Page 51 of As Long As You Kiss Me

Chapter 13

Jackson pulled into a spot in Sully’s apartment’s parking lot. He turned off the engine and turned to her. “I need to tell you something.”

What could he possibly say that would make his tone that serious? Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good. She twisted a strand of hair around her finger and then let it go. Now wasn’t the time for her nervous habit. She needed to stay level-headed and focused. “What is it?” She twisted to face him.

“I know you’ve had a rough night, and I hope I’m not making this worse. But I feel like I need to be more open with you.”

“Okay…”

“I’m falling for you,” he blurted.

That was it? She’d kind of suspected that anyway. Why all the doom and gloom? She took his hand. “I’m falling for you too. So I guess we have that in common.” The corners of her lips curved upward. But he wasn’t smiling back. Her mouth drooped. “Is there something else you want to tell me?”

“Remember when I told you I have something I’m not telling you?”

“Yeah.” This couldn’t be good.

“Well, I want to be with you, and I can’t allow that to happen if I’m not being completely honest with you.”

What would he have possibly done? “Did you murder your annoying neighbor and bury him in your backyard or something?”

He didn’t smile at her lame attempt at a joke. “I don’t have an annoying neighbor.”

She’d hoped to lighten the mood a bit with some silliness, but clearly that wasn’t working. “Then what is it?”

“This is serious, Sully. You’re not going to like it,” he warned.

“You’re starting to scare me.” Now she wasn’t so sure she wanted to know what he’d been keeping from her.

He huffed out a large breath. “This is really hard for me.”

“Whatever you have to say can’t be as bad as you think it is,” she said in an attempt to comfort him.

He shook his head. “Trust me, it is.”

“Then maybe you don’t need to say it. If I don’t know what it is, it can’t hurt me,” she reasoned.

“I couldn’t live with myself if I knew I was hiding something this big from you.”

“If it’s that important to you, then just tell me.” She was strong and would find a way to get through whatever bomb he was about to drop on her.

“I’m the reason your brother died”

His words slammed into her like a semi stuck. “What?” she whispered.

“It was my fault.” He sounded like he could barely choke the words out.

“How could you be responsible for his death. You weren’t even there, were you?”

He met her gaze head on, his eyes full of emotion. “Iwasthere.”

She swallowed. He was right. This was hard to hear. After a long pause, she said, “Can you tell me what happened?”

He nodded with glistening eyes. “We were going on a mission in Afghanistan. It was bad. Urban warfare.” His words came out choppy like he was struggling to get them out. “Tyson was by my side. We went into the lion’s den together.” He wiped a tear away. “He was so very brave.” He was almost overcome by emotion, but then he spoke again. “I was leading the way. We were heading into a building, and I’d checked the room to make sure it was clear. I told him it was safe to go in there.”

Dread circled through Sully. She’d never heard the details leading up to Tyson’s death, but she knew how this story ended.

“But I didn’t see the guy on the roof across the street.” Jackson choked the words out like they were poisonous. “I was supposed to save him. There was an explosion, and I took shrapnel to the foot. I couldn’t carry him out of there. I just sat there, helpless. Finally, someone found me and got me out of there, but it was too late for Jackson. They got him out of there too, but he was already gone. If I’d checked that roof, Tyson would be here with us today.”

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