Page 25 of Fade (Fighting Fate)

In a voice that sounded way calmer than I expected, I said, “I just want her to be happy, Ryan, and I respect her enough to let her make that decision on her own. If you want to apologize to her and ask her out again, I can’t stop you. And if she chooses to be with you again, then I’ll respect her decision.”

His eyebrows rose. “And you’d be okay with that?”

Walking past him, I started up the stairs. “I didn’t say that . . . ”

Quickly grabbing a shirt from my room, I slipped back downstairs and jumped in Mom’s car to go pick Amy up.

I knew I shouldn’t, but I just felt defeated. Knowing Ryan wanted her back just felt so ominous or something.

God-fucking-damn-it. I knew how much her parents wanted her to be with Ryan and not me. I was just a lowly fucking marine. I felt like my life was slowly slipping out of my grasp. I wanted to punch something.

Even though I knew Amy had been working hard to break away from the hold her parents had on her, I also knew how much she just wanted them to love her. I knew she craved their approval.

Would she take the opportunity once it was given to her because it was what she’d wanted for so long?

I felt sick. Even though I’d thought about the fact that I’d be leaving her for deployment, I hadn’t really thought about us not being together. I wanted her to be mine. Always.

Pulling up to the house, I tried to shake it off before I saw her, but then the front door was opening and Amy came dashing out, practically running toward me.

I’d barely stopped at the curb before she was throwing the door open and jumping into the passenger seat. “Quick. Go,” she said, slightly out of breath.

Her door was barely closed before I was moving again. I glanced up to the house as I drove off to see her mom standing on the front step, her face beyond livid.

“Are you okay?” I asked, noticing her hands were shaking.

“Yeah. I just had a fight with my mom. Nothing new. She won’t listen to anything I say, won’t even consider my thoughts on what I’d like to do with my own life.”

The last half hour of my life rushed back at me, filling me with dread. “You were arguing about me, weren’t you?”

She huffed. “It started about you, but that wasn’t what I was arguing about. I was trying to tell her I don’t want to be a lawyer, but she won’t listen, as usual.”

I gave her a sympathetic smile, but that was all I could manage. My nerves were still slightly unraveled from my conversation with Ryan.

“Are you still okay with hanging out with everyone tonight?”

No. “Sure. Who’s going to be there again?” I’d met most of her friends over the course of the last few weeks, but it had only been for a few minutes here and there. I couldn’t help but feel like this was going to be different. I just knew I was going to be put under the microscope and compared to Ryan.

“Mostly people you’ve already met. Amber, Jess, Corey, Cain, and Kaeli and Noah. I think a couple of Noah’s brothers might be coming too. I wish the others were here so you could meet them too, but oh well . . .”

I wondered why Ryan’s name hadn’t been included in her rundown. I knew he was just as much a part of the group as Amy was. He hadn’t mentioned anything about the party earlier, but then again, we hadn’t really gotten to that topic.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to be arou

nd him if he was there. It was ridiculous, considering we were brothers—twins at that—but knowing he wanted Amy back had affected me in a big way.

“One day . . . ” was all I said in response. I hoped it was true.

“Take a right up here,” Amy said, bringing me back to the present. I followed her directions and tried to pull my shit together so I could just enjoy the moment while I had it.

“Whose house is it at again?” I asked, already knowing it was Amber’s, but needing to distract myself just the same.

“Amber’s. You’ll love it. They’ve got this amazing game room. She has three older brothers, so it’s like boy heaven.”

I laughed, thankful she had the ability to relax me. Tonight was going to be good. I would make damn sure of it.

Chapter 11

Amy

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