Fearless: A Salvation Society Novel by Chelle Bliss & Salvation Society

Author:Chelle Bliss & Salvation Society [Bliss, Chelle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wild Thorns Press
Published: 2020-09-05T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Austin

I lay in the sand gasping after my morning run. I’d pushed myself too hard, needing to get some of the frustration out of my system from last night.

I wanted Mak so badly, but I kept my distance, careful not to cross anymore lines. I promised her we were only friends, knowing we had limited time before we parted ways. Even if I were stationed here, we wouldn’t work. We couldn’t due to our difference in rank—not without being in a heap of trouble.

“Fuck!” I shouted into the damp morning air as the rays of the sun filled the sky overhead. I closed my eyes, resting my hands on my stomach as my breathing began to stabilize.

I should’ve left well enough alone. I shouldn’t have seen her again after the first night. I knew better than that, but I never did anything the easy way.

My phone rang, drawing me out of my thoughts. “Hey,” I said, answering my brother’s early morning call. “Isn’t it early for you?”

“Can’t sleep.”

I rolled forward into a sitting position and faced the waves. “What’s wrong?”

Pike sighed. “I’ve been up half the night thinking about Mom. This is always a day where I have so many emotions.”

It had been a decade since she died, and yet, somehow it still felt like yesterday. I’d never forget finding her lifeless body covered in blood and the helplessness of being unable to save her.

“There’s nothing you could’ve done to repair the relationship you two had. She made her choices, not you. She should’ve fought for you, but she didn’t.”

“I just wish I’d known how she felt before she died.”

“At least she left you a letter, and you knew afterward,” I told him, curling forward to rest my upper body on my knees. “We can’t change the past, brother, and can only do the best with what we have for the future.”

“I could never turn my back on my kid. What kind of person does that?” he asked me, his voice laced with pain.

“I don’t know, Pike. Your version of Mom and mine were very different. I know you won’t make the same mistakes as Mom did. That’s her legacy, I suppose. None of us are perfect, her and dad least of all, but just know we’re not perfect either. We all have layers. Some good. Some bad. Don’t live with regret, Pike. It’s useless and destructive.”

“When did you get so wise?” he asked.

“I’m hardly smart. I never seem to learn from my mistakes.”

“What did you do?”

I collapsed back onto the warm sand. “I have my head all twisted about a girl.”

“The girl you’re just friends with?” He threw those words back in my face, knowing damn well I was full of shit when I’d called him the other day.

“It’s complicated.”

He laughed. “Women always are.”

“This isn’t just the typical complications.”

“Do you like her?”

“Yes.”

“Then what’s so fuckin’ complicated?”

“The navy, man. There are rules about dating outside your rank. Then there’s the problem of being over a thousand miles apart.”

“Whoa. You’ve really put some thought into this.

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