Page 23 of Something Borrowed

ChapterNine

“So,what do you think of him? Now that you’re really getting to know him?” Kailey asked around a sip of her protein shake.

“I think he’s so much different than the prick of a boy that went away to join the Marines.”

Kailey lowered the shake’s straw and looked at her from across the table, eyes opened wide in mock shock. “You mean to say there’s more to my brother than arrogance?”

Shaking her head she smiled. “You know what I mean. Jaxon was always more than just a jock, but joining the military seems to have made him a better person than he would have been if he’d gone into theNFL.”

“Minus the scads of money he would made and typically safe situations at work.” Kailey replied haughtily, letting out a sign that she wasn’t thrilled with her brother’s career for the very firsttime.

Sipping her smoothie she couldn’t help but pry. “You don’t like him being in the Marinesthen?”

“I don’t. Dad doesn’t either.” Kailey sucked hard on the straw, that annoying slurping sound at the end of a drink following it. “I don’t disagree that it didn’t take him from an annoying older brother to someone I admire, even when he’s pissing me off, but I just don’t like thinking about him out there. There’s only been the one attack reported, but who knows how many more haven’tbeen.”

Adrianna paused, realizing that she had no idea things like that could go unreported. “How often do things like that happen? On other deployments Imean?”

“It’s always different. When he was there during the war time frame it was almost certainly weekly. Most times nothing happened aside from a few shots popped off, but that didn’t make it less dangerous. When he’s gone on other missions they’re normally in and out, so I know there’s danger there, but not how much.” She looked down at the straw. “I just hope that this is the last one. I know he has another year in, but I hope . . . I just really want him to have something to leave it all for.” Kailey’s eyes met hers on the lastpart.

The weight of it was nearly crushing. “I don’t want to be that for him. We both have careers, and yes, one of us is going to have to give it up if we do get serious but I don’t want him stopping because he feels like he has to with me here.” She took a sip, trying to wet her drying mouth.

“So what you’re saying is if you two become the real deal, you’d walkaway from everything forhim?”

She’d never thought about it in such black and white terms, not because she didn’t want a lifetime with Jaxon, but because she wasn’t one to dwell on the negative. Could you give up everything you’ve worked so hard for, for a man? The thought weighed on her like a barbell and she didn’t know how to respond.

“See, you wouldn’t. Which means he will come home and find some nice boringjob.”

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t. I just hadn’t thought that far in advance. Though, I have a feeling your brother would join the police if he left. I’ve heard the way he talks about helping people. There are nightmares in his words, but there is also fierce dedication in his tone. Him leaving the service wouldn’t mean he’d besafe.”

Kailey crossed her arms and frowned. “You ruined that, you know that, don’t you?” Kailey looked around her kitchen, huffing as shedid.

Her cell phone rang, which was odd on a Saturday afternoon, but she picked it up off the table. A smile spread across her lips as she hastened to answer thecall.

“Jaxon?”

Kailey’s head whipped around at her brother’sname.

“Do you have a moment?” He asked gruffly through the phone.

Lowering it so she wouldn’t be speaking too loudly into it she looked at Kailey.

“Whatever, I’ll just do some laundry while you talk dirty or something with my brother.” She was teasing, but someone who’d known her less than their whole life might not have none that because of the way she stalkedoff.

“Are you with my sister?”

“I am. Jim went out to some company basketball thing, so I came over to hang out because it’s been awhile. Hard to separate her from her husband and all.” She grinned as she thought about how happy her best friendwas.

Jaxon chortled. “I can image. Am I interrupting?”

“Yes,” she said playfully. “But I’ll take this interruption literally every day of the week – even onair.”

“There’s been more unrest with the locals.”

Her blood froze with the short sentence. Obviously he was alive or they wouldn’t be talking, but he could have easily been laying in a bed clinging to life and that was why he’d sounded sobad.

“Areyou- ”

“I’m fine. Problem is they feel it’s unsafe for us to stay now. We’ll be pulling out within the week, just shy of a month early.”

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