A Sea of Lies

by H Dillon Hunt

  My anger deflates, a cold and heavy feeling taking its place. “Y-you’re what?” I whisper. “Why? Why on earth would you willingly go on tour?”

  “I needed some space,” He said matter of factly. “I honestly wanted to get as far away from you as possible and clear my head. I thought maybe with some time away, when I got back we could...I dunno try again.”

  Exhaustion, sorrow and anger weave and uncomfortable web in my chest. I don’t have the energy or will to continue this conversation. And I don’t have the patience not to break his nose if I sit here a second longer. I stand up and stare down at him, heartbroken and disgusted.

  “I want you out of the house by the end of the week.”

  Chapter 15

  Sam

  Present

  I yank my tie off before I’ve even made it the two miles to Bree’s house. Damn thing is choking me. I flick the top button of my shirt open and decide to go with the disheveled look. Extra points if Bree’s mom looks at my tie-less neck with disgust.

  I turn off my truck and head for the house, but Bree is walking out the front door before I make it to the porch. I pause, one foot on the bottom step and I forget how I breathe. She looks like a goddess in a long emerald dress that moves like water, flowing with her every step. The thin straps cling to her dainty shoulders and when she turns to lock the front door, she reveals the open back, her long crimson curls cascading across porcelain skin.

  I bite my knuckle and suppress a groan as she floats down the steps and stops in front of me. Her lips, painted as red as her hair, curve upwards in a sly grin. I meet her smoky gaze and I know I’m not hiding a thing I’m thinking. For once, I have no reason to.

  “How do I look?” She steps down off the last step right in front of me, but I don’t move back. I stay put, my foot still on the step caging her in between the railing and my leg. My hands are itching to touch the silk material of her dress so I bring them up to rest on her slim waist. I turn her so her back is against the railing and pull her against me, bringing my lips to her ear.

  “Words cannot encompass your beauty,” I say in a low voice. Chills cover her skin so I press my lips to the crest of her shoulder. “You wreck me, Aubree Harrington.”

  Her cool composure has slipped away, her chest rising and falling quickly against mine. I grin down at her, satisfied that I’ve shaken her as much as she has shaken me.

  “A simple, ‘you look nice’ would have been good too,” she laughs a little breathlessly.

  I smile, taking her hands in mine. “You ready?”

  She nods with a shaky smile and I lead her to my truck. I put a little too much effort into lifting her into her seat. She doesn’t need my help or the assistance, but I don’t want to take my hands off of her. The second I’m in the driver’s seat, I slide her hand into mine again.

  I don’t know how long this will last. Yet again, I don’t know how much time I will have with her before life tears her away from me again. It’s like she said the night she left my life for two years, we weren’t fated to be together in this lifetime. It just never seems to work out for us. It’s like there are these invisible ropes tied securely around us. They rest quietly around our necks while we are together, but as if on a timer, they pull us apart just as we get close enough. Just as we get enough hope that maybe, just maybe we could be together.

  It may be a negative outlook, but I can’t bear to give myself hope that anything could happen between us. If I do, it will only crush me that much more when those ropes sweep her away from me again. Or when she learns the truth about my time away from her and hates me for it.

  I will tell her, I insist to myself firmly. I will, just not right now.

  I’m selfish, yes. I want to soak up every second I can with her before I break her heart all over again. If being in Afghanistan taught me anything, it’s that you have to live every damn minute of your life like it’s your very last. Anything else is a waste.

  And I won’t waste my time with Bree, not this time around.

  We pull up in front of the entrance and stop at the valet. I open the console and pull a flask out, tucking it into my jacket pocket. Bree watches me curiously with barely restrained laughter.

  “What?” I grin. “I know your mother.”

  “Oh no, it was a good idea.” She laughs, opening her gold clutch and showing me her own flask. “One that I also thought of.”

  “Gin?” I ask.

  “Of course,” She smirks.

  I climb out of the truck and toss my keys to the valet as I move to open her door. She slides out of the truck and I notice this dress has another one of those high slits like the one she wore three years ago. I’m liking it more and more. I place my hand on the small of her back and guide her inside.

  “Have I told you yet, how much I love you in this dress?” I murmur in her ear as we climb the steps.

  Her breath hitches and she looks to me with wide eyes. I realize what she thought I was saying and I don’t dare correct myself. I hold her gaze, silently telling her what we both know.

  Yes, Aubree. I still love you.

  “Thank you,” She regains her composure, sending me a coy smile; “I love you...with no tie.”

  My heart speeds up in my chest, even though I know what she’s doing. Hearing those words gives me hope. Hope is a dangerous thing to feel around Bree. I can feel the invisible ropes tightening, tightening, tightening... reminding me of their presence. I ignore the damn things and pull her closer to my side as we enter the grand ballroom.

  We’re attacked before we’ve made it halfway across the room. My mother and Bree’s could be used in combat, with their stealth and the fear of God they can inspire. Mrs. Harrington looks absolutely delighted to see us together. My mother, on the other hand, looks like she’s sucking on a lemon. I’m guessing she still hasn’t forgotten about being put firmly in her place last time she saw Bree. She’s giving me ‘the look’, the one that says she does not approve.

  Fortunately for all parties involved, I don’t give a rat’s ass about what my mother does and does not approve of. She didn’t approve of me joining the military after Caleb died, following in the path he wanted to take. She didn’t approve when I moved away from Hilton Head and took up residence in Tybee. She didn’t approve when I decided to take a break and work as an ambulance medic while I sort through this mess in my head.

  My mother doesn’t approve of most things in my life, so that must mean I’m doing some things right.

  “Well that’s a sight I never thought I’d see,” Mrs. Harrington smiles with an evil glint in her eyes. “You two make quite a stunning couple, don’t you agree Evelyn?”

  Bree smiles politely, “Hi mother, Mrs. Hudson.”

  My mother barely manages a smirk in Bree’s direction before she turns her wicked gaze on me. “Samuel, Lydia Evans is here with her parents, you ought to go say hello. You two have been quite close this year, have you not?”

  She smiles viciously and nods towards Lydia across the room. As if my mom had it queued up, Lydia tosses her golden hair over her shoulder and smiles at me.

  I grind my teeth together and try to evade the sharp look Mrs. Harrington is giving both me and my mother now.

  “Goodbye mother,” I bite out. I nod to Bree’s mom, “Mrs. Harrington.”

  I steer Bree away from the wolves and in the opposite direction of Lydia, whose eyes are now following my every move.

  “Aubree-”

  “To the bar?” She smiles, not letting me finish. “I need a drink if we’re going to take on both of our mothers tonight.”

  I nod and follow her through the throng of people to the bar on the far side of the room. I order her a gin and tonic and bourbon for myself.

  “I don’t know how you drink that stuff,” I tell her, handing over her cocktail.

  She takes a long sip and smacks her lips together, “Just like that.” She grins. “It’s like vodka and Christmas trees.”

  I laugh and kiss the to
p of her head. “Well, I know how much you love trees.”

  The mood shifts as I pull back and look down at her. Those eyes that always tell me exactly what she’s thinking are a stormy color of blue.

  “Sam,” She whispers my name and the rest of the world fades away. “What-”

  “Sam!” Dammit, dammit, dammit. Lydia slinks over to where we stand beside the bar. Once she’s closer, her eyes lock in on Bree and she pretends she’s just now seeing her.

  “Oh my gosh, Bree! I haven’t seen you in foreves, how are you?” Her eyes scroll down the length of me the entire time she speaks as if Bree isn’t even standing here.

  “Fine, Lydia. And you?” If Aubree’s glare could turn people to stone, we’d be surrounded by statues. I place my hand on the small of her back and try pulling her towards me, but she doesn’t budge.

  Lydia eyes the hand I have on Bree’s back, “Fine, just fine.” Her eyes barely flicker to Bree as she speaks to her.

  “Sam, darling I didn’t think you’d be able to make it.” She smiles sweetly at me. “Last week you said you may have to work.”

  “Well, I got off,” I say evenly.

  “Oh, I know you did, I was there.” She winks. “Anywho, I’ll see you two later. Gotta go make the rounds, you know how it is.”

  She wiggles her fingers in a flirty wave and saunters off.

  Good God, this night is going downhill fast.

  Bree pulls away, knocking back the rest of her drink and walking back to the bar for another. I don’t even know how to defend that one. Or if I should. Or what the hell is going on between me and Bree right now.

  Whatever it is, I can feel my invisible noose tightening around my neck, choking away my words.

  Lydia was a bit of an ongoing mistake. I drank a little more than I should have with her at one of these events a few months ago. She ended up going home with me that night, but she never really left. We’ve never been on a date, and I made it clear before anything ever happened between us that my heart no longer resides in my chest, but is clutched firmly in Aubree’s fist. But she didn’t care, so I didn’t care. And we didn’t care together, a lot.

  I take a deep breath and knock back my bourbon. This is going to be a long night.

  ***

  Bree

  Sam is human, he’s allowed to date, I insist to myself as I stalk over to the bar and order another drink. But why oh why does it have to be snotty little miss bottle blonde? Ugh, I hated Lydia growing up as much as I hate her now.

  My mother always had her mother over for brunch and forced me to entertain her. And she’s just as much of a little snot now as she was then. Ugh! Sam, have you no standards?

  No, okay, no. I am not allowed to be upset about this. I am not Sam’s girlfriend, I’m not his keeper. I am not his anything. I’m his sisters’ roommate. Someone he used to know, used to love another lifetime ago. I have no right to be peeved right now.

  Other than the fact that he’s here with me and that little twit saunters over and basically declares to the entire ballroom that they’re sleeping together.

  I need another drink.

  Sam finds me at the exact moment my mother does, and you know it has to be bad if I’m relieved to see my mother.

  “Bree go sit down, they’re about to start the first course.” She ushers me toward Sam. “Your table is right over there, next to ours.”

  “Oh, yay I can barely contain my enthusiasm.” I mumble dryly. Sam tries to catch my eye as I turn to him but he reads too much there so I smile tightly and nod towards our table.

  Elle and Maddie are already seated when we get there. They shoot me mischievous grins and I try to discreetly send them go away glares.

  You’re not pissed, you’re not pissed. You’re having a good time. Smile, eat, drink (a lot), and then get the hell out of here.

  Once we are seated, Sam leans over, speaking low enough so only I can hear. “Aubree, I-”

  “We don’t have to talk about it,” I say quickly, forcing a smile.

  “I don’t want you to get the wrong idea.”

  “Sam, you don’t have to explain yourself to me,” I wave him off. “Let’s not make it a thing.”

  “But it is a thing,” He insists, touching my chin and gently forcing me to meet his gaze. He studies my face intently. I don’t know what he finds there because there are a million different things running through my mind right now.

  Like the fact that while there is so much that I do know about Sam, there’s also so much that I don’t. There are three years of space between us. Three years that he went on living while I was figuring out how to. Three years where I didn’t utter his name, didn’t see him, didn’t ask about him.

  Sam has been flirty with me since he reappeared, yes. But I don’t know of a time that Sam and I didn’t walk the fine line between what we want and what is right. For all I know, Sam could be in some kind of relationship with Lydia. Even if he did seem steely towards her, he could be in a relationship with another girl for all I know. I don’t know anything about his life right now. Nothing.

  More people are seated at the table and the waiters begin to bring out the first course. I pull away from Sam’s grasp and try to find a good distraction. Luckily Carter and Nina sit down right beside me. Carter proposed just a few weeks ago so I have plenty of a distraction by asking Nina a million questions about the engagement and wedding plans.

  The wedding talk gets me all the way through dessert before I have to find another distraction. I’m getting cagey. I don’t know what to do or say or how to act right now around Sam with all these thoughts buzzing around in my head.

  “Okay, go tell mom you have a migraine so we can leave.” Elle tells Maddie as we finish up dessert and the band kicks up.

  “No way,” Maddie crosses her arms. “I gave the excuse last time, it’s your turn.”

  Elle huffs and tosses her napkin on the table, “Fine, but if I’m not back in five minutes, you have to come back me up.”

  My eyes dart between Sam and his sister as I watch her push back her chair and stand. Sam tenses beside me and he leans over to say something but I’m too chicken shit to listen.

  “Elle, wait up.” I stand quickly. I busy myself with fishing my phone out of my clutch so I don’t have to look at Sam while I lie to him. “I’ll just catch a ride home with them, I’m not feeling too well.”

  “Bree,” Sam stands and catches my elbow as I turn away from him. Lydia picks the perfect time so saunter over. She looks like a damn flamingo in that awful pink dress.

  “Hey there,” She grins, pawing at Sam’s shoulder. “I thought I’d steal a dance with my guy.”

  I glare at her as I pull my arm from Sam, “He’s all yours.”

  I catch up with Elle as she’s leaving her mom’s table. She gives me a curious look, “What are you doing?”

  “I’m leaving with y’all,” I tell her quickly, glancing over my shoulder at Sam who is talking to Lydia. He doesn’t look happy. Well good, that makes two of us. I look back at Elle and she’s got her arms crossed and her mom face on. “Don’t give me that look, I’ll tell you about it in the car. Just give me the valet ticket and go get Mads.”

  She rolls her eyes and pulls the ticket out of her purse. “You’d better not be overreacting.”

  I roll my eyes back at her and slip away without a response. Because there’s a high chance that she’s right and I am. But I really don’t care, I can’t bear to lose Sam twice so I’m not going to put myself in the position to where I could.

  I glance over my shoulder one more time before I slip out into the hall. Sam is stalking away from a very pouty Lydia, his eyes scanning the ballroom. His eyes find me just as the door swings shut behind me.

  I’m always running away from him.

  Part Two:

  War

  Chapter 16

  Sam

  Two years ago, Afghanistan

  “I won’t tell you idiots again, sit down and shut up!” The flight
engineers on this chopper are probably the biggest grade A jerks I have ever met.

  “And put your damn seatbelts on, this is my aircraft you follow my rules.” The second guy chimes in.

  “These guys take their job way too seriously,” mutters the guy to my left. I chuckle and nod in agreement. I met him when we boarded the chopper, I think his name is Ryan. He joined up with our unit last minute, but he seems like a cool guy.

  “Yeah, tell me about it,” I say, watching one of the flight engineers chewing a guy out a few seats down. “I’ve heard the FEs can be assholes but I thought that was an exaggeration.”

  “Not at all. This is the only place they get to be big shots, they take advantage of it.” He laughs.

  I look up towards the pilot and back to the FEs sitting on the open ramp of the back of the chopper, nothing but a tether keeping them from falling to the dusty ground below. We see the pilot tell the FEs we’re about to descend but they aren’t paying attention. The pilot suddenly drops the Chinook into a zero-G nosedive and the FEs sitting relaxed on the ramp go flying. They bounce off the top of the chopper and smack back down onto the ramp in a heap.

  Ryan and I caught most of it, both of us doubled over laughing. The chopper is suddenly full of roaring laughter and jeers towards the flight engineers.

  “Hey man!” Ryan calls to one of them. “I’m sure glad I have my seatbelt on!”

  One of them gets up and stomps over to the pilot, but they are quiet for the rest of the flight.

  “So is this your first tour?” Ryan asks as we begin to land.

  “Yeah,” I nod. “First tour.”

  “Well, stick with me,” He holds out his hand and grins. “I’ll keep you alive.”

  I slap my hand into his and shake it, laughing. “I hate to break it to you dude, but that’s kind of my job.”

  “Oh shit, that’s right!” He laughs. “You’re the medic, aren’t you?”

  I nod, throwing my pack over my shoulder as we stand.