really miss those two,” Cal said softly.
We drove in silence for a few minutes, the landscape becoming more downbeat with every passing moment. But it was Whitmore, our Whitmore, and we were used to its rough face.
“Any chance we can persuade you back to the team? We’re a man down.”
“I might need another couple of months, Cal,” I said quietly.
“Take your time,” Cal said.
He pulled up outside my house and killed the engine. He glanced over at me, and his expression was uncharacteristically serious when he said, “You need anything, Emmett?”
I turned my head and looked out of the window. “Not right now.”
“Offer’s always there,” he said quietly. “Just tell me if you need anything. Anything at all.”
I nodded and let out a ragged sigh and turned back to face him. “I’ll do that, Cal. When I need something, you’ll be the first person I ask.”
I felt something shift inside as a grin split his face. “Okay, get your shit outta my car, man. Places to go!”
I hauled the bike out of the trunk and waved him off, laughing when he gave me the finger as he pulled away.
I pushed through the front door, shouting, “Dad, I’m home.”
His face lit with happiness when I walked into the living room. “Jamie, sit down. Dinner will be on the table soon. It’s pot roast tonight, your favorite.”
“I’ll go grab us a beer,” I said.
Mrs. Sweeney was in the kitchen, pulling a casserole out of the oven. “When are you going to put an end to this foolishness?” she demanded.
“It makes him happy, Mrs. S.”
“And what about you, Emmett? What does it do for you?”
“I’m a lot tougher than I look,” I said, the smile I attempted almost making it. She frowned, and I knew I was skating on thin ice. “It won’t be much longer. In less than a year—”
“You turn eighteen,” she finished. “And what do you think will change?”
I shrugged. “I’ll be able to get help, and they won’t be able to take him away—”
“Have you ever thought that might be the best option? For both of you.”
I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply. We’d had this conversation more than once, and it always ended in the same place.
“Jamie, the game’s on.”
Dad’s voice carried through the house, excited and happy, a tone I hadn’t heard in months, and despite Mrs. Sweeney’s misgivings, I knew I was doing the right thing. He would get worse, that was inevitable, but for now I could soak up these final moments of his life. Besides, after months of always being the wrong son, it was comforting to be the center of his world, even though that meant borrowing my brother’s lost life.
“I’ll be there in a minute, Dad.”
Mrs. Sweeney sniffed in disapproval, but she didn’t continue the argument. “So, we won’t be calling social services.”
I shook my head.
“And you’ll carry on like this?”
“For as long as I can,” I said resolutely.
Maybe one day he’d remember, and his whole world would once again come crashing down.
Maybe one day I’d be plunged back into the confusion and chaos, the isolation and gut-churning fear.
Maybe one day.
But not today.
More from MC Lee
The Center: Book One
Jack has never known an ordinary life. “The Center,” a shadowy organization with its own hidden agenda, has been his home, his school, and his job. Under the command of a man he knows only as his guardian, Jack has trained relentlessly in order to carry out the Center’s secret missions. In the three years since he turned thirteen, he’s been given more and more complex assignments, rarely questioning the reasons behind each operation. Now, going by the name Jack Carlisle, his orders are to go to Maine and befriend high school track star Leo McCormack.
Jack finds Leo easy to like, and soon the like becomes something more. He knows he shouldn’t act on his attraction—it’s against all the rules. However, Leo wants Jack in his life as much as Jack wants Leo, and soon the two begin a relationship. Jack gets a sweet taste of real life, but when the mission ends the fallout could be disastrous—and not just because Leo’s father is the target of the operation.
Sequel to You Don’t Know Jack
The Center: Book Two
Jack Carlisle has returned to the Center after an assignment designed to push him to the edge of his limits—and beyond. He is given just a few short days to get used to a new identity and a new team. He’s been trained to assume a new identity, but working with a new team is more difficult, especially since it throws him back in the path of Leo McCormack, the boy who stole Jack’s heart and handed it back broken into tiny pieces.
With “Jack Carlisle” dead and “Jack Cross” reborn comes a new mission. Jack Cross and his team are sent undercove
r to Forbes Academy, an elite boys’ school in rural Connecticut. Here they must protect Adam and Sam North, whose lives are threatened by an unknown source.
Jack’s training never prepared him to deal with the animosity he still feels toward Leo, but he knows the only way to figure out the cause of the danger in time to save Adam and Sam is to work together.
Sequel to If You Knew Jack
The Center: Book Three
When Jack finds himself assigned to a new case with Anna Baxter, the agent who made life difficult on his previous mission, he is glad to find Leo McCormack will also be joining them.
They are tasked with getting close to high school student Connor White in order to infiltrate a drug ring being run by his friend, Gregor Slovik. Connor is gay, and Jack is conflicted about just how close to get to his target. With Leo’s help, Jack tries to navigate the pitfalls of their assignment. When Agent Baxter attempts to manipulate the mission to achieve the outcome she wants, Jack is forced to make a risky decision.
Sequel to Like I Know Jack
The Center: Book Four
As a teenage agent for a shadowy organization known as the Center, Jack is used to danger and intrigue. But his newest assignment will push the boundaries of what he’s come to expect. Jack poses as Jack Elliot, an identity assigned to Alex Sutherland after Alex’s family is forced to enter a witness protection program. Something is awry, and the family’s two previous relocations have been compromised. Jack and the Center must determine where the leak is coming from—within the program, or from the Sutherland family itself.
Along with Sean and Instructor Clare Colson, Jack slips into Alex’s life, deliberately putting a target on his back in the hopes of drawing out whoever is betraying the Sutherlands. Matt returns to the team while Martin and Leo provide support, and together they must discover who is revealing the family’s secret identities—before it’s too late for everyone.
Sequel to The Shadow Operation
The Center: Book Five
When Leo runs into trouble on what is supposed to be a routine assignment, Jack is dispatched to provide backup. Leo has been tasked with befriending high school student Freya Moore, but another student, Ryan Anderson, seems to be targeting Freya too. Or is he more interested in Leo? When Jack discovers Ryan’s real intentions, his life changes forever.
Secrets are revealed, loyalties are tested, and Jack finally learns the truth about who he is.
Readers love The Center series by MC Lee
You Don’t Know Jack
“You Don’t Know Jack was not what I was expecting, it was more…”
—Joyfully Jay
If You Knew Jack
“I can’t stop thinking about it and wanting more…”
—Greedy Bug Book Reviews
Like I Know Jack
“Now is the time for readers to get caught up or to start reading the series, which continues to get better and better.”
—Random Reading… and more
MC LEE is a writer, reader, and traveler with a lifelong passion for history and an avid interest in movies. As well as young adult fiction, MC writes adult fiction under the name Maggie Lee.
By MC Lee
Not Today
THE CENTER
You Don’t Know Jack
If You Knew Jack
Like I Know Jack
The Shadow Operation
Bait and Switch
Published by HARMONY INK PRESS
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Published by
HARMONY INK PRESS
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Not Today
© 2018 MC Lee.
Cover Art
© 2018 Adrian Nicholas.
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Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.
All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Harmony Ink Press, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or [email protected].
ISBN: 978-1-64080-183-7
Digital ISBN: 978-1-64080-184-4
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017911503
Published February 2018
v. 1.0
Printed in the United States of America