Page 1 of Avenged

Truck

LOOK WHAT GOD GAVE HER

“And those eyes can hypnotize,

Was designed to blow my mind.”

Performed by Thomas Rhett

Written by Malik / Hindlin / Ryan / Bunetta /

Rhett Sr. Akins / Rhett Jr. Akins

The back of the new-to-me pickup was full with one last load of boxes. We’d spent the day emptying the storage unit the Coast Guard had provided until I’d found a place to live near the academy. Dawson was crammed into the back seat, griping about something I chose to ignore, and Mac was in the front seat, pacifying him.

My brain wasn’t focused on either my brother or my best friend. Instead, it was on the person I’d left back at the rental a couple blocks from downtown New London. My thoughts were focused on Jersey, the ghost-like creature who had stepped out of character long enough to offer to help Dawson and me move. I was still trying to figure out why she’d decided the day I was moving out of Mandy and Leena’s place was the day she could stand being close enough to help me unpack my belongings.

Maybe it was just that. I was moving out.

Dawson and I had been fleeting guests in the old Victorian Mandy and Leena owned, whereas Jersey and her sister had been permanent installments—there before us with no visible end to the arrangement.

A hand slapping the back of my head jerked me from my momentary lapse into Jersey’s snowy white skin and pale-blue eyes. I growled and lifted a hand from the steering wheel to slam a fist into Mac’s shoulder.

“What the fuck?” I demanded, and Mac’s blue eyes sparkled with mischief in return. His eyes were a much deeper blue than the pale ones that had held me entranced the last few weeks. Jersey’s were like looking at the sky through puffy white clouds, while Mac’s were the depths of the ocean.

“Asswipe! Were you not listening? Your brother just outed you.” Mac grinned at me.

Dawson snorted in the back. “You make it sound like he’s decided he’s gay.”

“How come I never knew you had a lady in Hawaii?” Mac demanded. Below the tease, I heard the hurt. In all honesty, I didn’t know why I’d never told anyone I’d dated Liesl. Probably because I’d always known it wouldn’t last past my time there. Maybe because there wasn’t anything to tell. Liesl had been…temporary.

“Whatever Daw said, it’s only half true. You know that. He exaggerates everything he says by about a thousand,” I replied.

I pulled into the driveway of the tiny house that was near enough to the ocean I could hear the crash of the waves and smell the salty air. It was just two small bedrooms and one bath with a kitchen you could barely turn in without bumping into the other counter. But it had old-time charm built into its white planks and blue shutters. There was a cobblestone walk and a detached shed that was supposed to be a one-car garage. If I squinted, the place could almost be from a time when fishing had been the cornerstone of the town instead of the academy and the shipyard where they built sea monstrosities.

The front door was open, and Mac’s fiancée, Georgie, was standing in it. She was tall, dark, and stupidly in love with my best friend. Both my best friends had found something I wasn’t sure existed anymore in our world until I’d seen it for myself: true love. My grandparents’ generation had had it in spades; our generation seemed to forget it was ever an option.

“Did you really have a girlfriend?” Mac asked.

“You say that like it’s some big deal. Like I’ve never had a girlfriend. I wasn’t the one who wouldn’t keep a girl past a swag-and-bag. That was all you,” I said, putting the truck in park, turning off the engine, and slamming the door against the laughter that trailed after me.

Mac climbed out, followed by Dawson. My little brother wasn’t so little anymore. He was taller than me—almost as tall as Mac who was an easy six foot four. In fact, Dawson’s warm, rich skin and dark hair matched Mac’s more than mine all around. With my pale skin and pale hair, the only similarity between Dawson and me was in our eyes. We both had our mother’s golden-brown ones. Other than that, we both took after our fathers instead of our mother.

Thinking of our mom made my heart tug more than it had when I’d left Liesl in Hawaii. Even though Mom was partly to blame for everything that had happened with Dawson, I still couldn’t help hating that I hadn’t been there to shoulder some of it for her.

“Perfect timing. We need a bit more muscle on the molly bolts,” Georgie said, floating up to Mac, tucking her arm through his, and then kissing him.

Dawson rolled his eyes, grabbed a couple boxes, and headed toward the house.

I wanted to roll my eyes, too, but the truth was, I was happy Mac had Georgie. They fit. She put up with both his sugar addiction and his Navy career while loving him enough to come help his friend move. Because who the hell offers to help someone move unless they’re important to them? Georgie and I hardly knew each other, so it was because of Mac that she was here.

“Get this, Truck had a girlfriend,” Mac said as soon as his lips parted from hers.

“Okay?” she said with a slight frown, and I wanted to kiss her myself for making it sound like it wasn’t a big deal.

I grabbed a couple of boxes from the bed of the truck and headed toward the open doorway.

“He forgets we weren’t all steadfast in our single ways like him,” I said.

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