Page 4 of As Long As You Kiss Me

As he climbed off his barstool, Sully reached out and took his hand in hers. “Are you okay, Jackson?” His hand was warm and strong in hers and she couldn’t help the goosebumps that traveled down her spine at his touch.

He turned back to look at her, and his eyes were hard. “I’m fine. Just tired. I’m still unpacking, and I’ve had a long day.”

She let go of his hand. Maybe she shouldn’t have said that part about Jackson dragging Tyson into the recruiting office. It had kind of slipped out, and she hadn’t thought about how bad it sounded until after the fact. “Well, I’ll see you soon, okay? Don’t be a stranger.”

“I won’t.” He gave a little wave and headed out the door. As he walked away, he limped a little. She’d never seen him limp before. Maybe it was an old injury from the military or something.

“That was intense,” Aubrey said.

“You noticed that too?” Sully fought the uneasiness that swirled in her belly.

“Yeah. He doesn’t like talking about Tyson. It seems strange. They were best friends. You’d think he’d want to sit around and talk about him.”

“Everyone handles grief in their own way,” Sully said. “I guess I never realized how much he was hurting over Tyson’s death.”

“Well, he wasn’t exactly around to talk to you about it.”

“That’s true. After he got out of the military, he barely came back to visit.” It was something that had been bugging her for years.

“It’s almost like he was running away from something,” Aubrey speculated darkly.

“We don’t know that.” Sully didn’t want to jump to any conclusions. “It could be he was just focused on his studies and didn’t have time to come back much.”

“I’m sure he had the time. They give you breaks in college. He just didn’t choose to come back,” Aubrey pointed out.

Sully had missed him. But it wasn’t like she was going to dare to admit that to Aubrey. She’d never let her hear the end of it with her matchmaking ways. It wasn’t up to Sully to figure out what was going on with Jackson. But she’d never seen him look so… tortured.

Then again, she hadn’t seen him much since he joined the military. Perhaps it had changed him. Lots of people came back different after going to war. It made her sad to think of what Jackson must have endured over there.

It was sad enough that she’d lost her brother, but Jackson had been over there too. He knew what horrors Tyson had faced. War was a terrible thing, but she was grateful for men like Jackson and Tyson who were willing to sacrifice to serve their country.

Jackson’s willingness to serve was one of the initial things that had attracted her to him. While they were growing up, he always talked about how he wanted to join the Marines. It shouldn’t have been as much of a surprise as it was that Tyson ended up going. But they hadn’t seen it coming. The military had always been Jackson’s dream. Tyson hadn’t expressed an interest in it. He’d just come home one day, announcing that he’d enlisted. Her parents had taken it pretty hard, and her dad had lost his temper, blaming Jackson for influencing his son to sign up.

And then Tyson died. It had been and still was the hardest thing her family had ever been through.

“Why do you look so sad all of a sudden?” Aubrey interrupted her thoughts.

“I was thinking about Tyson.”

Aubrey wrapped her arms around her friend. “I’m so sorry. I know that’s been so hard on you.”

“I miss him so much.”

“Is it hard seeing Jackson again?”

Sully nodded. “I didn’t think about it until now, but it’s bringing back a lot of memories. Those two were inseparable back in school. Always getting into trouble. It doesn’t seem right for Jackson to be here joking around with us when Tyson can’t be here either.” She slumped her shoulders, thinking about it.

“What do you think Tyson would have said about you kissing Jackson tonight?”

“I don’t know,” Sully admitted. “I don’t think he would have liked it. He was always trying to shelter me.” Her stomach clenched as she spoke the words. She missed him so much.

“That’s because he was a great big brother.”

“But it was annoying too. I missed out on a lot of dates because of him. And when he left for the military, he wasn’t around to keep the real jerks away from me.” A lump was forming in her throat.

“He would have kicked Mason’s butt if he’d known everything you’d gone through,” Aubrey said.

“I never told him. I didn’t want him to worry about me.”

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