Page 78 of Fight Or Flight

Brooklyn

Iwant to tell you that I’m not internally freaking out, but my mama didn’t raise no liar. Eric was completely honest and held nothing back. It was like I had opened the floodgates and there was no dam wide enough to contain all the information. I need a calendar and a goddamn notebook to keep track of everything. A frequent flyer card would be helpful too since he was going to be in Georgia for fourteen weeks and who knows where after that.

But the long-distance thing wasn’t the only thing eating away at me. Eric revealed the details of his specialty. I didn’t even know there was such a thing; I thought every soldier was trained to do the same job. He wasn’t just joining the Army; he was taking on one of the most dangerous roles as an indirect fire infantryman. There was still a test they required him to take to ensure he was a good fit for the position, but he didn’t seem worried about it. Eric Montgomery wasn’t simply brave, he was friggin’ fearless. I don’t know if that makes him the perfect candidate for a soldier or a dangerous one.

Either way, I’m going to have to school my heart on how to accept everything that comes with handing your heart to America’s bravest and be the supportive force behind a man who stands fearlessly on the front lines. They say God finds the strongest women and pairs them with soldiers. Well, we’re about to find out if that’s true.

We’re about to discover if I’m truly a hurricane or just a tropical storm posing as one.

Be brave.

Together we will be.

Be strong.

Together, we’ll be an unbreakable force.

“Are we done talking?” Eric questions as he gathers the rest of the snacks from the makeshift picnic on the pull-out.

“For now,” I reply, watching as he places everything on one of the end tables. I don’t know that I can do much more talking. I think I need a week to recuperate from this conversation.

“Good,” he says, climbing back into bed with me. “…because I’d really like to start enjoying the perks of having a girlfriend.”

I smile.

That really happened, huh?

He pushes me back against the mattress and climbs over me. I laugh and wrap my arms around his neck. I missed being this close to him, so much so, that I’m not even worried about the possibility of his parents finding us together in his room.

It’s amazing what happens to you when you let your inhibitions fall to the wayside. You forget about the consequences and all the things that can go wrong. You live for the moment because life has taught you it isn’t always kind. It’s short and if you don’t take chances you’ll get sucked into a sea of regret. You’ll live in wonder, and that wonder will eat away at your soul.

I have no idea how long I have on this earth, if I’ll live a short life like my parents did or a long one, but I’m going to live without collecting a bunch of what if’s.

“Oh, and what might those perks be?” I ask, curling the hairs at the nape of his neck around my fingers.

“There’s plenty,” he says, brushing the tip of his nose against mine. “Kissing you whenever I damn well please is one of them.” His mouth covers mine, sending a rush of excitement straight to the pit of my stomach. What starts off as a gentle kiss soon becomes hungry and as he reclaims my mouth, I pull him closer, crushing his large frame against me. His tongue traces my full lips before entering and exploring the recesses of my mouth.

I thought no kiss would ever compare to our first.

I was wrong.

So very wrong.

His mouth abandons mine, but he remains on top of me. I don’t mind. I like the feel of all the hard lines pressed against me—I like it a lot. Lowering his gaze from my lips to my neck, he brings his hand around and touches the locket hanging from my neck.

“I’ve never seen this before,” he says, tracing the gold heart.

It’s nothing fancy, just something I found at the bottom of my mom’s purse when I was going through the rest of her things the other day. I vaguely remember her wearing it when I was little. I thought she lost it or something because one day it was just gone. She never wore it again, and I wonder now if she even knew it was in her bag.

“I found it when I was cleaning out my mom’s room,” I tell him, leaving out how I purposely wore it today because I was nervous about starting school. I sigh, angling my head as I meet his comforting gaze. “Wearing it made me feel closer to her, like she was there with me, navigating those strange halls.”

He frowned, his eyes level under drawn brows.

“I wish you would’ve come to me,” he says. “You didn’t have to clear the room out by yourself, I would’ve helped.”

“It’s okay,” I assure him. “I wanted to do it myself. Your mom offered to help too.”

He gives me a tightlipped nod and I inwardly cringe. Bringing up either of his parents is probably not a good move right now. He looked brokenhearted when he walked out of the living room and he missed dinner—a huge red flag for Eric.

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