Page 91 of The Finding Series: Vol. 1

“A lifer?”

“I knew from the second I enlisted that I was exactly where I was supposed to be. I figured I’d become an instructor or something once I got to the point that I couldn’t serve on the front lines anymore.”

Gray lowered himself to the floor and leaned back against the wall. “What made you enlist?”

Luke took a long drink from the bottle of water Gray had brought him. “My foster brother was planning to join. He was the closest thing to family I had and I didn’t want to lose him so I did too.”

“Are you guys still in touch?”

Like shook his head. “We did two tours together but he had his heart set on joining the police academy and I had a chance to become a Ranger so we just kind of lost touch when we went our separate ways.”

“You’re an Army Ranger?”

A darkness settled over Luke’s features but he nodded.

“You love it,” Gray said softly.

Another nod.

“Why?”

Luke was quiet for a long time and Gray wished he had the right to lean over and brush his lips over Luke’s in an attempt to offer comfort.

“It was the first time my life had purpose,” Luke finally said. “And the first time I was ever really good at something.”

“I don’t believe that,” Gray whispered.

Luke chuckled. “It’s true. I was a lousy student…only reason I even graduated was because Rhys used to tutor me.”

“Is Rhys your foster brother?”

Luke’s eyes snapped up and Gray realized he hadn’t been aware that he’d let the name slip. “Yeah.”

“He’s who you came out here to see, isn’t he?” Gray said. “He’s a deputy in the Dare police department.”

Luke swallowed hard. “I saw the story in the news about him – about how he was wrongly sent to prison back in Chicago. It said he was working on a ranch outside Dare.”

Gray was familiar with the story and had met Rhys Tellar only briefly before he’d signed on to be one of the town’s deputies. Rhys had arrived in Montana a couple months earlier and had become involved in a relationship with Callan Bale, the owner of the CB Bar Ranch, and his young ranch hand, Finn Stewart.

“Were you headed to his ranch the day we met?”

“I was on my way back to town from the ranch. I didn’t know Rhys had joined the police department out here. I saw him pull into the driveway in his police cruiser and I knew…I knew he couldn’t help me.”

“He didn’t see you?”

“No. I was watching from some trees across the road from the ranch’s driveway.”

Gray felt a surge of pity go through him. It was clear that Rhys had been Luke’s last hope. “Luke, Rhys seems like a pretty good guy…I’m sure he’d help you in any way he could.”

Luke shook his head slowly. “I can’t put him in that position. He’s finally in a good place – I’m not going to fuck with that.”

“Luke-”

“We should get this finished,” Luke said as he turned his attention back to the floor.

* * *

“I’m going to be gone for a couple days,” Luke heard Gray say over the sound of the running faucet. “I’ve got some business in the city tomorrow afternoon and it’ll just be easier to spend the night. I should be back on Wednesday sometime.”

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